Subscribed to Cam Plus but recordings are only 20-30 seconds long and then cut off , has it something to do with the SD card ? Any advise appreciated, thanks .
No. CamPlus and having a local uSD card are completely unrelated.
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O ok didnt know if a longer recording used cloud storage or not. It also keeps prompting me subscribe to cam pro even though i already am and says so in my account.
Welcome to the user community @mikematt67!
@K6CCC is on the money. uSD recording is completely separate from any CamPlus recordings and the settings are in different places.
In your posts, you mentioned CamPlus and Pro which are two different tiers.
All videos appearing in the Events Tab are videos stored on Wyze servers in the Cloud. uSD footage is accessed only by clicking on the Playback bar or button while in Live View or while watching a Event video from the cloud.
I have CamPlus. The length of the full length videos, all stored in the cloud and streamed to your app by clicking the thumbnail pic in the Events Tab, will vary depending on what type they are. Motion only events tend to be shorter, AI tagged events tend to be longer.
The cam records these Event Videos at the start of motion and ends when motion ceases. That determines the length of the video. This IS affected by the Detection Sensitivity you have set on the cam. The higher the Detection Sensitivity, the more Event Videos you will get, both motion and Smart AI, and the longer those videos will be because it will take longer to reach the motion stopped sensitivity threshold.
If you only want to see the Smart AI videos in the Events Tab (and not motion only events), or change what cams show videos there, you can use the filter funnel in the top right to change what you see in the Events Tab.
This shouldn’t be happening if you have all your cams assigned to an individual CamPlus license. I have read reports that this has happened and I think it has been reported as a bug or a problem with verification of subscription on the account. I will have to search to see if I can find something.
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Great info thank you very much 
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Hello - I’m new to Wyze, getting my cameras setup and learning… (Cam outdoor v2 with Cam Plus)
I see references to the Playback bar or button in your post, and in videos I’m watching. I’m not seeing that in my mobile app (Android). What am I missing?
Trying to understand the difference between cloud and local uSD card recordings. (I have one camera with and one without to help understand what the advantage is)
Thank you.
Dan, I do not have any Wyze Cam Outdoor. The User Interface and capability for these is different than the V3 because of the battery operation features and I am not very familiar with it as I have never used it. I don’t want to give you bad info.
I am tagging in some regulars here in the forum that can help you with your post above. The @Mavens are expert users who compete for the most Wyze Gear Badges. They are the Wyze Jedi Masters. The @Mods are also Jedi Master Wyze users but they also moderate the forum (the administrators).
Also very knowledgeable and experienced WCO users are @Antonius, @towelkingdom, @nixhome2020, and @bryonhu.
I am sure you will get some reply posts real soon!
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Welcome @volleynerd
So yes once you delve deep into the forums it can get kind of confusing as mavens along with moderators and users all get going on tangents and everything kind of blends together…
So for this I will speak directly to the outdoor cam that you have and mentioned.
The wyze cam outdoor operates with a PIR sensor, so it detects heat via the bubble in the bottom of the front of the camera versus any of the other cameras available from the company that detect motion via pixel change. It makes it less prone to false alerts but then again on the flip side, “less sensitive” if that’s how you would want to call it.
You mentioned the playback button. The playback button is something available generally to the cameras such as the v3, the v2, the pan cameras or the flood light. The playback is distinguished from the events tab in that it is recordings to the micro SD card. With the outdoor cameras the only way to record to the SD card is via a schedule that you will set and any detections via the PIR sensor during that schedule will be recorded to the SD card or conversely, the SD card is also used for time lapse recordings. Again something you must manually set. The reason this is done is that if the camera (the outdoor cam, battery operated) were to stay in a ready-to-record state all the time it would very very quickly diminish the battery. As it is it stays in a semi-sleep state with only the PIR sensor active so that when the PIR sensor is activated it then records. Currently the event tab is where the cloud recordings are and where you will find the majority of your recordings. These are recorded independently of any schedule set and are not on the SD card. If you were to subscribe to cam Plus it would give you more recording options such as no cooldown and longer recording options to the cloud.
The big advantage to the plug-in cameras such as the V3 versus the outdoor camera is that the SD card in the V3 can be set up to record either for events, in which case it will record as long as the camera detects motion and will be available to the user via the playback button or it can also be set up to record to the SD card continuously, 24/7. Along with also recording events to the cloud.
