IFTTT Paywall

The only reason I do not use TinyCam is the fact it wants my credentials, I am leery about that.

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The author Alexey responded in this forum (perhaps it was via rbruce) that the credentials are stored locally only on your device’s app folder and presented only to Wyze servers. It would be pretty straightforward to audit this if one were sufficiently motivated. I finally started trialing the free version and am looking forward to incorporating multiple brands under one interface.

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I did see his statement on that, and I am not saying he is doing anything bad, just my personal preference to not give it out. I did use TinyCam for some different cameras I had before I started using WYZE cameras, the credentials were not required for those ones. I even splurged and paid for the Pro version

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Maybe the fees Wyzw pays are about right for 3 free applets.

More than a little bit disingenuous to not mention that considering they were sold promising full IFTTT functionality till the very day IFTTT announced its new model. In any case, I’m not saying Wyze or IFTTT are solely responsible, they’re jointly responsible and no one looks good here. And obviously the ones getting the short end once everything is said and done are the customers. Coming out with a local API is the only real long term solution and would have no recurring costs for Wyze beyond the initial development. Will also spur sales for them since it integrates their product better with existing smart home solutions. We’ve already seen the downsides of cloud based solutions - first with Wink hub and now with IFTTT. How long will we keep defending companies and their myopic policies?

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I don’t understand how you believe Wyze shares any blame or responsibility for IFTTT’s actions? As far as I can tell Wyze made no changes on their end and still fully supports the services IFTTT exposes.

How exactly do you feel Wyze (or Ring, or Amazon etc) shared responsibility for a change made by IFTTT?

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Because the millions of customers who bought Wyze cams assuming full pre-IFTTT Pro compatibility based on Wyze’s advertising were not privy to the terms of the agreement between Wyse and IFTTT and the fact that functionality could be reduced so drastically based on IFTTT’s unilateral decision.

While researching IFTTT and Wyze (which coincidentally happened around the time Stringify went down) I stumbled upon multiple posts praising IFTTT for having the more sustainable business model because it charged businesses for the service it provided instead of doing it completely free like Stringify had. Obviously, I was not aware of IFTTT’s balance sheets and was not in a position to determine its future viability so I assumed that Wyze and other business partners of IFTTT, being day more sophisticated entities, wouldn’t have chosen them if they were likely to fail the way Stringify did.

In both these cases Wyze is as negligent as all the other IFTTT business partners. Primary responsibility rests with IFTTT itself. And regardless of how you split it, the customers - the ones least capable of doing anything to prevent this from happening - are the ones who suffer.

PS it’s at this stage that some of the anger towards Wyze really comes to the fore - HA/ST/HE Heck even PC integration has remained on the back burner for over 2-3 years now. Obviously this was somewhat unexpected but given the shortcomings of cloud based solutions, how unexpected was it, really?

I don’t think it was at all unexpected. By Wyze, or anyone with a modicum of sense. It is an all to familiar story.

That said it’s not Wyze’s fault or responsibility. It is fairly well known that nothing remains free. If it does, e.g. Google, then you are the product. In other words you trade your digital privacy to Google in exchange for access to your data.

I am sorry you feel ill treated but welcome to capitalism.

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The compatibility and functionality will not be changing? It is just no longer free?

Ah well, rather than trade barbs with you I will just say let us agree to disagree.

It never was free. IFTTT had a different business model. Look into it.

I’m sorry if you’re frustratred, but i think we’re largely just confused as to why you’re holding Wyze responsible for something another company is doing. Wyze is still giving full support to IFTTT. They do not limit or charge for the ability to use IFTTT. Unless you get the courts to seize all forms of communication from Wyze, there is no way of knowing if they knew about this before hand.

I haven’t looked into why they’re changing, but if IFTTT is changing their business model to respond to an unforeseen demand in it’s services, I do not see how you can force them to remain in a failing model. Fail to change and lose everything, or change a little bit and at least be able to continue to offer services. In order for a company to stay in business, it has to adapt. If it has grown outside the ability of it’s business model to support, it has to adapt.

While it’s a jerk move on their part, i can only decide for myself if i’m going to pay for their use, or start over with something else that, while harder, is still free.

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Ok but all the functionality is still there unless I’m missing something? Doesn’t wyze just advertise that the devices work with IFTTT which is still technically true?

I don’t really use IFTTT but I would be pretty upset if amazon started charging for Alexa routines. However that anger would be directed towards Amazon and not towards wyze if that ever happened.

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Free to the consumer. Until it was not any longer. So yes it was “free” to the end user.

Exactly! Unfortunately I think this is a case of a deep seated misunderstanding of how things actually work. Not sure how to help as my attempts have been not understood either. So better part of valor is to ignore and move on.

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If gas prices skyrocket I wouldn’t place fault on the car manufacturers :sweat_smile:.

If wyze suddenly decided to charge for the 14 day cloud storage that they definately advertised as free I would understand if people would want to break out the pitchforks.

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Indeed! Although to be honest, being in my “golden years” I can honestly say I always take “it’s free” to have a silent addition, “For now” at the end. TNSTAAFL. It’s very applicable and has proven over my lifetime to be a truism. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I’m half expecting that amazon will eventually charge for routines at this point. I think if that ever happens I will just abandon automation all together and go back to the terrifying days where I had to move and physically flip a switch to turn on/off a light :joy:.

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I had forgotten that’s how we used to do it. That IS scary!

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@kjay @rbruceporter

The horror! :scream:

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

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