Wyze, why are you still refusing to add HomeKit support to your “smart” devices despite overwhelming community support for several years? With the release of iOS14 on 9/16, HomeKit got a ton of new features, and with Apple’s pledge to privacy, it will be the only smart home solution I will use.
There’s no longer any reason for Wyze to continue to ignore this request. The most common complaints from developers or “smart device” manufacturers I hear are:
Apple originally made it very cumbersome to develop on, as well as costly. This turned away many developers initially.
HomeKit has higher physical hardware requirements than other solutions. This rules out some of Wyze’s current hardware like the V1/V2.
HomeKit has a lower adoption rate than many of the alternatives (SmartThings, Google Assistant, Alexa). From a priority standpoint, I imagine Wyze is factoring this in as well.
Responses
It’s partly true but that was to ensure privacy, and that barrier went away 2 years ago. Now all HomeKit authentication is done in Software but there IS an approval process.
This has gone away entirely and all limitations are based on data usage and authentication. If someone is peddling a 2015 hardware (Wyze?!?) expects that Apple needs to be backwards compatible, that’s not exactly Apples responsibility. There are $10 smart plugs and $100 cameras that are HomeKit. Apple does have very specific limits on how and where users data is used and that turns off companies that don’t care about it or want to profit from it.
Almost every iOS and MacOS device can use HomeKit, and it has the world largest single ecosystem. Some devices are now HomeKit only. Alexa ecosystem is a joke with their half baked Apps. Google Home is Ok but lack the privacy controls of HomeKit. Both Amazon and Google are two of the worst privacy offenders in tech.
I have tried to be unbiased in my purchases, but with the iOS14 HomeKit features, it’s hard to imagine any manufacturer that will not think of HomeKit support. Wyze did and unfortunately, their new camera is not HomeKit capable, and they chose to announce exactly on the same day iOS 14 with new HomeKit was announced. As of today, Wyze is off my list for Home cameras due to lack of HomeKit support. Eufy and Logitech will replace it.
While I certainly sympathize with your position and I too also prefer HomeKit for similar reasons, I find exception with a lot of what you said.
I am a developer, iOS, HomeKit, MacOS, and Microsoft and Linux are all platforms I work with and on.
The Amazon or Google ecosystems, either one, are several orders of magnitude larger than HomeKit. And they will be for years to come. Especially Amazon. So your assertion that HomeKit is larger or even just large, is demonstrably false.
There are still hardware requirements in the HomeKit process. A number of obstacles have indeed been removed but as of this writing the V1, V2, Pan cameras do NOT meet the requirements.
I’m not asking Wyze to find a way to make their old products compatible, that ship has sailed despite their many promises to “work on it”. I take issue with the fact that this has been one of the most requested features from the Wyze community for years and Wyze is still introducing new products that don’t include HomeKit compatibility.
Amazon and Google’s ecosystems are not larger than Apple’s. Apple is the #1 brand purchase worldwide for tablets and smartphones, and one of the top brands purchased for laptops. Anyone with an Apple device has access to that ecosystem, and by proxy, HomeKit. This gives manufacturers a huge market that is largely untapped. I am not saying that HomeKit is the #1 smart home platform used.
Interesting you mention the word “bias” here.
It’s always good and in one’s own interest to examine what one’s assumptions are with humility, and question the validity of those hopefully conscious assumptions—these upon which all conclusions are built.
Actually going through the humble, unflinching process of understanding whIch of one’s assumptions are held to be facts based on a large enough perspective and evidence VS assumptions taken to be facts based on one’s unquestioned biases and beliefs would quite likely have resulted in a considerably different post than the outrage displayed above in your first post today.
Actually Amazons Echo eco system is MUCH larger than HomeKit. Remember their software runs on both Apple AND Android. Tablets and Smartphones do not equate 1 for 1 with HomeKit sales. Apples own figures show a fairly shallow penetration of HomeKit.
To truly participate in HomeKit you need a hub which as of now means a HomePod or Apple TV. You can also use an iPad although for various reasons that is not recommended.
You also need to have a membership of either the 200 gig or 2 terabyte iCloud membership to use HKSV cameras. Amazon conversely can run on pretty much any phone/tablet or Echo Devices etc.
So no HomeKit is not even a large percentage of Amazon’s market.
Interesting conversation. The reason that I have HomeKit is because of the integration with iOS. I like the fact that the geolocation works in our house with not only the phones and tablets, but also the Apple Watch. oth, there are still holes in Apple’s ecosystem so I have to run a HomeKit/Google Home combo in my house.
Apple is partly to blame for this. The lack of reasonable cost satellites and the reliance on an expensive HomePod (or Apple TV) is definitely a hurdle, hence my using the Google Homes for distributed audio. I use a combination of the Google Homes, HomePod, Apple Watch, iPhones (including a few old phones running on wifi) and iPads around the house. And still I struggle with making sure I have the right generation Apple products. But that said, I am committed to utilizing HomeKit as my primary house automation device and that means that Wyze products don’t work for me. I bought a smart plug and ended up returning it and won’t invest in Wyze products because I am committed to HomeKit.
