Finally saying goodbye to Wyze

Yes! These days SO important, and a Wyze feature that has always worked rock solid in my experience.

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I solved all the problems you are having by adding a couple wi-fi extenders. I was saturating the 2.4Ghz channels with too many devices. The cheap TP-Link N300 even has an ethernet uplink port so that it is possible to remove backhaul from Wi-Fi if need be.

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What are you using the Pi for? Have you found some way to view your video on a pi?

Very nicely written, Daniel. Great detail,

I still really like my Wyze Cams, but I’ve had similar problems as you:

  1. Connectivity: I’d like to see it connect faster too.
  2. Hardware Failure: I’ve had two WyzeCams start to have purple hazing on the right side of the image. Disappointing for hardware used indoors for less than 2 years.
  3. SD card playback: The Interface is HORRIBLE! I cannot playback at 2x or faster speed, scrolling back and forth is painful, and generally it is a nightmare to try to find the actual portion of the recorded video I want. This REALLY needs improvement.
  4. Video Quality: While it may be 1080p, the image sensor and/or lens are not great if you have a large or long room.

I’m going to keep using my WyzeCams, though I do wish they could really focus on making their software and connectivity better and make the WebCams unquestionably great.

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I have motioneye connected to the camera via RTSP and can view the stream on the home assistant app on my phone or browser on my computer

Does the camera still work with the wyze app?

You sure about that? They’re launching a security service soon, using those very cams as video verification… Sounds like they’re giving up that sheild to stand behind when people point out the reliability problems…

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Yeah
No impact on the app or functionality
I haven’t tried to check the rtsp stream and the Wyze stream at the same time to see if there would be a problem but then again that’s not really a scenario I’d be in

Very well stated, Daniel! I totally agree with your ideas of how this community should function. Users assisting users and the product manufacturer in overcoming issues should be the focus.

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We have one Wyzecam v.2 and it works perfectly. Usually, we turn it on whenever we leave our apartment. Motion sensing sends an alert to my phone it anything is happening. It loads quickly and the playback is very clear and the sound works fine, too. There’s no fiddling or troubleshooting needed. My phone is not high-end, just a Samsung A10e.
Over the years when friends ask me to help with wi-fi or other networking problems, including wi-fi security camera problems, the issue is almost always to do with the strength/quality of their wi-fi reception. They just assume they can place a camera anywhere and it should work perfectly. Typically, moving the camera a few feet to a better location fixes the problem, or maybe moving the router is a better solution. Disconnects, alert failures, cloud recording failure, etc. may all come down to wi-fi reception.

I must have missed this announcement. Are more details available?

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Thanks! Had heard people referring to the Emergency Button but didn’t know the full story.

Yup, says security camera products right in the article!

“… Wyze’s security camera products include a number of safety features that are found within the app…”

So, Kasa then?
I am OK with Wyze in general, but the playback is just a no go, there is no way it cannot be implemented such that it works faster and more reliably!

Thank you, glad it is not my misunderstanding of some setup…

Connectivity: I’d like to see it connect faster too.
May i ask, when is it slow to connect?
Is it when you open the app on your phone and the camera feed is slow to appear?
Do you only turn the camera on for certain occasions such as nighttime or when leaving the house? Or is it on all the time and always slow to connect?
How long does it usually take?
Is it slow on 1 camera or several?
Do you have many devices at home using the 2.4GHz wi-fi band, and maybe causing the band /router to be overloaded and slow down?

I’ve had two WyzeCams start to have purple hazing on the right side of the image.
Are (or were) the cameras placed near any magnetic source? Purple hazing may be a sign of magnetic interference.

