Nest Labs Inc. announced the Nest Cam IQ indoor security camera, which can differentiate between animals and people and track movement while sending alerts about who is in the house.

Instead of just showing you what’s happening, Nest Cam IQ is smart enough to differentiate between a person and your cat and can alert you accordingly — with no subscription required, the company described. When it detects a person, it can send a person alert to the user’s phone and will automatically zoom in on and track the person in the frame so the viewer can get better information about who they are and what they’re doing. And with a Nest Aware subscription, users can even get personalized alerts based on who is in the house (e.g., the name of a family member, the dog sitter or a stranger).

“When designing Nest Cam IQ, we focused on what we’ve learned from our customers, which is that people don’t want more information, they want insights,” said Matt Rogers, Nest co-founder and chief product officer. “So we combined intelligence with excellent image and sound quality to deliver the insights customers need, at the right time. These insights can range from telling you the kids are home from school to sending an alert if an unfamiliar person is in the living room.”

Nest Cam IQ uses a 4K image sensor (8 MP), 12x digital zoom and enhance, and high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. With two powerful 940 nm infrared LEDs, night vision evenly illuminates the scene without a red glow.

The camera’s speakers are seven times more powerful than the original Nest Cam and an advanced three-microphone array also delivers noise suppression and echo cancellation for a clearer audio.

It also encrypts video on-device before streaming and storing video content, using 128-bit AES with TLS/SSL secure connection. With two-step verification, users can select an optional extra layer of security for their Nest account, and with automatic over-the-air updates, cameras can be automatically updated against the latest threats.

When Nest Cam IQ identifies that there’s a person within the camera’s field of vision — rather than a pet or a shadow on the wall — it can send a special alert with a curated zoomed-in photo. Person alerts is only available on previous Nest Cam models with a Nest Aware subscription.

When customers check the app to see what’s happening, they’ll see a high-definition picture-in-picture experience, including a full 130-degree view of the room, and a close-up tracking view of the person in the home. 

Facial recognition learning technology is used to identify, categorize and teach Nest Cam IQ to differentiate between family members and strangers. This means users will know when their child gets back from school, or when an unrecognized person enters their home. Alerts can refer to people by name if you identify familiar faces within the Nest app.