Sony Action Cam with WiFi. HDR-AS15. How to connect to your phone or tablet.

IMG_1439-300x225 Sony Action Cam with WiFi. HDR-AS15. How to connect to your phone or tablet.
The tiny WiFi enabled Sony Action Cam.

Finally my Sony Action Cam arrived. I purchased the WiFi version so I can monitor the pictures on my iPhone or iPad when setting it up or maybe when using it as an impromptu pole-cam on the end of a microphone boom pole. I have not had a chance to do take an in depth look at the images yet, the weather here is pants, grey and misty and anything I shoot at the moment looks soft. Anyway, after charging up the camera using the supplied USB cable (there’s no charger, you have to use a laptop or get a USB power adapter) I decided to try to connect it to my iPhone.

IMG_1438-e1351023887191-300x225 Sony Action Cam with WiFi. HDR-AS15. How to connect to your phone or tablet.
The huge but terrible Action Cam manual.

First problem: The manual is…. err…..  well….  how can I say this politely…  it’s carp. It’s a huge sheet of paper with an almost incomprehensible flow chart of the menu options and a few brief paragraphs of text. Finally I found the bit that I needed however, the WiFi connection instructions. These comprehensive (not) instructions tell you to turn the WiFi on and connect to your device using the login details on a tiny sticker attached to the giant piece of paper.

OK, so I have a login and password, but what software do I use? Eventually I found a link to the software on one corner of the manual that tells you to use something called “Play Memories Home”. At first, assuming this was an app I did a search on the Apple store and found a Sony app called Play Memories and installed this on my phone. However this is some sort of media sharing app for your photos and has no way to connect to the camera. Next I followed the link to www.sony.net/pm which took me to a page where I could download a PC application, but still no iPhone app. By now I was getting somewhat frustrated, this should be really simple!

Anyway after some digging around I finally found the right app, it’s called Playmemories Mobile. Click here to go to the apple store. Even after you have installed the app things are not entirely obvious. You need to run the app on the phone, then turn on the camera. Press the Prev or Next buttons to fire up the camera and go to the setup menu, press next till you get to setup and then press the record button to select. then using prev/next go to RMOTE press record to select, and then set ON using prev/next. This turns on the WiFi. Now on the phone with the app running you will see a cryptic error message saying “Search the shooting device from the network settings of the terminal and set it”. This is telling you to go to the phones WiFi settings and search for a network with the same name as the SSID on the tiny sticker on the instruction sheet (I peeled my sticker off and stuck it on the side of the camera). Select the WiFi network and enter the supplied password. The phone should now connect to the camera, you won’t see the normal WiFi indication at the top of the phones screen. Go back to the Playmemory mobile app and you should now be able to see the live feed from the Action Cam.

What a palava! Now that I can get connected I’m pleased to say that the lag between the camera and iPhone is only minimal, about 1/3rd of a second and the image quality on the phone is plenty good enough for framing and camera setup, so I happy at last. But come on Sony, you really need to do a better job of the manual. There’s more information on EC and FCC directives on interference and battery disposal than there is on how to actually use the camera.

93 thoughts on “Sony Action Cam with WiFi. HDR-AS15. How to connect to your phone or tablet.”

  1. Thanks Alister. I was going through that huge but terrible sheet of paper trying to work out exactly the same thing. Now can you tell me how to mount the camera anywhere with a microphone plugged into the socket on the bottom? It seems much easier with a GoPro in a skeleton housing.

  2. Hi Alister,

    Got mine today … so much fun.

    FYI, I found there’s a full manual on the camera when you connect it to the computer that gives more “step by step guide” …. shame it’s not a paper manual 🙂

    David
    (disclaimer, I work for Sony)

  3. This helped a ton, once connected the iPhone as a Viewfinder works pretty good.
    First thing I tried was the 120fps in 720p which resulted in very smooth slow motion.
    I would love to see a zoom attachment for this like you can get for the iPhone.

  4. Thanks Alister, I’ve been trying to work this out for ages!!! Worked first time with your instructions. Sony please take note, the manual is utter rubbish even the technical support team on the phone at Sony HQ couldn’t work it out.