I understand the economics in trying to support the various platforms and don’t blame Wyze for their lack of support for HomeKit. And while I am an Amazon customer, I don’t want to share any more information with them than I already do. I live with the functionality of Google Home but can’t wait until Apple (hopefully) increases their ecosystem so that I don’t have to share information with Google either. So as a result, I have made my choice with my pocketbook.
Like you I am primarily a HomeKit user. I like the way it works and the privacy safeguards built in. It does have holes in the system so as a backstop I use Alexa. But 98.9% of what I need is available in HomeKit. If I use Homebridge that rises to 100% but I have a few concerns about Homebridge.
Overall of the 3 main ecosystems I prefer HomeKit by a wide margin. It’s disappointing that Wyze has not made HomeKit support a priority but certainly not unexpected. Far more devices support Amazon than HomeKit. And Apples approval process is fairly strict.
It will be interesting to see how this market shapes itself over the next few years. I am fairly sure it will change dramatically.
Anyone want some wyze cams? I’m selling all of mine as I have given up on HomeKit ever arriving and without it they have no value to me. Switching to another company that understands customers want this functionality and therefore provide it.
Homekit would never have arrived to any cams they currently have as they were all denied. The only hope was for future cams and the plugs and bulbs. I do understand your frustration though and I am sure you will be able to sell them to someone.
Would it be worth breaking this wishlist up into product based requests. I get that HomeKit on the camera is rather difficult given the hardware however is the plug integration just as hard? Would love to see homekit support on at least one of the products to start rather then trying to get homekit on the whole suite.
I want to sell mine as well. Checking on eBay but they seems to flood the site, plus the shipping fee will make a lot of people buy a new one from Amazon instead. I need to sell it locally here. Still have boxes and everything they came with the cam. If anyone interested and in Los Angeles, hit me up.
I have HomeKit with Eufy and everything is working great after iOS 14 update. I will not buy Wyze for home use but I will continue to use Wyze for our warehouse and office locations. So if anyone is in Chicago and wants to give up Wyze Cams without having to deal with shipping, message me and we can work something out.
It’s been tough backing Wyze lately. When I found the company when searching the internet and doing research on smart home products to put into my home I thought I had struck gold. Wyze seemed like they had everything together. Their products had awesome pricing and the feature set wasn’t bad at all. I joined the forum and stated engaging with fellow consumers. I voted for many products and features some of which have come to life and others that are still a possibility.
Now that time has passed since I started purchasing Wyze products the glow has really diminished. It seems that Wyze is leaving behind the smart home side of the business which really got a lot of people interested in Wyze in the first place. We are starting to see products outside of the smart home such as the band and scale. The scale wasn’t bad compared to the $200 Withings scale I already have but the band was a major flop in my opinion. As an Apple Watch user I didn’t have high hopes but backed the product because I believed in Wyze. One thing I was really not happy to hear is that they are now working on headphones. So many different headphones exist out there we don’t need another. Now I know many will say they have a lot of products in the pipe such as the doorbell and thermostat. Yes these products are good for the smart home side of the business but the key problem is integrations. Lots of loyal Wyze customers have been left behind asking for integrations such as HomeKit and SmartThings. These services power lots of homes and consumers would rather have all of their products in one simple app opposed to spread out in a bunch of them.
Today I replaced all of my cameras with Eufy cams. Yes they cost more but they integrate perfectly with HomeKit and they work every time in Google. When I ask my Nest Hubs to show them on the screen they come right up. Soon I will be purchasing door and window sensors from Aqara to replace all of the Wyze sensors I have. Yes these too integrate well with HomeKit and Google. I think Wyze is really leaving us loyal customers behind. Yes integrations are a black hole because you can’t sell integrations as a service but you can increase the product cost once the integrations are in place. A bulb today is $8, tomorrow with HomeKit and Smartthings integrated it’s $10-$12. This would still make Wyze competitive with pricing and give consumers what they want. I really hope Wyze comes around and cranks these integrations out but at this time I have to go with what works for my setup. I cannot recommend Wyze at this time to anyone looking for an economical setup as most of the people I know are running HomeKit or Google Home. I will be keeping a watchful eye and hopefully HomeKit becomes a reality but I’m not holding my breath as it’s been to long and has been ignored for multiple products with many less votes.
I just got a couple of WEMO Plugs for like $9.95 at Costco. So basically $5 each. These things work great with Homekit along with Amazon and Google. So it works with all 3 of those. So if you switch to something else later, you don’t have to replace them. I had just gotten a 3-pack of the smaller ones from Best Buy as I was in a rush. I wanted to control more lights when I went away on vacation. I have one that I use for the Christmas tree when I set that up. I can just say hey Siri, turn tree on and it goes on. Though I normally have it set to go on and off at a set time. It’s easier to deal with this way than your normal cheapo timer which I’ve used in the past.
