# Kapal — Frigate NVR, Minimal & Fast > Minimal, secure iOS viewer for Frigate NVR systems. (iPhone/iPad app by JudeWorks.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kapal/id6748327011 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [JudeWorks](https://appshunter.io/developer/1749456254) - Category: Utilities, Photo & Video - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.50/5 from 10 App Store ratings · 7 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 18.5 · 44 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2025-08-01 - Data updated: 2026-08-07 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kapal/id6748327011/reviews.md ## What is Kapal? Kapal A minimal, secure viewer for your Frigate NVR system. Kapal is a lightweight and privacy-focused iOS and iPadOS app built specifically for users of the Frigate NVR (Network Video Recorder) system. Designed with simplicity, performance, and security in mind, Kapal lets you connect to your Frigate server and monitor your camera feeds with ease, without unnecessary bloat. Key Features: - Live Camera Grid: View all your cameras in a clean, real-time grid layout. - Minimal Mode: Hide borders, labels, and UI elements to maximize visibility. See more cameras at once with less scrolling. - Full-Screen Playback: Tap any feed to enter fullscreen live view. - Picture in Picture: Keep a live camera visible while using other apps or navigating around your device. - Event Review: Browse and replay past detection events directly in the app. - H.265 / HEVC Support: Watch supported H.265 / HEVC live streams and Event Clips directly in Kapal. - Privacy-First Design: Built natively with no analytics, trackers, or data collection. Whether you’re reviewing a single feed or monitoring multiple zones, Kapal keeps the interface fast, clean, and efficient. Disclaimer: Kapal requires an existing Frigate NVR system to function. H.265 / HEVC support is still evolving and compatibility may vary depending on your camera, stream configuration, and Frigate/go2rtc setup. If an Event Clip does not play correctly in Kapal, it may still work in a dedicated video player such as the VLC mobile app. ## Key features - Live camera grid view - Minimalist interface mode - Full-screen live playback - Review past detection events - Privacy-first design - H.264 event playback support ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Kapal+ | $2.99 | one-time | ## Recent user reviews (7 of 7) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kapal/id6748327011/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Great viewer for Frigate NVR *2026-07-10* This is the app I’ve been missing! A few things I’m hoping you can add in the future though: 1) easier way to switch between servers if you have multiple defined. It’s buried a few taps deep right now. 2) a way to deep link into a particular camera from another app (e.g. home assistant) so I can have a notification from HA launch Kapal into a camera live feed or recording. Thanks for the great work! **Developer response:** Thank you so much for the kind words! It really means a lot to hear that Kapal is the app you’ve been missing. I also really appreciate you taking the time to write up such thoughtful feedback. Good news on your first request: an easier way to switch between multiple servers is already coming in v1.9. I completely agree that the current flow takes too many taps, so that should be a much smoother experience soon. I also love your second idea. Deep linking directly into a specific camera from apps like Home Assistant makes a ton of sense, especially for notifications, and I’m going to add that to the roadmap as well. I’d like to get both of these completed for you. Thanks again for the encouragement and for helping make Kapal better! ### 5/5 — Finally a good Frigate viewer! *2026-04-11* Just switch from android and struggled between the meh frigate apps available on iOS. Kapal just works, connected to my frigate over https and it’s seamless. This is the app you want. **Developer response:** Thank you so much! Reviews like this really pump me up to take Kapal to the next level. I’m really excited about the next couple of features in the pipeline. If you ever have any suggestions or issues, please reach out via the contact button in the app! Thank you again for your time and kind words! ### 5/5 — I can’t believe it’s free! *2026-03-17* I love this app! It is the best way to view my Frigate installation on iOS. It just works **Developer response:** You are too kind. Super happy that you enjoy it. Tell your nerdy NVR friends :) ### 5/5 — Needs a valid ssl cert but developer has contacted me and we will work on it. *2026-03-09* Just set up Cloudflare ddns and tunneling. App is improving and developer eager to get it working for everyone. **Developer response:** Edit 3/11/26: 1.5 is now out which lets you connect with whatever network combo you have now. Thank you again! Original: Hi — thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. I won’t get into specifics here, but I’d genuinely love to better understand your setup. I personally run a very similar self-hosted/DDNS configuration and it works well on my end, so there may be something small we can adjust. I’m a solo developer and I personally respond to every email. If you’re open to it, please reach out directly at hey@judeworks.app — I’ll work with you one-on-one to figure it out. Also, you’re absolutely right about visibility around support. Adding a clear support email on the landing screen is a great idea, and I’ll be including that in the next release. Building this has been a bit of a leap of faith — detailed feedback during development is rare (I’ve heard from roughly 0.002% of users), and I’m genuinely grateful to those who reach out. It directly shapes what gets improved next. If you’re willing, I’d really appreciate connecting. ### 5/5 — Having issues without a valid ssl cert but developer has contacted me and we will work on it *2026-02-13* We were planning to use this to monitor