    Cheers

    1. Yep, the paper manual is terrible. There is a better PDF manual stored on the camera. Connect the camera to a laptop via USB and you can open the PDF manual.

  5. I can connect to the camera hdr-as15 however my droid bionic playmemories app just says connecting….. when i select the hdr-as15 via the app. So this tells me a problem with the app exists not with the wifi on the hdr-as15. The connecting…. will just time out after some time. Ive tried starting the app first and also done it in reverse no difference…. app timesout. Im going to return to Amazon if i cant get wifi. No support from sony that i can see after looking all over net. Sony apparently has a disclaimer “this app might not work on all phones”. My quote will be not all poeple are going to put up with this type of support or the lack of for that matter.

    1. I had to change the camera time-out to 1 minute on my camera to get a successful connection the first time, if you don’t the camera WiFi times out before you can enter the password.

  6. Alister thankyou so much and Sony are you kidding me WTF is that with the WIFI set up on a iPhone. I got my camera a month ago and only today decided to hook up the WIFI , it was through the grace of God my wife hadn’t thrown out my code on the super sheet of instructions. My FS700 was easier to set up than this , really what hope do the punters have. Plus while I having a bitch I want to mount the camera without a housing.

    Here is a little video I did mounted under a surf board. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu0q3V0t6RE

    Thanks again Alister you are the man.

    Regards Rob

    1. The other little know fact is that a better manual is stored on the camera as a PDF file. Connect the camera to a laptop and you can open and read the PDF.

  7. Have just discovered my wife has thrown out the paper with the wifi key on. Is there a default ??? Help please

  8. Hi, does anyone know or has already done to connect it to the pc (wifi) as you do with the app on the iphone?
    thanks

  9. hi,
    can someone help us.
    My problem is that connecting the camera with my laptop it appears on the camera screen “USB”, but it’s not charging the battery …
    + I don’t find any pdf file on the camera …

  10. I’m guessing that your battery is dead but the camera is still in the ON mode. Disconnect the USB cable, remove the battery for 10-15 seconds then reinstall the battery. Do not push any buttons after you reinstall the battery or it will turn the camera ON and you don’t want this because it will not charge when ON. Plug the micro USB cable into your camera and you should see the little LED light up on the bottom of the camera. Let it charge for a while and you should be good.

  11. I’m really frustrated…and hugely disappointed in this camera. $300.00…are you kidding me. I’ve loaded the app on my Samsung Galaxy SIII, turned on the wi-fi, got a connection, then poof!!! Disconnected. I too have been all over the web and haven’t found a fix. I went into the SIII settings and then developer options and switched ‘off’ the DO NOT KEEP ACTIVITIES slection under Apps. Still nothing. I’m about to stomp on it to see how sturdy the housing is! Any ideas?….please e-mail. Thanks

  12. Any idea if there is a better app for the iPhone of iPad than the crappy “Playmemories” app? Can’t stream to the iPhone or iPad. Can’t copy videos if your software version on your phone or your iPad are 5.1.1 or later (uh, duh it’s the 21st century).

  13. Tx for the instructions ….. But when I try copy the video clip onto my iPhone or iPad I get a message that it can’t copy. Any ideas as to the problem?

  14. Hi there,

    I have followed all your advice and failed to connect.
    All i get from my I-phone is
    “search the shooting device from the networksetting of the terminal and set it”

    What the hell does that mean ?

    Please can anyone help? Sony you should crucified for having such stupid instructions

    David

    1. You need to go to the wifi settings of the phone and connect to the actioncam via the wifi settings. The issue with this is you need to get the camera to stay powered up and the wifi on long enough for the phone to detect it and allow you to log on.

      1. Connecting the Actioncam HDR-AS15 to the iPad 4 9 (iOS 6.1) by wifi:
        1. Get the password (located on a little piece of paper on the instruction sheet which comes in the box). You need the password only once like any other wifi connection with your iPad. Just in case I lose the password, I took a photo of the password using the iPad camera.
        2. The default auto power off setting on the camera is 10sec. Change this to 60secs. You have to do this because while you are attempting to connect the camera to the iPad for the first time the unit powers off and the iPad can no longer detect the wifi signal from the camera.
        3. Go to settings in the iPad-Wifi. Ensure wifi is on. Wait until the iPad detects the wifi signal then select in. Enter the password which is case-sensitive.
        4. Having already downloaded and installed Playmemories Mobile from the iTunes store onto your iPad- open this up. The app will connect to the camera via wifi now. You can see what the camera sees, start and stop recording, change settings, and transfer videos.
        5. Connecting the camera to the iPad via wifi for the purposes of seeing what the camera sees and activating recording functions does not allow the transfer of the videos. You have to activate that function separately from the camera – then you can copy images to the iPad. It does work.

