I’ve read Wyze Support’s instructions for Factory Reset of V1-3 & PanV1 cameras…
Wyze Support’s instructions for V2 advise blinking yellow LED indicates when camera is ready to be setup again, but it’s not made clear exactly what indicates a successful Factory Reset.
When starting from solid yellow LED and I press and hold the Setup button on a V2, the camera almost immediately starts repeating Ready To Connect and light blinks yellow, and then the light goes to solid yellow as I continue holding down the button for about 10 seconds, and some time after I release the button, it blinks yellow again (but the camera would not connect to app from here), so I had to unplug camera, then plug in again after a minute to get solid yellow, and then I was able to get the camera into Ready To Connect setup mode - once connected, the camera still shows the latest firmware. This is not covered in Wyze Support’s instructions.
Does anyone know exactly what indicates a successful Factory Reset?
In reality just deleting the device from the app does the same thing as a button reset (supposedly), as long as the camera has a signal and can receive the command to reset its settings. I would say if you held the button, the light did something different, camera was non responsive until you rebooted it, and it came back in “ready to connect” mode, then it was reset.
Thanks, dave27 - I wondered the same thing if what WildBill said is true - it’s certainly a lot easier to Delete Device in app settings (if camera is connected to start) - I’ve seen this with other electronics as well. If true, then you would think Wyze would mention this in their Factory Reset instructions.
If whatever problem goes away after performing Wyze Support’s procedure or by Deleting Device in app settings, then that’s the most important thing. (Edit: WildBill says never delete an outdoor camera while offline or it will brick.)
Short of the device saying “Camera Reset Successful”, I was hoping the camera would give a successful reset confirmation.
Thanks, WildBill - good to know. My concern was for my indoor V2 cameras (that I use outdoors), but I also have a V3 in the outdoor motion light fixture,
They will all go into a pending mode essentially, but once back online they should receive the command to reset (obviously must be on the original wifi network). I don’t have any experience with the Wyze Cam Outdoor though, that one uses a base station right? Probably a bit different there.
But I’d definitely recommend only doing it when a camera is online regardless.
V3 should behave as described, as long as it is online, deleting from the app resets it. However I’m assuming Wyze’s documentation assumes your camera has an issue so they tell you to use the button procedure since you either can’t do it in the app or it will fail to reset it if there is some issue.
If you use the button reset and don’t delete it from the app, when you re-add it, it just goes right back to where it was, re-downloads the same settings, etc (it sees the MAC address matches and just adds it back to the existing device). For some that is desirable, but if you want to do a total reset and reconfigure from scratch to ensure there are no “gremlins” sticking around, I’d do both. You can do the app delete after you button reset the camera too, doesn’t seem to matter.
The Outdoor is a specific model of Wyze cam, it uses an indoor base station from what I recall, things are set up a bit differently with that one.
The factory reset article you referenced is correct (I just tested it). Successful factory reset on your Cam v2 is indicated via:
The LED status light on the device will change from Solid Yellow to Blinking Yellow.
There is no audible announcement, just solid yellow > flashing yellow.
Also, WildBill is correct, factory reset does not change loaded firmware. But it not only resets WiFi info, it clears ALL of your cam’s settings, returns settings to factory defaults and also clears subscription association. This is regardless of whether you deleted your Cam v2 before factory reset or not. I.e., even if you don’t delete before factory reset, factory reset will reset everything and return your Cam v2 to factory (new) state except for firmware.
Thank you, however I’m not concerned about the firmware staying updated - only interested in a definite indication of Successful Factory Reset - following Wyze Support’s Factory Reset procedure using the Setup button, the LED changes from Solid Yellow to Blinking Yellow and announces Ready To Connect almost immediately / well before the prescribed Setup button press & hold duration, so there is no discernable difference indicating a Successful Factory Reset via the Blinking Yellow, and Wyze Support’s instructions do not specifically say the Blinking Yellow means Successful Factory Reset. I did notice the Blinking Yellow going back to Solid Yellow after about 10 seconds of press & hold, so I was wondering if that was supposed indicate successful completion of the Factory Reset. Sent you a message - thanks again.
I’ve noticed with many different devices the amount of time they tell you to hold is longer than necessary (they want to make sure you don’t count too fast), and things can change with newer firmware vs. older documentation too. I’ve seen a few where it takes longer than they say too.
If you hold the button a long time and lights change, I’d think it is reset. I’m pretty sure anytime it says “ready to connect” everything is wiped out, even if you just delete it from the app and it sends the signal to the camera.
There isn’t much in the cam anyway, just some settings which all get overwritten when you reconnect it anyway (if any of them still remain, which I doubt they do).
Press and hold the reset button. Cam v2 will immediately announce Ready to connect. LED will be blinking yellow. Keep holding the reset button down. The LED will change to solid yellow indicating that factory reset is in progress. You can stop holding the reset button or keep holding, it doesn’t matter. When factory reset has successfully completed, the cam will reboot and the LED will start blinking yellow. It will forever be blinking yellow with no announcement, because you factory reset the cam. It is waiting for you to go through the setup process as you would for a new Cam v2.
If you just do a quick press on the reset button and the cam announces Ready to Connect, it simply wiped the WiFi info. It did not do a factory reset. This applies to all cam models.
I’ve never tried but wondering what would happen if you then tried to add it to another account, the settings would get overwritten, or it would refuse to add? Factory reset is probably safest regardless.
Of course that begs the question of when you delete it from the app and it announces “ready to connect” is it a factory reset or just a push of the button? On my OGs and pretty sure v3, when I’ve done the factory reset with the hold-button method, after it reboots it says “ready to connect”, just like it does when it is deleted from the app.
To be safe the couple times I’ve done it, I’ve deleted it in the app, power cycled it, factory reset it, power cycled again, then re-added it.
It definitely doesn’t refuse to add. It just blindly adds to new account under whichever WiFi connection you select in the app’s setup process. Some settings get carried over, some don’t.
Factory reset occurs only when you long-press the setup button for whatever the required time is for the cam model. If you short-cycle that long-press, it’s merely wiping WiFi info.
Different cam models require different long-press times for factory reset. Indication of factory reset completion varies depending on cam model. I have so many cam models, I can’t remember which does what, so when someone asks, I just reset one to find out and answer.
Sounds like an “undocumented feature” aka bug to me. Though I guess not much concern with some settings getting carried over, as long as the wifi info is gone.
Someone mentioned in another thread that one of the Cam Outdoor models, if you delete it from the app when it has no communication, it bricks the cam as some sort of security feature. I mean I’d understand if it can’t be added to a new account until removed from the other (like Blink and I think Ring too) as a theft deterrent feature, but not sure why a cam that can be otherwise factory reset by holding the button would brick itself if deleted from the app. That sounds like another “undocumented feature”.
Not much different than not sanitizing your phone or computer, or clearing your house or car before you sell them. Reset is not a factory reset. Clear your stuff out before handing to someone else.
That Wyze Cam Outdoor “feature” was implemented based on user community requests (forum wishlist and other). Now we have a wishlist topic requesting the feature be removed.
Except with a phone or PC that thing would be thoroughly wiped, possibly twice. Camera, probably not much concern (remove the micro SD obviously). Personally I’d do a full reset, but if someone gets confused and doesn’t do it right, probably not anything left in there of concern.
And yet if you factory reset the camera itself it works fine if stolen? Seems a bit backwards. Maybe that one can’t be reset from the camera, I’m not familiar with it.
