Interoperability & Wyze

[carverofchoice]

Wyze is somewhere in the middle when it comes to interoperability. Many of their products officially support:

• Alexa
• Google Home
• Google Fit
• IFTTT

They have more on those than a lot of companies do, other than Google/Amazon direct products supporting themselves more, so that gives them a decent leg up on most others, especially with Alexa/IFTTT.

And there are some unofficial things too that they allow 3rd parties to build stuff for, and they don’t go out of their way to interfere or block them as long as they aren’t a big security risk. Sometimes they have clashes while upgrading their security, but it’s not usually intentional.

We would be lying if we said we were not aware of these projects, but we aren’t actively targeting these projects with our security fixes.

Often, these open source ‘hack’ projects target areas that we already have on the roadmap to adjust to make your products even more secure for more general reasons. We would love it if users were able to deploy software securely to their own cameras, but it’s not an easy problem to solve while maintaining security for the rest of our users.

• Mitchell

Some of the most popular 3rd Party projects include:

• Tiny Cam [Pro]
• Docker Wyze Bridge
• Home Assistant APIs (Most popular = Joshua’s)
• Hubitat integration
• Wyze Homebridge
• shauntarves Wyze-SDK (python client for controlling Wyze devices)
• Wyze Hacks & mini-hacks SD card firmware mod
• Probably a TON of other projects I’m forgetting off the top of my head.

Wyze even recently (this summer, 2023) launched a way for 3rd parties to get an official API key from Wyze so that their unofficial API projects wouldn’t get blocked out of their security updates. That’s a huge step above what many other companies do.

Still, Wyze absolutely cannot be considered a leader in interoperability. At minimum they’d need to start announcing things that will be Matter-capable. Anyone who is not implementing Matter is for sure not an inter-operability leader. Matter will give access to almost all the major players: Apple/Homekit, Google Home, Amazon/Alexa, Samsung/SmartThings, Hubitat, Home Assistant, and more. If your stuff can OFFICIALLY work with all of the above systems, THEN you can call yourself a true LEADER in inter-operability. Otherwise, absolutely not.

But we do have to give Wyze credit for the efforts they HAVE made. Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT, and allowing official API keys is nothing to sneeze at. On a scale of 0-10, I’d say Wyze earns roughly a 5.

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I decided to ask some AI’s for their opinions on the matter to see how they would rate Wyze on this topic:

Here is how GPT3.5 (chatGPT) rated Wyze on this subject:

This is the input I gave all 3 AI chatbots if you want to see it for yourself

I want you to give a rating between 0-10 related to interoperability for the company Wyze officially integrates many (but not all) products with Google Home, Alexa, IFTTT, & Google Fit. It does not support Matter at all. It doesn’t work with Homekit, no samsung smartthings support, etc.
It has unofficial third party API’s with with the following:

• Tiny Cam [Pro] (Cameras only)
• Docker Wyze Bridge (Camera streams only)
• Home Assistant APIs (Most popular = Joshua’s)
• Hubitat integration (limited)
• Wyze Homebridge (VERY LIMITED)
• shauntarves Wyze-SDK (python client for controlling Wyze devices)
• Wyze Hacks & mini-hacks SD card firmware mod
  They have also recently allowed devs to obtain an official API key so they don’t get locked out from security updates.
  Given the above information, what kind of scale could be used for rating a company on how good they are with inter-platform operability, and how would Wyze measure up?

Here is what it output:

Based on the information you’ve provided about Wyze’s interoperability with various platforms, I can create a scale for rating their inter-platform operability and evaluate where Wyze might fall on that scale. Keep in mind that this is a subjective assessment and can vary based on individual preferences and needs. Here’s a suggested scale:

• 0: Nonexistent Interoperability
• 2: Extremely Limited Interoperability
• 4: Limited Interoperability
• 6: Moderate Interoperability
• 8: Good Interoperability
• 10: Excellent Interoperability

Now, let’s evaluate how Wyze measures up on this scale:

• Google Home, Alexa, IFTTT, Google Fit: These are major platforms and integration with them shows a decent level of interoperability. Let’s give this a rating of 7.

