In short
- The Tapo app is free and good for checking in: live view, two-way talk, night vision, on-camera cry detection, microSD clips, viewing from anywhere. If you peek at the crib now and then, keep it and stop reading.
- Mamoon is for the night shift: it listens on your phone and tells crying from fussing, alerts you with the nursery sound muted and the screen locked, dims to a 1 % night screen, warns you when the camera drops out, and shows the night on one timeline in the morning. $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year after 30 free days.
- Where Tapo wins outright: two-way talk, recordings, watching from work without a VPN, and one app for everything. Mamoon has none of those.
- Where Mamoon wins: TP-Link's own moderator said the Tapo app closes when the screen is off and there is no audio-only mode. Mamoon keeps listening in the background and keeps the video on your Wi-Fi.
- You can use both on the same camera, with two catches: a Tapo camera allows only three local viewers, and only two of Tapo Care, microSD recording and ONVIF/RTSP can run at once.
Side by side
| Mamoon (with your Tapo camera) | Tapo app | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 30 days free, then $3.99/month or $24.99/year; only the watching phone pays | free; Tapo Care cloud from $3.49/month or $34.99/year (up to 2 cameras, 30 days of video), 30-day trial |
| Cry detection | on your phone: Calm / Stirring / Crying; "Only crying", "Crying and fussing" or "Every sound" | on the camera, one sensitivity slider; free on indoor models (C100, C200, C210, C220, C225…) |
| How the alert reaches you | on the watching phone itself, over Wi-Fi; works with the internet down | TP-Link cloud → Apple or Google push → phone; needs internet |
| Listening with the screen off | yes: sound keeps playing in the background; notifications with the nursery sound muted | no: per TP-Link, the app closes when the screen is off; no audio-only mode |
| Picture-in-picture | yes on iPhone | requested since July 2024, no date from TP-Link |
| Night screen | 1 % brightness, black, clock and state; brightens slightly on a cry | ordinary live view |
| When the camera drops out | gray "Offline" screen and an alert | not documented |
| Morning overview | the night on one timeline with a frame from every sound | microSD playback; Tapo Care clips with a snapshot in the notification |
| Two-way talk | no | yes |
| Recording | none | microSD up to 512 GB (free); Tapo Care cloud (paid) |
| Away from home | Tailscale (free VPN) on both ends | anywhere, through TP-Link's cloud, no setup |
| Where the video goes | your Wi-Fi only, camera to phone | local on your Wi-Fi at home; TP-Link's cloud when away; TP-Link account required |
| Several parents | several parent phones on one camera, within the camera's 3-viewer limit | share with up to 5 TP-Link accounts; 3 local viewers at once |
| Privacy mode | no (turn the camera in the Tapo app or unplug it) | yes: stops streaming and recording; a physical button on the C125 and C225 |
Tapo app features and Tapo Care prices from tapo.com and the TP-Link community as of September 29, 2026; see sources. Setting up the Camera Account is in the Tapo camera as a baby monitor guide.
What the Tapo app already does well
Credit where it is due: for a free app bundled with a $25–35 camera, the Tapo app covers a lot. Live view with infrared night vision, two-way audio so you can shush from the kitchen, pan and tilt, Baby Crying Detection on the camera at no charge, and a microSD card that records locally without any subscription. Two things a phone app cannot match: you can open the Tapo app on the train and see the crib through TP-Link's cloud with no VPN, and you can share the camera with up to five TP-Link accounts. Privacy Mode stops the camera streaming or recording with one tap, which matters once the nursery doubles as a guest room.
If the cry detection has been flaky, that is a tuning problem; the Tapo cry detection checklist goes through it.
So why would you use Mamoon with a Tapo camera?
Because the Tapo app was built to secure a room, and a baby monitor has different hours: the differences show up between 11 pm and 6 am.
- It listens on your phone, not on the camera. Mamoon takes the camera's sound over your Wi-Fi and classifies it right on the phone. The screen shows Calm, Stirring or Crying, and you pick "Only crying", "Crying and fussing" or "Every sound". A door, the dog or the TV count as Stirring, not as a cry. No audio leaves the phone.
- It keeps working with the screen off. TP-Link's own moderator wrote in 2021 that "if phone screen is off, the APP process will be temporarily closed" and that no audio-only mode was planned; a 2024 request for picture-in-picture on iOS got "we don't have any specific details" in reply. Mamoon plays the nursery sound in the background with the phone locked, and you can mute it and still be woken when the baby cries.
- The alert does not travel through a cloud. Tapo's crying alert goes camera → TP-Link cloud → push → your phone, and TP-Link states that notifications don't work without internet. Mamoon decides on the phone that is already showing the video, so an outage changes nothing.
- It notices when the camera goes quiet. When the stream stops, the screen goes gray with "Offline" and a notification comes. The Tapo app has no documented equivalent; a frozen live view looks like a sleeping baby.
