Release Notes for MOBOTIX MxBell

Document Information

Contents

MOBOTIX App for iOS and Android. Mobile intercom for MOBOTIX IP video door stations. Receive the doorbell notification, see who is ringing, talk to the visitor, open the door.

Software Releases—Overview

System Requirements

• iOS 11 or higher, Android 5.0 or higher
• MOBOTIX IP camera (Mx4/5) with firmware 4.7.2.18 or higher
• MOBOTIX IP camera (Mx6) with firmware 5.2.3.30 or higher

Note for Android Users: Even when using the most recent Android version, you may experience restrictions in functionality on some Android devices. Unfortunately, this can happen due to the multitude of hardware components of Android systems.

Notes on Setting Up and Using MxBell

• Before you can access cameras via mobile connections or other networks, you need to configure your router for inbound network traffic. For security reasons, routers usually do not allow accessing the internal network from the outside. Make sure you read your router's user manual and the manual of the MOBOTIX camera, especially the sections pertaining to accessing the camera, port forwarding, DynDNS, etc.
• When searching and integrating door stations and cameras in MxBell, you need to make sure that the WiFi connection is stable. The same applies when you are removing devices from the app.
• In order to add a device to the app, make sure that you have login credentials of a user with administrative rights on the door station or camera.
• When activating Automatic Notification after adding a door station, the notification is activated for all bells that have been configured in that door station.
• Changes applied to the door station in the Admin Menu > Bell Behavior and Video Mailbox dialog or by using other external configuration tools, may require to manually add MxBell as a remote station in that camera dialog.
• Before removing the MxBell app from an Android/iOS device, you should remove any door stations added to MxBell.
• For users of MxBell who do not use the app very often: To guarantee that the push notifications are working properly on a continuous basis, it is recommended to open the app at least once a month.
• On some Android devices, the sound may not function properly after opening an audio connection to a door station or camera for the first time. In this case, you need to close and re-open the audio connection to work properly.
• When using wireless networks (WiFi, 3G/4G) on mobile devices, the connection will not have the same quality everywhere and may even fail completely. It is hence not 100 % sure that all events (such as doorbell rings) will be shown in a timely manner. MOBOTIX therefore recommends also using a cable-based intercom station (such as MxDisplay).

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Release 2.1.2 of MxBell App

Creation Date: 2019-05-06

Publishing Date: 2019-05-08

Enhancements and Improvements

Push Notifications by All Cameras

From this release on, the app can receive and signal push notifications from all MOBOTIX IoT cameras of the Mx4/5 series (with firmware release 4.7.2.18 or higher) and Mx6 series (with firmware release 5.2.3.30 or higher). To configure this, open the Camera dialog and find the new Alarm option in the Notifications section. Activating this option will automatically configure the camera to send push notifications to MxBell for all configured events. The same applies to door stations using the additional Ring option in the same dialog.

Redesigned User Interface and Themes (App Background)

The face lift of this release provides a contemporary design and an improved user experience thanks to the new interface elements that are using overlay technology. The menu and tool bars of the app are thus smaller are easily blanked out (see next section). In the Themes section of the Settings, the Dark Theme provides a new look for MxBell, while the background of the standard theme has been changed to a lighter shade of white.

Full Image Display

In the Live, Playback, and Grid views, you can now tap of a camera image to show them in full screen mode. Tap again of the screen to unhide the overlay elements.

"Visitors" View

The new Visitors view collects all doorbell events of all door stations and provides an overview of all visitors that rang the doorbell at one of the door stations.

Bell Behavior and Specific Ring Tones

From this release on, the app will also show a ring notification, even if the app itself is open. Since the app uses different predefined sounds for doorbell and alarm notifications, you can easily differentiate between these two notification types. Open the Settings if you want to change the ring tone and the alarm tone.

Further Improvements

• Push notification during live view
  If one camera send a push notification while MxBell sends the live image of a different camera, the app automatically switches to the live image of the signaling camera.
• Optimizations for iPhone X
  This release works on iPhone X devices without any restrictions.

Bugfixes

• "Door Opener" icon (fixed in MxBell 2.1.2)
  After starting or activating MxBell, the "Door Opener" icon for door stations either did not work at all or only after waiting for a longer period of time.
• Setting the bell and alarms sounds (fixed in MxBell 2.1.2)
  When setting certain bell sounds (e.g., JingleBells) on Android devices, the app sometimes quit unexpectedly if settings for the alarm sound were being changed.
• Problems with iOS 12
  On the devices running iOS 12, the app sometimes stopped working properly.
• Audio issues on Android
  On devices running Android 8.0, using the audio features of MxBell sometimes resulted in issues when other apps wanted to use audio.
• Wrong time format on Android devices
  On Android devices, the app sometimes did not show the proper time format in the Player as set in the location/time settings of the operating system.
• Display issues when selecting a point in time
  Depending on the resolution/screen size of an Android device, the time selector of the Player (tumbler) sometimes appeared too large.