• Lack of Matter, HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings support: The absence of support for these platforms reduces the overall interoperability. Let’s rate this at 3.

• Unofficial third-party API support: While unofficial, the fact that there are third-party APIs available suggests some flexibility. The range varies from limited to very limited, so let’s rate this at 4.

• Official API key for developers: Allowing developers to access an official API key is a positive step towards increasing interoperability and customization. This could be rated at 6.

Considering the above assessments, we can calculate an average:

(7 + 3 + 4 + 6) / 4 = 5

So, based on the provided information, Wyze seems to fall into the “Moderate Interoperability” category on the scale. They have taken steps to integrate with major platforms like Google Home and Alexa, but there are notable gaps in support for other platforms like Matter, HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings. Unofficial third-party APIs and the availability of an official API key for developers are positive aspects that contribute to their interoperability efforts. Keep in mind that this rating can change over time as Wyze continues to evolve its compatibility with different platforms.

I totally agree with GPT3.5’s assessment here, and they hit right on the nose with what I was thinking. But to be fair, while I didn’t bias them with my score, only what they do and do not integrate with, a lot of the information it based it’s decision on, came from what I gave it. So it is possible that what I chose to include or not include may have skewed the scoring and could be altered by adding or removing some of the data inputs. Still, I think the conclusion and rationale for it is pretty fair.

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Here is Bard’s Assessment of Wyze’s interoperability:

Here is a scale that could be used to rate a company on how good they are with interoperability:

1. Poor: The company does not have any official integrations with other platforms.
2. Fair: The company has a few official integrations with other platforms, but they are limited in scope.
3. Good: The company has a number of official integrations with other platforms, and they are fairly comprehensive.
4. Excellent: The company has a wide range of official integrations with other platforms, and they are very comprehensive.
5. Exceptional: The company is a leader in interoperability, and they are constantly innovating to make their products more interoperable with other platforms.

Based on the information you provided, I would rate Wyze’s interoperability as 3 out of 5. They have official integrations with Google Home, Alexa, IFTTT, and Google Fit, which is a good start. However, they do not support Matter, Homekit, or Samsung SmartThings. They also only have limited third-party integrations.

If Wyze were to add support for Matter, Homekit, and Samsung SmartThings, and expand their third-party integrations, they could easily move up to a 4 out of 5 rating. And if they continued to innovate and lead the way in interoperability, they could even achieve a 5 out of 5 rating.

Here are some specific things Wyze could do to improve their interoperability:

• Add support for Matter, Homekit, and Samsung SmartThings.
• Expand their third-party integrations to include more popular platforms, such as Home Assistant and Hubitat.
• Make it easier for developers to create their own integrations with Wyze products.
• Release more documentation and tutorials on how to use their APIs.

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Claude by Anthropic:

Here is one approach to rating Wyze’s interoperability on a scale of 0 to 10:

A 0 would indicate no interoperability at all. A 10 would indicate seamless out-of-the-box integration with all major smart home platforms and standards.

Wyze has some interoperability with major platforms like Google Home, Alexa and IFTTT but it is limited and requires unofficial third party workarounds. They do not support new standards like Matter yet. Overall, they seem to have basic integrations with some platforms but lack support for many others.

Given these limitations, I would rate Wyze around a 4 or 5 out of 10 for interoperability. They have some integrations in place and are open to third party developers creating unofficial solutions, but still have a ways to go to reach full smart home ecosystem interoperability. The lack of support for HomeKit, SmartThings and Matter hold them back from a higher score. But they at least allow unofficial APIs and community-driven workarounds, showing some openness.

In summary, on a 0-10 interoperability scale, I would rate Wyze at a 4 or 5 based on their official integrations with some major platforms, but lack of support for many others and newer standards. Their openness helps offset some limitations. But there is still significant room for improvement to achieve broader interoperability.

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The AI’s have a consensus and agree with my assessment as well. Wyze isn’t the bottom of the pack, but they are by no means a leader either. They’re about right in the middle.