Webview for WCO

Beta
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1

Webview is not working on any of my WCOs. Message appears that the WCO is not supported because I need to add it to my CamPlus subscription. All of my cams have CamPlus activated on them. Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

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You aren’t doing anything wrong. Wyze announced that they won’t support battery-operated cams (WCO’s). Here are the Wyze sources for that:

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It’s just a bug that it’s telling you that you need Cam Plus or a Firmware upgrade for a WCO since Webview is still in Beta Testing and isn’t fully finished and updated yet. They are working on it still and I expect that it will soon be clear (likely before it officially launches) that WCO’s are not accessible in Webview.

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Thanks for your reply. This is unfortunate. All of my WCOs are plugged in all the time, so battery life is not an issue for me. Livestream is also not available. Must be the same reason. I wish there was an option.

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Follow up question, why don’t you use a v3 with it’s upgraded features instead since you have the WCO s plugged in? Is the pir a needed feature? What’s your use case? Thanks in advance! Just curious :slight_smile:

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Livestream [through the Wyze app] works for my WCO, so this is definitely not the issue. You might want to check with support if you’re unable to Livestream.

Ability to use WebView with a plugged in WCO has been a popular request so hopefully Wyze will consider that in the future. It probably depends how complicated that is to program in only allowing it while it’s plugged in or charging.

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These cameras are outdoors, albeit in semi-sheltered locations (covered lanai, under an eave, etc). Not sure that v3 would be ok to use outdoors

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My mistake. Not livestream. The “view playback” button is not available in the app with the WCO when viewing live

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I currently have five v3 cams outside and they work far better than the WCO. The v3 cams are designed for outdoor use.

Indoor and Outdoor Use

IP65-rated weatherproof with extreme temperature tolerance from -4°F to 113ÂșF, the camera can be mounted anywhere inside or outside your home and stand up to any weather conditions.

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Like @StopICU33 stated, the v3s are outdoor rated cameras. And since the WCOs are battery powered, they don’t have continuous recording or the playback function. Anything that may be recorded on a sd card in the WCO from scheduled recording can only be viewed by removing the card and viewing it on a computer. If you have corded powered location, I’d highly recommend the v3 for several reasons over the wco (continuous recording, starlight sensor, multiple choice in ir light options, continuous recording, starlight sensor [see a trend?:slight_smile: ]). The only reason if suggest a wco over a v3 in a corded location is if the pir sensor is a MUST, vs the pixel detection system on the v3.

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10

Me too on V3 
work fine outside in rain and snow
just keep power adapter source end dry

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Thanks for the comment! I’ll emphasize a few lines in that link:

Please note: The power adapter included with the v3 is NOT weather resistant, so if you plan to use it outside you will either need to run the power from inside or purchase a weather-resistant adapter.

Very important, the included Wyze power brick with the v3 is not outdoor rated and not to be used outdoors. Just the camera end of the cord is outdoor rated. :slight_smile:

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Good to know. I will probably switch to v3 with outside cam updates. The v3 cams seem to be more stable with connections too. I constantly need to reinstall my WCOs. About once/month they go offline and won’t reconnect without a restart. V3 cams have never had this issue.

Annoying when it happens when I am out of town since I can’t remotely press the reset button!

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I support this thought to switch them to V3’s. I have several V3’s outside. If I can get a power cord to a camera outside I use a V3, and if I can’t get a power cord to the location I want, then I use a WCO.

V3’s work SO much better outside if you have access to power cable for them, and especially if you have everything including the powercord in a semi-sheltered location like under an eave as you mentioned (which you must already have since you have power cords running to the WCO’s already, then the V3 is definitely the way to go. It will totally solve your Webview issue! You’ll be able to use webview for those locations!

The WCO’s will still be useful to place elsewhere in more difficult locations even if you switch out those current locations for V3’s.