Known Limitations

• Restart after changed DynDNS address required
  When using a dynamic camera address (e.g., when using remote access via DynDNS), you may have to restart the app after the DynDNS provider has updated the camera's IP address. Otherwise, the app may not show the live stream of the camera.
• No skip functionality when using continuous recording
  The Playback view has been optimized for event recording. When using continuous recording (without events), the skip functionality to the previous/next event is not available.
• No indication of no recordings are present
  The Playback view does not actively indicate if no recordings are present on the selected camera.
• Missing notifications when deleting several unreachable door stations
  When deleting several unreachable door stations from the app at once, only one dialog will show a notification that you can still receive push notifications although the door station has been deleted.
• Restrictions when deleting unreachable cameras
  If a camera cannot be reached any more, it may be impossible to delete the camera from the app.

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Release 2.0.1 of MxBell App

Creation Date: 2018-04-25

Publishing Date: 2018-04-27

Enhancements and Improvements

Revised Playback View

The revised Playback View allows searching events recorded by the attached door stations and cameras for a specific point in time and to play back the clips using mobile connections.

Grid view

This new view provides a structured view of up to four camera live streams at once.

Distinctive MxBell Ring Tone

The new and distinctive MxBell ring tone ensures that you will not miss any door bell events.

Further Improvements

• MxBell Settings
  This new view collects general settings for the app.

Bugfixes

• Japanese translation now complete
  The translation of the app dialogs in Japanese was incomplete and has now been completed.
• Wrong camera added after Bonjour search
  When searching automatically for cameras using Bonjour, the app sometimes added the wrong camera although you had selected the proper camera. This error occurred especially in larger networks where many cameras were discovered by and by in the Bonjour search.

Known Limitations

• Restart after changed DynDNS address required
  When using a dynamic camera address (e.g., when using remote access via DynDNS), you may have to restart the app after the DynDNS provider has updated the camera's IP address. Otherwise, the app may not show the live stream of the camera.
• Restrictions when using proxies
  When using proxy servers, the app may not function properly.
• Wrong time format on Android devices
  On Android devices, the app sometimes will not show the proper time format in the Player as set in the location/time settings of the operating system.
• Display issues when selecting a point in time
  Depending on the resolution/screen size of an Android device, the time selector of the Player (tumbler) may appear too large.
• Optimizations for iPhone X
  MxBell is currently not yet optimized for the iPhone X.
• Subsequent changing of camera access data
  The app may freeze on Android devices if the access data of a camera in the camera list are changed after adding the camera.
• No skip functionality when using continuous recording
  The Playback view has been optimized for event recording. When using continuous recording (without events), the skip functionality to the previous/next event is not available.
• No indication if no recordings are present
  The Playback view does not actively indicate if no recordings are present on the selected camera.
• Missing notifications when deleting several unreachable door stations
  When deleting several unreachable door stations from the app at once, only one dialog will show a notification that you can still receive push notifications although the door station has been deleted.
• Restrictions when deleting unreachable cameras
  If a camera cannot be reached, it may be impossible to delete the camera from the app.

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Release 1.0 of MxBell App

Creation Date: 2017-11-10

Publishing Date: 2017-11-14

MxBell Features

The MOBOTIX MxBell app can be used as a mobile interface station for MOBOTIX door stations with P3 processor (PXA320). If someone rings the doorbell, the ringing is signaled via push notification in MxBell. MxBell can show the door station's live image, you can talk to the visitor and open the door.

You can also integrate other cameras, show their live image and open an audio connection to a camera. MxBell automatically finds and integrates all cameras present in the network that are also accessible via WiFi. Note that you can also add a remote address in addition to the local IP address for each camera or door station. The local address is used for accessing the cameras via the WiFi at home, while the remote address is used when you are on the road. For this purpose, you can define "locations" in MxBell. For each camera and location, you can specify either the local or a remote address and select the bandwidth to use for that connection. When using slow connections, the app will pull smaller images at a lower frame rate (1 image/sec) from the camera or door station and reduce the audio quality.

Notes on Setting Up and Using MxBell

• When searching and integrating door stations and cameras in MxBell, you need to make sure that the WiFi connection is stable. The same applies when you are removing devices from the app.
• When searching automatically, the app cannot find door stations and cameras for which only HTTPS (SSL) has been activated.
• In order to add a device to the app, make sure that you have login credentials of a user with administrative rights on the door station or camera.
• When activating Automatic Notification after adding a door station, the notification is activated for all bells that have been configured in that door station.
• Changes applied to the door station in the Admin Menu > Bell Behavior and Video Mailbox dialog or by using other external configuration tools, may require to manually add MxBell as a remote station in that camera dialog.
• Before removing the MxBell app from an Android/iOS device, you should remove any door stations added to MxBell.
• If you have not used MxBell for a longer period of time (i.e., several weeks), you should start MxBell at least once before you can receive push notifications from a door station.
• MxBell does not use its own bell notification, but the standard audio-visual mechanisms for signaling received push notifications as they have been set up on the Android or iOS device.
• On some Android devices, the sound may not function properly after opening an audio connection to a door station or camera for the first time. In this case, you need to close and re-open the audio connection to work properly.