insta360

insta360

This Python package implements RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) protocols for interacting with Insta360 cameras.

RTMP is a proprietary protocol used by Insta360 cameras for many of its core functionalities. This package aims to provide a unified interface for interacting with Insta360 cameras by reverse engineering the proprietary RTMP protocol.

The RTMP protocol is implemented by reverse engineering the communication between Insta360 cameras and the official Android app.

Documentation is available at https://insta360.whitebox.aero.

Compatibility

While the package is developed and tested with Insta360 X3 and X4, it should work with other Insta360 cameras as well. If you find any compatibility issues, please open an issue. PRs are also welcome to improve the compatibility with other Insta360 cameras.

Here is a list all the functions that are implemented and tested and their compatibility with different Insta360 cameras:

Stream Resolutions:

• X3: 1440 × 720 at 30fps (Any higher or lower resolution yields glitchy stream)
• X4: 2880 × 1440 at 30fps (Hardcoded at hardware level)

Legend:

• ✅: Implemented and tested
• ❌: Not implemented
• 🟡: Implemented but broken
• 🚫: Not supported by device

RTMP Module:

Functionality	Implemented	X3	X4
sync_local_time_to_camera	✅	✅	✅
get_camera_info	✅	✅	✅
take_picture	✅	✅	✅
get_camera_files_list	✅	✅	✅
set_normal_video_options	✅	✅	✅
get_normal_video_options	✅	✅	✅
start_capture	✅	✅	✅
stop_capture	✅	✅	✅
get_capture_current_status	✅	✅	✅
start_preview_stream	✅	✅	✅
stop_preview_stream	✅	✅	✅
start_live_stream	❌	❌	❌
stop_live_stream	❌	❌	❌
get_camera_type	❌	❌	❌
get_serial_number	❌	❌	❌
get_exposure_settings	❌	❌	❌
set_exposure_settings	❌	❌	❌
set_capture_settings	❌	❌	❌
get_capture_settings	❌	❌	❌
get_camera_uuid	❌	❌	❌
set_time_lapse_options	❌	❌	❌
start_time_lapse	❌	❌	❌
stop_time_lapse	❌	❌	❌
is_camera_connected	❌	❌	❌
get_battery_status	❌	❌	❌
get_storage_state	❌	❌	❌

Installation

To install the package, run the following command:

pip install insta360

Developer environment setup

If you'd like to contribute to the project or do additional development, take a look at the Developer Guide.

Usage

First make sure you are connected to the camera's Wi-Fi network.

The package provides rtmp module, for interacting with Insta360 cameras using RTMP protocol. RTMP is a proprietary protocol used by Insta360 cameras for many of its core functionalities. Depending on your use case, you can choose to use the rtmp module.

Below are some examples of how to use the rtmp module. For more detailed information, refer to the API reference pages in the documentation on rtmp module.

Examples

rtmp module

Here is an example of how to use the rtmp module:

import time
from insta360.rtmp import Client

# Create an RTMP client
client = Client()

# Start capturing video
client.start_capture()
time.sleep(10)

# Stop capturing video
client.stop_capture()
time.sleep(5)

# Close the client
client.close()

Camera events

The rtmp module also supports registering event handlers. For example, you can register a handler to get data every time a camera streams video data:

from insta360.rtmp import Client

# Create an RTMP client
client = Client()

@client.on_connect()
async def event_handler(**kwargs):
    print("Connected to the camera")

# Connect to camera, and the event will print the message when connected
client.open()

Depending on what you'd like to accomplish, you might want to ensure that the event handlers are executed in strict order of events happening (e.g. you likely want to ensure that the video data is always processed in proper order, even if there is a burst due to connectivity troubles). You can do this by setting wait=True when registering the event handler:

from insta360.rtmp import Client

# Create an RTMP client
client = Client()

@client.on_video_stream(wait=True)
async def event_handler(content, **kwargs):
    print("Received {} bytes of video content".format(len(content)))

client.open()
# Start preview stream, which will stream the data to the event handler
client.start_preview_stream()

For more info on the available events and usage guidance, refer to the events' documentation.

For guidance on how to use the wait option, refer to the event processing order section.

Connecting to the Wi-Fi

Start your camera and soon after you will see a Wi-Fi network with the name YOUR_CAMERA_MODEL_NAME.OSC. Connect to this network using the password 88888888. If you are using Insta360 X4, the password is randomly generated during the device setup. In this case, you can find the password on your camera by navigating to Settings > Wi-Fi Settings > Password.

Although the security issue of having a fixed password is no longer present in recent models like the Insta360 X4 and you can change the Wi-Fi password on cameras like this Insta360 X3, this is a huge security hole for older models.

Any host in the nearby can connect to these older models as soon they are turned on; once established the connection they can also do a telnet into the Insta360's GNU/Linux operating system as root (the IP address of the camera is 192.168.42.1) and do whatever they want, even to damage permanently (brick) the camera.

The Protobuf problem

The messages exchanged from the Android app and the camera use the Protocol Buffers, which is an open standard by Google.

Unfortunately the protobuf messages are not self-describing; that is, there is no way to tell the names, meaning, or full datatypes of exchanged messages without an external specification. To write an understandable source code you need to extract the specific language description files from a compiled binary file, e.g. a library from the Android app. To run the insta360.py module you need such files compiled for Python. Follow the link at the bottom of this page to get more instructions.

The insta program

The insta is a somewhat working example using the insta360.py module. It has the basic functionality required for a remote control: start and stop recording, get preview stream. You can run it from an Android smartphone if you install the Termux app and the required Python libraries.

We are working to make installing this program easier, but for now you can clone the repository and run the following command to create a virtual environment and install the required packages:

pip install poetry
poetry config virtualenvs.in-project true
poetry env use 3.10
poetry install

Then, run the following command to create a shell with the virtual environment:

poetry shell

Then, run the following command to run the program:

# Preview and capture simultaneously
./insta -o ./output/dump.mp4 -c preview -c capture

# Start recording
./insta -c capture

# Know all the options
./insta -h

Alternatively, if you'd like to avoid creating a shell, you can use:

poetry run ./insta -h

Docs

Documentation is auto-generated with MkDocs. While contributing, make sure to follow Google docstring conventions when documenting the code.

To generate the docs, set up the development environment with poetry and use it to download the required packages:

pip install poetry
poetry config virtualenvs.in-project true
poetry env use 3.10
poetry install

Then, run the following command to run the server:

mkdocs serve