Haven: Keep Watch

Guardian Project: Apps You Can Trust

About this app

Haven is for people who need a way to protect their personal spaces
and possessions without compromising their own privacy. It is an
Android application that leverages on-device sensors to provide
monitoring and protection of physical spaces. Haven turns any Android
phone into a motion, sound, vibration and light detector, watching for
unexpected guests and unwanted intruders. We designed Haven for
investigative journalists, human rights defenders, and people at risk
of forced disappearance to create a new kind of herd immunity. By
combining the array of sensors found in any smartphone, with the
world’s most secure communications technologies, like Signal and Tor,
Haven prevents the worst kind of people from silencing citizens
without getting caught in the act.

## Project Team

Haven was developed through a collaboration between Freedom of the
Press Foundation and Guardian Project. Prototype funding was
generously provided by FPF, and donations to support continuing work
can be contributed through their site:
https://freedom.press/donate-support-haven-open-source-project

## Safety through Sensors

Haven only saves images and sound when triggered by motion or volume,
and stores everything locally on the device. You can position the
device’s camera to capture visible motion, or set your phone somewhere
discreet to just listen for noises. Get secure notifications of
intrusion events instantly, and access logs remotely or anytime
later.

The following sensors are monitored for measurable change, and then
recorded to an event log on the device:

* Accelerometer: Motion and vibration of phone
* Camera: Motion in the phone’s visible surroundings from front or back camera
* Microphone: Noises in the environment
* Light: Change in light from ambient light sensor
* Power: Detect device being unplugged or power loss/shutdown

Ratings and reviews

All I wanted (and expected from the public hype on this app) is an app that can repurpose my old smartphone into a "security camera" that can send a live feed OVER WIFI to either another WiFi connected smartphone or PC. I did not expect the "old" phone to require an active phone company account to become a "security camera". Instead, Haven appears to require your repurposed phone STILL have an active phone account, and only sends data/images via messaging services. No continuous live video feed over WiFi is possible...unless I missed it. Also, the initial "configuration" protocol guides you through MANDATORY setups for movement, vibration, and sound, each of which display arbitrary "sensitivity" numbers at you expecting you to know what they mean.as you adjust them. The decibel number is somewhat obvious, but even then as an example of needless complexity...in a quiet room with an "average" decibel reading, according to the app, of about 30 (A or C weighting unknown), the adjustment numbers rapidly change from about 40 to over 90 without explaining why and how it relates to sensitivity. You have no control over the numbers as they appear to constantly and rapidly change randomly.

Installed on a secondary device, a $30 Android phone. I use it when I need to leave any of my gear unattended, mostly in hotel rooms. It works well, and gives me piece of mind. It's worth noting, that you cannot capture recordings of anyone without their knowledge or consent, in most countries. A simple way around this, is to just leave a little sign saying Recording in Progress nearby. Most people won't think anything of that, but at least your covered.

Pretty useless. Tested it by activating it then moving my hand in front of the camera. When I stopped collecting info and looked at the logs, there was nothing recorded. There's just a big arrow pointing to the "view logs" button, which if you click it returns you to the main menu. Not even an error message to let you know what's wrong. Can't recommend. Uninstalled as not fit for purpose.

What's new

WARNING: DUE TO CHANGES IN GOOGLE POLICY, HAVEN CAN NO LONGER SEND SMS TEXT MESSAGES. PLEASE USE SIGNAL NOTIFICATIONS INSTEAD.

Big thanks to @lukeswitz, @archie94 and @fattire for the excellent trudging and grinding!

- Removed SMS feature due to Google restrictions #364
- Improved usability and reliability of Signal number registration
- Improved power monitoring #371
- Custom heartbeat status #374

More at: https://github.com/guardianproject/haven/releases/tag/0.2.0-beta-5-signed