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Then I wonder what the advantage is for the WCO other than the cordless battery (which I don’t use!)? I run the power cable through the exterior wall and plug the adaptor in an indoor outlet, in all cases but one. That one is plugged into an outdoor GFCI plug in a weatherproof junction box, outside of direct rain exposure.

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My response:

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I have 8 WCO’s, and use them like trail cams around my property mainly to observe the wildlife that frequents the property. I do have one in the front yard ‘hidden’ and pointed at my front door to backup my video doorbell.

I do not have a power outlet available at the locations I use them.

I have two V3’s at a location that does have a power outlet available (covered GFI)

So, losing my 8 WOCs in Webview is unacceptable.

IMO, using the Web View is EQUAL to how I use the Wyze App on my phone or iPad. For that reason alone, I should be able to access my 8 WCOs, 6 V3’s, 1 V2 and two Pan Cam V2’s all in one place.

The excuse that it’ll run down battery is a poor excuse. Let me the user of the camera check a little check box to ACKNOWLEDGE that this may impact battery life of the WCO camera if added to the Webview. Then, when it starts consuming the battery entirely too fast, then that is something I make the decision to no longer utilize.

When viewing the live stream on my iPhone, iPad, or android phone, the WCO will time out to prevent battery drain, does it not? Why can’t the same thing occur with the webview?

SJ

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You make some great rationales!

Though I personally wouldn’t say I am “losing webview” on my WOC’s because they’ve never had webview, so I don’t see it as something being taken away from me (can’t take away what I never had). I rather see it as me being excited that I am getting something EXTRA on all the other cams, and for me it feels like a totally free extra because I already had Cam Plus on everything, and they didn’t raise the price for me to get this added to it, so from my perspective I am just excited I got a bunch of new extra stuff on most of my cams at no additional cost from what I had before. ​But I guess that’s just semantics.

I totally support all your rationales. It would be great if Wyze implemented those as solutions. Create a disclaimer or acknowledgment about the battery impact streaming will have, maybe even suggest not to do it too often or for too long on WCO’s, and secondly they could do similar to live streaming on the Wyze app and just have a set interval for the WCO’s to time out on the webview. Those are both pretty reasonable solutions. After all, like you mentioned, Wyze allows us to live stream WCO’s from our app, so how is this any different? Technically it’s routing through a different way than when we use the app, using an Amazon service for Webview, but the battery use issue is exactly the same, and we aren’t being restricted from live streaming in the app. This should be treated similarly (with a time-out interval if necessary). You make a very valid point, thank you for sharing.

I am definitely a big supporter of letting the customer make the informed decision rather than enforcing limitations (I also fought for this with the Wyze Watch settings limiting heart rate and SPO2 to force us to have better battery life, and a few other similar impositions, so I definitely support the principle of this).

I think that IF Wyze does eventually provide support for WCO’s, it most likely won’t be for several months after it’s officially launched. If enough people respectfully show their desire for this, they might do it eventually. If I see it in a wishlist I’ll vote for it, and I’ll try to remember to ask the AI team about it the next time they do an AMA on one of the platforms. It would be interesting to hear their responses and considerations related to your logical rationales.

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Sorry if I missed it, but for the power outside there is also this now.

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Yep that is an optional accessory when it is available. I was just thinking out loud about the included power brick. :slight_smile:

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I went back, and read my original message, and agree that was not a good choice of words.

I was expressing my frustration at seeing 8 placeholders for camera’s that I’m now being told will never see the light of day for live view.

I guess if I had one WCO in the view, it would of been a minor annoyance


I also show my 10 supported camera’s that should be working in live view just spin away


2021-12-02_19-36-18

Yes, I know it’s a beta


I’m here for you Wyze
if you need me to do anything on my end to help fix this issue


I’ll sit here and wait patiently for this to start working
and for the unsupported camera’s to be supported with the check box that has me acknowledge that I’m killing my WCO batteries prematurely :slight_smile:

SJ