What did he say exactly, as close as you can recall?
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and just how long has it been on the wishlist?
It’s not whether they respond or not but how long it takes
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I was originally a beta tester and have been asking since the beginning. Years! I’m still not holding my breath.
Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse the brevity, spelling and punctuation.
I would respectfully disagree with this, my long-time friend. I am totally okay when we don’t see eye to eye, but I want to share my perspective on this so I can refer other people to this in the future because I see lots of people who feel the same way that you do, and I’d like to share how I see it.
There are THOUSANDS of wishlist requests, and often multiple more per day being created.
As Wyze has said in the past, implementing a wishlist request has to be a balance of popular demand as well as MANY other factors. Keep in mind that I am in SUPPORT of this wishlist and want it to be implemented, so don’t think I am arguing against it. I am just trying to explain why it can be reasonable for a wishlist to take a long time or to not ever be implemented in some cases even if it is “popular”.
The following are some common things companies like Wyze weigh against the popularity of their users’ requests/votes
(not all of them are applicable to this specific request, but I plan to refer to this later for others in general too, so I’m going to be thorough…):
TLDR; people can just scan the bolded points quickly 
- Technical Feasibility: Assess whether the requested feature or product is technically feasible with the current infrastructure and technology stack, which includes how Wyze’s app is currently structured vs needing to wait for a future revamp of their whole app first. It’s also possible that the older cameras don’t have the necessary resources (processor, RAM, etc) to even support doing this on the SD card. When I try to move forward or backward on some of the other cams, sometimes the camera stalls out. I think the older cams may not even be CAPABLE of supporting this. They could probably do it on some of the newer cams with more powerful resources though. We just don’t know for sure, but they probably do know.
- Resource Allocation: Evaluate the resources required, including personnel, time, and budget, to implement the feature or product. Don’t misunderstand, I think this wishlist would be a GREAT ONE for the year of the camera, and I voted for it and support it. However, that would also mean taking away those same resources from other things that may be a higher priority in other ways for something that frankly wouldn’t necessarily bring back in what it costs to create it. It is more of a luxury feature than a necessary one. A Luxury feature I WANT and would love…but I can still do most of that manually or in other ways, so I haven’t LOST functionality without it.
- Alignment with Company Goals I’m not saying this or any other one specifically does or doesn’t qualify, just saying this is a consideration they have to balance in general.
- Market Demand: Do most or all other competitors offer it or are there lots who still don’t? Does it address a pain point for a significant portion of the user base?
- User Impact: How would each of the thousands of requests impact the user experience and satisfaction? Not just of those most vocally requesting it, but the whole userbase.
- Compatibility: Is it compatible with the rest of their hardware, software, services or general ecosystem? And not just functionally, but in general. For example, I’d think they were off their rocker and start thinking of ditching them if they started selling Goat Milk instead of tech products, no matter how many people requested it on the wishlist.
- Regulatory and Legal Compliance: Something might be legal in some states but not in others, and it might not be worth it in some cases to try to comply with every state’s minutia and instead scrap the whole idea, or it might be worth it, and just require some extra resources to implement it. Point is that it’s a consideration for various requests.
- Security and privacy: a lot could be said on this, but most of it is obvious
- User Feedback: including things beyond the wishlist such as support tickets, surveys and user reviews, and even community engagement (also, while votes are one consideration in the wishlist, they have also mentioned how other things like analyzing thread activity, etc can also be a consideration)
- Competition: in an AMA, the VP of product mentioned this was a big reason they were going to stop doing “Lifestyle Products” as he said: “Products like the Watch, which end up being fashion accessories, have been too crowded and complex for us to make significant traction in, so you’ll see less investment in these “Lifestyle” product lines as we continue to refine our focus back on these three core areas.”
- Scalability: Can it accommodate a growing userbase? Will it cause issues farther down the road?
- Technical or Design Debt: This is actually one of Wyze’s biggest struggles right now. In this case, they already have a lot of limitations from the design debt of the foundational block of their app. This makes some things really hard to do, or to go back and change as far as it relates to UI updates. That could be an issue in this FF/RW wishlist since it would require UI changes. In other wishlists, they may also have to consider whether something would cause technical debt for future development or ecosystem expansion and compatibility concerns, including if they try to make any of their compatible with Matter standards.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: Will the expected benefits outweigh all the costs of implementation? This is a HUGE one that can’t be overstated.