I’m not going to wait around for WYZE on things. It would be nice, but it’s OK. For the cameras, it’s really not a big deal. I get notified on my phone, hit that and go right into the app and see what is going on anyway. I have a couple WYZE cameras and I have an Outside Wyze camera which so far seems to work pretty good. I had some connection issues early on, but it’s been working really good recently. I charged the battery late last month just before I went on Vacation for first week of this month and the battery still shows 85%. I’m looking at it right now in the dark and I can see the area clearly on the side of my house. I like the mount setup as it makes it easy enough to take off, charge and put it right back up. I do need a ladder of course, but not a big deal. You expect that with a battery-powered camera. At some point I plan to install a couple more POE 5MP cameras in this area. I just haven’t had time to do it yet, and so this is the next best, way to go. I really can’t see a need for Homekit support?!?! The picture quality is pretty good. Make sure you switch from SD to HD when you have the video going to get a better picture!!! I do have a second camera on order whenever I get it.
What kind of Homekit support do you need with the cameras? What does it do for you?
EUFY is great though because you don’t need to pay for their cloud service to really use them. Unlike most everyone else. I don’t want to go with a battery powered camera everywhere because having to get the ladder out and climb up and grab each one and charge them up for hours and then having to put them all back and re-aim them all once again would drive me nuts. I’m more old school, so have mostly POE 5MP cameras around my house recording to a NVR 24/7. It’s a really nice way to go. Running just a ethernet cable in general isn’t to hard. Cut to length, install a new RJ-45 plug and away you go. The cameras just work. I can see them on my phone anywhere. No Homekit support, but I really don’t see the need. I have 6 of them up right now with room for 2 more. Since the cameras would be on the far side of my house, and I really have a tiny attic to work with, I have to route another way. So I’m thinking of ways to do it. For now I have 1 WYZE Outside camera which is working pretty good. It has a nice picture. See’s great at night. I have 81% battery life after 20-21 days. This is a temp solution for now until I get my real Cameras put up. I do have a second one on order whenever I get it. I don’t know, I can’t see needing Homekit support for any of my cameras.
I’M sure though if you’re using WYZE sensors and stuff, that it would then become more important.
I’m not really a fan of Smart Bulbs. I much prefer Smart Switches. So I have some Homekit light switches. This allows the switches to be used like a normal switch still. I can use the same lights. Like my T8 bulbs. both Florescent and LED’s in my garage. I’m slowing moving to LED’s They sure don’t make T8 Smart bulbs!! But using Apple’s Home App. I have some of the lights linked to my Garage Door Opener. So when the Door opens, the lights come on, and whenit closes they go off. Giving me much better light in the garage. The great thing is I can open the garage by lifting my arm and say OPEN GARAGE into my Apple Watch as I don’t have to say Hey Siri, and the door opens and the lights also turn on. But it also works if you say just hit the button on the wall. They are still linked. That’s a huge plus for me.
So I get the Importance of Homekit support for things. I just haven’t figured out a need for it with my Cameras. But I can see a few things you do do linking up to other things. Camera sees movement that makes your fake dog start barking as 1 example.
Surprisingly I didnt necessarily care about HomeKit support for the cams until I started beta testing iOS 14. HomeKit Secure Video and the new features of iOS 14 really changed the game in my opinion. While Wyze is starting to charge for person detection I get it for free with HSV. HSV also supports facial recognition so I can have known person announcements from my Homepod’s. Yes, in a way I pay $9.99 for those features but I get 2TB of space for my whole family which I pay for anyway. All of the TVs in my home have Apple TVs on them and any new TVs I buy will be LG which connects into HomeKit. Since I have Apple TVs everywhere I can check my cams from any room. Also as soon as Eufy supports HSV on their doorbell camera I will be getting one so I can see it in the HomeKit app and on my TV. I dont necessarly care about 24/7 recording. Down the road if I want 24/7 recording I would go with Unifi Protect. I am a big fan of Ubiquiti and run Unifi for my home network. It wont integrate with HomeKit but will allow me to have 24/7 recording locally.
When Wyze came out and said their cams wouldn’t support HomeKit or HSV it left a lot of us asking well what about support for the bulbs, plugs, sensors and new devices. I have Hoobs running now with the bulbs, plugs and sensors. The delayed reaction due to polling makes the automations as slow as using IFTTT (which now charges a monthly fee). With Homekit, any sensors I have work quickly due to local processing. This also helps during an internet outage since I am not reliant upon the cloud. I have one Wemo plug and I use it for my Wife’s flat iron. Upon her leaving the house the plug shuts off if she forgot to turn it off. I don’t tend to use a lot of plugs. They are more for the holidays to automate my Christmas tree and decorations. When it comes to bulbs I have a mix between switches and bulbs. I use bulbs mainly in the rooms I want the ability to change color or at least color temps to set moods or for entertaining. I mostly have all Hue bulbs since Philips makes an actual switch for them so guests that come over can easy use my lights without a learning curve. Everywhere else I use Lutron Caseta switches which in my opinion are the best on the market at this time. All of this integrates into HomeKit and allows my family the ability to use one unified app for everything which is a huge plus. I don’t have to share each individual device I just add each person to the home and everyone can control what they need.