Outdoor cam only works when Android app is open and active

The Wyze Cam Outdoor only works if the Android Wyze App is open and active. While the app is front and center on my phone, the camera is on, records video and detects motion. It also records time-lapsed videos, etc. However, as soon as the app is closed, or if my phone locks (either automatically or manually), the camera immediate stops recording and will not detect motion, etc.

The described behavior happens regardless of the ambient light, although the easiest way to observe this behavior is by putting the camera in a dark room so that the IR lights are obviously visible, indicating whether the camera is “on” or not.

  1. Wyze App open: Camera is on and detecting motion and/or recording.
  2. App close: Camera is off with no response and no recordings.
  3. App open but phone locked: Camera is off with no response and no recordings.

(And by “camera off” of course means it is not actively recording. The switch on the back of the outdoor cam remains ON during these scenarios.)

This is likely related to other reported problems with the Wyze Cam Outdoor not detecting motion or recording video, but I did not see mention of any correlation the Android App, hence the separate post.

All Wyze devices have latest firmware. I’m using Moto G7 with Android 10.

Is there an answer to this problem? I have the same issue with all of the latest updates applied.

Welcome to the forums!

Are you pressing the manual record button that is just below the live view screen? That recording function only works when you are live viewing the camera, or viewing playback from local storage from cameras that have that feature and saves the footage to your device or phone. If you want the camera to record on its own automatically, you’ll need to enable the cloud recording settings or the micro sd card local storage settings (different cameras have different local storage options). What camera are you using?