Over Wyze

Services & Integrations
22

Trying to correspond with Wyze customer service about the issues in my original post have been extremely slow (and that’s being kind). I still have not had a meaning conversation with anyone from Wyze — even after receiving two email messages from two different “Wyze Wizards.”

There’s been no “Wizardry” unfortunately. I’ve had to do the troubleshooting myself. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

The most recent issues involved the following:

  • A Contact Sensor that suddenly went offline. (This is a common experience and happens intermittently with other Contact Sensors I own.)

  • Not seeing Smart Video Alerts in the Wyze app under the Events tab.

Regarding the Contact Sensor: Although I did not receive a “low battery" alert in the app at any time, I changed the battery anyway ( per Wyze’s posted instructions). After changing the battery and then re-adding the device through the Wyze app, it became available once again. Since changing the battery, it has not gone offline again to date.

Regarding Smart Video Alerts: It seems that Wyze made a change to the app that defaults to filtering Person and Motion for all Events. Both of those buttons (on the top of the Events page) had been selected by default. I had not selected them and assumed that it would show all video Events, including Smart Video Alerts. It did not. I had to de-select those default filters in order to see Smart Video Events, which are now available normally.

My conclusions and requests to Wyze:

  • Any changes to how the app works should be clearly conveyed to users. If default operation of the app changes, e.g, if filters are selected by default and that results in users not seeing all video, the users should be warned.

  • An “All Video” filter and/or a “Smart Video” filter should be added to the top of the Events page of the app in order to avoid confusion.

  • Low battery warnings need to be more aggressive — and more accurate. Users should know immediately when a battery is not performing as it should be. Push notifications should be standard for battery alerts — as it would eliminate needless troubleshooting and would allow the customer to fix those situations quickly.

  • Push notifications should be available for when any and all Wyze products become unavailable in the Wyze app for any reason, including a network outage — as Nest and other vendors provide in their apps.

23

I guess I have been lucky. I have 12 cams. A few V1’s many v2’s a couple of Outdoor Cams, 1 motion cam. They work fine. I have but have not implemented the sensors yet. Bulb or Wyze switches. I do have the scale and door lock. Scale is great and the door lock is getting better. Location services are iffy with it, but they are not the only ones that have a issue with that. I had Arlo before and am switching to Wyze because though the Arlo’s are pretty sophisticated, connecting to cameras is slow. Wyze is fast. Geofencing never worked right with Arlo. Not worth the cost. We also have two of the fitness bands and they have been great, I have a house with a lot of Alexa and Google devices and a Google Nest Mesh Network, so that may be why I have so few issues. The only thing I can complain about is the Wyze needs to update their app for Android 11. It can have issues connecting to devices. That only started with Android 11. Otherwise no complaints and I have been using Wyze since they first came out and only had the one product.

24

WYZE like so many started out great, great customer service, but no more. The outdoor cam paperweight is a last purchase I make from them.

25

As an individual who has over 13 Wyze cameras set up in 2 separate locations, I can tell you that most Wyze issues are from poor WiFi coverage or management. Without both you will eventually have issues. I recommend a solid system like Ubiquiti or Google WiFi to get proper coverage to all areas of your home and reserved IP addresses for each camera. The V1 camera I had has been replaced but my pan and V2 cameras have had solid performance. Two cameras had a cloudy lens (replaced) but otherwise no issues. I don’t use any of their other products but just pre-ordered the video doorbell to try out. I already have Nest video doorbells (best in class so far) but have more outside doors that can always use an inexpensive video doorbell even if it is just for the camera view. I can not vouch for the sensors or any other product as I use more standard Z-wave and Zigbee sensors and bulbs. That said, I did keep the old Xnor.ai firmware for person detection on my cameras until recently when I signed up for the grandfathered person detection. The new person detection seems to work just as well and I am happy to donate $1 a month for all my cameras considering the circumstances. That doesn’t mean that they can’t focus on improving the camera experience starting with the viewing capabilities. I have switched to TinyCam Pro for all my live viewing as they have a much better all camera view (as shown). They also support web based viewing in all operating systems including Chrome OS via the android app and also support all my other cameras. Please look into having your Android app supported on Chrome OS. Wyze SD playback can also be finicky and needs a FF mode to quickly view video but otherwise I think that they have done a decent job for a very inexpensive camera and I have tried them all. My current list of remaining cameras is Blink for areas where power is not accessible, Nest for facial recognition and excellent zone detection and Yi because they keep improving and are now comparable in price to Wyze in a different form factor. A robust WiFi environment is probably the answer. Just my experience for what it is worth.

