In the link I posted, there are two sections, one for beta (software) and one for hardware. You do not have to have a FB account for software beta testing. However, at this time, you do need to be on FB to apply for hardware testing. As indicated in the last paragraph of the link (copy below), you can apply and indicate you are not on FB. You will not be considered until such time as Wyze moves off FB for hardware testing:
We do plan to move away from Facebook groups for future testing, but we’re not at that point yet. Currently, hardware testing communication is limited to secret Facebook groups. If you want to be a future tester for us but would rather not use Facebook, please include that information in the Facebook line instead of your Facebook email. We won’t be able to work with you right now, but we want you in the running for the future.
Thanks very much for the clarification! I’ll sign up in hope that this will change soon.
BTW, if I may ask (and not only for myself but others who have wondered the same thing in reddit and other places) why is FB preferable to using your own forums? I’m kind of curious what the FB Platform offers that cannot be duplicated in a forum setting. I’m sure you have a good reason, and if it’s not proprietary or privileged information I’d like to know what it is.
I really don’t know. I have lobbied to move more to the forum, but apparently there are some who prefer FB and there’s a lot of momentum there. Personally, I’d rather keep FB for personal interactions.
I agree and I appreciate your reply; thanks again. I suppose the longer it stays there the harder it will be to get folks using FB to respond to a move to forums positively.
I guess in the larger picture it’s just a small thing. Wyze is otherwise close to perfect in my eyes and an organization I’d be proud to work for. Which is one of the reasons I want so badly to beta test for them!
We looked into the forum for this and chose to stay with Facebook for the meantime. This choice isn’t because of Facebook being preferable for social interactions though that is a factor. Right now, the forum is more difficult to work with because either you get giant threads that, while you can search in them, it’s difficult to get information at a glance. When you aren’t making giant threads, you’d end up with a bunch of different ones to monitor. Right now we’ve got a working method for Facebook and this would be more difficult to keep tabs on. It’s also less accessible for many people and a lot of the time it’s easier for people to post on Facebook than in the forum. It’s not just about preference but making sure that it’s easy for people to provide the feedback we’re needing. There are other issues with the move but they’re more back end than these ones.
Moving to the forum is something that we’re considering for the future but we haven’t figured out the way we want to do that quite yet. We’d rather keep the working method while we sort out how to make the forum move function well than make the move and then have to scramble to sort things out afterward. That said, we are continuing to make improvements to the forum and haven’t given up on the idea.
I don’t own an Android TV, but I am under the impression Android TV is based on Android OS and you can install any Android app you want. If what I said is true, you should be able to launch the Wyze app as it stands today right on the Android TV. Android TV with the Google Assistant build-in is a news to me. I hope eventually with this beta or some future release we just need to tell Google Home/assistant : “show me camera one” without the need to launch the Wyze app.
Dont all android mobile apks available at the play store are available for Android TVs, you can try to sideload the mobile version of the WYZE apk but if work at all user esperience wont be the best. Therefore the need for a specific android TV apk if youy want the best experience. Still Google assistant integration should solve the main purpose for Android TV users to be able to monitor any Wyze cam on voice commands request as you well imagined, thats the main purpose for this testing.
I strongly strongly recommend Slack if you are considering moving away from FB. There are a lot of other businesses that are using it for anything from beta testing to just building vibrant communities. We use to use it at my work- but then they took it away because we can’t have nice things anymore.
We actually have Slack here at Wyze! We tried it with a smaller group but had difficulty with it reducing activity and providing notifications reliably. Thanks for the suggestion! And sorry you can’t have nice things anymore. That really stinks.
Completely excited for this. Like the best belated (due to my own failures of getting here yesterday) belated Vday gift ever is seeing beta testing for this- I almost broke down and purchased a Echo Spot- but I’ve been dreaming of seeing my Wyze on my Home Hub and Chromecasts.
Yeah, the worst part is that Im one of two admins in the NOC (network operations center) so I actually had to not only deal with losing Slack, but I had to be one of two people to uninstall it from everywhere. The tears were real.
Quick question… In addition to the Google Home Hub, I also have the Levono Smart Display, which is a Google Home device with video, just not made by Google.
Please let me know if this is also included with the testing, as I can help with that as well.
Thanks much…
Kenneth
Lenovo Smart should work just as Google home hub but in practice not all the functions updates arrives at launch, still in case is not working its Lenovo fault by not be able to replicate Google home hub function as it should… BRs