While it may be 1080p, the image sensor and/or lens are not great if you have a large or long room.
Zooming in with every 1080p camera I’ve tried has the same result. It’s like enlarging a photo; the more you enlarge it the fuzzier it becomes. You can zoom in and recognize faces that are 8 feet or maybe 10 feet away. Beyond that, you really need either a second camera or a pricey 4K camera. This isn’t a failing of Wyze, but rather a standard characteristic of nearly all 1080p cameras including more expensive ones. But, here’s the catch. If you obtain a true 4K camera will your wi-fi reception be strong enough to handle the huge extra bandwidth required to give you that much extra detail? And, you need a high-spec SD card to record in 4K.

SD card playback: The Interface is HORRIBLE! I cannot playback at 2x or faster speed, scrolling back and forth is painful
This isn’t much of a problem if there’s only a small amount of recording on any one day. But if the camera is recording a lot and you have to search through a lot of footage that little timeline thing is pretty awful. They really need a list of recorded clips instead of that silly timeline.

Not trying to make any criticisms of your experience; your concerns are totally on point. Just wanted to expand the conversation regarding the points you raised in case it may help others avoid some problems. We have a friend who installed several 4K wi-fi cameras at considerable cost. One was outdoors above the garage door, another by the front door, and one inside pointed at the kitchen door. Their Xfinity gateway/router is in their home office close to the front door. They experienced intermittent disconnects and some poor recordings particularly on the outdoor above-the-garage camera, and also some with the kitchen camera. Replacing those two cameras didn’t improve anything, and adding a wi-fi extender didn’t fix the problem. Finally, they asked me to take a look. I agreed with their supplier that two cameras were not getting a good enough wi-fi signal (too weak and intermittent). When I looked at the wi-fi extender they bought it was too slow (rated for 300Mbps and only connecting reliably on 2.4GHz band!). I installed a second dual-band router on a kitchen shelf and configured it as an access point (repeater) on the same network. Problem solved. Once the system was working reliably I was very impressed with the results. The above-the-garage camera captured a couple of lads walking by at night on the sidewalk and stopping to look at the house. Their distance from the camera was 24 or 25 feet. On the recording we zoomed in and could clearly see their faces in good detail. So, when all parameters were optimized it worked great. When any one parameter wasn’t optimized the results were unreliable and disappointing.

I wouldn’t really use the WYZE cameras as Security cameras. I got my first one for Inside of my Garage. my Dad lives with me at my house and we come and go through the Garage Door. Well he’s left the door open a number of times. Generally when I’m at work. BUt one time, he left earily in the morning on a day I was off. By the time I got up, and went to the garage, the door was open. I don’t live in the best area of town and anyone could have just walked into the garage and robbed me blind or walked right into the house while I’m sleeping!!!

I can control my Garage door with Siri or a app. So now I get a alarm if the door is left open for 5 minutes and another at 10 minutes. Before I wouldn’t know if he was home and just working in the garage or he took off and forget to close it. So I could look at the video from the WYZE cam and know for sure. I have sense then added outside security cameras. But the WYZE camera also is good to be there for Amazon In-Garage Delivery which is pretty nice. Packages are left inside of my garage so I don’t have to worry about Porch Pirates. Looking at the video, the workers and In/Out pretty fast. No messing around or looking around. I like this way much better then Front Door Delivery, which wouldn’t really work for me since I have a security gate. To many locks. Besides I wouldn’t want someone just walking inside my house into the family room while I or my Dad is sitting there watching TV. The garage though, much better.

These Cameras though are not really for outside use. You can get 3rd party housings to put them in, but you still have to plug them into power. Where do you get that power? They really don’t make the best security cameras, at least outside. Inside, OK. If someone breaks in, maybe you get them in camera and on the cloud before they grab it?

I ended up getting a real Security Camera system that I installed myself. It uses 5MP POE (Power Over Ethernet). Plus a NVR. (Network Attached Storage) DVR’s are Digital Video Recorders which are used for older Analog Type Camera systems. So with POE camera’s, all that is required is running a Ethernet cable to each one. That wasn’t that hard. Drilling a small hole just large enough to run the cable through and then attaching the Jack after makes for a small hole. That single cable handles Video, in my case Audio also for the Mic, and Powers them. They don’t have a speaker so I can’t talk back.