our garage remotely. We don't have a website host so we cannot acquire a secure ssl cert. Hopefully we can get it working. The developer seems interested and eager to make sure the app works for all situations. **Developer response:** Hi — thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. I won’t get into specifics here, but I’d genuinely love to better understand your setup. I personally run a very similar self-hosted/DDNS configuration and it works well on my end, so there may be something small we can adjust. I’m a solo developer and I personally respond to every email. If you’re open to it, please reach out directly at hey@judeworks.app — I’ll work with you one-on-one to figure it out. Also, you’re absolutely right about visibility around support. Adding a clear support email on the landing screen is a great idea, and I’ll be including that in the next release. Building this has been a bit of a leap of faith — detailed feedback during development is rare (I’ve heard from roughly 0.002% of users), and I’m genuinely grateful to those who reach out. It directly shapes what gets improved next. If you’re willing, I’d really appreciate connecting. ### 1/5 — Useless without valid ssl cert. Too clever by half. No option to go to site without it. *2026-02-08* We were planning to use this to monitor our garage remotely. We don't have a website host so we cannot acquire a secure ssl cert. We don't NEED a ssl cert. If somebody wants to see gravel and a garage door, go for it. Seems it only works on a LAN. Ok so if I'm THERE I don't need it. I need it when I'm AWAY. We go through a ddns. However, this app is too clever by half, not allowing us to connect through our ddns because the app thinks we're too stupid and will get hacked by our own site via iphone. Hey, lets us have the option to continue like any other app would do. 1 star b/c it is a non-functional app unless you go get/or pay for an ssl cert which i can't do anyway because i am hosting my own Frigate feed. "Contact dev: Tap on settings." Of course, settings is nowhere to be found because I cannot log in to my service. **Developer response:** Hi — thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. I won’t get into specifics here, but I’d genuinely love to better understand your setup. I personally run a very similar self-hosted/DDNS configuration and it works well on my end, so there may be something small we can adjust. I’m a solo developer and I personally respond to every email. If you’re open to it, please reach out directly at hey@judeworks.app — I’ll work with you one-on-one to figure it out. Also, you’re absolutely right about visibility around support. Adding a clear support email on the landing screen is a great idea, and I’ll be including that in the next release. Building this has been a bit of a leap of faith — detailed feedback during development is rare (I’ve heard from roughly 0.002% of users), and I’m genuinely grateful to those who reach out. It directly shapes what gets improved next. If you’re willing, I’d really appreciate connecting. ### 5/5 — Works great *2026-01-07* This app coincides nicely with Kapal. It’s had a few new versions coming out with each one adding to the experience. Pretty happy with it and anxious to see future versions! ## Frequently asked questions about Kapal ### What is Kapal? Kapal is a minimal and secure viewer for your Frigate NVR system, designed for iOS and iPadOS. It allows you to monitor live camera feeds and review past detection events with a focus on privacy and performance. ### Does Kapal have ads? No, Kapal does not contain advertisements. It is built with a privacy-first design and does not include any third-party trackers or analytics. ### What devices does Kapal support? Kapal is available for iPhone and iPad devices, offering a native experience optimized for both platforms. ### How often is Kapal updated? The latest version of Kapal is 1.5, and it was last updated on March 11, 2026. This indicates a commitment to ongoing development and improvements. ### Can I review past events with Kapal? Yes, Kapal allows you to browse and replay past detection events, provided they are recorded in H.264 format by your Frigate system. ### What is the age rating for Kapal? Kapal has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for a wide range of users. ### What are the in-app purchases for Kapal? While the app is free, it offers in-app purchases. Specific details on what these purchases unlock are not provided in the description, but they are typical for enhancing functionality or features. ### Does Kapal require a Frigate NVR system? Yes, Kapal requires an existing Frigate NVR system to function. It acts as a viewer and interface for your established NVR setup. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.9 — 2026-07-14 Kapal 1.9 is here—and it’s one of our biggest updates yet! A Completely Revamped Live Camera View The portrait camera experience has been rebuilt from the ground up. Your live video remains front and center, while useful information and controls are now conveniently available below the stream. The new camera panel includes: • Live connection and stream status • Quick access to available stream qualities • Active detection information • Snapshot sharing • Camera feature controls • Recent camera events New PTZ Camera Controls Kapal+ users can now control compatible ONVIF PTZ cameras directly from the live view. PTZ support includes: • Pan and tilt controls • Press-and-hold directional movement • Zoom in and out • Direction pad and joystick control styles • Compact and expanded control sizes • Quick access to camera presets Cloudflare Tunnel Support — Beta Kapal can now connect to Frigate servers running behind a Cloudflare Tunnel. This makes it easier to securely access your Frigate server remotely without directly exposing it to the internet. Cloudflare Tunnel support is currently in beta, and we would love to hear about your experience. Faster Server Switching with Kapal+ Managing multiple Frigate servers is now