  15. Hi Alister,

    Thx for the clear explanation.

    The setup went quite good (despite the BS-manual) but the only thing I can do in the app is copying the images onto my Iphone. I don’t know how I can use the app as remote-control for my phone. Maybe I’ve overlooked something but I don’t think so.

    Any help?

    thx a lot,

    Airbus322
    Belgium

  16. I have the I pad 2 with ios that is not 4.1 and I can’t download ios4.1 in order to download play memories what can I do? Help please!

  17. Hi,

    I am in the same position as Airbus 322, can view the files but there is no way of recording or changing settings.

    Can copy pictures only and that all.
    Iphone 3gs, Playmems version 2.2.0

    any info would be appreciated
    Cheers
    Riz

    1. Are you absolutely sure you have the right app? There are two called PlayMemories. One is for browsing and copying files from various devices the other is for controlling and viewing the live camera stream. The one you want is PlayMemories Mobile.

  18. Hi Alister,

    Yes I am sure I have play mems mobile.

    I have 2 apps on the phone one is the playmems online mobile and the other is play mems mobile.

    All I seem to get from the latter is a display of images/vids in the body of the screen.
    Top left select all, top right view individual/all, bottom copy.

    With no function to record/view find or settings.

    I have tried the other app as well and there seems only to have albums/friends etc still no record/view finder option.

    Also tried vga mode for both phone and cam with no success.

    A rather annoying situation really, if you have any suggestions it would be appreciated.

    Regards
    Riz

  19. Anyone getting problems sending the videos to your iPhone? It appears to have worked on the phone interface, however when I check the camera roll there is no videos. It was working earlier. Any Ideas?

  20. Hi All,
    I have managed to connect my ‘phone to the camera but get an error message ‘unknown error has occurred’ when I am using the camera in movie mode. It will connect and send any files I have recorded but I can’t use the phone as a view finder. I am using an iphone 3s. Which is on ios 6.1.3. Is it simply that I need to use an iphone 4?

  21. @Riz Turn ‘Remote on’ on the camera, read the PDF carefully. Then you will get other settings when you view the app.

  22. I have hooked it up to may I pad 2 and it works great. I have tried with my iPhone 5 and it looks like it goes though, it shows up on the app but when I go to copy it to the phone it give me a basic error message on the phone. The camera is saying “cannot load on more than one device.

    any thoughts.

  23. I found opening up imovie and iphoto and connecting the usb cable, I could view and import photos and video on the imac. I then downloaded the playmemoriesmobile app to the ipad. I can see the content and it appears to copy OK then comes up with an error message – unable to copy content. I remember clicking no when it asked if the software could view my photos by mistake so it appears I have stuffed it up!. How do I undo it, tried deleting the app and downloading it again but it still comes up with the same error message and doesn’t give me the option of clicking yes this time.
    Can anyone help?

  24. I’m with Blake Canavo, you’re a genius !! and save my life and my dive trip, which will have no videos if I haven’t found your site, thanks a lot!

  25. Im really stuck if anyone can help me, the app just wont show up on the app store when i search it, and i get redirected to the homescreen when i search on pc app store… if anyone could help that’d be great!

  26. I have an iPad mini. When using PMM I can see all my pictures on my camera but it does not allow me to copy them. I get an error message. However I can do this same function on both me and wife’s IPhones. My iPad mini is running 6.1.3 and phones are on 5.1.1. On the App Store it states iOS 4.1 or later. Does the Sony Playmemories Mobile app work with 6.1.3. I thought I read somewhere that it is not supported on later than 5.1.1.

