Eufy IR leds are very noticeable red colored when on in an otherwise dark room. Definitely not IR only emission. Generally not an issue but an intruder would notice the camera in a dark room due to that.
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Just wanted to add another privacy/security minded option to the conversation:
Eve has just released an affordable HomeKit camera. Much like Eufy, it uses Apple’s Homekit, so all the good Apple privacy/security is baked in…
But, unlike Eufy, all Eve products do not require any registration with Eve. Period. Full stop.
You buy the hardware, set it up in your HomeKit enviro - and just like magic, it works.
The only relationship you have with Eve is that borne of the purchase (eg shipping address, payment info). The cam is yours and yours alone. It doesn’t phone home and Eve isn’t correlating it to a user account, because they don’t have user accounts in their ecosystem.
EDIT: Apologies for using the term “affordable” in the context of this conversation. Eve Cam sells for $149 per unit; that would in deed be a “premium” price in the context of Wyze alternatives.
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How do they (Eve) do firmware updates ? They need to know what kind of device it is. Even Apple keeps track of serial numbers of devices tied to Mac ID.
That actually would be somewhat of an issue outside, if for no other reason than it’s kind of obnoxious. 
I don’t think it is IR. IR is completely invisible to human eye. Perhaps a residue LED emission ?
That, good sir, is a wonderful question to which I do not have a proper response.
Perhaps I have mis-articulated some of the technology; here is the source for the assertions I made above, such that others may make their own evaluation:
EDIT: I do have first hand experience with Eve, owning several of their other HomeKit IOT devices. Can confirm the following:
- I did not register the devices, or otherwise create a user account with Eve.
- The Eve devices are amongst the most-stable in my HomeKit environment; they have yet to fail me and are constantly available.
- They are updated frequently from within the Eve app
- Downloading/installing the Eve app on iOS also did not require any registration with Eve
EDIT 2: Was just thinking, “maybe they pair the hardware MAC to the purchaser”, but I’ve purchased all my Eve devices thru Amazon, so I’m not 100% sure they (Eve) necessarily even have my name and payment info. Yes, I understand their are technically ways they could have that info, but at least upon surface level, it appears that Eve knows nothing about me having purchased their product, and to that extent, I believe what they state in their marketing link I shared above.
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Why? I’m pretty sure (that is to say dead certain) that an installer program ready to overwrite firmware is fully capable of determining which of a small handful of manufacturer products it is talking to, and installing or if necessary downloading the appropriate patch images accordingly.
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LEDs emit over a range of wavelengths, whether they are called IR or red or green etc. IR is anything behind say 660 or so nanometers (nm). So residual could mean the portion of Eufy led that is emitting in the red region. They could instead use an led that emits only in the IR. But camera sensor sensitivity gets lower the further away from red and into IR you go. So having some red in their led means it’s more sensitive.
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This reference says 850 and 940 nm are common IR led wavelengths. 850 can produce a faint red glow. I would say the Eufy is more than faint especially compared to Eyze. 940 has no red glow but is 30 to 40 % less efficient.
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The Eufy Indoor 2K Camera Beta started today. At least for me. I had to sign an NDA so I can’t discuss it directly but my understanding is a public release will happen this month and will overlap the beta period.
I can also confirm once the camera is setup in the Home app you can delete it from the Eufy app. I assume once the new Firmware is in release you won’t ever need the Eufy app, you can just setup the cam in the Home app.
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An NDA? Geez and we thought the Wyze beta’s Facebook requirement was excessive.
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I just don’t like Facebook. 
But I sign NDA’s all the time, fairly common practice. I even have several of my own I use in specific circumstances.
Most of them are hard to enforce, it’s really an honor system with teeth basically. But it is what it is. For tech stuff a lot of times it is primarily to muzzle folks from saying bad things about early releases in public.
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HomeKit support is now in full public (rolling rollout) release. So the Eufy 2K Indoor cameras are now fully supported in HomeKit including HKSV.
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To save others the search, apparently HKSV is Homekit Secure Video, which means storing recordings in your Apple iCloud account. Interestingly the majority of the search hits for the acronym are directly about Eufy cameras.
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Yep, the videos are stored in your iCloud account, but encrypted using your private keys. Hence not accessible to Apple. One of the features that’s important to me as we have all heard of Amazon and Google employees pervving on customer audio and video feeds.
HKSV has been around for quite awhile, long before Eufy added their devices. But lately Eufy has been gradually adding their entire product line to HomeKit. Hence all the Eufy references.
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I preordered 3 Eufy cams for basic HomeKit integration. And HKSV just exceeded my expectations.
These eufy cams are replacing my wyze cams. I still have wyze powered at some less critical locations to record.
But if I’m adding another cam it’ll be eufy no doubt.
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I just viewed a Eufy vs. Reolink comparison by LifeHackster and the mic pickup of the Eufy blew the other away. (Conversely I think the Reolink had the better speaker.) He also found the app more stable. I am strongly leaning toward PoE hardwired connections at the moment though.
I use these with two cameras I needed PoE for, one a Eufy and one a Wyze. They have been working fine. So if you need/want PoE your not stuck with Cameras that come with it.
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That is a great point, I keep forgetting that option, essentially a step down transformer / DC to DC converter. Thanks. I should do that sooner instead of later to improve on my existing Wyze setup. Now to pick up an inexpensive PoE switch or injector…
I use 2 of these. They are good out to about 100 meters. You can get one that’s up to 60W for another 20 bucks. But I find 30W will run around 4 to 6 cameras.
Cudy POE200 30W Gigabit PoE Injector Adapter, 30W,10/100/1000Mbps RJ-45, IEEE 802.3af / 802.3at Compliant, up to 100 Meters (325 Feet) Amazon.com
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