How to get wyze cam v2 to work, when u turn it on offline?

Power & Lighting
1

hi, sry i’m a newbie.

just got my wyze cam v2 & trying to setup for offline use. i searched online & forums, but couldn’t find how.

https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012139752-Can-I-use-Wyze-Cam-offline-
mentions that it’s possible, after u setup & set to record locally to card.

also mentions that we can record motion only locally offline.

followed the steps to record local:
i add a supported mem card,
turn off all alerts/notification, tested for continuous & motion record to local storage (card), works, but only if i turn it on & it can connected to internet.
if i turn it on while offline (no internet), it just blinks yellow/blue and doesn’t do anything.
seems like when u plug it in or restart, the cam initializes (clicks & blinks) & tries to connect online b4 continuing. if it cannot connect online, then it just blinks yellow/blue & doesn’t continue.
instructions say blinking yellow/blue = cannot connect, power cycle & setup.
https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012903431-Connectivity-issues
i ran the setup again. and again works when online, but if i turn it on while offline? it just blink yellow/blue. turn it while online, ok. turn it on while offline, blink yellow/blue.
tried it w/original firmware loaded v4.9.1.76, v4.9.2.52 & most recent update v4.9.3.64 … same result w/all three.
ordered another cam, it came yesterday, tested w/original firmware v4.9.1.34, & most recent v4.9.3.64, same issue if turn on offline, except this one just blinks blue.

so how does one get the wyze cams to work when u turn them on offline?
i found posts about momentary offline, like when they’re online but lose internet connectivity and/or power. but didn’t see anything for turning it on offline.

i wasn’t able to find a solution when i searched :frowning:
possibly a smartphone hotspot tether workaround when turning on, but that’s not practical nor convenient to do whenever the power cycles on the cam.

please advise, or direct me to where i can find instructions on how to get cam to work offline when turned on.

thx in advance for ur time & assistance! & happy holidays!

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You DO need to set up the camera initially to connect to your WiFi. However once set up, they will function fine without being connected. Of course you won’t be look at them nor will they send alerts without Wifi connectivity.
The yellow / blue only means that it is not connected to your WiFi. I have used several of mine in situations where they power up while away from my WiFi. They work just fine recording to the uSD card. When they come in range of the WiFi, they connect as long as they were set up previously. The only thing that they can’t do is set their clock, so the clock time will be wrong.

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yes, i’m aware of the limitations of them being offline.
the cams were initially setup & configured w/wifi & internet connection, tested & firmware updated, and they work fine IF turned on while online (connected to internet).
so the cams were setup & working properly while online.

prob is when i turn them on w/o internet (offline), one blinks yellow/blue, other blinks blue. offline == cannot connect internet. and neither record.
NOTE: wifi isn’t enough, they seem to require internet access during startup (dunno if they need to authenticate on a remote server? set time/date? or something else b4 starting), if they can’t connect, they blink & do nothing, no local recordings

so when u turn urs on while offline, do they record while blinking no internet?
if mine recorded & blinks, i wouldn’t be asking. i’d just turn off the status light, cuz they’re intentionally offline.
but the ones i got don’t record, which is why i’m asking.

again, if i turn mine on w/internet, they startup & connect, i get a solid blue light & everything’s fine. BUT turn them on w/o internet, then blinking no internet & no local recording.
turn them on w/internet, everything is fine again.
turn on w/o internet, blinking & no local recording.
same results every time.
like i said, it seems like they need to connect somewhere to do something during startup, otherwise blinking & no recording = they do not work offline.

now, if i turn them on w/internet, and they later become offline after the startup process was successful, then np, they continue to record locally.
issue seems to be at startup (powered on or restarted), they click & blink during their startup, connect to something to do something online b4 continuing. if they can connect u get a solid blue light & everything’s fine. if they can NOT connect during startup, then blinking & no recordings.