I have outdoor cameras and I have found them useful for very independent situations where power is not available and minimal recordings are done. Such as low traffic areas in my backyard. I currently have a outdoor camera setup in my backyard powered by a wyze solar panel and I have that showing an area where I do not have power and thus the use for the solar panel but also I need very few recordings as it is viewing my utility trailer which someone recently stole my license plate off of. I’m kind of hoping they attempt to again as the new plate I made a bracket for and welded to the trailer so it would make for entertaining video for them to be discouraged upon trying.
I’ve also used the outdoor cameras for temporary setups such as things where I just want to check on a remote location on my property from time to time or I have Wi-Fi signal but I don’t have direct power such as a crawl space in my basement where I have a mouse trap or such. I have found for my use, they are good for very specific very individualized use. The majority of my security needs are done by the powered directly cameras such as the V3 or the Pan camera V2.
If you don’t understand anything I have said during my word string or have further questions, please let me know. I would be more than happy to clarify.
And @SlabSlayer thank you for the tag. I have no doubt that the others you have tagged in this will undoubtedly pick up where my run-on left off 
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Thank you for the in-depth info @Bam, makes total sense about the PIR and how it coordinates a “start recording” signal. From your further write-up about how you tend to use the battery-based outdoor cams, it sounds like this might not be the best option for my main camera (facing front yard, watching for people coming onto property).
Still a bit confused about the continuous (or scheduled) recording to SD card. I have seen other mentions in the forums that when scheduled recording is ON, there are no recordings to the cloud or notifications to the phone. But I have seen some differing opinions and evidence of that.
So really two questions:
- Is there a way to set “always on” recording to the SD card? (I see when setting scheduled recording, to choose motion instead of continuous, but then do I really have to SCHEDULE these? Like every day, for duration of 1 day?)
- Can anyone confirm or deny how these above SD card-based recordings do or do not conflict with ability to get notifications of motion and see the corresponding video in the EVENTS tab in the mobile app? (Can confirm that the PLAYBACK button is not present for me - as you described, this is a battery based camera and sounds like that doesn’t support playback functionality)
Thanks again for your detail, and apologize for my ramble in response.
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So if I’m understanding you correctly always on recording what equate to continuous recording 24/7. The outdoor camera battery operated does not offer this option. Continuous recording or and always on recording is only available with continuously powered cameras.
I was attempting to look at mine to verify what you’re looking in summer settings but right now I’m having a little trouble with my network as I’ve been tweaking things so I’m unable to a refresh my memory as to the settings, I apologize there. I don’t want to reference anything I can’t recall specifically.
The notifications you mentioned are tied to the event clips, the notifications work through the cloud and without that you will not get notifications. As long as you are not in the travel mode which is basically the non Wi-Fi non-connected settings for the camera you should get notifications as long as you have all the settings turned on for them. In travel mode the only way to connect to the camera is through Bluetooth directly. I know many people used travel mode say they were going to a hotel and weren’t able to connect to the Wi-Fi and do all the fun settings to get it to work there, you can use travel mode to use the camera as it is a far less frequented camera and will capture things such as people in the room when you’re not there as that would be a non high traffic use and wouldn’t kill the battery very quickly. At least I hope it wouldn’t be high traffic
I’m just not understanding how to accomplish what I THINK is the most common workflow for a security camera. Maybe the inclusion of the SD card is throwing a monkey wrench into the equation and making it more complex than it needs to be.
I set a scheduled recording for 3 hours last night, with “motion” as the trigger (instead of continuous).
- This morning I see 8 video clips in the album for that camera, implying that there were 8 motions detected.
- I did receive notifications during the same timeframe, but only for SOME of the motion events (only 4 out of the 8).
- The downside of the scheduled recording / album approach - have to download each clip individually one-by-one to the phone, then view it. Very painful if having to do this all the time for any motion.
- Scheduled recording is just that - scheduled. Then I would have to schedule another one right after that, and after that, repeating to infinity. I MUST be missing something. That’s just not usable.
Not totally sure where to go next. I suppose I can survive with the Cam Plus cloud-based video clips, although the detection zone doesn’t work (I get WAY too many false positives, cars driving by on the street).
Wish there was a video walkthrough or something that went through this from beginning to end, specifically for these Outdoor v2 battery cameras.
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Sadly just for simplicity and my setup I don’t use the detection zones on my outdoor cameras, I wish I could direct you to a good walkthrough with them, I know over the years many many people have posted with different cameras on YouTube but I haven’t looked for one specific to the outdoor camera and the breakdowns. And I think if I tried to explain any more I would probably come off more convoluted than I already have. If I come across good video I will definitely post it and tag you