Baby monitor app for Android and iPhone: what works with two different phones

Guide · 2026-09-21

An Android phone and an iPhone can be paired as a baby monitor, but only with some of the apps. Of 27 baby monitor apps in the Swiss comparison, 17 exist for one system only. The remaining ten sit in both stores, and most of them do connect across system boundaries. The real hurdle lies elsewhere: two systems mean two app stores, and most apps want to be paid for in each of them separately.

This guide comes from the developer of the baby monitor app Murmeli. It describes what generally holds for apps of this kind, and it also names what Murmeli does not do better.

Why so many parents end up with exactly this combination

The second phone is nearly always an old one. Nobody buys a device for the job; you use whatever is still lying in the drawer.

That is precisely why the two phones so often fail to match. Someone who switched from Android to iPhone kept the old Android phone and carries an iPhone. With a switch in the other direction it is the other way round. And then there is the most common case of all: one parent has Android, the other an iPhone, and both want to be able to look in on the child.

First hurdle: two thirds of the apps exist for one system only

For the price comparison of baby monitor apps I went through the Swiss stores in August 2026. Across 27 third-party apps the picture looks like this:

17 of 27 apps are out before you have even tried them. The other half simply does not exist.

The best-known case is Dormi. Over a million installs, for years the classic among Android parents, and there is no iOS version. Anyone who knows Dormi, gets it recommended and has an iPhone in the house is back at the start immediately.

Survey date: 19 August 2026, Swiss stores.

Second hurdle: being in both stores is not enough

An app can sit in both stores and still only talk to itself on the same system. Some vendors maintain two separate versions that were never built for each other.

So I checked, for all ten, whether the vendor explicitly promises the mixed pair. Only what appears on the vendor's own site or in their help pages counts as a yes here.

"Unclear" does not mean "does not work". It means the vendor says nothing about it, and that I cannot check it without both phones and both purchases.

Checked on 21 September 2026.

Third hurdle: two stores want paying twice

This is the point no product page mentions first.

A purchase in the App Store applies in the App Store. A purchase on Google Play applies on Google Play. There is no way for Apple to hand a credit over to Google, and no vendor can arrange it past the stores while settling the purchase through them.

Two vendors write it down openly:

• Baby Monitor 3G: "The app is sold separately for Android, iOS, and macOS."
• Cloud Baby Monitor: one purchase for iPhone and iPad, another for Android, a third for the Mac.

The same holds for Murmeli. The unlock belongs to the store it was bought in. A mixed pair therefore means two purchases, one with Apple and one with Google.

Two phones on the same system help less than you would think, too. The purchase does not belong to the phone but to the account it was made with. Two Android phones share one unlock only if both are signed in to the same Google account, and two iPhones only under the same Apple ID.

With a baby monitor that is rarely the case. The device in the nursery is usually an old phone with its own account on it, or it belonged to the other parent and carries their account. Unless you re-register the second phone first, you pay twice even on the same system.

With subscription apps that have their own user account it works the other way round. There the access hangs on the app's account rather than on the store, so one subscription carries across both systems. In exchange it keeps running until you cancel it.

What these apps cost

All figures from the Swiss App Store or from the vendor's own site, checked on 21 September 2026. Only the Swiss store was checked, which is why everything here is in francs. Other countries show different amounts in the local currency in both stores. What does not change is the model: a one-off purchase stays a one-off purchase, a subscription stays a subscription.

Four of the eight are pure subscription apps. With those the question of paying twice does not arise, but the payment keeps running while the child sleeps in the nursery and afterwards as well.

For the one-off purchases the mixed pair works out like this: twice CHF 4.90 for Murmeli, twice CHF 6.95 for Baby Monitor 3G. After that, never again. A subscription at CHF 6.– a year is cheaper in the first year and dearer in the third.

What I would try before buying

Use the trial period on both phones, not just one. The connection between the two systems is exactly the one that has to work. An app running on two iPhones tells you nothing about it.

Check whether an account is required. With cross-platform apps the account is often the mechanism that carries access from one system to the other. If you do not want to create one, you have to stay with an app that works without.

Connect both devices over mobile data once. On the same Wi-Fi almost everything works. It gets interesting when one device stays at home and the other does not.

And Murmeli?

Murmeli turns two phones into a baby monitor and connects Android with iPhone as well, in both directions. The old Android phone can stand in the nursery with the iPhone next to you, or the other way round.

It needs no account, it records nothing, and it costs CHF 4.90 once instead of a subscription. Sound and picture travel encrypted and, where possible, directly from phone to phone. Where the network allows no direct route, a server in Switzerland relays.

What Murmeli does not do better than the others: here too the unlock hangs on the store account. A mixed pair costs twice CHF 4.90, and so do two phones on the same system as soon as different accounts are signed in on them. Only if both devices hang on the same Apple ID or the same Google account does one purchase do.

Frequently asked questions

Can you pair an Android phone and an iPhone as a baby monitor?

Yes, but only with some of the apps. Of 27 baby monitor apps checked, 17 exist for one system only. Of the ten that sit in both stores, seven explicitly promise that an Android device and an iPhone work together.

Do I have to buy the app twice if I have Android and iPhone?

As a rule, yes. A purchase in the App Store applies only in the App Store, a purchase on Google Play only on Google Play. The two stores do not pass credits to each other. The exception is apps with their own user account, where access hangs on the app's account rather than on the store – those are mostly subscription apps.

Is one purchase enough if both phones are Android?

Only if both are signed in to the same Google account. The purchase belongs to the account, not to the device. With a baby monitor that is rarely the case, because the phone in the nursery is usually an old one with its own account. For two iPhones the same holds with the Apple ID.

Which baby monitor apps exist for both systems?

Ten of the 27 apps checked sit in both stores, among them Baby Monitor 3G, Cloud Baby Monitor, Annie Baby Monitor, Bibino, Nani, TEDDY, Timmy and Murmeli. Dormi, the classic among Android parents, has no iOS version.

What should I watch for during the trial period?

The connection between the two systems, not the app as such. Try Android against iPhone rather than two identical devices, and connect the two over mobile data at least once instead of only on shared Wi-Fi.

In short

Using an Android phone and an iPhone together as a baby monitor is possible, but the choice shrinks at once to roughly a third of what is on offer. Of the apps that sit in both stores, seven explicitly promise that the mixed pair works.

Expect to pay twice. That always holds for the mixed pair and nearly always for two identical phones, because the old device in the nursery rarely has the same account signed in. With a one-off purchase that is twice five to seven francs and then never again. With a subscription you mostly pay only once, but you keep paying every month.

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