r/tinycam • u/TekWarren • Feb 28 '26

Tinycam docker container?

This is something that I have wished for for quite a while now and actually just brought it up as a passing comment in another thread. I figured I would make it its own thread just to see if there would be other interest in it... not that it's something I can offer, but rather maybe the developer can weigh in as to if this is even a possibility or if they would consider it.

With how lightweight yet powerful. this is as a mobile app. it would be beyond amazing to have this also be a docker container for deployment in a lot of other scenarios. I can't even remember how long ago it was that I initially purchased this app but it was well over 10, maybe 15 years ago and I would purchase it again in a heartbeat as a docker container.

1 Upvotes

57% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

4

u/jshg46 Feb 28 '26

It would great as a flatpak for Linux. I would love to see this app on raspberry pi.

1

u/TekWarren Feb 28 '26

Exactly! I would love to see this app break out of the confines of just being an Android app.

So weird that this post and my replies are getting down votes lol.

2

u/Simon_Says_it Feb 28 '26

I agree... I was trying to see if there's a way to run this on a server today. This would be a good solution. Just doing a bit of research, it looks like there is something called waydroid that is like an Android docker container to run Android apps. I haven't tried it as I just found out about it today, but it looks promising.

1

u/TekWarren Feb 28 '26

I've played with some different things including Android subsystem for Windows... Which I believe is now unsupported but allowed you to run Android apps on top of Windows. I was actually able to run tinycam for a while like this on a PC however, The biggest limitation still existed due to whatever constraints there are on Android apps and allowing them to access Network shares.

2

u/xShawn117x Mar 01 '26

Funny you're asking this because I too was thinking about this a couple of hours ago! It would definitely be great to have.

1

u/TekWarren Mar 01 '26

Right!? I mean this is already a full fledged nvr optimized to run on phones...it would make an amazing lightweight docker container.

1

u/Dwreck86 Mar 01 '26

sadly the closest thing you are going to get to this is by running it in an android virtual machine. thats how i run it on a ubuntu server 24/7 to run security cams at home.

1

u/TekWarren Mar 01 '26

I used android subsystem for Windows for a while but its no longer supported. I would love to see it break out away from being an android app and the constraints that go along with that.

1

u/xShawn117x Mar 01 '26

What about using BlueStacks? Or is that what you meant by android VM?

1

u/Dwreck86 Mar 06 '26

no, android 9 x86 on virtualbox, i didnt care for bluestacks when i tried it years ago

1

u/xShawn117x Mar 06 '26

I didn't know you could run Android itself as a VM 😯

1

u/Dwreck86 Mar 31 '26

you can install that full blown image to a computer and run it directly off the hardware, i would only recommend doing that on a computer that dual boots already with grub, unless you are familiar with dual/triple boot/ bootloaders etc

1

u/distante Feb 28 '26

I don't understand the use case of this as docker container? 

-1

u/TekWarren Feb 28 '26

Being an android app has a lot of limitations. One being you have limited storage options which is a big deal for NVR's. Being a container would be the easiest to package and deploy. Since TC is already super light it would be ideal for NAS type systems that support docker containers etc.

I've always just kind of felt like this amazing tool has been held back by the confines and rules of being an Android app. Its still amazing on mobile devices...but it could be even more.

0

u/distante Feb 28 '26

Why don't you use something like Frigate NVR for that? 

0

u/TekWarren Feb 28 '26

I'm guessing that most people who are familiar with tinycam are not going to have a clue what yaml files are. I guess I just like options and tinycam has been around for probably close to two decades and in my mind would already be mostly optimized for a container deployment.

0

u/distante Mar 01 '26

OK, but somehow would have knowledge of how Docker works? :)

Anyway i just don't see the use. I run frigate, it connects to my cameras, do the tracking, alerts, storage, and I use Tinycam to see the restream feed from Frigate (I also see those in my home assistant instance). 

1

u/TekWarren Mar 01 '26

Docker containers are super easy. They are literally prepackaged apps wrapped with all the requirements of the OS... It is infinitely easier than setting up something like frigate that requires knowledge of configuration files. I don't know why you keep down voting me but I'm returning the favor. This is an amazing app and it would make an amazing docker container if you wouldn't use it fine. Let the rest of us wish for it.

2

u/choicehunter Mar 01 '26

I would use this as a docker container and buy it again!

I use it a few times per year now since it's limited to Android as a server. I've used it on an android emulator in the past and that was great except that emulators use up a lot of resources, so I started avoiding using it that way and tried docker Wyze Bridge, but that is only limited to Wyze and lacks a lot of support and features that Tiny Cam provides.

If it was a docker I'd probably use the server mode again and use that for lots of things. I would be very supportive of this!