Murmeli
Baby Monitor 3G or Murmeli? An honest comparison
Baby Monitor 3G is a very good app, and if you already own it there is little reason to switch. It has been on the market since 2012 and is rated 4.7 stars on the App Store. You don't get there by luck.
Two differences are measurable: Murmeli costs USD 5.99 once instead of USD 7.99, and Murmeli encrypts the picture end to end between your two devices rather than securing only the transport path. Murmeli is built in Switzerland, and its servers are there too.
This page is written by the people who make Murmeli. That makes it all the more important that the figures on Baby Monitor 3G are right: everything here comes from TappyTaps' own App Store listing and website, as of 16 September 2026. Where Murmeli is the weaker choice, that is below as well.
Both apps at a glance
| Baby Monitor 3G | Murmeli | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | USD 7.99 once | USD 5.99 once (CHF 4.90 in Switzerland) |
| Subscription | none | none |
| Account needed | no | no |
| On the market since | 2012 | 2026 |
| App Store rating | 4.7 stars | too new |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Encryption | SSL on the transport path | end to end between the devices |
| Maker | TappyTaps s.r.o., Czechia | Switzerland |
| Servers | not stated | Switzerland |
| Audio with the screen locked | yes | yes |
| Free trial | separate trial app | two days on iPhone, two hours on Android |
Sources: the Baby Monitor 3G App Store listing and babymonitor3g.com, retrieved 16 September 2026. Prices vary by country.
What Baby Monitor 3G does well
These points speak for Baby Monitor 3G
- Fourteen years of experience. The app launched in 2012, when video calling on a phone was still new. Whatever edge cases have come up since, they have long been dealt with there.
- 4.7 stars on the App Store. That is a lead in trust Murmeli will not close any time soon.
- There is a Mac version. If you want the parent device running on your desk, you can do that. Murmeli cannot.
- More features. Night mode, lullabies, motion detection and more. Murmeli deliberately does less.
- No subscription, no account. That is true of Baby Monitor 3G exactly as it is of Murmeli. Switching for that reason means switching for the wrong reason.
The price
Baby Monitor 3G costs USD 7.99 as a one-time purchase. Murmeli costs USD 5.99, or CHF 4.90 in Switzerland. Neither has a subscription, neither has running costs.
That is a difference of about two dollars, once. It is not an amount that justifies uninstalling an app that works. But if you own neither yet and both would do what you need, it is the cheaper route to the same place.
Worth putting in context: both apps belong to the minority that manages without a subscription at all. Of 28 baby monitor apps we looked at, 13 ask for one. On this question Baby Monitor 3G and Murmeli are on the same side.
The technical difference
This is where the real difference sits, and it is not a matter of taste.
What Baby Monitor 3G states
TappyTaps describes the connection as encrypted with SSL. SSL secures the transport path: anyone listening in along the way sees nothing. It is the same protection every website with the padlock in the address bar has, and it is solid.
What Murmeli does
Murmeli builds a direct connection between your two devices over WebRTC and encrypts the picture from one end to the other. On the same Wi-Fi the data flows straight from phone to phone and touches no server at all. If the two devices cannot find each other directly, a relay steps in that passes the data through without being able to read it. It stands in Switzerland.
The practical difference: with a transport-encrypted connection there is a point at which the data would technically be readable. With end-to-end encryption there is not. Whether that matters to you depends on how you think about pictures from your child's room.
Murmeli also records nothing. There is no recording, no history, no storage. What you don't see in the moment is gone.
The name says something about the age
“3G” was the mobile standard current in 2012. Nobody calls over 3G today; the networks have been switched off across much of Europe. The name stayed, the app did not stand still: the last update is a few days old and it requires iOS 15 or newer.
The difference is real all the same. An app designed in 2012 carries decisions that had to be made in 2012. WebRTC, the technology behind Murmeli, was only being built into browsers and phones in those same years and is today what video conferencing runs on. Murmeli could build on it from the start.
Both keep running with the screen locked
This gets asked a lot, so plainly: both apps keep transmitting audio when the screen is locked. Baby Monitor 3G explicitly lists background audio and a vibration alarm; Murmeli holds a foreground service on Android and the background audio session open on iPhone.
What pauses in both is the video picture on the baby device. That is not a decision by either developer but a rule of iOS and Android: an app in the background gets no camera access. If you want a continuous picture, the baby device has to stay unlocked with the app open. Audio and alarms keep running either way.
What Murmeli cannot do
Honestly
- No Mac version. Baby Monitor 3G has one, Murmeli does not. Two phones or tablets, and that is it.
- Far less experience. Fourteen years on the market is a real lead, and no feature list makes up for it.
- Fewer features. No lullabies, no motion detection. Murmeli does picture, sound and a noise alarm, and nothing else.
- A short trial. Two days on iPhone, two hours on Android. Enough to check whether the connection holds in your home, no more.
- The video picture pauses in the background – as it does with Baby Monitor 3G, so it is not an advantage, merely not a drawback.
Which app when
Stay with Baby Monitor 3G if you have already bought it and it does what you need. Likewise if you want the parent device on a Mac, or use the extra features.
Take Murmeli if you own neither yet and two things matter to you: that the transmission is encrypted end to end and never sits readable anywhere in between, and that development and servers are in Switzerland. That it also costs two dollars less is a side effect, not an argument on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Is Murmeli better than Baby Monitor 3G?
No, not in general. Baby Monitor 3G has a fourteen-year head start, more features and a Mac version. Murmeli is cheaper, encrypts end to end and comes from Switzerland, servers included. Which of those is better depends on what you are looking for.
What does Baby Monitor 3G cost?
USD 7.99 as a one-time purchase, as of 16 September 2026. No subscription, no monthly fees. The price varies by country.
Do either of them need an account?
Neither. Baby Monitor 3G explicitly states that no registration is required, and Murmeli asks for neither an email address nor a password.
Does the baby monitor keep running when I lock the phone?
The audio does, in both apps. The video picture pauses in both, because iOS and Android give a backgrounded app no camera access. Alarms and vibration still work.
Does Murmeli work over mobile data?
Yes. On the same Wi-Fi the devices connect directly. On different networks the connection runs through a relay in Switzerland that passes the data on without decrypting it.
What does Murmeli cost?
USD 5.99 once, or CHF 4.90 in Switzerland. No subscription, no account. Try it first for free: two days on iPhone, two hours on Android.
Figures on Baby Monitor 3G as of 16 September 2026, taken from the public App Store listing and the maker's website. If you spot an error here, write to us and it will be corrected.