Legal
What your UniFi API key lets us do
Effective September 18, 2026
The short version
- We cannot see your live video or your recordings. The key you give us does not provide either, and we never ask UniFi for them.
- Monitoring agents see cameras only as still images attached to an alarm event, and only while reviewing that event.
- Support staff may see the same kind of still image when helping you with a support request.
- Every time a Uniguard Pro staff member opens your account it is logged in your Activity log under Settings, with who and when.
- You can revoke the key at unifi.ui.com at any time; our access ends the moment you do.
1. What the key is
During setup you create a Site Manager API key at unifi.ui.com and paste it into Uniguard Pro. UniFi lets the key holder call two Ubiquiti-published interfaces:
- the Site Manager API (api.ui.com), which lists the consoles and sites on your ui.com account; and
- the UniFi Protect Integration API, reached through Ubiquiti's Cloud Connector, which lets an integration read camera and sensor status, fetch still images, receive alarm notifications and trigger certain devices on the console you selected when creating the key.
The key is limited to the UniFi application(s) and console(s) you tick in the “Create New API Key” dialog. Our setup guide asks you to select Protect only and only the console you want monitored. We store the key encrypted at rest and never show it in full to you or to staff.
2. What we cannot access
- Live video. Nothing in these interfaces streams video to the internet. The API can generate a stream address that works only on your own local network; it is not reachable from our servers and we do not request it.
- Recorded video. Ubiquiti's Integration API has no function to play back, download or export recordings or clips. Your recordings stay on your console.
- Your UniFi login. The key is not your password. We cannot sign in to your ui.com account, change its settings, or add or remove users.
- Your other UniFi applications. With Protect as the only application on the key, it does not reach the controls of UniFi Network, Access, Talk or any other application. The Site Manager part of the key can list the sites and UniFi devices on your account; we read only the list of consoles.
3. What we do with it
Everything below is used only to deliver the monitoring service you signed up for. This is the complete list of calls the Uniguard Pro platform makes with your key.
| What we do | When |
|---|---|
| Read the list of consoles on your ui.com account, each one's name and UniFi Protect version | During setup, so you can pick your console from a list; refreshed about once a day |
| Read the list of cameras, sensors, alarm hubs, lights, sirens and other Protect devices on your console, with their names, models and online/offline state | During setup and periodically, so alarms can be tagged with the device that triggered them and the Devices page stays current |
| Check that the key still works | About every 30 minutes, so we can warn you if UniFi stops accepting it |
| Fetch a still image from a camera | When an alarm event fires (attached to that event for the monitoring agent and for you), and for the small preview tiles on your Video Monitoring page |
| Read the Alarm Manager arm state (armed / disarmed), and arm or disarm it | The state is shown in your portal. We change it only when you ask us to (for example on a support call); every change is logged. |
| Sound a siren, switch a light, or pulse a relay / alarm-hub output | Only during an active alarm event, triggered by a monitoring agent, or automatically after a video-verified threat on cameras where you turned that option on. Never on a closed event. |
| Move a pan-tilt-zoom camera to a preset or start a patrol | By staff, during an active alarm or while assisting you |
| Open a two-way audio (talk-down) session to a camera speaker | Only if you enabled talk-down; used during alarm verification. The audio path only works through an optional Uniguard Pro edge device on your network. |
| Receive alarm notifications your console sends us | Continuously — this is how your console tells us an alarm happened. UniFi sends these to us; we do not pull them. |
We do not change camera, sensor or device settings, create or delete arm profiles, create live-view layouts, upload files to your console, or read your Protect user list.
4. Who at Uniguard Pro can see what
- Monitoring agents have no access to view your cameras at any time other than when reviewing an alarm event, and then only the still images attached to that event.
- Support staff may see camera still images available through the API when assisting you with a customer-support request, and may open your account to help you.
- Every staff access is logged. When a staff member opens your account, the start and end of that access, and any action they take, are written to your Activity log (Settings → Activity log) so you can see who, when and what.
- Your dealer, if you have one, can open your account to configure it; that access is logged the same way.
5. Still images and your data
Still images fetched for an alarm event are stored with that event so you and the monitoring agent can review it, and are deleted with the event under our data-retention schedule described in the Privacy Policy. When an alarm is passed to our emergency-dispatch partner, a still image from that event may be shared with the dispatcher handling it, through a link that expires within an hour. Preview tiles on your Video Monitoring page are cached briefly and refreshed.
6. Optional edge device
If you install an optional Uniguard Pro edge device on your own network for video verification, it uses a separate, local Protect API key that you create on the console itself, and it can view camera streams locally to send short verification clips during an alarm. That is a separate, opt-in service; nothing in this page grants it, and you can remove the device at any time.
7. Revoking access
You are in control. Deleting or expiring the key at unifi.ui.com ends our access immediately; Uniguard Pro will then show a “Fix your UniFi connection” notice and stop receiving camera images until a new key is provided. Alarm signals sent by your console's Alarm Response use a separate encryption key and are unaffected.
8. Changes and contact
If we add a capability that uses your key, we will update this page and the effective date before it goes live. Questions: [email protected] (support) or [email protected] (legal). This disclosure is part of our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.