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1 Like
26

This is the second such reply I’ve seen on two different threads within the last 24 hours. That’s interesting.

Clearly, Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity are not an issue for most of the people replying on these particular threads.

Furthermore, these issues wouldn’t be a problem for the sensors (which establish their own connectivity to the bridges), which most people have had working for a very long time before they become extremely finicky.

My 2 cents.

Oh, and by the way, I also use IKEA‘s implementation of Zigbee with their Home Smart products, which seem to be rock solid — using the same network and gear.

27

The sensor responses and disconnections seem to be a major issue for a lot of people. Their proprietary wavelength and/or implementation may need to be revisited by their team as I have seen a lot of people complaining about how poorly they respond when activated. Hopefully, they will get that sorted out as I am sure they are aware of all of the complaints. Time will tell? I just hope that the doorbell works as well as the cameras and has a quick enough notification time to allow for actual communication with an individual at the door. A number of other doorbells do not and I have found that the Nest doorbell has worked the best for me. Also looking forward to trying out the Bluerams doorbell if it ever comes to fruition.

28

As with all devices that use unlicensed spectrum (Wifi is unlicensed as well) interference is to be expected. Also with the Wyze Sensors they run on battery and thus operate on very little power.

29

Very good point. My contention is that the app is rarely reporting battery power accurately. In fact, I’m wondering if the majority of folks receiving new Sensor Starter kits from Wyze are receiving sensors with already-depleted batteries.

I had the experience recently, that I reported here, of a sensor going offline with the battery power being reported as “normal” in the app. After purchasing new batteries, and then changing the battery in the sensor that went offline, it came back online and has stayed online ever since.

There may well be other issues with the way in which the sensors communicate with the bridges, but that’s beyond my pay grade.

30

A new glitch every day. I’m at work and trying to see my live view and lo and behold the camera is not connecting. Last night I had to power the camera down to get it to the live view again. Obviously I’m not home so I can’t turn it off and turn it back on so what’s the point in having this piece of /[Mod Edit] . I wish someone from Wyze would chime in. !

MOD NOTE: Post edited to conform to the Community Guidelines.

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31

Wyze and others sell Wifi switches, but honestly my connection issues went away when I upgraded my Wifi to the new Google Nest Mesh system

Now the only glitches I have started with Android 11 and that is getting better since the last update from Google or Wyze. (not sure which as it was not worth my time to pursue at the time)

So check your wifi. If you are using the Wifi built into the cable modem from your ISP, then that is the problem. I have FIOS Quantum and even the Wifi from it was weak.

The wifi provided by the cable companies is never any good.

Hope you solve your issues.

Greg

32

They will tell you that your upload speed is too low. Try to make the default speed 360p and see if that works. FYI if you are not on your home network it will need a pretty good upload speed

33

Rarely do comment on this forum, but figure it is time for me to chime in.

I started off with Wyze products last October, and seeing them as a "new"company, I was prepared for a "few"issues along the way. I liked the person detection that was included with the cameras since that is the main purpose many of us want a camera in the first place. Based on that feature alone, I purchased a handful of cameras and as the rest of you, spent quite a bit of time installing and configuring them.

Within a few months, Wyze discontinues the service for particular reasons, claiming the provider they had chosen had discontinued the service, “promising” those of us who were already on board “free, free, free” person detection once Wyze could figure out how to implement their own process, and only charge future users for the service. We all waited patiently as “their promise” kept us hanging in the loop. Then, Wyze began to roll out a bunch of cheap “affordable tech toys” to keep us quiet, a bit of an insult to our intellect .

Finally they announce the “new” person detection feature" was going to be available, then began “the shakedown” with current customer.

Wyze began pleading poverty due to “their poor business leadership”, and that their faithful users who had put up with months of intermittent issues and other foolishness were now going to be “strong armed” into paying for the person detection feature we had already been promised was going to be free, free, free.Then came the guilt trip that it was up to us once again to keep them financially floating until they could figure out a solution to their poor leadership decision.

