Proximity based alerts

In my office I store expensive equipment so it would be nice to have an alert whenever I am outside of my building or outside of 15 yards from the camera location. Then on the weekends I wouldn’t have to change the settings for all day alerts (you should put a toggle for “All Day”) :slight_smile: and then when back in the office change the settings back for outside of work hours.

Thanks

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That sounds like a nice feature, but how do you envision the camera being able to detect where you are?

A simple mask selection feature would suffice

Its called geolocation or geofencing. They are at least investigating the option but I don’t know if that means they will implement it. It uses the location data from your phone / app to determine what actions (to notify or not) to take. 15 yards will probably be too small. I think it is usually within a quarter mile and it is obviously a radius you can set up. There are many different varieties.

geofencing is currently not part of the Wyze Cam. Seeing as how it is not part of the V1 or V2 hardware, I don’t know if they can swing it purely through firmware or the app.

There is a workaround that does cost extra but it does work. You can purchase a WeMo Mini Smart Outlet. Via either IFTTT or a Nest Thermostat, you can then implement geofencing on the outlet. This does have its drawbacks.

  1. It means that your camera actually isn't powered when you are present. No updates, no checking other cameras, etc.
  2. I haven't tried the IFTTT integration with WeMo, but it is likely more complex than the Nest integration
  3. There is a lag when restarting the cameras and sometimes connection issues are worse than before a power off
I have heard from Wyze that they are intending to release IFTTT integration, but I haven't seen it yet and I don't know if it will be possible to create geofencing.

IMHO, the lack of geofencing is the biggest shortcoming of the WyzeCam. The connectivity issues are definitely huge, but those should be fixable. The lack of geofencing seems more a lack of foresight and understanding the consumer needs in the camera market.

Geofencing can definitely be implemented via the app. Check out the Alfred app for old phones. The other option that could easily be implemented is that when you join a specific WiFi SSID the app detects that connection and asks to turn off detection. Likewise, when you leave the WiFi SSID it asks to turn detection on.

So by “via the app”, you mean a completely different app and not built in to the Wyze system? Are you saying that Alfred can be integrated with your Wyze cameras? That doesn’t appear to be what it was built for.

Alfred is a different product. I merely referenced it for feature comparison.

I’m saying that the Wyze App that runs currently on your phone (iPhone or Android) would be the proximity detector and it would send the appropriate on or off command to the cameras in that particular WiFi SSID based upon your preferences.

Okay, sorry for the confusion. You were simply explaining the concept of geofencing and not that it is currently possible. To do what you are saying, the WyzeCam app would need integration with IFTTT or another means to recognize current SSID. That doesn’t exist right now to my knowledge.

Also, to my knowledge, there is no “off” command for the app. You can manually turn off detection (motion and sound), and there is the option to use a schedule. The camera is constantly on when powered. If you have an SD card, that becomes obvious. There is a small amount of internal memory, which allows the camera to upload a time segment before the detected motion or sound.

The makings for geofencing are there, but it can’t be done at the present time without additional hardware, at least to my knowledge it can’t.

Why would it need a 3rd party app (IFTTT)? This is something the Wyze developers should be able to integrate into THEIR app. And correct, it does not CURRENTLY exist. There is no way to currently do this with the existing app, but no hardware is required, merely new app functionality to integrate with the existing phone operating system.

It could be built in as I stated, “or another means to recognize current SSID”. IFTTT integration is also an option and one that has been rumored to be in the works.

Geesh. You say that there is no way to do it with the current app. Great. We agree, so currently, the only way to get geofencing is with additional hardware. Saying that you don’t need additional hardware, you just need new app functionality doesn’t address the here and now.

 

You are correct, we agree.

The easiest way to add this would be to enable HomeKit support (or Google Home support, which I don’t know much about). I suggested this just the other day on their Facebook page. With demotic support Apple, Google’s or Alexa, this would enable some very interesting features. For example with HomeKit you could do the geofencing/geolocation without any need of a hardware upgrade to the Camera. With the release of iOS 11.3 Apple now fully supports software based encryption and authentication (previously it required a chip embedded in the hardware which was costly) and can be enabled without needing to modify the hardware. You could also still use IFTTT in combination or separately from, the other options that would be available to you. It’s pretty exciting stuff if you ask me, my Wife and I are fully addicted to Smart Home technology. :slight_smile:

 

M.

With the new HomeKit supplies, it would be great to have a dongle that could indicate when it was no longer in proximity to the Wyze base station. I’d love to have a clip on my dog’s collar that could inform me immediately if he got out of the yard or not.