I do not have CamPlus. My Outdoor cameras do not work as advertised.
The past few iOS application updates have some effect causing the application to report
“No microSD card in base station.”
I found an outdated WYZE app on a older iPhone. The older app sees the base microSD card. It allows the enabling of the base backup and enables the feature as advertised.
The current updates will not allow this on iOS.
All reported to WYZE after testing older firmware and purchasing and testing memory. Including log uploading to support.
I wish WYZE would test product compatibles before releasing hardware and software to customers! They should simply publish, “working as advertised” camera, base, firmware and application software combinations that works together.
WYZE cameras should not be considered for security when it takes them months of sending out defective software and firmware which causes more problems. They are deactivating advertised product performance.
As a former hardware beta tester, it became very clear that wyze has very limited capabilities. The hardware, app and firmware are all contracted out to teams/firms in China. Not that it’s a bad thing - pretty much every tech company has ties to contract services and/or mfg in China. But on the surface, it seems Wyze USA may not have many people here who have in-depth knowledge in their own firmware and software. Their project/product managers seem to be spread thin as well. Our beta testing really started at the alpha level with a very crude product and app. About two dozen of us were regular contributors and we often agreed on capabilities that were lacking or unreliable, suggested features that should have been available, pointed out design flaws, usability problems, performance issues, app interface problems, etc. Meanwhile after approximately 5 hardware revisions it was released to retail well before it or the app were ready! This experience opened my eyes. Over a year later, I’m seeing firmware updates that are still attempting to address problems we found during our beta testing. It’s amazing at how long some of the problems have persisted. It’s no wonder so many get frustrated and irritated with wyze. Plus it’s like they’ll fix one thing only to break another. What I found most disappointing, they pushed out another product that, at least on a hardware basis, appears to addresses most of the deficiencies of the original with the things we were requesting for the original. A responsible company would have put that original on the shelf, declared it a learning experience and just moved on to the improved version, period. The early access is essentially a mid-stage beta while retail is a late stage beta that is perpetual.
Their need to generate revenue certainly appears to overrule corporate social responsibility or customer care. If they did enough due diligence before pushing out bugs to ensure the customer experience was solid, then all these social engagement forums would be far less vitriolic. Consider how long they sold the original sensors knowing full well they would get bricked upon battery failure! And no recall! Sadly this model seems to be the norm in the tech industry, although it’s clear wyze has been able to elevate it to new heights by leveraging these social forums to help mitigate attrition. My advice to those who ask is to only go into wyze products with eyes wide open and strong tech aptitude or know someone reliable to assist, and only if your need is not for critical security monitoring. IMHO
If the products had worked well, I would have probably just followed along and paid. Now I have a lot of Wyze products and only use the bulbs (when they work) and cameras for live stream. I guess it was not “such a deal”.
Sensors are all dead (tired of the battery swaps), smart switches are not reliable (like bulbs), cameras only used to watch live now (only use on occasion when not home).
So yes, better planning for sure. I kept my old system, so that was good for me. I ticked off a lot of friends by introducing them to Wyze.
I will try the sign up $0 option today since I am off-work. But if is asks for a credit card, I’m done. Well, I think I was pretty much done.
Funny, a family member called (3 days ago) about the home monitoring, I called back. They said “never mind”, they changed their mind. I had no input, so looks like it’s not just me.
With the age of us going back to subscription software and products (thanks Internet and economy), I thought Wyze was going to be a breath of fresh air.
I’m just old and tired of subscriptions for services that are unnecessary. Prior to purchasing here, we rented a house to get to know the area before buying. The rental had ADT and it was a complete waste since where we were located was gated and had minimal break ins or theft, plus it had no video so was even less useful, owner wanted it I guess for the fire detection more than anything else. That was roughly $400/yr wasted.
After buying this house, I bought a v2 cam specifically since it offered the free motion and person detection, plus the 14 days free video stg, plus the SD card for local stg - I wanted to avoid a smart vdb since it seemed they all were both expensive up front and required costly subscriptions, plus the side wall db location has no view of anyone approaching. The v2 is inside looking out and is not visible from outside. It’s a single road access guard gated small community of 450 houses surrounded by water - although SoFlo is riddled with crime all around us, this tiny enclave is pretty much crime free. I had one neighbor complain about a package stolen from her front entry 3 yrs ago, so thought video monitoring might be a good idea. That’s it, I did add a v2 to look at the patio. The yard is fenced and gate is locked when we are away, but figured the patio doors are the easiest access so a cam out back is just a bit of peace of mind when away. Again, I selected the v2 due to the free pd and cloud stg, no other reason and I have zero guilt paying zero. Moreover, with my account still screwed up 2 months later, it’s clearly apparent it’s never going to be fixed by Wyze since they say I can unsubscribe from the service they originally gave me for free until 2069, reset my cams and start fresh. Once again, Wyze pushes the responsibility to the user to fix things regardless of the inconvenience and no guarantee it will work. It’s becoming too hard to be a dedicated customer.
Meanwhile some open source developers have made inroads to using the cams outside the Wyze app in homekit which so far is proving reliable. So it may come down to simply using the Wyze app to add cams to the account then do everything else via these the 3rd parties. Right now it’s not for the tech challenged, but I can see eventually it might be more of simple setup. Anyway, my periodic rant is over!
Update: I did as wyze suggested and reset my cams, Well, it did remove them from the screwed up camlite service. However that service still remains in my app, contrary to wyze guru wisdom. even with my web acct showing no services, which wyze also confirmed - this “ghost” camlite persists. Since neither cam was returned to it. I went back to my web acct and signed up fresh. I now have both the old corrupted camlite and shiny new camlite in my app. See photo. The old one says “web” and new one says “free”. So I assign a cam to the new camlite. Great, I now get 12 sec video again. But the normal camlite selectors for video/stills and person notifications are still missing. I had to raise the sensitivity, but it does detect people. Event recordings appear but no notifications and yes, I know how to check in the app and phone for the settings. Well maybe they will come in, just got a previous motion notification from 12 min ago! Really, really hard to remain positive about wyze!
It’s hard to believe I’m the only one. Maybe the others just face up and switch brands. I need to get a home monitoring certificate issuing service so I can get a hefty discount on our insurance. Im considering the camplus pro as the cheapest option since no new hardware is involved. This snafu convinced me not to invest in any wyze security devices. Pro can go on one cam and then I’ll only have one screwed up out back where it’s not very active. Nice for when we are away, but that’s not very often. The biggest problem is I need to keep all notifications active just to get person notifications, although right now I’m not getting any lite generated person notifications even though it records person detection. So screwed up it’s hard to describe it all. Wyze solution - delete acct and start over. Really? The wyze way seems to be - push the burden of any fix on the customer regardless or how miserable the task because any other solution would cost them money to track down because they don’t actually program anything so have to pay their contractors.
There are loads of people here who can help with that. I have 12 cams on CamPlus and access the cloud videos dozens of times each day. The settings to do that can sometimes be tough to get at first.
When you say you can’t access the cloud, that could mean several things. More details will help.
Are you trying to access your Event Videos in the Wyze Web View internet page or the Events Tab in the App?
Do you have your cam(s) on CamPlus or CamPlus Lite?
Are your cam(s) set to record motion and AI events in the Event Recording and Smart AI sections?
If you are using the app to view your events, have you set your filters using the funnel in the top right?
I suggest that the price of the Wyze cams go up and the storage fees also, but only if people want cloud storage. Just bring back the playback button that we have been using for years. Work around the problem because many people like me don’t want to sign-up for a subscription.