only work around i could come up w/was a smartphone hotspot tether during startup. but i’d have to do that every time the power cycled or it restarted.

surprised there aren’t more who use their cams offline. maybe i’m the only one w/this issue, unfortunately it’s an issue w/all my cams… or maybe it’s a known issue & i’m the only one who doesn’t know cuz i’m a newbie :cry:

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Absolutely. I power down, and take somewhere without internet or WiFi connectivity, and local record works fine. For example, take a look at this thread:

Other than the clock being wrong because the camera could not reach a time server, it recorded fine. The video shown was recorded onto the uSD card. I have done similar many times. Always worked. The V2 I have in my pickup truck as a dashcam is out of WiFi coverage as soon I am more than a few houses from home. Although it is normally powered 24x7, it does at times get unplugged (usually because I needed the 12 volt outlet for something else). Always comes back up fine.

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ic, unless the ones i got connect at least once after powering on, they don’t record anything to local storage.
now if they do connect just once after being turned on, they will record to local storage afterwards, regardless if they remain online or not. if they lose network, ~5min later they start blinking again, but they still record locally until they lose power or get restarted.
my issue is if they NEVER reconnect to the internet after being turned on, even after already being setup b4, they don’t record anything locally. it’s as if they need to do something online first, before they can get past the startup phase & start recording.

in ur dashcam example, the cams would connect while @home so they are online at some point after being powered, esp if they’re powered 24x7 (always on outlet).
my issue isn’t connecting, losing connection & reconnecting.
using ur dashcam e.g.: u parked somewhere w/o wifi, unplugged the cam power, then plugged it back in offline… since it was connected @home, it would record fine until unplugged. after being unplugged the ones i got would NOT start recording again until u went back home and the cams reconnected online, even if u plugged back in b4 u got home (don’t think they can be configured for multiple networks, unless u use an external bridge to consolidate the dif networks, so if u were using the ones i got, u’d hv to return back home to connect for the cams to start recording again) in this case, i’d probably get a power splitter so i wouldn’t hv to unplug the cam & wait until i return home to get new recordings, or create a hotstop to connect the cams each time i unplug/replug them :stuck_out_tongue:

as for the fireworks? nice job!!! didn’t know it was ur post initially
if i had to use the cams i received, i’d probably run them off a battery pack (if there were no power source nearby) & do the hotspot thing so they can connect at least once & would record. cuz w/o that initial internet connection after powering on, the cams i got wouldn’t record anything.
it seems like the cams get stuck during startup process: trying to connect, authenticate?/set time? whatever, dunno… so each time u restart or power them on, they need to be online first, b4 they will record & work offline :frowning:
but w/multiple cams on dif orders & same issue? dunno, maybe i’m missing something? they work fine online & if they were online prior to being offline. just not offline offline, w/o being online at some point :cry:

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2wks later wyze support finally responded to my ticket.
but nothing new since they just copy/paste info from https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012139752-Can-I-use-Wyze-Cam-offline-

unless there’s something wrong w/the units i received, think the answer is NO,
wyze cam v2 does NOT work offline, because it has to connect online b4 they will start recording locally.
NOTE: after it connects, it will continue to record locally if it becomes offline, but only if it’s already connected first. think this is what they mean by ‘partially’
if it doesn’t connected online after turning on/restart/power cycle, then NO, it won’t record locally, even though it’s configured so.

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How do you view the video that has been recorded? It seems, viewing the SD playback is highly dependent on knowing where on the timeline to look. Are you simply pulling the card and dumping to a pc? Also, devices that depend on other sources such as the Internet for time, frequently default to the same time, so multiple restarts might default to the same time. Is that a problem for time stamping the videos or file storage with file names and directory names?

Edit: After looking at your fireworks display, it looks like the camera might just remember the time it was powered down. Is that what’s happening?

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@newbie and @K6CCC, have you two sync’d up your camera settings? Especially, local storage. What are the settings @K6CCC using to successfully power-up and record away from wifi? I would try matching those exactly and see what happens.

