Find all the hidden settings in the Blink app and get the Mini 2 doing exactly what you want
There are a range of smart home cameras out there, from the Philips Hue Secure and Nest Cam, to Ring’s Stick Up Cam and Blink’s cameras. The Blink Mini 2 was revealed earlier in 2024 and it brings with it a host of features in a very cute and compact format.
We’ve covered off how to set up Privacy Zones on the Blink Mini 2 and how to set up activity zones in separate features, but here we have rounded up our top nine tips for getting the most out of your Blink Mini 2 smart home camera.
Reduce motion sensitivity
The Blink Mini 2 is excellent for motion sensitivity, though actually, it’s almost a little too excitable at times. You can reduce its motion sensitivity however, which should mean it doesn’t alert you every time a leaf blows in the wind if you have it outside, or the dog’s tail wags.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Motion Settings > Adjust the Motion Sensitivity slider > Tap ‘Save’ in the top right corner.
Change the Retrigger Time
When motion is detected, your Blink Mini 2 will start capturing footage. It will continue recording for a set period of time, based on your chosen clip length. The Retrigger Time is the time in between a clip ending and the Mini 2 recording again and it can be adjusted between 10 seconds and 60 seconds.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Motion Settings > Adjust the Retrigger Time slider to your preference > Tap ‘Save’ in the top right corner.
Note that the length you pick will be how long the Blink Mini 2 won’t detect motion for after a motion event.
Change the video quality
The Blink Mini 2 is capable of recording in 1080p but by default, it doesn’t record in the “best” resolution it can. You can choose between Best, Standard and Saver with Best requiring a 3Mbps upload speed or higher, Standard requiring 2Mbps and Saver requiring 500Kbps.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Video and Photo settings > Video Quality > Select between the three options > Hit ‘Save’ in the top right corner.
Get a photo every hour
Hidden within the Blink Mini 2’s settings is the option to get your Mini 2 to take a photo every hour. Your Blink Mini 2 will need to be on and armed, but after that, it will capture it’s field of view once every hour.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Video and Photo settings > Toggle on Photo Capture.
Change the clip length
You can choose how long you want a Motion Clip Length to be, with the options ranging between 5 seconds and 30 seconds, going up in increments of 1 second.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Video and Photo settings > Move the Motion Clip Length Slider between 5s and 30s > Press ‘Save’ in the top right corner when you’re done.
Stop recording when motion has ended
This one is off by default which means your Blink Mini 2 will record a video clip for the duration you set rather than just until motion has ended. You can change that however so that your Mini 2 will record while motion is detected and finish as soon as motion stops.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Video and Photo settings > Toggle on ‘End Clip Early If Motion Stops’ > Tap ‘Save’ in top right corner.
Set up a Privacy Zone or Activity Zone
As mentioned, we have covered these tips off separately, but if you want to block your Mini 2 recording a particular area, or you only want to be notified about motion detected in a particular area, Privacy Zones and Activity Zones are your friend.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Motion Settings > Select Motion Zones.
For Activity Zones, you simply select rectangles to create an activity zone you want to be notified about if motion occurs within that area.
For Privacy Zones, tap the Privacy Zones tab at the top and tap and drag the rectangles to create a zone where your Mini 2 camera won’t detect motion or record video.
Create a schedule
We recommend setting up a schedule for your Blink Mini 2 camera as you probably don’t want it to be recording all the time. It might be that you work from home Tuesday and Thursday and want the Mini 2 to record motion every night after lights out, as well as all day Tuesday and Thursday.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the Settings tab at the bottom > Select ‘Device and System Settings’ > Choose your camera under Systems > Select Scheduling > Tap on ‘+’ in the top right > Choose when you want your Mini 2 to be armed or disarmed.
Adjust your notifications
You may find that being notified for every single detection of motion is a little much. If you have signed up for the Blink Plus Plan, you can choose to filter your notifications to only notify you when people are detected. You can also choose to turn motion detection off entirely.
Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Motion Settings > Tap on ‘Motion Recording Types’ > Choose between All Motion and Person Detection.
If you want to turn Motion Detection off entirely then: Open the Blink app > Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your Blink Mini 2 video feed > Tap on Device Settings > Tap on Motion Settings > Toggle off Motion Detection at the top.