  27. I don’t think is a good product, some problem with the case (the plastic dome in front of the lens is too exposed and it’s easy to scratch it) and flares are easy. and humidity condensation just in the thinner part of the case (in front of the lens…..)
    there is not a remote control …. i cant have a i-phone in my hand when i’m riding a mountain bike or on a surf …. and why not a software to pilot it from a basic windows pc, it was so difficult ?

  28. Mate. Thank God you wrote this article. You made it so quick and easy to set up with the iphone, and it works beautifully now its up and running. Thank you so much. Really appreciated.

  29. Hello all, I was having issues with my action cam connecting to my IPhone 4s (Verizon), and my IPad worked fine every time it tried to connect to it. Just wanted to pass along what I found to be the issue. It appears that the cellular data connection is the issue at least with mine. If I turn off cellular data on general settings it connects like a champ! I found this out by rebooting my phone and then going into the app as soon as it came up and it worked for about 10 seconds then disconnected. If I put it in airplane mode then back to normal I had the same results (being able to connect for a very short time). So it appears that the Verizon cellular data network must be using the same subnet as the action cam wifi… So if you need a connection to try disabling your cellular data and connecting to it, but make sure you re-enable it when done using the camera. Hope this helps someone out. 🙂

  30. Hi, is this a problem or am I doing something wrong. I can connect to wifi with AS15S With new firmware (v.3.0) but I cannot upload 1080/60p to iPad or iPhone. All other, lower video setting files seem to work (1080/30p, 720/120p, etc) but not the slow full HD files. Any idea why?

    Also, what’s the difference between AS15 and AS15S. I bought an AS15S (which is what it says on the box) but it says AS15 on the camera? Is it just the “bundled”stuff that comes with it?

  31. hey guys I have a question.
    I would really like it if there was a way to use this camera as a webcam or some kind of point and shoot option when connected to a pc
    so is there any way to do that?

    thanks in advance!

  32. Hey allister, once I go to my wi fi settings on my iphone5,what do I do next, it asks me to choose a network, but when I go to other it asks for a name ? any help would be great.

  33. Am I a complete fool or is there no way to simply take one photo with this camera…??? I can only seem to take intvl shots ie time lapse.. What the hell!!??

  34. i am having trouble .it flashes media on the sony hdra s15 cam after i took it out once and tried to get the wifi it wouldnt record .what am i doing wrong?

  35. Lucas,

    Stupid, but what I did after buying the camera: Install GoPro Studio (Freeware). You can select jpgs, convert to a sequence, edit and then generate an avi.

    Success!

  36. Hy there, please tell me if I am doing something wrong or I am missing something. I am shooting a 5 sec time lapse. Once done when I connect to my mac I get the videos but not the time lapse recording. I only have multiple photos with 5 interval . I do I get the video then??
    Ciao

    1. That’s the way the time-lapse function works. It takes a series of frames that can then be combined to make a video clip using your editing software or time-lapse making software.

  37. Alister,

    Please help. I cannot transfer to my Mac the video files of time lapsed recording. I only get photos done every 5 seconds or more if I change the lapse. What am I doing wrong?

    Thank you man!

    AMG

  38. Just to save any other Luddites half a day. The V1 wifi from camera to iPad does NOT work with the original iPad. Need iPad2 or newer.

  39. I found that to make the connection successful, load the app, then connect the wifi, then go back to the app, otherwise it doesn’t work very well/at all…

  40. Just got an HDR AS-15 for Christmas. Downloaded the manual and opened in iBooks worked best.

    Was able to connect using WiFi successfully. However, when using the iPad as a live viewfinder, I could get it to work for a few seconds only before it froze. It would take a few seconds then go “live” again. I thought it would act as a continuous live viewfinder, allowing me to set the frame, get ready, then hit the Record.

    Anyone experience this?

  41. Received Sony HDR-AS15 for Christmas. Can connect to wifi. I click SEND on camera, go to PlayMemories Mobile app on iphone 4s, it brings up thumbnail photos of each video. I click on the checkbox of a video and click copy. It says ‘Copying….’ and the status bar shows that it is copying, but when it gets to the end it gives me the following error: “Could not copy any selected content”. I have the Privacy setting set correctly. I have tried VGA and Original Image Size, but still nothing works. Any ideas?