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Since the only setting for local recording is Event only or continuous, there is not much to “sync”. I have all of my cameras set to continuous.
As far as watching it, I have never pulled the uSD card - only watched via the app. The primary event in which I expect to want to watch the video is a traffic accident And I should know when that occurred.
Yes, I believe that is correct about the time. The camera powers up with whatever time it had when un-powered. When WiFi connected, it gets the time right away, but can’t do that when not WiFi connected.

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there’s no specific offline recording setting.
insert mem card, format mem, configure local recording: select event or continuous, sync. test.
i get the same results if i select event only or continuous.

all units tested were previously connected online, configured, firmware updated, hv mem card, configured to record locally & sync’d
everything works as expected if they connect online after being powered on, restarted, or power cycled.
all units only start recording after they connect online, and will continue to record even if temporarily offline.
the problem is if they do not connect to internet after being powering on again (or restarted or power cycled), then none of the units i received start recording anything locally, regardless of event only or continuous setting.
***it seems as if they’re waiting to connect to something online after startup b4 they start recording.
NOTE: connecting to wifi isn’t enuf, they require internet access to start recording.
internet access is also req to use app, w/o internet access, cannot connect w/app even if on same wifi network, so if internet is down u cannot use app.
connect to internet again, np recording locally. power up w/o internet, no recordings. connect again, records np.

after testing, i’ve concluded NO, none of the units i received work offline, even after being configured to record locally. internet access is required to start recording for units i received.
maybe they’ve changed something since K6CCC got his units (i don’t seem to hv time/date issue when powered on/off/on w/o internet, at least not yet).

the wyze cam 2 i got were ordered in nov & dec, tested w/original firmware out of box (note: all dif ranging from 4.9.1.60 to 4.9.2.52) & tested after upgraded to v4.9.3.64. and NONE will record locally until they connect to internet. seems like they were designed to work online only, or if temporarily offline, but not offline offline. dunno. haven’t gotten a definitive response from wyze on this matter, although i’ve seen some comment on amazon that it didn’t work offline for them.

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got another response from wyze on 1/9:

""The main purpose of the cameras is not to be used offline.
They still need connection to the WiFi.
However, if they continue to lose connectivity, I would recommend to factory reset the cameras. “”

guess the official answer is NO, although i dunno if they understood my q, since they mention losing connectivity & resetting the cameras. note: i never mentioned losing connection, only intentionally using them offline.
anyway sounds like they’re not suppose to use offline offline, but ok if they temporarily become offline.

u can test urselves. sever ur internet connection (turn off router, or enable firewall blocking wyze access), then power on ur wyze cams, they won’t start recording, until they connect to internet.
enable ur internet connection, everything is fine again.
imo, it’d been much easier if they just stated: requires internet connection vs this ‘partially’ works offline stuff.

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I would certainly consider it a bug, or major design flaw, for the camera not to record to the SD card without internet. They hit all the buzz words associated with security cameras, but this would be critical in one.

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keep in mind, wyze’s are low cost cams & do meets the needs of most people who req online streaming/cloud camera, thus the buzz.

just be aware of the limitations, clearly stated or not (some things are vaguely worded, intentional or not).
e.g. intentional offline use.
(granted, there are work-arounds: e.g. smartphone hotspot tether, or connect somewhere & keep powered (powerpack or always on outlet), but u’d have to do this each time the power cycled, or device restarted, which isn’t convenient or practical).

