Getting Started

What is zmNinjaNg?

zmNinjaNg is a client application for ZoneMinder, an open-source video surveillance system. It lets you:

• View live camera feeds from your ZoneMinder server

• Browse and play back recorded events

• See multiple cameras at once in a montage view

• Receive push notifications when events are detected

• Manage multiple ZoneMinder servers via profiles

• Customize your dashboard with widgets

zmNinjaNg runs on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and the web from a single codebase. It is a rewrite of zmNinja using React, TypeScript, Capacitor, and Electron.

Requirements

ZoneMinder Server

• ZoneMinder 1.36 or newer

• API access enabled (OPT_USE_API = 1)

• A valid SSL certificate (or plain HTTP). For self-signed certificates, enable Allow self-signed certificates in Settings > Advanced. On desktop, you may also need to add your CA to the system trust store. Let’s Encrypt is one option.

Client

• Web: Any current browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)

• Desktop: Windows 10+, macOS 11+, or Linux (x86_64)

• Android: Android 8.0+

• iOS: iOS 15+ (you must build from source - see iOS Build Guide)

Quick Start

1. Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases

2. Open the app - you’ll land on the Profiles screen

3. Add a profile by entering your ZoneMinder server URL, username, and password

4. Test the connection - zmNinjaNg will validate your credentials and discover the API

5. Save the profile and you’re in

See Installation for detailed instructions per platform, and Profiles for profile configuration options.

Navigation and sidebar

The sidebar (fixed on the left on desktop, a slide-out menu on mobile) moves you between the main screens: Dashboard, Monitors, Montage, Events, Timeline & Heatmap, Notifications, Profiles, Settings, Server, and Logs.

Controls at the bottom of the sidebar:

• Menu Order: drag the navigation items into the order you prefer. The order is saved per device.

• Theme: a quick toggle that switches theme without opening Settings.

• Keep screen awake (Insomnia): stops the device from sleeping while you watch live feeds. Useful on a wall display or while monitoring.

• Kiosk lock: locks the app into kiosk mode; unlocking requires your PIN or biometrics. See Kiosk Mode.

Supported Features

Feature	Status
Live monitor viewing	Supported
Event browsing and playback	Supported
Montage (multi-camera) view	Supported
Customizable dashboard	Supported
Event timeline and heatmap	Supported
Push notifications (mobile)	Supported on iOS and Android. Works out of the box with App Store / Google Play builds; custom builds need their own Firebase credentials
In-app notifications	Supported (foreground toast notifications on all platforms)
Multiple server profiles	Supported
Monitor groups and filters	Supported
PTZ controls	Supported
Themes	Light, Cream, Dark, Slate, Amber (+ System auto-detect)
Internationalization	5 languages (EN, DE, ES, FR, ZH)

What’s Different from zmNinja?

zmNinjaNg is not a port of zmNinja, it’s a new application built from scratch. Differences:

• UI built with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui

• 3-4x faster load times, virtualized lists for long scrolls

• 60-75% smaller download size

• Passwords encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM (hardware-backed on Android via Android Keystore)

• No analytics or third-party tracking

• Desktop apps via Electron

• Drag-and-drop dashboard widgets

• Notification history

See the full comparison for details.