Do Wyze cams lose capabilities when they can’t “phone home” to the cloud? I’ve been using a local router in router mode to maintain LAN wifi to my Pan V3s & a V3. It has been working well, discounting wet foliage interference, for weeks. My ISP service failed at 10:19 and until 10:23-ish RTSPS was still streaming & being recorded locally. Now, the cameras are PiNG-able but port scans indicate no services are active. If Wyze cameras are slaves to the Cloud I will abandon them.
I should say I’ve been using my own router on the LAN side of the ISP Gateway router.
Wyze cameras are VERY internet dependent. They are pretty much a brick if they can’t phone home.
Yes without Internet they lose their ability to do RTSP
That’s why I don’t use Wyze cams anymore 
Happy with my Tapo’s and Reolink’s which don’t require a subscription or even Internet for that matter.
Both brands have RTSP and far more out of the box
And the Tapo’s have same or better pricing than Wyze
Thanks, K6CCC and byronhu!
It’s obviously time for me to shed my Wyze train wheels & ride on with more independent cameras.
Did the cam happen to lose power or show evidence of a reboot? I haven’t played with RTSP on them but since it seems to be locally configured in the cam, it should theoretically be possible to keep it running. The only major issue people have had in the past with connectivity loss is when it can’t synch time, which can be overcome with an NTP proxy on your router (not terribly common but some routers support it).
No power events were evident. Cameras & routers are on UPS, anyhow.
When the cam loses internet they now reboot every 30 minutes to try and get it back, but I wouldn’t expect it to do it after 4 or 5 mins unless they’ve bumped that timer up.
I guess since most of the cam’s configs are stored in the cloud, if it did reboot itself it wouldn’t have been able to retrieve the RTSP config, but you’d think that would be stored locally. I know with the very old RTSP firmware and even older production firmwares, people would use the V3 without internet, or get it online using a hot spot then disconnect the internet. But obviously over time, things change and the new implementation of RTSP may be totally different.
So much easier having a camera that works out of the box instead of dealing with workarounds and hacks to get it to work.
And even if you do get it working it still can and likely will be messed up by Wyze, requiring more wasted time troubleshooting and applying the next workaround 
Between Reolink and Tapo, which do you prefer? Anything stand out (good or problematic) between the two? I decided I’m going to get something as a trial to replace my main Wyze cams with. I also want to see what I can do with them in HA that I’m missing now.
I do love the image clarity I get from my Wyze V4’s, and wouldn’t want less, but I’m ready to have more freedom and options.
I prefer the Reolink’s but they do cost more as I went with 4k resolution models. But they do cost more than Wyze so if on a budget the Tapo’s are good and comparably priced to Wyze’s offerings.
Reolink is very flexible as far as adding an NVR, NAS, or other storage mediums, Besides RTSP they also have access via HTTP, HTTPS and RMTP. the RTSP supports ONVIF too. Reolink has an App for a PC/Laptop for a professional multi-cam display locally and not through a webpage. The Windows based app is nice, Tapo doesn’t offer an app other than Android or IOS
Screenshot of Reolink’s Windows based App, very flexible as to your screen layout.
The Tapo’s are a new addition to my camera ecosystems, they support RTSP and Tapo’s NVR’s only. But if all you need is RTSP they may meet your needs. I am still evaluating the Tapo’s so others opinions on this forum from other Tapo users may get you more info…
Thanks, that helps a lot. I do realize Reolink are more expensive, But I would only need two or maybe three to replace the main Wyze cams. For now at least, I would keep the several Wyze cameras that are only used like baby monitors for our daycare. Those don’t need any services or even recording really.
These are the models I have. I haven’t tried other models so my opinion is only on these models. Other models YMMV
Thank you!
If you use M-Series Mac you can use the Tapo mobile app for a full desktop experience.
I’m trying a c500. I figured out the minor rtsp differences and I’m happy its app is compatible with older 32-bit Androids, which is something Wyze discontinued.
I abandoned Windows when our laptops’ hardware didn’t meet Win11 hardware demands.
I keep Windows 11 running on one old laptop because my wife will not convert to Linux or a Mac. I like Linux Mint and I have Edubuntu (Education Ubuntu) running on another laptop for my 2 year old granddaughter to get used to technology.
I have a 13 year old Lenovo that came with Windows 8. A few years back Microsoft was allowing free upgrades to Windows 10 which I did.
I used Rufus to upgrade to Windows 11 which is working and says my Win 11 is activated. Windows 11 on a 13 year old Lenovo works fine for checking email and web browsing. The Lenovo has an SSD so that might be why it does not feel slugness.
Here is a tutorial if anyone wants to try to get Windows 11 running on an older system.
I’ve found 2 aspects of Tapo’s C500 that compare poorly with Pan V3:
C500 only has a 73.5° horizontal field of view while pan V3 sees 120°.
C500 controls won’t turn off IR LEDs while leaving the IR filters active
I’ve found a detached IR source greatly reduces glare, especially white-outs from fog, heavy pollen & midge swarms. Still, C500’s ability to maintain RTSP during extended internet outages is compelling enough for swapping.
Reolink’s do cost more but allow IR filter without LED’s on.