- Mass Appeal: Is the wishlist something that will benefit and be used by the majority of their users, or is it an edge case request or niche benefit that the majority would not use (this has been part of the rationale for why RTSP and API ecosystem integrations haven’t been implemented, since while a lot of us most active and most outspoken users want them, the majority of users would not benefit from them and they want to first devote resources and priorities toward things that almost EVERYONE can benefit from before they do things that will benefit smaller select percentages/groups).
- Part of this could involve taking into consideration things like user base demographics, market research, surveys/feedback, user persona analysis, usability testing, data analytics, feedback aggregation, user impact assessments, user inclusivity, market differentiation, growth potential, long term impact, and many other things on this list)
- User Opposition: The wishlist often doesn’t take into account whether implementing a feature might face opposition from a significant portion of the user base or raise concerns. I have seen tons of wishlist requests that I STRONGLY oppose, but there is no downvote option, and most of the other people who would oppose it aren’t in the thread because they are only looking for things they want and ignore the rest.
- Integration: How easily it integrates into Wyze’s current ecosystem
- Innovation: Is it an innovative and unique option that could differentiate Wyze from competitors
- Longevity: Does it have long-term relevance or a short-term trend that’s not worth the investment
- Sustainability: Including ongoing maintenance requirements and whether something aligns with the company’s sustainability goals
- Phased implementation: Wyze actually does a lot of this. They will introduce something on a new product, and then depending on the response and use-metrics, they will then sometimes expand it to other models if it is well-received and worth the time and effort to do so.
- Market research: To understand the size of the potential user base that could benefit or be reached by it to justify prioritizing the feature/product
- User Education: would it require extensive user education for them to be able to use the feature, and are users willing to invest that time in learning it?
I’m sure there are a ton of others that Wyze takes into account that I either overlooked, forgot, etc. But, my main point is that it doesn’t really matter solely how long ago someone requested something, or even necessarily how many people voted for it. Those are certainly factors that matter, but there are dozens of variables that go into considering whether or not to implement a specific request. A wishlist may have a total green flag on 90% of the variables, but have one or 1 or 2 others with a red flag holding it up in a way in which another wishlist request with fewer votes actually gets priority ahead of it because of other factors. What I love about the way Wyze handles our requests is that they actually RESPOND to every request and label the expectation. In this case, Wyze didn’t PROMISE this request, but they gave us the courtesy of informing us they weren’t planning to implement it. They labeled it as “MAYBE Later.” They get around to telling us on each request if it is “Probably Not” or “Maybe Later” or “In Progress.” If they tell us Probably Not or Maybe Later, they have absolutely responded. It may not be the answer we hoped for, but at least they responded. That’s more than 99.99% of every other company out there. I acknowledge they won’t do the majority of the things I make requests for, but I am glad they give me the courtesy of responding. I’m not entitled to get everything I ask for. I bought their product either knowing it doesn’t have a feature, or when I get it and find out it doesn’t have that, They allow me to return it within 30 days for a refund so I can find something that DOES have what I want. That is 100% reasonable.
If I choose to keep a product, knowing it doesn’t support the thing I want, that’s on me. I can hope they consider changing things in the future, but I’m not entitled to it. I can return it when I find out it doesn’t have something and get something else instead.
Then I use this wishlist as "I’m already totally satisfied with my purchase, because you gave me the chance to get a refund and I decided it fit what I wanted already, but It would be SOOOO COOOL if you also did this." and then I get excited anytime they do add something, instead of being angry until they do so, which makes absolutely no sense to me. If I’m angry, I should’ve either not bought it or returned it when I found out it didn’t have it. 
Again, I voted for and support this wishlist, and definitely am excited at the news that they appear to be working on something for this here. I am just saying, I’m not mad it took so long because I knew it didn’t exist when I got my product, and I chose to keep it still, and I realize there are a TON of variables for them to consider when deciding which wishlist items take priority. But I get an update about every wishlist item they complete, and they are always adding new stuff for us. Here is a list of several Wishlist items they’ve added due to user input:
And that doesn’t count all the things they added that were requested outside the wishlist, nor all the rules and actions and other things that are aggregated elsewhere. They DO add things for us, but again, there are THOUSANDS of requests and they have to weigh all the other factors to determine what gets priority.
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bologna!
Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse the brevity, spelling, and punctuation.
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Hi Carver, that was quite the book you wrote.
To be perfectly honest with you I agree with a vast number of the points you made however, there is one statement that you made that I have to say I disagree with and that was where you implied that they answer every correspondence or every request for Service I beg to differ with you on that because I have read many posts were people said and actually gave the submission number of post that they had sent to Support and they heard absolutely nothing.
