DISCLAIMER - This is a one way trip to forever remove the microphone from a Wyze V2 camera and absolutely voids any warranty. I am not responsible for anything that may happen if you try this.
–
As per many discussions in this forum, I disable the microphones on some Wyze V2 cameras to guarantee audio privacy and avoid any possible legal jeopardy depending on where they are placed.
–
Bend a small hook in the end of a paper clip with pliers.
Briskly yank hook upward with pliers to remove the faceplate.
Pay attention to how the rubber grommet is placed - which end is up and which end faces out towards faceplate. It needs to go back the exact same way.
Remove the rubber grommet from around the camera lens.
Put the rubber grommet back in its original position and snap the faceplate back on the camera. Or you can fit the rubber grommet into the black plastic faceplace and snap them back in as a unit. Whichever way you find easier.
It may not be admissible in some courts but I’m unaware of any state that doesn’t allow someone to freely record audio on their own property?
Either way thanks for the tutorial on the front fascia removal certainly helps on the lens upgrade I have coming up later this week when the lens you recommended finally comes in. that it goes without a hitch!
Good question! Most of the discussions I’ve encountered seem to center more on one party of the conversation being aware of the conversation and giving consent, than on who’s property the conversation takes place, so I’m not certain on that point.
Luckily I’ve never encountered any legal issues, but some people sure do get squeamish when the topic comes up. Especially when recording two third parties in a setting where privacy might be expected, like competitive horse boarding stalls, office spaces, museums, busses, etc.
So it’s nice to be able to say, “Look, there’s no physical way any audio is being recorded on our devices.” An ounce of prevention and all that…
Hope the lens upgrade goes smoothly! Mine paid off a couple of times again today!
I guess you can just post some where on your property that cameras are in use/recording. It’s very unlikely you will get into hot water at that point. I’m in good ol’ state of Vir’gin’ah. Where we allow open carry, chewing ta’ba’kee and fast women and the castle doctrine. Audio recordings is the least of your worries. …judged by 12 rather than…
Agreed! I’ve had many more problems with fast women from VA than legal hassles over covert recording.
My microphone removing adventures began with two very specific use cases:
Adding Wyze cams to give additional cheap coverage to an already too expensive professional system watching a bunch of cubicles in a coworking environment. We just want to know which desks, conference areas, etc, are in use while providing a some assurance of audio privacy.
I put many cams inside windows looking out just because it’s so much easier than outdoor mounting and I are lazy. So their purpose is purely to track what’s happening outside the building. While it is nice to have a microphone in the Wyze cams near smoke detectors and CO alarms, there are many private indoor spaces where everyone feels much better knowing there is no possible audio recording or eavesdropping.
Underlying all this is the Wyze feature that, while you can turn off sound events and sound recording to the SD card, you cannot disable the sound to the live feed. This apparently applies to the account owner and anyone you have shared the cam with.
( Naturally we hire some guy named J-something Bond to hide all the real spy microphones inside light fixtures, paintings, wall outlets, etc… )
hmm i was wondering… self how could you disable mic without physically removing it? Its hard to tell from the pic, but to anyone that may know. Is there space to solder in a set of wires that would “jump” the mic via switch? My “electrocity” not so good. So I don’t know if a simple wire “bypassing” the mic would work or effectively or just place the mic in parallel? If that’s the case how could we do that. I’m venturing in this project since I am currently using a wyze cam as a webcam and I would much rather have a physical mute switch rather than have a soft one which tends to fail at times and place me embarrassing moments whilst on conference calls.
I saw that too. In one part of the video he kept referring to the microphone as the speaker. But that was a 2-wire connector he removed, so that should have only been the microphone.
I the past i have permanently disabled v2 mics by taking a tiny drill bit and carefully drilling into the mic hole while monitoring the livestream sound. When sound stops i stop drilling. Does anyone know if the v3 mic is also directly below the mic hole?
You can also either put a dab of silicone in the hole for the microphone or you can put a toothpick in it and clip it off flush. Either of those methods will not destroy the microphone
Excellent hack tip for removing the mic. Much less risky than how i was accomplishing the task by using a tiny bit to drill into the mic, although it worked fine for me on two cams.
I just did this on a V3 Pro, and the process is basically the same as the V3, but instead of having a white beauty ring glued around the black camera faceplate you have an entire 1mm thick black faceplate to remove to get to the 3 screws. Internally, the mic connector is in the same location as the V3, just moved over a bit. See the V3 YouTube video above for specifics.
Having a heat gun (not a hair dryer) is probably more important on the Pro as the entire faceplate is much larger than the beauty ring.
BTW, this will likely compromise your waterproofing and void your warranty. All my cameras are either indoors or under an overhang, so I risked it. YMMV.
Since the V4 looks so much like a V3 Pro, I assume it is the same? I have no need to mod one of those, so if someone does it, please post.