OR if u just wanted to enable ur router’s firewall, i pref the high/max sec setting, which only enables mail, news, web, ftp & ipsec, there’s also med/typical which only allows basic internet function, but they both block wyze internet access, so app doesn’t work & no recordings.
u could disable each time the power cycled/restarted, then re-enabled it after the cam connects… inconvenient.

again, authenticating could be an excuse, but w/o some local authentication enabled, if ur internet connection is temporarily down (but ur local wifi w/cam is still up) the app won’t work, u’ll hv to wait for internet access to be restored to ur cam b4 u can use the app, even if ur on same local wifi network.
tinycam app works, but, if u select the wyze cam setting w/wyze username/password, it req internet to authenticate vs just connecting directly to cam ip like some other cams. i saw a workaround b4, specifying dif cam & using ip, but can’t find it anymore so cannot verify if works w/current firmware revisions.
openip.cam firmware is another option, but it’s more for rtsp vs offline use. haven’t tested yet, but supposedly does NOT req internet access.

as for design flaw or bug? dunno. they don’t exactly clearly state it anywhere that internet is required, only that it’s initially req to setup & configure (their offline? "yes, partially* post).
maybe intentional? esp if there’s any validity in the several wyze critics: e.g. suspicious network activities to foreign remote servers (supposedly corrected, they are just repackaged xiaomi cameras w/wyze firmware.), recording when unscheduled or cam off (but still powered), etc…

anyway, not sure why it req internet access, i was hoping someone already looked into it. it may be as innocent & simple as authenticating b4 starting. or it may be a way they keep tabs on their units, dunno. you might have to take a closer look at the user agreement & permissions ur granting them.
e.g. well known weather app was just accused of selling user data :frowning:

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I am a fan of Wyze products but not working offline to be able to see the camera’s live stream has me left scratching my head. I use 2 foscams as baby monitors for my kids, their live streams work regardless of whether they are online or offline. I totally get why other features like the motion and sound notifications will not work as those are being pushed through a remote server that would require internet access. However, the live stream should work on the Wyze app when connected to the same network as the cameras through a local router connected to your WiFi signal with NO internet. I have a second home that does not have viable internet options but I have a router that connects WiFi devices locally ONLY (no internet) and they work without fuss. Sounds like the Wyze cam live stream feature will fuss about no internet on such a network…very disappointing. Wyze can you step in and acknowledge this issue or at least consider putting an “offline live stream feature that works on a local network without internet access” on the roadmap? This is holding me back from buying more of your products which I do not want. :confused:

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While you’re at it, some other basic “no internet connection but on the same local network” functionality would be great (like being able to turn the cameras on and off, for instance).

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I’ve been losing footage for months when my V2 cameras decided they’d had enough, then I realized it was associated with WiFi loss. My V1 camera and Black camera don’t stop recording when not connected to WiFi. When was this bug introduced, and can I download the prior firmware? I’d rather have that capability on the cams than any features found in newer firmware.

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I see someone resurrected an old conversation.

I think a lot of what you see is due to security. Whether it is overdone or can be done other ways is definitely a question, but I’m just relaying what I understand Wyze’s position to be ATM.

Security in mind, let’s break down how the cams work today (it actually is very close to newbie’s description 6 months ago – a cam is limited to ‘SD card recording only’ without Internet, provided it had Internet to start up, and does not lose power afterwards):

First – definitions: Internet is connection to the Internet. Implies WiFi, as the cameras need that to transfer data to anything. WiFi is connection to a router or hotspot, whether or not that in turn is connected to the Internet.

(1) Setup: Setup only works in conjunction with access to the Wyze servers, as all information about adding the camera to your account is exchanged at that time. So to initially setup a cam, you need an Internet connection. I do not think Wyze considers this to be a bug.

(2) Startup, the camera boot process: The cam has to contact the Wyze servers for authorization to start up. It also initially sets the clock at this time (the clock time used to be lost starting 90 minutes after loss of Internet, but that is another story and is now fixed). After that you can remove the Internet. Assuming no power outages, it will record to the SD card indefinitely, even without WiFi. If you lose power, go back to the first sentence of this section. You can’t boot a cam without Internet. Once it is rebooted it will continue recording to the SD card and you can remove Internet and/or WiFi again. Wyze has said as recently as last month they don’t consider needing authorization to start up a cam to be a bug.

