Secluso is a private, open-source, DIY home security camera system built around the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, featuring true end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and on-device AI for human, pet, and vehicle detection. It was designed as an alternative to commercial smart home cameras that require sending raw video feeds to a proprietary cloud, a practice that often raises significant privacy concerns.
Developed by Secluso, Inc., co-founded by UC Irvine professor Ardalan Amiri Sani and John Kaczman, the project utilizes Messaging Layer Security (MLS, RFC 9420) to ensure end-to-end encryption between the camera and the user’s smartphone. Because the system uses an untrusted relay (either self-hosted on a VPS or via Secluso’s free beta relay), the server routing the footage only sees encrypted files and cannot decrypt the video or thumbnails.
Secluso hardware requirements:
- SBC – Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
- Camera – Raspberry Pi Camera Module V1 (OV5647) or V2 (IMX219)
- Audio & Sensors – HAT with a microphone and safety temperature sensor (included in official kits)
- Enclosure – Official Raspberry Pi Zero enclosure, 3D-printable custom housing, or Secluso’s IR-pass acrylic cover
The software focuses on security and privacy. The core camera hub and server software are now written in Rust rather than in OpenSSL-based C code, making them safer and less prone to memory-related bugs. It also uses post-quantum encryption to protect data even from future attacks where hackers might try to decrypt stored data later. All parts of the system, including Secluso OS and the mobile apps, use reproducible builds, so anyone can verify that the software matches the public source code, and firmware updates are only installed if they come from signed and trusted GitHub releases. The mobile app is available on the iOS App Store and Google Play. Android users can also use Obtainium to download the app directly from GitHub’s release page. For notifications, the system doesn’t rely on Google services and uses its own relay for iOS and supports UnifiedPush on Android, so Firebase Cloud Messaging is optional.
Despite all these features, the system is designed to be deployed in just 5 minutes as the v1.0.2 release introduces Secluso OS, a minimal, Yocto-based Linux image. Users simply flash the image using the Secluso Deploy desktop utility available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The utility automatically handles injecting unique credentials, configuring the relay over SSH, and setting up the camera without requiring the user to open a terminal. You can find the source code, build instructions, and the detailed security whitepaper on their GitHub released under a GPL license, and the “Build Your Own Guide” explains how to build your own camera. Users can fully self-host the open-source relay/server on their own VPS, so no cloud is required.
For those who don’t want to get into ordering different parts from different vendors and setting up their own server, Secluso is opening pre-orders this month (May 2026). They are offering a limited run of 100 DIY Kits for $50 (which include the night vision camera module, custom mic/temp HAT, and housing parts, and 1 year of Secluso Cloud for free) with an estimated delivery of 2–3 months. A fully assembled Plug and Play version is also available for $100, with an estimated delivery of 4–6 months and a free year of Secluso Cloud. After the included free year, Secluso Cloud is available optionally for $5/month or $50/year. Please note that pre-orders will ship to the US only initially.
Via Hackster.io
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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This does not sound right.
“featuring true end-to-end encryption (E2EE)”
Yea, the website cnx-software.com also have “featuring true end-to-end encryption (E2EE)”.
This is the most normal thing.
Next:
” also uses post-quantum encryption”
Yes, the website cnx-software.com also offer post-quantum encryption.
“After the included free year, Secluso Cloud is available optionally for $5/month or $50/year.”
What a scam. When the camera have Internet access (it have to have internet when it can reach their “cloud”), then just connect to the camera itself using for example Tor. There is a full raspberry pi inside. People can run whatever software they like on it.
I’m one of the co-founders of Secluso and I’d like to provide some clarifications.
We use a state-of-the-art end-to-end encryption protocol, MLS, that provides forward secrecy and post-compromise security. E2EE is not new, but we’re not aware of any other home security camera solution that supports what we support.
Regarding the relay: our code is open source and you can configure your own relay without having to use ours. We provide the optional relay for users who might not have the technical expertise to set up their own relay.
Yes, it is technically possible to use Tor instead of the relay. We opted for the relay for a couple of reasons. First, we support livestreaming and video latency is important. Second, we don’t think it’s right for us to sell cameras that use Tor by default. Tor runs on volunteer nodes and a large number of cameras streaming over Tor could cause resource issues for the Tor network.
That all being said, our project is open source. If someone from the open source community would like to add support to Secluso for the use of Tor instead of the relay, we’re happy to work with them.
Maybe I misunderstand but I think the previous comment missed something
“untrusted relay (either self-hosted on a VPS or via Secluso’s free beta relay)”
If you can just buy the hardware and get their app, configure it to use your own hardware as the relay, what is the issue? The main reason you’d have some cloud server thing is usually to make the video accessable outside your network – that’s what the relay you host yourself would do. To me it sounds like exactly what I’ve been looking for: I buy a camera and download the software, run it on my local hardware, and get connected cameras that I don’t need a subscription for. If this holds true I might buy 5 or 6 of them
“The main reason you’d have some cloud server thing is usually to make the video accessable outside your network ”
The video is accessible outside your network when you just use Tor on a Single Board Computer. The device have then worldwide accessible .onion address.
You ignored my critics on using all those advertisement words for no reason. You used for example E2EE to write your comment. This is the most normal thing since over a decade.