I suppose there are people who read your responses and various posts made to the Wyze forum and get the idea that you are their biggest backer and their biggest fan. I don’t know that that is true. My experience in talking and texting with you has been that you don’t really view Wyze as a company through Rose Colored glasses.
I find that the responses you make are well thought out and based primarily on fact or on your own personal experience.
Which is the way I like to respond although I am not quite as verbose as you are and that’s probably because I don’t speak from personal experience as much as I do gut feeling.
If you read many of the posts that people put up on the Wyze forum you find out, at least it has been my experience, that a lot of and I mean a lot of people submit requests for work orders, submit various request for assistance which go totally unanswered by Wyze.
One could assume that I mean Wyze company in general but I’m really referring to their Customer Support which in my estimate is something that they direly need to overhaul.
And let’s touch for a moment if you don’t mind on their chat bot assistant that’s supposed to help people navigate the website among other duties.
My God I’ve never ever experienced such inadequate responses to very well worded queries I absolutely refuse to use it anymore.
I’ve made derogatory comments about it before none of which were very flattering and there’s a reason for that I also worked Customer Support for the military when I was a data processor and I worked for a bank handling customer complaints so I do speak from a little bit of experience and like you, have owned several businesses which required A responsive customer support team.
Carver, to be honest with you I didn’t read every word you wrote I just hit the highlights. I’m not the greatest speaker in the world nor am I particularly adept at writing. But at least with writing I get a chance when I take the opportunity to Peruse what I’ve written and make changes were I find my response was inappropriate or misguided
I really feel that the company promoting you to a maven status was a good choice
You’re thoughtful and you offer sage advice were necessary or required but you don’t insist that your way is the only way and you’re a very respectful person.
On a personal note I would like to tell you that I’m having cognitive difficulties at this point in my life where keeping my thoughts straight and comprehensible is becoming more difficult so I hope that you will excuse my rambling and loss of concentration.
I appreciate you for who and what you are the kind of man and friend.
Well let’s see I guess I’ll pull the cork on this tub of water and see how it floats.
Take care my friend,
respectfully, big_monkey
Thanks for the reply, my friend.
Sorry, I think we simply had a misunderstanding on this. I don’t mean that Wyze responds to every post in the forum or elsewhere from every user. I simply meant that Wyze gives a sort of response to every WISHLIST post. They will always tell us the likelihood of implementation of posts in the wishlist. You can always scroll to the top of the wishlist thread and they will mark every one of those as either “Probably Not” or “Maybe Later” or “In Progress” with different status labels like researching, in-development, etc. That is a response from Wyze, and more than almost any other business does. That is what I was referring to when I said they always give us a response to Wishlist requests. I don’t mean that they respond to every user post. We all know that is not the case. The forums are MOSTLY reserved for user-to-user help and discussion with some announcements from Wyze and sometimes employees will join in threads on various things depending on what’s going on. Jason is really helpful in here when he has time.
Thank you. I try to be as objective and realistic as I can. I will criticize Wyze where it is deserved. I do so respectfully and directly because that is the most effective at getting someone to listen and bring change, rather than get defensive, offended, and resistant.
I do certainly like Wyze a lot. They are my primary camera and smart home company. I have over 40 Wyze cameras and more than 300 total Wyze products, but I do have cameras and smart home products from several other companies too. I really like and support Wyze’s dedication to low-profit margins and making great tech accessible to everyone.
We volunteers try to keep an eye out for people in cases where customer service is not functioning properly and when we can get a specific support ticket number we often escalate necessary cases up to various employees to review and look into if the case may need some coaching or other changes.
As for getting through to support, I have usually had luck getting through the chatbot by simply typing either “chat” “email” “human” or some things like that. People can also always call the phone number during business hours: 206-339-9646 I have heard some people struggling with chat lately.
I understand businesses like chatbots because they can often resolve the most common problems without needing to have someone talk to a person directly and tie up the lines for something trivial when there are people who actually do need a person, but there are also a lot of things chatbots can’t do, so I agree it should be easier to get a human when needed. I personally prefer submitting an email instead of chat or phone because then I can do everything on my own time, instead of having to wait on hold or be subject to the rep’s time. But I can understand people preferring phone or chat instead.