I have my NVR in a Lock Box mounted up high and out of the way. I have 6 cameras currently, one is a DOME PTZ camera which I can move around at the front corner of my house. I plan to add 2 more in the future to get the last couple blind spots. All the camera’s are plugged into my NVR, and my NVR is plugged into my Home Wired Network which I did a number of years ago with this in mind for the future. It’s recording everything 24/7 right now. I have about 3 weeks of Data. I can watch my Cameras on my Desktop, or my iPad or iPhone anywhere. Costs me ZERO per month.

I have a couple of their camera’s I have this older one sitting next to me that I need to figure out what I’m going to do with it. I also just got their Scale. In general I’m a Homekit house. I like the Security/Encryption of Homekit devices. I have a few Alexa Devices, including my newest Echo Show 8. my Echo 4, and my Dot’s 2nd and 3rd generation. I also have a Google Home Mini. This way I can play around with all 3 of them. I don’t really see Google going much of anywhere. When was the last time they released a new device? Apple really only has their HomePod, but I throw in the Apple Watch which works everywhere I’m at to control my Home. Alexa has a lot of support and a ton of devices, but it’s really wordy on some things, and a lot of times I forget what I’ve setup. For my 72 year old Dad, it’s just to complicated compared to Siri at least when it comes to home control devices.

All 3 have their Pro’s and Con’s. If you’re a Android person, then Homekit is ruled right out for you leaving just 2 options. Google and Siri really work pretty similar. Alexa seems dumber. you have to Ask or Tell it to do something and with what. If you don’t say things exactly right, it’s clueless. So you need to figure out what type of Smart Home you want to be, and see what kind of devices you can get that will support what you want to do now and in the future. Some devices support all 3 and I have then setup for all 3, though I really only use Siri, like the Ecobee and the Rancio 3.

I can’t wait to see what new things WYZE is working on in the future. They are really getting into a number of different areas now besides low cost cameras. It is pretty Amazing how low of a price and all the features they can sell their products for. If they just had Homekit support, I’d be buying some of their other products. 50% of the U.S. have a iPhone. So it seems strange to me to not support Homekit. You’re ignoring half the population. iPhone users are known to spend more money.

There’s really no one solution for everything and everyone. Just have to figure out what works best for YOU.

Most WIFI devices behave this way including your laptop, THey will naturally migrate to an access point that is open in terms of having no password to access it.

WYZE cameras don’'t connect to open or any other networks unless you tell them to.

Based on my experience with TPL routers and your comments above, I don’t see you being happy with a TPL product. Just check their support pages for a given product and see what their firmware/software update cycle is. There were known security vulnerabilities on my router that they left open for years without an update. Had to go OpenWRT eventually, but there is no parallel to my knowledge in the camera world. Just my 2 cents.

I agree with the frustrations with the hardware/firmware. However, the slow, incompetent Customer Service grinds me. Just last week, I lent a two cameras (V2 and a PainCam) to a friend to evaluate for potential purchase. The PainCam enrolled fine, but the V2 would not recognize the QR code, even with reboots and reloading the App (over a dozen attempts). He pulled a Wyze ticket on Wednesday and STILL has NOT received a reply.

Last Friday I decided to try the Compete Motion free trial. It worked for 3-hours the suddenly the trial stopped. I pulled a ticket and 3-days later the Wyze CS replied simply by regurgitating my issue and did not resolve the issue. I called the CS phone line and spoke to a CS that the 14-day CM Free Trial had terminated in 3-hours. He said he’d speak to the appropriate department the next day and solve the issue. It’s going on 3-days and no resolution.

Add the poor product reliability AND the poor/slow Customer Service together and it results in a disastrous Customer Experience.

Like many others here, I’m currently evaluating replacements to the WyzeCams. Then my collection of Wyze products are going to Goodwill.

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