  42. I’m trying to record but the word Media keeps coming up and won’t let me. I cant find media any where in the PDF or the BS paper manual. Please help.

    1. Plug the camera in to a computer using USB. There should be a file stored on the camera with the password information.

  43. i bought the sony action cam at the airport as i thought it would be a great idea, and dont get me wrong it is a good bit of kit,
    its just a shame you need a degree in astro physics to work out the crappy instructions that come with it,
    after much pissing around on the net and youtube i have finally found out how to connect it to my phone to use as a viewing screen ,Great !
    But can someone for the love of god tell me why my videos wont copy into my phone library like it says they will, and it wont connect to a brand new ipad mini either.
    Help anyone please help !!!!

  44. Hi,

    Does anyone know if you can connect the ipad mini to this sony action cam as we have now managed to sort out the iphone, and this may end up in the worlds first divorce over technology at this rate !!!!

    This is now my third night of trying to keep the peace between said husband and the action cam.

    Each time we enter the password for the wifi connection it states unable to connect.

    Any help much appreciated 🙂

    Thanks

  45. Hello, just got my sony action camera with Wifi built in it. I got the right Playmovies app on my iPhone 5 , wifi is connected on the phone , battery is charged , got a memory card in the cam… however when i open playmovies to use while taking a pic with the cam it says “check connected shooting device memory card” and wont let me take a pic at all can anyone please help!?!?!?

  46. Carolina – here are the steps I use on my Action Cam:

    1. Record movies/photos with the Camera first, then
    2. turn on the Camera Wifi,
    3. turn on the Phone,
    4. a) If iPhone: Open phone “Settings” then “Network” and connect to new wifi entry for the phone… mine has some kind of complicated name. See your Camera Operating Guide for sticker with your password.
    4. b) if Android: Open PlayMemories Mobile, select camera, and enter password.
    6. Go back to Camera and click Next, Next (send), Enter (prep), look for [Ready]… this means the Camera is connected and ready for sending content to the PlayMemories Mobile app on the phone.
    7. From PlayMemories app now select and import movies/photos.
    7. Close out PlayMemories Mobile when finished.
    8. In iPhone: open Photos and you should be able to find the imported movies and photos.

    Done 🙂

  47. Sony can’t put a whole manual in with the cam… lol, you’re making me laugh mr above article writer, there’s a great full manual that you can download. Hunt for it, or someone from Sony could point you in the right direction….

    1. The manual is held as a pdf file in the cameras internal memory. If you connect the camera to a computer via USB you will be able to access the manual.

  48. I have a iPhone 4 with iOS 7.1.2 and Sony 5.1.2 I can connect and copy to iPhone but at the end of sending an error message appears saying could not save image. Even tho it’s a video? Any help would be appreciated

  49. did you ever figure out the problem? I bought a sony hdr-as20 a few days ago and every time I try to connect to the Wi-Fi “media” flashes and the app won’t let me record. sometimes it will disconnect.

  50. Can anyone tell me how to change the default camera time out settings from 10 seconds to 60, so that I can enter the security code and connect to the playmemories…

  51. We bought my son this camera and he has an iphone 5. Tried to connect it to his phone, but when we go to settings in his phone, choose device then input security code, phone says incorrect security code. Did it with my daughters Galaxy phone, worked great. Any suggestions?.

  52. I’ve tried many different micro USB cords and different windows-based OS’s, but I cannot get a PC to acknowledge the existence my connected HDR-AS15! It will charge, but I cannot transfer files, etc.etc., and most importantly, I cannot find out the WIFI password that is supposedly accessable when camera connected via USB to computer. I bought this cam used with no directions, therefore no paper printed password for wifi. Any thoughts, ideas, etc. very welcome. Is the usb to micro usb cable that is bundled with cam at purchase some sort of magic one of a kind micro usb connector? thanks for reading -Barry

  53. I just bought this camera but am a total newbie at videography. I can’t even figure out how to save the footage I shoot. I have connected the phone and the camera as well as the live remote viewer and can film, but when I stop recording I lose whatever I’ve filmed! Can anyone tell me where/how to save the footage? I read somewhere that it will go into my photos on my iphone, but that’s not happening. thanks!

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