Tuck · Comparisons · Tuck vs Kodak Cherish
Kodak Cherish in 2026: Cloud Killed Nov 2023 — Alternatives
TL;DR. Kodak Cherish baby monitors (C520, C525, C525IR, C525P) were bricked when Kodak Smart Home cloud servers were shut down without warning around November 2023. The cameras now attempt to reconnect to a dead server every five minutes, producing audible clicks in the nursery. The local parent-unit display still works in some configurations; smartphone monitoring does not. Don't buy one — even from retailers still listing inventory. Best alternatives: Tuck for a no-cloud-risk app-based monitor, Nanit/Cubo Ai/Owlet for current premium hardware, VAVA or Infant Optics for a Wi-Fi-free dedicated parent unit.
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At a glance
| Tuck | Kodak Cherish | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware cost | $0 (use existing iPhone) | — |
| Subscription | Free tier · Pro $7.99/mo or $79/yr | — |
| Two-way talk | Yes | — |
| Cry detection | Yes | — |
| Breathing tracking | No | No |
| AI-generated lullabies | Yes | — |
| Voice cloning | Yes | — |
| Sleep diary / analytics | Yes | — |
| Works without Wi-Fi | Yes | — |
| Multi-caregiver | Yes | — |
| FDA cleared | No | — |
| App Store rating | Pre-launch | — |
What Kodak Cherish was
Kodak Cherish was a line of WiFi-enabled baby monitors sold under the Kodak brand by licensee eBuyNow Commerce — Kodak itself didn't manufacture the cameras, it licensed the brand. The product line included the C520 (entry-level), C525 (1080p), C525IR (with infrared night vision), and C525P (with pan/tilt). The headline differentiator was hybrid hardware: each unit shipped with a 5-inch parent-unit display AND a smartphone app, so you could view from a dedicated screen at home or via the Kodak Smart Home app from anywhere.
When working, the product was decent. The 5-inch parent unit gave parents the simple-radio experience that Wi-Fi-only competitors abandoned, while the app added remote viewing for travel or the office. Battery-powered camera was rare in the category. Reviews from 2018-2022 were generally positive on the hardware.
The fragility was the same as every cloud-dependent baby monitor: the smartphone app and remote viewing depended entirely on Kodak Smart Home's servers. The local parent-unit display did not — that ran on a closed RF link between camera and screen.
What happened — the November 2023 cloud shutdown
Around November 2023, Kodak Smart Home cloud servers were shut down without warning. Owners discovered the failure by symptom: the app stopped connecting; remote viewing went dark; no notification was sent in advance; the support page provided no explanation; and most distressingly, the cameras themselves began to attempt reconnection to the dead server on a five-minute cycle, producing a quiet but audible click each time. Parents on Mumsnet and PTPA reported being woken by these clicks at night.
There was no migration path. There was no firmware update to redirect the cameras to a working server. There was no offer of a refund, a replacement, or a buy-back. The Kodak licensee (eBuyNow) appears to have wound down the smart-home product line; the broader Kodak brand kept operating in other categories. Owners were left with cameras that worked locally (parent unit) but had lost the smartphone-monitoring feature most of them had bought the product for.
Compounding the problem: retailers including Currys (UK), Walmart, Adorama, and eBay continued to list Kodak Cherish units for sale through 2024, with no indication on product pages that the cloud was dead. PTPA and Mumsnet reviewers updated their pages to explicitly warn buyers, but the units kept moving through retail channels because vendors hadn't been notified to pull stock.
What still works, what doesn't
Still working: the local 5-inch parent unit, where it pairs with the camera over the closed RF link. Live video and audio between camera and parent unit do not require the cloud and continue to function.
Not working: the Kodak Smart Home iOS and Android apps. Smartphone monitoring. Remote viewing from outside the house. Adding the camera to a new Wi-Fi network (the setup flow requires the cloud). Cloud video recording. Notifications.
Active nuisance: the cameras audibly click every five minutes attempting to reconnect to the dead Kodak server. There is no documented way to disable this behavior — it's hardcoded reconnect logic. Some owners have reported the click is loud enough to wake light sleepers in a quiet nursery.
Why cloud-dependent monitors do this — the worst-case version
Kodak Cherish is the worst-case version of the cloud-dependency failure pattern. Compare:
Arlo Baby: announced EOL with two years' notice (Jan 2023 announcement → Jan 2025 EOL → Jan 2026 security-update end). Polite wind-down, security tail, communicated through official channels.
Cocoon Cam Plus: ended consumer app support on May 31, 2020. Single date, but the company was a startup with limited communications infrastructure and no realistic way to notify the installed base.
Kodak Cherish: cloud servers shut down without warning around November 2023. No advance notice. No notification to customers. No retail-channel notification. Cameras continue to attempt reconnection in perpetuity, audibly. This is the failure mode where the manufacturer has simply moved on without acknowledging the customers who are still using the product.
The deeper structural issue is that Kodak Cherish was a brand-licensing arrangement: Kodak licensed its name to eBuyNow, which built and supported the product. When eBuyNow's smart-home line stopped being economically viable, neither party had clear obligations to the installed base. The Kodak brand kept selling cameras with no smart features. The licensee wound down. The customers got the worst of both.
The 2026 lesson: a cloud-dependent monitor from a brand-licensee is structurally riskier than one from a vertically integrated manufacturer (Nanit, Cubo, Owlet) or from a vendor with multi-year EOL commitments (Arlo, eufy). And the safest cloud-dependency posture is no cloud dependency — Tuck's Bluetooth Coded PHY fallback works regardless of which servers are alive, and closed-loop 2.4 GHz monitors (VAVA, Infant Optics, Babysense 7) have zero cloud risk by design.
