DS cam vs Amcrest View Pro for iPad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DS cam
Monitor and receive alerts from your Synology surveillance cameras. Control PTZ, patrols, and lens functions in real-time. Easily filter recordings and manage essential tasks like disabling cameras or deleting snapshots.
- Real-time camera monitoring
- Alert notifications
- PTZ, patrol, and lens control
- Advanced recording filters
- Essential management tasks
- Snapshot management
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You must own a Synology NAS or NVR to run this app, and be running the latest Surveillance Station to get the complete set of features. DS cam makes it possible to monitor and receive alert notifications from all your surveillance cameras set up on a Synology DiskStation. Smart features such as PTZ, patrols or lens control allow for perfect control of your cameras in real-time, while advanced filters make it easy to pinpoint any specific event from large lists of recordings. You can even perform all essential management tasks, from disabling a camera to unlocking and deleting a snapshot. Find all detailed features about the app on our website: www.synology.com > Solutions > Surveillance > Surveillance Mobile > Specifications https://www.synology.com/dsm/7.2/software_spec/surveillance_station
Amcrest View Pro for iPad
View live footage from your Amcrest HDCVI Camera DVR and NVR systems. This application allows you to configure your cameras and monitor them remotely from anywhere in the world.
- Remote camera viewing
- Camera configuration
- HD CVI support
- DVR and NVR integration
- Global access
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Amcrest View is used in conjunction with Amcrest HDCVI Camera DVR & NVR systems. Configure your cameras together with the Amcrest View app to see your cameras from anywhere in the world!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: DS cam at 3.0 against Amcrest View Pro for iPad's 1.9. DS cam also leads on review sentiment (32% vs 17%) and device support (3 vs 1). Amcrest View Pro for iPad's advantage is iOS requirement (7.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
DS cam holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 1.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 177 and 141 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 32% of DS cam's written reviews are positive against 17% of Amcrest View Pro for iPad's.
DS cam ships an update every 4 months, Amcrest View Pro for iPad every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DS cam | Amcrest View Pro for iPad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (177 ratings) — better | 1.9 (141 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 32.2% of reviews — better | 16.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 177 — better | 141 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 7.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 85 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Synology Inc. | Amcrest |
Customer experience
DS cam
Amcrest View Pro for iPad
User reviews
DS cam
From 177 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Works great
- 👍 Good and useful app
- 🚀 Fast and stable
- 👍 Completely control camera recordings
- 👍 Toggle through events easily
Room to improve
- 🐛 Regular app crashing
- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🐛 Cannot scroll back in timeline without issues
- 🐛 Event viewer rarely works
- 🐛 Slow and clunky
Amcrest View Pro for iPad
From 141 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📹 Good quality camera hardware
- 🌍 Remote access from anywhere
- 🎯 Motion detection with email alerts
- ⚙️ P2P connection capability
- 🎬 Playback motion skip feature
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes on iPad
- ❌ Connection failures and timeouts
- ⚠️ Poor UI/UX design
- 🔄 Inconsistent performance across devices
- 📊 Outdated and neglected software
Bugs and requests
DS cam
Reported bugs
16 issues- Regular app crashing
- Cannot scroll back in timeline without issues
- Event viewer rarely works
- Keeps buffering
- Crashes constantly
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Battery drain
- Push notifications not reliable
- Cannot click on push notifications
- Cannot download h265 videos
- Notifications missing thumbnails
- Slow login process
- Loses remembered connections
- Slow to connect
- Notifications stopped working
- Crashes iPhone 14 Pro
- Incompatible with older Surveillance Station versions
Requested features
11 requests- Selective motion notifications
- Custom notification sounds
- Ability to categorize alerts
- Live scrubbing on timeline
- Bookmarks and advanced filtering
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Ability to download h265 videos
- Faster login process
- Ability to retain remembered connections
- Apple TV app
- Dark mode for all screens
- Ability to quickly switch between cameras
Amcrest View Pro for iPad
Reported bugs
21 issues- App crashes when changing playback parameters
- Crashes when adding or deleting cameras
- P2P connection failures on iPad only
- Login timeout errors persist across updates
- Push notifications not working on iPad
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- Failed to connect errors with new camera models
- Playback stuck on year 1969 timestamp
- Video playback jumps forward or to end unexpectedly
- Live view image freezing and jumping
- Out of memory errors after few hours
- Cannot save videos to iPad
- Screen recording doesn't capture audio
- App doesn't return to live view from menu
- Playback cannot reset to single camera view
- HD quality setting not saved between sessions
- App freezes and spins frequently
- Incompatibility with iOS 10 and iPadOS 13.2+
- User locked error requiring DVR restart
- Images freeze on screen with 4K cameras
- App doesn't launch or stuck on first screen
- Camera connection drops randomly
Requested features
16 requests- Dark mode/night-friendly UI
- Full screen mode with auto-hiding controls
- QR code setup for multiple devices
- Shortcuts integration
- 2-camera split screen view option
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Simple day picker for playback instead of time range
- Configuration center on iPad app
- Touch ID support on iPad
- Auto-play last opened camera on app launch
- Motion detection sensitivity adjustment
- Preset camera controls
- Video file format conversion on iPad
- Region mask selection for monitoring
- Recording management (format, delete, download)
- iPad Pro display optimization
- Support for new camera models
In-app purchases
DS cam
No in-app purchases
Amcrest View Pro for iPad
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is DS cam free?
Is Amcrest View Pro for iPad free?
Which has better reviews, DS cam or Amcrest View Pro for iPad?
Do DS cam or Amcrest View Pro for iPad have ads?
Which is updated more often, DS cam or Amcrest View Pro for iPad?
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