Help Us Develop Our Doorbell Camera!

Apple just added Homekit support for video cameras this last summer. Most devices will need additional hardware in the form of an Apple provided security chip to provide Homekit support.

I thought Apple had abandoned making vendors include their security chip?

Oh well, don’t look for HomeKit support any time soon.

It appears that the chip isn’t required anymore but your iOS device will warn you that the device isn’t secure.

Why does my accessory trigger a warning dialog on the iOS device?
Accessories that do not incorporate the Apple Authentication Coprocessor will trigger a warning dialog in iOS indicating that the accessory is not certified to work with HomeKit. The user can acknowledge the warning in iOS in order to continue using the accessory.

Reading the current FAQs, the lack of a proper SDK can be big blocker as well.

A doorbell camera should:

  • have the option to run off of the existing doorbell wiring or batteries
  • offer RTSP and ONVIF capability
  • have zone-screening to prevent false motion alerts
  • have decent IR lighting for nighttime use
  • pre-record a minimum of 15 seconds rolling “hot video” to avoid missing events (I’m looking at you, Zmodo)*
  • have secure, vandal-resistant mounting hardware/bracket
  • have an external port for charging batteries (so it doesn’t have to be unmounted to recharge)

Optional features:

  • two-way audio communication
  • audible beep/alert from the doorbell when any motion is detected (AKA “package thief warning”)
  • heavy-duty weatherproof dome or enclosure
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I bought a RING Doorbell Pro camera but since it needs 16-24V I can’t use it because the door bells in Europe are 12V. If you want it easy to replace the doorbell in Europe - I suggest that your product can work at 12V.

Awesome! I have both the Kuna and the Ring 2 installed. The Kuna came first and still does not integrate the video with Amazon echo system. Both are wired for power so as not to worry about batteries. The Ring has a battery just in case. I’ve built my own Sonoff devices and would love to help with a Wyze camera doorbell. You guys rock!
Feature wish list:
Wired power and battery backup
Adjustable camera angles
1080p at least
Night vision -Ring has a colorized night vision that’s cool
Let’s not require a subscription - Hate buying things and then renting them.
Ability to see on Amazon Echo Show - like ring
Ability to use your own servers/storage for video storage. This would also help the lag that happens with both Kuna and Ring prancing across their cloud.
Two way audio
Motion sensing lights wouldn’t hurt.
Make it configurable, schedules, motion detection settings, messages, notifications.

Basically do what you guys do.

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what ever you do keep it slim and not like the ones available in market.

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Woot this is exciting! I have a Ring 2 but I don’t love it. I really want a wired doorbell with at least 1080p, good night vision (black and white is fine), the FANTASTIC Wyze Pricing (this is the big one here), good connectivity with Alexa/Google Assistant (but mainly Alexa), a light up ring around the doorbell button (believe me, people will touch the camera if you don’t have this) and angle mounting plates in the box because they are downright necessary for my house. I love your cameras and cannot wait to try your builds and plugs. I have the Wyze sense too and absolutely love it (though sometimes it takes 10 minutes for a notification rolls in but we don’t use it for anything other than information purposes so no big deal).

Yeah, Apple just killed themselves in home automation/IOT with their security chip requirement and not rolling out a SDK.

The initial rollout of HomeKit looked like an after hours hackathon project. I’ve never really gotten the impression that Apple is serious about it.

They’re just so far behind Google and Amazon at this point. And I say that as someone that is pretty much Apple end to end.

I’m starting to investigate IFTTT and Home Assistant as alternate paths for integration, but I’m not very far into either one.

I am not so sure, I think HomeKit is doing very well but they have set the bar fairly high to join their ecosystem. That said it’s a pretty robust ecosystem already.

Edit* The above screenshot is not my system, I pulled it off the HomeKit subreddit. :upside_down_face:

This is one of the last great devices you need to come up with, except for smoke/CO detectors and thermostats. I plan on owning at least one of all of your products.

I’m an Apple guy too, at least for mobile since the beginning, which wasn’t easy since no iPhone carriers covered our previous rural location. Anyway, I agree that Apple may have dropped the ball with HomeKit. The only thought that gives me some hope is the history of the first to market are not always the ones that survive in the long run - Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Blackberry - all early power houses now has beens of mobile devices. Although today, the momentum of amazon and google will probably keep their ecosystems at the forefront.

I think the Google and Amazon ecosystems will always be ahead of Apple in terms of numbers of devices compatible with them. Personally I am in the Amazon camp simply because I despise Google. I like what I see in the HomeKit market but at the moment Alexa does more for me. I will keep an eye on HomeKit however and as more becomes available I will reevaluate my stance.

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Haha! I hear ya. I use Gmail for general email except financial or medical or personal, but little else from google. I’m not using any home automation since we have so little need - I got one ancient timer for a family room lamp. But if I had a family and pets and a lot going on like I did 40 yrs ago, then I could really get into home automation.

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I had a Ring at my old house. It used the doorbell power to charge.

Another feature to consider is a mount that is configurable for facing the street when mounted on the same plane as the front door, or to either side of the door perpendicular to the door. My new house has the doorbell on a wall to the left of the door, and a front facing only video doorbell isn’t going to work well.

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I am in the exact same camp. Amazon and Alexa to consolidate all my IOT currently but would switch to Homekit if it matures enough.

I use Google services for work but only because I am required to. Don’t use much of anything else they offer.

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Agreed, I want it to be powered by wires, but use wifi for communications

I have a Ring Dorbell II and I wired it to a power supply so I could get live view. The disappointing thing is that it stops working in weather below -4 because the battery stops providing enough power. When I contacted Ring support they said that the doorbell wasn’t capable of running from the wired power, it had to use the battery. They told me I should have purchased the Ring Pro which apparently doesn’t have a battery.

Anyway - don’t make this mistake. If you put a battery in your product, and if it is receiving wired power, then use the wired power directly.

Oh and add option to go straight to live versus to event

Agreed with others, Wireless question not clear. I see it as these options

  1. Wireless power - battery. No wires needed.
  2. Wifeless communication - WiFi. Connects to network wirelessly
  3. Wired power - Wires provide power only… powered off the existing door bell transformer.
  4. Wired communications - Connect to network via wires (Cat V/VI, ethernet) . POE (POE adaptor provides power over Ethernet)

I know most people don’t care about option 4. Combining options 3 and 4 (POE with network connectivity) would be AWESOME.
There is only one other solution on the market with POE (that I found) and that is the $500 Ring Pro doorbell. I am sure this option does not fit most people’s needs but if you could have a second doorbell with these features, you could charge two times the cost of the wifi version and still will be the only cost effective solution on the market. This opens you up to every professional installation and new house build.