Agreed 100%
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Why not just set it to Unix time?
Yeah. When people travel, they seem to have issues with schedules and things, too. Really, everything should be referenced from Unix time or GMT or something concrete. Everything that gets sent to and from the server should reference that, not any local time. Iām not sure how everything works currently, but that seems like it would alleviate most of the issues.
The local time should just be a preference that gets set on the app side or updated automatically from the phone for display purposes, but the actual data would reference something concrete. That means if I travel from the Florida to California and I open up the 5pm-6pm schedule I created in Florida, it would display as 2pm-3pm when I open it up in California.
The only potential question that opens up is what happens with the display time on the video from the cameras. I think the display time on the cameras should be set specifically in the camera preferences, and probably would NOT update the time zone automatically, since in most cases, a camera will remain in a single location, and itās certainly possible that people might have cameras from two time zones connected to one account. But it WOULD probably be helpful to add āEST/EDT/PST/PDT/etcā after the timestamp to clarify things.
Everything in the Wyze app is already based on UTC time. The only question is how itās presented in the UI. Some want it based on where they are, some want it based on where the camera is.
I doubt people in general want to see the actual times in Greenwich though unless of course they are in Greenwich.
Gotcha. I havenāt looked at the behavior when Iām in another time zone to test it out, but my understanding was that the schedules may readjust to the new time zone or something. Iām not sure. Meaning my 5pm-6pm EST schedule might start running from 5pm-6pm PST if Iām on the west coast. Iāve at least seen people posting mixed things about it, but it may just be that the users are confused.
At the very least, I think it may try to update the camera timestamp to reflect the time zone your phone is in which isnāt always particularly helpful. Iām thinking that the cameraās timestamp should probably get synced to your phone on initial setup and then NOT get changed subsequently, regardless of travel, unless the user manually changes it in the cameraās settings on the app. And a little EST (etc.) after the timestamp might be helpful for clarification.
The wyze app and cameras do not use UTC or any other time standard.
All they do is sync whatever time happens to be on your phone when you set them up.
As for schedules, they work from the actual time set on each camera.
However the problem is that when you open the app in another time zone, it asks if you want to sync each cameraās time to that on your device.
If you accidentally select yes which I have done, your schedules for that particular camera will now be working from the new time. Schedules set up on other cameras will not be affected.
The problem is compounded when you have several cameras and or use several devices to view them.
E.g. we have 3 cameras that are accessed by 2 phones and 2 tablets. Every 7 days the app on each of the 4 devices asks to sync time with all 3 cameras. So thatās 12 times each week that we have to say no.
Offering an option to tell the app not to ask about the time sync again would solve these problems and be very easy to do.
Iām talking about internal time representation (e.g. something you wonāt see); youāre talking about external time representation.
I see, so if it keeps UTC time internally then itās surely very easy for wyze to add a feature To the app that lets us set the time zone for the location of the camera.
Each time you opened the app it could check the camera time against the UTC + or - your timezone and If itās different ask you to sync with that time rather than the time on your phone.
This would solve all the problems and not even require the actual camera to connect to a time server.
I live in a half-hour staggered timezone. The wyzecam cannot process this and is always 30 minutes off, which is a pain in the butt for reviewing footage. Just allow the time to be staggered.
This bug was identified in 2018. We are in 2020. Wyze, are you listening? This is a major issue with your cams, when will it be fixed?
They have no intention any time time soon. Send the cameras back if you just got them.
If this bug starts losing wyze enough money they will have an incentive to fix it.
Tell anyone thinking of wyze cams to not bother due to this bug.
Posting on here gets you nowhere
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What ābugā is a āmajor issueā?
The only problem I see is that it keep asking to set the time. Iāve cams in different time zones. I set my phone to Central time, sync my cameras, Set my phone to Eastern, sync the cameras.
The problem is it updates all your videos to the time zone you are viewing from which is stupid. I have cameras in central and eastern time zone. So did the event happen at 9 central or 9 eastern. I have to constantly think and the video water marks are affected. The time zone should be where the camera is not where I am viewing. So call it a bug or flaw or whatever but it is super annoying.
Iāve mine set to the time zone the cameras are in and the video watermarks follow the time zone they are in.
The time reported in the ātitleā differs but the watermark is correct.
It seems to me that most here are in agreement.
The issue is that you canāt tell it not to ask again about syncing the camera time with your phone.
Having to tap ācancelā then āask again in 7 daysā for every camera you have on every device you use to view them is a complete pain.
Itās far too easy to click sync by mistake and then your timestamps will be wrong.
Seems like there are several issues going on.
As I wrote:
is bothering, but I would not call it a MAJOR ISSUE,
To me a major issue is the requirement to be on the internet for the camera to connect to Wyze.
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We agree that the issue is the app continually asking to set the time but disagree about how critical it is.
Is it a major issue or just a bother.
Having the timeline show me the incorrect time when Iām viewing videos in the app is a bother since itās not critical.
Having accurate timestamps is critical so an issue that affects their accuracy is serious not just a bother.
But one only gets wrong time stamps if one sets it wrong.
We donāt āsetā it wrong. The time is set by the viewing device and allowing āsyncā. It is major issue because it does not set time zone in the water mark of video. In the event of a legal dispute this fact would be a critical to evidence. So it is both major and an annoyance. Also I have two viewers of videos in different time zones and it is a holy mess. WYZE please fix this issue!
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Your being unfair blaming users. The design of the app makes it way too easy to accidentally sync your local time to the camera.