I do have to say that when I was in college I worked customer service for 4 different Fortune 500 companies, and based on that experience I can whole-heartedly say that I think Wyze’s customer service is better than every single one of those major companies I worked for. That is not to say that they don’t have a lot of room for improvement, still, only that my experience taught me that Wyze’s customer service is not worse than the industry average for even major successful companies in the top Fortune 500 category. But man is it frustrating when we do have things not go the way they should with a rep who makes the wrong decisions. When we hear about these cases, we pass them up the chain so Wyze to fix things, do coaching and consider policy changes if needed.
Anyway, as always, thank you for the kind words, buddy. I’m sorry to hear of your struggles. Hang in there. and take care.
Have you heard any additional news/updates to the upcoming changes to the video playback options?
Hi Debo,
No, I have not heard. A lot of people want it, but the wheels at Wyze turn slowely. I take the SD card out and put it in the computer to view and you can fast forward it using a player.
Have you joined any after school project clubs or activities that will inhance your skills and knowlege? I finished my engine and it is at teh dynometer shop to see what Horse power and torque it will produce. I will text you a picture.
See you,
Dale
That’s a good idea for inside cams, but hard to do with the outside ones that are 15ft in the air. Hoping they get it together for all devices within a year so I can get rid of my nest doorbell. Of course that depends on if wyze will have a doorbell with a microSD card or lower cost of storing video. I’m paying $10month right now and that’s increasing soon to at least $12 I think, if not more. Not sure why the concept of a microsd card in a doorbell is so difficult for companies
I asked him again on the TikTok live about when we would see updates to the scrubbing in the timeline. He again confirmed that they are working on it and doesn’t know the release date but “soon”. Obviously not much to go on but the fact that he’s responding to the question is a good sign.
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Did anyone get an email today from Wyze promoting Cam Plus Unlimited where it said “Something big is coming” and to claim the special offer “before the new features drop”?
I wonder if the improved UI is one of the new features being introduced?
How do you vote, or has it been closed?
What are you talking about? Was there a resolution to this request? D.
SD Card Fast Forward & Rewind Option
When viewing footage on the SD card I would like a fast-forward and rewind option. 30 second fast-forward and 30 seconds rewind option is Frustrating Because An event might get overlooked by skipping 30 seconds. It will be easier to find something that happened in the SD card area if there were a rewind and fast-forward option.
[Mod Note]: Your topic was merged to this Wishlist request for better visibility and consistency in grouping similar requests. Please remember to scroll up to the top and click the VOTE button to show your support.
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Here’s a hack that might work for you. Use the events show feature for the camera in the app to find the event you are looking for and record the time of the event. Then go to that timestamp on the playback. You can navigate forward and backwards in 30 second intervals from there. I hope it is useful for you.
Cheers!
Thank you, Tried that. what is deeded is to be able to schroll through the video the 30 seconds takes forever to find an event. D.
I’m so glad I took the “wait and see” approach before purchasing more Wyze items. I though the SD card/local storage would be right in my wheelhouse for a simple, cost effective, and passive system that I could access as needed, Seems that the constant request for better playback functionality from a multitude of Wyze customers continue to fall on deaf ears. Probably not enough money in it as monthly subscriptions seem to be taking over as business models all over and that seems to be where Wyze wants to force people. 30 second playback skip is useless and maddening. I don’t know if adding scrubbing is more difficult from a software perspective, but hell, at this point I’d take a few simple variable speed fast forwards buttons instead. I DON’T need vehicle detection, I DON’T need facial recognition. I need to scan my footage without a hack, and without wanting to beat my head against a wall. I guess I’ll be herded along with the masses to a subscription service, but it won’t be with Wyze.
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New and improved functionality is always desired, but when you purchase a product as it is you are getting exactly what you’re buying.
New features and improvements cost money to program. After paying for the basic cost of the product, where is the money supposed to come from to pay for improvements?
Well, some people wanted that, and it was implemented in the paid service.
The grass is always greener somewhere else. Until it’s not.
Have to agree. I don’t mind the scrubbing inability on my yard cams, but I want it on my doorbell cam. I’m paying too much for my nest subscription now. It’s doubled in 3 years. And of course now my doorbell is starting to have issues, but I paid for a year and nest/Google won’t prorate when I canceled the subscription. If there was a way I could scrub using the micro SD card, I’d gladly buy a new doorbell cam, but so far, I haven’t found one that can do it except for Google nest…which I purchased before Google bought them and this will probably happen to wyze eventually as well. Maybe not Google, but someone else will buy them eventually and prices will raise