Lost internet access / using wyze cam at home only

Tips & Tricks
1

Recently lost internet access from home. How can I connect to the cameras that were/are still connected to the home router [ from home only - not remote ]? Thanks.

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Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @xplr9! :raising_hand_man:

Without internet access, you will not be able to connect the App to a Cam to initiate a P2P Live Stream, access cam settings from the server, or access SD Card Recordings. The cams will also not upload any Event Videos or produce any notifications.

All Wyze Cams are dependant on internet connectivity from both the cam and the app to operate these functions.

The only alternative is to use your phone as a wireless hotspot and install the cams to that using the Cellular Data as the WiFi. But, this will require a repeat setup on every cam to install it to the new Hotspot SSID and will require another phone or tablet logged into the hotspot to do the setup on the app. The same phone or tablet cannot be used as both the Hotspot and the App setup device. And, once the hotspot is removed the cams will cease to be available for these functions. The only thing that will work without internet once the cams boot up on a WiFi network is recording to the SD Card.

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3

Again, another reason Wyze needs to release a hub the cameras connect to so f the Internet is down, the cameras can still be accessed locally.
My smart home runs on Hubitat Elevation. Cut the coax coming to my house and I can still control everything locally. This works because all the devices connect to the HE hub.

The #1 reason I switched from SmartThings was because if their servers were down, nothing responded locally. After troubleshooting too many times only to find out the problem was external to my ecosystem, I switched to HE and knocked a few 9mm holes through the ST hub.

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4

Thank you for the information/reply. Are there cameras that you found that will work with your solution? Thanks again.

5

If you need access (while at home without internet) there are options. If you truly want/need Wyze try wz_mini_hacks for the Cam V3. It provides RTSP while using Wyze firmware (albeit an older version.) If not Wyze, I can recommend Amcrest. Their cameras have a web interface accessible via most browsers. Newer cameras have built-in AI for detection of people and vehicles. The web interface is local regardless of internet availability. I’m sure there are many other good cameras out there that would do this.

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6

Will look at that also. Have had these wyze cameras for years and lost internet last week which made them unreachable even when home. These are v1 - early adopter. Have been disappointed with their lack of support for the past year or two. May end up switching to a different platform / mfg.

Thanks again!

7

Thank you for the input. Was hoping for a better outcome, but I agree wyze cam’s are limited in the function they have available w/o the net. Sad these cannot be “stand-alone” for local home monitoring.

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I haven’t looked into other brands because I have quite a lot of cameras. My old cameras were AmCrest. When I was at work and the internet was down at Home, the cameras were offline. That was about 5 years ago. No idea if that has changed.

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Amcrest cameras are available on your local network without any need for the internet. Notifications still require an internet connection and won’t work if it is down, but you CAN view them locally.

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