It’s been a while since I posted. I bought the Wyze v3 cameras when they first came out and just placed an order for the v4. To date, I have always used the cameras outside, but now I’m interested in using them inside as well, so rules will be needed.
I have a Wyze account, which I share with my wife via “Sharing” in the account settings. We each have our own separate phones. What I’d like to do is have the interior cameras switch on when both of us are away. If either of us is home, the interior cameras should remain off for privacy.
Is there a way to set up this type of rule? It seems like this is a very common scenario, and there should be a simple way to make it work.
The geofence doesn’t have the ability to know when BOTH people are home, just if 1 or the other is home. It will trigger based on the last person to leave or arrive.
The problem with this scenario is if you are home and your wife goes to the store… the camera’s will turn on. The best solution to Home/Away (IMO) is the Thermostat. It has Home/Away/Sleep profiles. If anyone walks in front of the it, it senses that and switches to Home.
This is how I control the scenario of 1 person being home and the other leaving… the house will want to go into AWAY mode but if I walk in front of the themostat, it goes back to HOME mode… and I set rules that if HOME mode kicks in, do these other things to lights and cameras (i.e. turn on / off).
Right now, there’s no great way to do this other than always have a counter-action ready that can tell your House you are home. You just may have to create a Shortcut that is for Home or Away that you can press for quick access to put your devices in the state you would like depending on what is going on.
TLDR: Geofencing is not FAMILY-aware … ‘yet’. I think they will get there.
Thanks for the detailed reply and workaround. I have to say this is disappointing. We currently use Canary cameras for the inside of our home, which we bought in 2016. They have had this feature since we bought them. In fact, we can add multiple family members and have the camera switch on when no one is home and off when any family member arrives. Canary’s quality has definitely waned over the years and is nothing compared to the Wyze v3 and v4.
Wyze, if you are monitoring, please consider adding this feature. It’s not new, and it would solve a common issue with today’s families and make a great product even better.
I agree with you on the family/geo-fencing issue. I believe there is some talk that they are working on getting “family’s” setup in the app.
I will say that you will NOT find a better Smart Home company with the vast ruleset to make all this automate and really shine. To integrate contact sensors, motion sensors, lights, cameras, T-Stat’s, Vacuum, and door locks to automate the way they do, is VERY impressive. My house is a true smart home that can react or change on some many triggers and variables, it really is amazing.
They may not have EVERYTHING everyone else does… but everyone else doesn’t have what they have either.
The best place for Wyze visibility to change requests is the Wishlist category. If you haven’t already done so, please comment on and/or vote for this existing wishlist topic that covers your use case:
Thank you, I just voted for it. But…unfortunately, that was originally posted in November 2018. So the community has been asking for this feature for going on five and a half years. Wow. I’m shocked.
This is a huge gap in all Wyze products, in my opinion. If you can’t geofence for families, considering you can already share with family members, what is the point? Until this issue is addressed, Wyze is no better than a 3 out of 5. The product works in some use cases, but not the most important case for families.
What is so disappointing to me is that this is a software issue, not a hardware issue, that has been known and asked for at least five years. Software engineers can code the feature into the app; other companies have done it for many years. This is not a hardware redesign.
I had really hoped to go to a single hardware/software ecosystem, but until this feature is added, I am going to have to stay with two. It also cools my enthusiasm for purchasing other Wyze hardware products and services, which is sad.
I don’t know if this will help, but to my knowledge the CamV4 is tied to IFTTT… maybe you can get to where you want to be with that? I use it, but very easy/limited use to open a Sonoff switch to open a gate on the press of my Wyze Doorbell (at the gate).
I received my Wyze Cam v4s this afternoon. So far, I’ve set one up covering my front yard next to the old v3. The image quality during the day is amazing compared to the v3. The v3 actually looks cloudy in comparison. Looking forward to seeing how they compare tonight.
I also bought microSD cards for the new cameras. Something I hadn’t done on the v3s in the past.
Yeah, I tried cleaning the lens first, but no go. I’m leaning toward a compromised seal. I currently have the camera in a sealed Ziploc bag along with a large desiccant bag. I’m hoping it can draw out the moisture and then I’d use it in my basement.
I’m still amazed at the clarity and quality of the v4.