much faster. Kapal+ users can quickly switch between saved servers without returning to setup or repeatedly entering connection details. Thank You to Our Roadmap Community A huge thank-you to everyone who votes and submits feature requests through the Kapal Roadmap! Your feedback directly helps shape the future of Kapal, and many improvements in this release were inspired by your ideas. Please keep the requests and votes coming—we’re listening. Performance and Reliability Improvements • Improved live-stream connection and fallback behavior • More reliable H.264 and HEVC video playback • Improved event clip compatibility and playback recovery • Faster clip loading with smarter caching • Improved server connection and authentication handling • Better camera health monitoring and automatic failover • Improved background-task reliability • Numerous interface refinements, stability improvements, and bug fixes throughout the app ### 1.8.1 — 2026-06-30 Kapal+ Health Alerts are here. Offline camera alerts have been expanded into a new Health Alerts section, now with low-storage warnings for your Frigate storage locations. This update includes: - New low-storage alerts with per-storage GB thresholds - Health Alerts now combines camera offline alerts and storage alerts in one place - Fresh health checks when opening the Health Alerts page, so camera status and storage amounts are up to date - Improved playback compatibility for some H.265/HEVC event clips, including cameras that produce `hev1` tagged video files - Video playback errors are now shown in a cleaner location instead of covering the video preview - Smoother live camera snapshots with less bursty loading, better WebP handling, and improved fallback behavior on slower Frigate systems - More forgiving local connection checks for slower networks, VPNs, and busy Frigate servers - Improved filter loading so cached camera and label filters are preserved when startup metadata is slow to respond - Fixed an Activity by Camera text layout issue in System stats - General polish and reliability improvements for alert handling, playback, snapshots, and connection handling A sincere thank you to everyone who reaches out with logs, screenshots, camera models, and detailed issue reports. That feedback is a huge part of why I can keep improving Kapal across more real-world Frigate setups. My family will only let me buy so many cameras, so reports from your systems help me fix things I could not reproduce on my own. If you run into any issues, please email me from inside the app. Those reports really do help shape fixes and improvements. ### 1.8 — 2026-06-27 New Feature: Timeline (Kapal+) Timeline is now in Kapal+ as an early release, and I’m genuinely excited to finally ship it. It’s already usable and already useful, and we’re committed to improving it over the next few months based on how you use it. What this changes for you: - Quickly jump through your Frigate history with Timeline scrubbing and go straight to event moments, instead of hunting through clips one by one. - See everything that happened around an event, not just one camera at a time, with Play all cameras at once for much better context. - Use local network playback where needed (Only on local network) for better reliability in busier environments. - Turn on settings that match your workflow, like Default zoom, Snap to events, and Group related events, to review events your way. Thanks to everyone supporting the app. Your support has made this possible. We also added the most requested feature with the same focus on real-world use: practical, hands-on monitoring that can actually be used daily. For feedback, suggestions, or bug reports: - Use Contact Support from the App section in the app, or - Email us at support@judeworks.app Need ideas for fixes or features? Check out Roadmap in-app and submit your request directly. ### 1.7.5 — 2026-05-30 Fixed additional connection issues that prevented some users from connecting to their servers over certain connection types. ### 1.7.4 — 2026-05-29 This update resolves an issue introduced while tightening app security. I went a bit too far, and Tailscale unfortunately became a casualty. Apologies for the disruption, and thanks for your patience. ## Apps similar to Kapal | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [CrowsEye](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crowseye/id6756637453) | 4.6 (10) | $2.99 | Utilities | | [Viewu](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/viewu/id6502717790) | 5.0 (7) | Free | Utilities | | [Viewer for Frigate](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/viewer-for-frigate/id6760414150) | 5.0 (3) | Free | Utilities | | [Unraid Deck - Server Manager](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/unraid-deck-server-manager/id6757081677) | 4.7 (23) | Free | Utilities | | [Securex Nvr](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/securex-nvr/id6742030555) | 3.7 (12) | Free | Utilities | | [Lumen for Frigate](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lumen-for-frigate/id6760238729) | 2.0 (3) | Free | Utilities | ## More apps by JudeWorks - [HA Monitor](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ha-monitor/id6503596723) - [Living Frame](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/living-frame/id6503719516) - [BayScout](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bayscout/id6504303031) - [ReelTracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reeltracker/id6590614990) - [Play Poster](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/play-poster/id6730111434) - [DueView: Stats for Reminders](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dueview-stats-for-reminders/id6744546366) All apps by JudeWorks: https://appshunter.io/developer/1749456254 ## Related topics [frigate nvr](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/frigate-nvr) · [frigate](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/frigate) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-07.*