(3) Viewing the live stream: You can only continue to view the live stream after the loss of Internet for a very short time, as the cams renew their authorizations every few minutes. Once you lose authorization, you will need to be connected to the Internet to regain authorization. So live stream does require Internet with the current firmware. I do not think Wyze considers getting authorization to view the live stream from your cameras to be a bug.

(4) Notifications and the Cloud: If a cam loses WiFi or the Internet, all notifications and cloud clips will cease from that point until the Internet is restored. The clips and notifications will not be buffered during the down time, so they will be lost. Any SD card recordings will continue uninterrupted, however. So ‘record on event’ is your best chance to see what motion events occurred during the downtime, as you would have to review the entire continuous recording for events otherwise.

So when Internet is interrupted, you lose everything but SD card recording. When Internet service is restored, everything will pick up where it left off. If you lose power, you will need Internet to restart the camera.

I have not tried RTSP, Tinycam, or the openip.cam firmware the OP talks about in post 13, so I don’t know how much they might change the situation.

I think the ‘security hounds’ would erupt in fury if they thought anyone could view their live streams. Hence, you can probably thank them for a lot of what you see here.

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Newshound,
This is an excellent write-up. It’s consistent with what I’ve observed/discovered as part of my testing.

However, I disagree with your comment about the security hounds being responsible for this imbroglio. To be sure, there is a critical concern with random strangers being able to view live streams from afar. The internet is a scary place, and Wyze needs to take stringent measures to prevent ‘break-ins’ to the cameras over the internet. But that’s not the issue here. The OP (and others) asked about being able to use their cameras locally on their LAN in the absence of any internet connection, either (a) because internet service is not available, or (b) because the owner has disabled it to ensure complete privacy. In such a configuration, there’s no risk to unwanted remote access to the camera’s live stream (since there’s no internet access for a hacker to exploit). If Wyze feels they need to control camera access on an isolated LAN, they could accomplish that by authenticating the Wyze app directly to the Camera. There are a number of way to accomplish that (for example, a cryptographically secure token exchanged between the two). No on-line authentication (and re-authentication every few minutes) would be required. Since their live view architecture is essentially point-to-point, secure authentication between the endpoints is a more robust approach than relying on an intermediary (a Wyze server) to renew some authorization.

But as you’ve pointed out, offline (standalone, no internet) deployment is not the focus of the Wyze value proposition. It remains to be seen if they decide to tweak their security model to address it.

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I wanted to update this old thread because I had bought this camera because of the reviews saying that you can use the cam without wifi. As of August 5th 2019 this is no longer true. Once it is set up and you unplug your router the camera will try to connect and will stop recording to the Local SD. You will have a few minutes of record time until you get the yellow/blue blinking light of death.

I tried to look up downloading older firmware but cannot find it.

That feature alone made this camera stand out but it is no longer working that way.

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dunno about others, but i was only ever able to get them to work temporarily offline if, they were first online (and able to connect to the internet). but if the power cycled for any reason (intentionally turning it on/off, or power outage, etc…) they would only record locally again after they reconnect online to the internet. this was the case for all my units regardless of which firmware i tried (tested all available, and test each time they release a new one, but i always get same result w/units i got)

wyze’s response to me was: that they weren’t designed to be offline cameras.

[q] did u enable scheduling?
for me, scheduling only worked while online. seems like the start/stop record command comes from account on server not local device. so while offline, they will keep whatever scheduled recording state prior to becoming offline.
e.g. if they were scheduled to record prior to becoming offline, they will keep recording regardless of stop schedule, until online again
or if they were scheduled not to record prior to becoming offline, they will not start scheduled recording until online again.

note: u can find old firmware for wzye cam v2 here:
https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010068231-Wyze-Cam-v2-Firmware
wyze cam pan:
https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009821872-Wyze-Cam-Pan-Firmware