Signing In to an NVR
PanoPaper signs in to your NVR with a user name and password, the way UniFi Protect's own web page does. You sign in once; PanoPaper stays signed in from then on, also after a restart.
To sign in, open Settings ▸ Cameras and double-click the NVR, or select it and click 'Sign In…'. To add an NVR PanoPaper did not find, click + - choose 'Add UniFi NVR…' if it offers a choice. The sheet asks for:
- Address - only when you add an NVR with +: its host name or IP address. A web address such as
https://192.168.1.10works too. Signing in to an NVR PanoPaper found or already knows, the sheet names it at the top instead. - User name and Password - an account on the NVR (see below). To see the password you typed, click the eye at the end of the Password field; click it again to hide it.
Click 'Sign In'. If it fails, the sheet stays open and says why in red; correct it and try again.
To sign in with another account or password later, double-click the NVR again. With another account, displays that showed a camera this account may not watch go back to your normal wallpaper.
To sign out, select the NVR in Settings ▸ Cameras and click 'Sign Out…'. PanoPaper forgets the saved password and stops showing the NVR's cameras; the NVR stays in the list, and your camera choices come back when you sign in again. To take an NVR off the list altogether, remove it.
Which account to use
Use an account that lives on the NVR itself, ideally one made just for PanoPaper: in the NVR's UniFi OS settings, add a user for local access only. Your UI.com login - the one you use for the UniFi apps and website - does not work here, and PanoPaper cannot answer a two-factor authentication prompt, so the account must sign in with its password alone. Unsure? Click 'Which account should I use to sign in?' above the user name in any sign-in form.
In UniFi Protect, the user's Device Permissions decide what PanoPaper can do with each camera:
- Livestream - the minimum. Without it, no camera shows.
- Livestream Audio - optional, to hear a camera's audio.
- PTZ Control - optional, to turn and zoom PTZ cameras.
Nothing else is needed.
PanoPaper only watches: it never changes a camera's settings. The one exception is a PTZ camera, which it turns and zooms when you ask it to - see PTZ Cameras.
What the account may do
With a signed-in NVR selected, the line under the NVR list names the account and its role in UniFi OS - for example "Signed in as panopaper with role Viewers". An owner or administrator account without a role name shows "(owner)" or "(administrator)" instead.
What the account may do is set per camera, so the camera list shows it for each camera, with a green check or a red cross:
- Video - the Livestream permission, needed for the camera to show.
- Audio - the Livestream Audio permission, needed to hear the camera.
- PTZ - the PTZ Control permission, needed to turn and zoom it. Shown for PTZ cameras only.
Point at a red cross to see which permission to turn on. To give the account more, turn the permission on for that camera under the role's Device Permissions in UniFi Protect - for all devices, or per device.
Your password
PanoPaper keeps the password in your keychain, and nowhere else. Removing the NVR from the list deletes it.
The NVR's address
When the NVR has a name on your network - for example nvr-main.local - PanoPaper connects by that name rather than by its IP address, even if you entered the IP address, so it still finds the NVR after its IP address changes. A host name you enter is kept as it is. The Address column shows the address in use; hold the pointer over a name to see its IP address.
The NVR's certificate
The first time you sign in, PanoPaper remembers the NVR's security certificate. From then on it refuses to connect to a device with a different one, because something else could be pretending to be your NVR. If you reset or replaced the NVR, its certificate changed legitimately: remove it from the list and sign in again.
When signing in fails
- "The user name or password is incorrect." - check both; the password is case-sensitive. Remember that the account must sign in without two-factor authentication. It also shows when the account's password was changed on the NVR after you signed in: PanoPaper stops using the NVR and does not try the old password again, not even when it opens again. Double-click the NVR and sign in with the new one.
- "This account uses two-step verification - probably your UI.com login." - PanoPaper cannot answer the second step. Sign in with a local UniFi account instead (see Which account to use).
- "The NVR refused too many sign-in attempts. Wait a few minutes, then try again." - the NVR blocks sign-ins for a while after several failed ones, and while it does, it gives this answer whatever the password. PanoPaper then stops signing in to the NVR, also when it opens again, until you sign in. Wait a few minutes without signing in with that account anywhere - each attempt may keep the block going - then double-click the NVR and sign in.
- "The NVR's security certificate has changed." - see above.
- "This device does not run UniFi Protect." - the address belongs to another UniFi device, such as a gateway without Protect.
- "The NVR could not be reached." - check the address, that the NVR is on, and that PanoPaper may use your local network (see Troubleshooting).
An NVR that cannot be reached for a while - after sleep, or while the network is down - is not a problem: PanoPaper keeps trying on its own, and at once when your Mac wakes or the network comes back.