- A screen you can sleep next to. The Night view drops to 1 % brightness on a black background with the clock and the state, and brightens a little when the baby cries. In the morning, the overview shows the night on one line with a frame from every sound, so you can see what the 3 am fuss actually was.
Can I use the Tapo app and Mamoon at the same time?
Yes, and for many families that is the right answer: Mamoon overnight, the Tapo app for talk-back, clips and the office. Three things to know:
- Create a Camera Account in the Tapo app (camera → Settings → Advanced Settings → Camera Account). It is what lets Mamoon see the camera. Steps and placement are in the setup guide.
- Count your viewers. TP-Link: "For local viewing, no more than three devices can view the live stream at the same time. Each ONVIF or RTSP connection also counts toward the local viewing limit." Two parent phones in Mamoon plus one Tapo app on the same Wi-Fi fills that up; Mamoon tells you when the camera refuses.
- Pick two of three. TP-Link's FAQ 724: "Only two of these three options can run at once: Tapo Care, SD card recording, and NVR/NAS/ONVIF software." Mamoon uses ONVIF, so if you run both Tapo Care and a microSD card, drop one of the two.
Good to know: the camera doesn't share its own cry verdict with other apps. Mamoon listens to the audio itself, which is also why it can tell fussing from crying.
When to keep just the Tapo app
- You mostly peek at the crib during the day and want an occasional alert. Free beats $3.99 for that.
- You want to talk to the baby through the camera.
- You want recordings: a microSD card, or Tapo Care clips.
- You check in from work and don't want to set up a VPN.
When to add Mamoon
- You want to be woken by crying, not by the radiator, and to know afterwards which one it was.
- You want to hear the room with the phone locked in your pocket, or mute it and still be alerted.
- You want to know right away when the camera stops sending, rather than finding a frozen frame at 4 am.
- You want the video on your own Wi-Fi with no account, and a monitor that runs when the internet is down.
Mamoon's limits, plainly. It needs a phone on the home Wi-Fi all night, so keep a charger by the bed. It has no two-way talk, no lullabies and no recording. It watches one camera per parent phone, so twins in two rooms need two phones. Away from home it works through Tailscale on both ends. And it is coming soon to the stores; the Tapo app is on your phone today.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Tapo Care to use the camera as a baby monitor?
No. Live view, two-way talk, microSD recording and Baby Crying Detection are free. Tapo Care adds cloud clips and a snapshot inside the notification. Mamoon doesn't need Tapo Care either.
Does Mamoon replace the Tapo app?
No, you keep it. You add the camera and create the Camera Account in the Tapo app, and you still use it for talk-back, clips and remote viewing. Mamoon takes over the watching itself.
Can two parents watch in Mamoon while a grandparent uses the Tapo app remotely?
Usually, yes. The three-viewer limit is for local viewing; TP-Link says remote viewing through its cloud has "generally no limit" on accounts or devices. Grandparents need their own TP-Link ID and a share from your Tapo app.
Does the Tapo camera's video go to the internet when I use Mamoon?
Not through Mamoon: the video goes over your Wi-Fi from camera to phone, with no account. The camera itself still talks to TP-Link's cloud for the Tapo app, notifications and Tapo Care; Privacy Mode or unplugging stops that.
Sources
- TP-Link FAQ 754: Tapo cameras, setup, features and settings (three local viewers, RTSP/ONVIF count; live view without internet; notifications with the app closed), opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link FAQ 724: Tapo Care, SD card recording and NVR/NAS/ONVIF, only two at once, opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link FAQ 34: Camera Account, RTSP stream1/stream2, ONVIF Profile S (no two-way audio over ONVIF), opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link FAQ 40: Device Sharing, up to five TP-Link accounts; what shared users can and cannot do, opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link FAQ 75: Privacy Mode (stops streaming and recording; physical button on C125 and C225), opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link FAQ 402: Sound Detection and Baby Crying Detection, supported indoor models, sensitivity, opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link FAQ 340: Rich Notifications (snapshot, Tapo Care required), notification schedule and Do Not Disturb, opened September 29, 2026
- Tapo Care plans and US prices ($3.49/month or $34.99/year for up to 2 cameras; 30-day trial), opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link: Tapo C200 (two-way audio, 850 nm night vision to 30 ft, baby crying detection, microSD up to 512 GB, 360° pan, 110.8° tilt), opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link Community: "Audio only" (C200 as a baby monitor); moderator, December 30, 2021: the app process closes when the screen is off, no audio-only mode planned, opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link Community: "Please add Picture-in-picture feature to the Tapo iOS app", July 22, 2024; moderator reply September 13, 2024; 134 votes, opened September 29, 2026
- TP-Link Community: baby crying notifications over ONVIF, feature request, January–February 2025, opened September 29, 2026
Spotted a mistake or an outdated figure? Write to [email protected].