What to buy instead
If you wanted Kodak Cherish's hybrid setup (parent-unit display + smartphone app), the closest current product is the Eufy SpaceView (~$160), which still ships both a dedicated parent unit and an app. Eufy has been a more reliable smart-home vendor than the Kodak/eBuyNow arrangement.
If you wanted a parent-unit-only experience with no app and no cloud risk, the VAVA 5-inch monitor (~$169) is the closest fit — closed-loop 2.4 GHz, 24-hour battery, 900-foot range, and an explicit no-internet design that cannot be remotely shut down because it has no servers.
If you wanted polished smartphone-app monitoring with strong sleep features, Nanit Pro ($399 + ~$120/year) is the category leader. More expensive than Kodak ever was, but Nanit has stayed actively invested in the baby-monitor category.
And if you want to stop spending on dedicated baby-monitor hardware altogether, Tuck turns two iPhones you already own into a real-time monitor. Free tier covers continuous monitoring, two-way talk, cry alerts. Pro at $7.99/month or $79/year adds AI scene understanding and generative lullabies. Critically, Tuck's design includes a Bluetooth Coded PHY fallback so the monitor keeps working even if any specific cloud component fails — the Kodak Cherish failure mode is not possible with Tuck's architecture.
Choose Tuck if… choose Kodak Cherish if…
Choose Tuck if
- You already had to deal with Kodak Cherish's cloud shutdown and don't want to bet on another vendor's cloud.
- You don't want to spend on dedicated baby-monitor hardware after one cloud-dependent device failed on you.
- You want a monitor that keeps working when the company stops investing — Bluetooth fallback works regardless of cloud status.
- You want AI features (scene captions, generative lullabies in a cloned voice) that didn't exist when Kodak Cherish launched.
- You have an old iPhone gathering dust that could be the nursery device.
Choose Kodak Cherish if
- Don't buy a used or new-old-stock Kodak Cherish in 2026 — the smartphone app is dead and will not return.
- If you specifically want a hybrid parent-unit + app setup, Eufy SpaceView is the current equivalent.
- If you want a parent-unit-only monitor with no cloud risk by design, VAVA or Infant Optics are the right buys.
- If you want premium smartphone-app monitoring with active vendor investment, Nanit Pro is the current category leader.
Frequently asked questions
Does Kodak Cherish still work in 2026?
The local 5-inch parent unit still works for live video and audio. The Kodak Smart Home smartphone app does not — the cloud servers were shut down around November 2023 with no warning. Smartphone monitoring, remote viewing, and cloud features have all been dead for over two years and will not return.
Why does my Kodak Cherish camera click every five minutes?
The camera's hardcoded reconnection logic continues to attempt to reach the now-dead Kodak Smart Home cloud server every five minutes. Each connection attempt produces a faint but audible click. There is no documented way to disable this behavior; the camera firmware was not updated before the cloud was retired. Many owners have reported the click is loud enough to be a real nuisance in a quiet nursery.
Will the Kodak Smart Home app ever come back?
Realistically, no. The licensee (eBuyNow) appears to have wound down the smart-home product line, and Kodak itself doesn't operate the cloud. There has been no announcement of a successor service, no migration path, and no firmware update to redirect cameras to a different server. After 2.5 years of silence, the right assumption is permanent.
Should I buy a Kodak Cherish in 2026?
No. Even if you find one new in box at a steep discount on eBay or a clearance retailer, the smartphone-monitoring feature has been dead since November 2023 and the camera will click audibly every five minutes attempting to reach a dead server. If you only want the local parent-unit experience, current products like VAVA or Infant Optics give you the same thing without the haunted-camera behavior.
What's the best Kodak Cherish alternative?
Depends on what you valued. For hybrid parent-unit + smartphone app, Eufy SpaceView. For parent-unit-only with no cloud risk, VAVA or Infant Optics. For premium smartphone-app monitoring with strong sleep tracking, Nanit Pro. For app-based monitoring with no dedicated hardware purchase, Tuck.
Why didn't Kodak warn customers before shutting down the cloud?
It's not entirely clear. The Kodak Cherish line was a brand-licensing arrangement — Kodak licensed its name to eBuyNow, which built and supported the product — and when the licensee wound down the smart-home line, neither party had clear obligations to the installed base or to retailers. The cloud went dark, customers found out by symptom, and retailers continued listing units for months because nobody told them to stop.
Can Tuck have the same problem?
Tuck's architecture is specifically designed to avoid this failure mode. Core monitoring (live video, audio, two-way talk) runs over LiveKit on a primary path and falls back to Bluetooth Coded PHY directly between phones if cloud services are unavailable. AI scene understanding requires cloud (Gemini), but it's an optional Pro feature, not the core monitor. If Veronata (Tuck's parent company) ever shut down, the Bluetooth fallback path would still work between two iPhones running the last installed version of the app, with no server in the loop.
Verdict
Kodak Cherish is the worst-case version of the cloud-dependency failure pattern: no warning, no migration path, and a haunted-camera reconnect click every five minutes that won't go away. Don't buy one, even cheap. If you want a hybrid parent-unit + app experience, Eufy SpaceView is the current equivalent; if you want no cloud risk by design, VAVA or Infant Optics; if you want premium app-based monitoring, Nanit. Tuck is the right call if you want to stop betting on dedicated baby-monitor hardware altogether and want a monitor whose offline path works regardless of any vendor's cloud status.
Looking for alternatives to Kodak Cherish in general (not just Tuck)? See Best Kodak Cherish alternatives in 2026 — five to six honest picks ranked by fit.
Sources
Every factual claim about Kodak Cherish on this page traces to one of the sources below — brand site, App Store listing, manufacturer pricing pages, mainstream press, and FDA records. Last verified April 30, 2026.