Help & FAQ

Live webcams go offline temporarily for many reasons: the source removed it, the host server is down, or the local network at the cam site dropped. Pull-to-refresh on the camera list; if the cam stays down for >24 hours, email us and we'll either fix or remove it.

Check three things:

1. iOS Settings → Notifications → Port of Cams → Allow Notifications must be ON
2. In the app: Settings → Push for high-activity moments must be ON
3. In the app: Settings → Surf alerts must be enabled with a threshold and spot selected

Alerts fire when the polled buoy reading crosses your threshold. Quiet surf weeks mean no alerts — that's normal.

Settings → Manage subscription (inside the app), or iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Port of Cams → Cancel Subscription. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period. All cancellations and refunds are handled by Apple, not by us.

Yes. The app includes 49+ cameras across Hawaii, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Acadia, Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, and Denali. The Weather tab will use your phone's location if you allow it; if not, it defaults to Honolulu.

All weather data comes from official sources: National Weather Service, NOAA Tides & Currents, USGS, Open-Meteo, and RainViewer. We don't manipulate the values. If you see a value that looks wrong, check the source link in Settings → Data Sources to see where it came from.

Only to show the cameras and weather nearest you. Location data is processed on-device and is never sent to our servers. If you deny location, the app defaults to Honolulu — everything still works.

Make sure your iPhone and Watch are paired, on the same Apple ID, and the Watch app is installed (Watch app on iPhone → Available Apps → Port of Cams → Install). Open the iPhone app at least once after install; saved cams sync via Watch Connectivity within 30 seconds.

Yes please. Email cams@portofcams.com with: the source URL, a brief description, and (if available) the embed code or RTSP stream. We focus on Hawaii and U.S. National Parks but consider all suggestions.

The Lewers Street camera transmits both an HD and a sub-stream. The HD feed occasionally has packet corruption over its uplink, so we route to the sub-stream when the HD is unstable. The fallback maintains 24/7 uptime — quality returns automatically when the HD recovers.

Uninstall the app. There's no account, so nothing else persists on our servers more than 30 days after uninstall (Apple invalidates the push token, which we then drop).