Open source · 2026
An open-source Windows desktop field monitor for DJI Osmo Pocket cameras: the laptop becomes a live viewfinder with camera controls, scopes and virtual-camera output. A desktop-focused continuation of OpenPocketCine by Erik Sutton, with the Windows shell built here.
read how it was built ↓The Osmo Pocket is tiny, and its phone app is the only real viewfinder. Operators want a bigger picture, keyboard and controller input, monitoring tools and a way to feed the picture into other software. Pocket Monitor turns a Windows laptop into that viewfinder and control surface, building on OpenPocketCine's open protocol work.
Framing, retry ladders, join rules and every JSON shape come from the Swift core through a C ABI. The host never re-implements the wire format.
Rust owns sockets, discovery, decoding, drawing and the command line, with a Slint interface on top. It is also the one language with a single Bluetooth API for every desktop OS.
Present at the camera's live rate, about 25 fps at 720p over its Wi-Fi, with the chrome and scopes riding around it at lower rates so they never starve the video.
A two-second silence is a stall, with grace periods after commands. The feed is re-enabled once before the link is rebuilt, instead of tearing everything down on every hitch.
Features are marked available or in validation, the limits are listed, and the project says plainly that it is independent of DJI and not a replacement for Mimo.
DJI Mimo is the official mobile companion and the right choice for firmware updates, activation and the widest support. Pocket Monitor does not try to replace it. It targets a different job: a laptop-first operator workflow.
The trade-offs are real: it is reverse engineered and still being hardened, the camera's Wi-Fi usually replaces the laptop's internet while monitoring, and firmware and account features stay in Mimo.
The protocol work is independent and comes from the open OpenPocketCine core. No DJI SDK is bundled, and the project states clearly that it is not affiliated with DJI.
A thin C ABI facade exposes the core, with fixed-layout records both sides agree on, so there is one implementation of the protocol.
A stall watchdog with grace periods, a single re-enable before rebuilding the link, safer staging of GPU uploads, and a fix for AMD live presentation.
Pair once over Bluetooth, then reconnect through the saved Windows Wi-Fi profile.
The release notes say so, and every installer and ZIP ships with a SHA-256 checksum.
Pocket Monitor v0.1.0 is released for Windows as open source. These numbers describe what was built. It is still being validated against real cameras and firmware.
Windows-first and in physical validation. An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by DJI. Built on OpenPocketCine by Erik Sutton.
Open source under Apache 2.0. Verify recording state on the camera body until you have proven your setup.
A social workspace for short-form video creators: plan ideas, develop them into scripts, design and schedule posts across X, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook, and learn from your own videos. An API and two MCP servers let agents run the same workflows. In public beta.
Want something like Pocket Monitor?
Tell me what you're making and I'll tell you how I'd build it.