We are the customers, they are the business. It is not up to us to compensate for their inability to make sound business decisions before making promises they do not plan to keep, no matter what the cost to them. This was the slippery slope that began their road to failure. All a business has to keep them in the running is reputation, and Wyze does not seem to understand this simple business principal of what happens when you lie to your customers.

Today all my motion sensors, contact switches, and smart bulbs stopped functioning, yet the cameras still work just fine. I have done all the routine time wasting steps this forum is riddled with but to no avail…still dead in the water. Network is fine (restarted router), wireless is powerful, 2.4g connection available, etc, etc, etc… If my past experience serves me correctly, this problem will “mysteriously” fix itself in due time and all will function normally once again, and Wyze will send out another lame email with their latest excuse, passing the blame on their cloud service provider (that Wyze leadership chose in the beginning).

A while back, I suggested Wyze implement a small call center to improve their poor customer relations but instead they cheeped out, incorporating another forum moderator to due damage control (I think the moderators on this forum do an exceptional job by the way).
I predict Wyze will be selling their company to the highest bidder in the near future, take the money and run, leaving us high and dry. The new company will dissolve the product line and that will be the end of Wyze (hope I am wrong, but it is the only logical explanation for Wyze’s poor customer support, users sending in “tickets” that are never answered, frustration that is never resolved, etc). Most users on this forum can relate to all these issues plus many I failed to mention.
Personally, I am tired of the empty promises, irresponsible business leadership, and poor customer service, but will continue to hang in here for now, not expecting to see any dramatic improvements any time soon.

My challenge to Wyze, prove me wrong. (fanboys and trolls, don’t waste your time trying to discredit me, users on this forum know better)

34

If you’re using the wireless that comes from your cable company, it is not strong.

Replace the batteries in the sensors, someone said that the battery level indicator in the app is not always correct.

I ordered my first xe cams within a month of them being released and I have given a lot of them away as gifts to friends and family. I only know of one that quit working and it was struck by lightning I think

Is Wyze perfect No Way.! Are they better than much of the more expensive competition? Yes Way!

I have had Foscam, Linksys, DLink, Netgear Arlo and Wyze is by far the best. I do have a Google next Cam too and it is very good, but the subscription is way too expensive. The arlo subscription was not too expensive unless you added options like person detection but the camera connection is so slow compared to Wyze. The Arlo Geofencing was worthless too.

As far as person detection problems with Wyze. You can blame Apple for that. They bought the company Wyze had partnered with for EdgeAI to do the person detection (basically the code ran on your camera. Apple like it so much they bought the company and ended the contract with Wyze. I do not thin Wyze could afford the cost of developing EdgeAI on their own as the code of it has to be incredibly tight and tiny to fit on one of the cameras. Am I disappointed by the loss of the free person detection? A little but, the plus subscription includes it and that’s pretty cheap.

Don’t complain too much about Wyze without knowing the details.

Greg

35

My Wyze cams sit in a 3 mesh AP system in an 1800 sq foot house where the wifi signal is extremely strong at the back fence line, I can rule out poor wifi connectivity for you. I have two cameras that sit within 15ft of an AP that will only connect for live viewing about 20% of the time. This is all new behavior mind you, I had minimal issues for the past year leading up to recent updates. Moving these cameras right next to an AP does seem to help, but what has caused this massive drop in wifi performance and why does it only affect wyze cameras in my network?

You won’t hear me complaining about paying a couple bucks for person detection, I already subscribe a couple of cameras for full capture, but for crying out loud what is the point of the cameras if they don’t work, or alternatively, only work when sitting 5ft from the router/AP? I should also add that all my cams record events and upload without issue and my one wyze sensor stays connected 90% of the time, my issue is strictly with getting live view to load with any consistency.

36

HI,

It could be the camera. I had one camera (before I upgraded my Wifi) that had a hard time connecting. I moved it to another location and put a different Wyze cam where the previous one sat and the new one connected fine and continues to do so. Both cameras were previously unused.
Food for thought

37

I’m right there with you, talked a big game to my gf about how good they are and now she wants to go back to here cameras and door lock

38

So after my last post (Oct) I reworked my mesh system and decreased the distance between mesh APs to allow for a stronger backhaul, this worked great and gave a massive boost in performance to all of my cameras and their live viewing capabilities. Between October and last week I only had very minor issues with any of my cameras, everything was great. Fast forward to this week, we’re right back at square one. Live views won’t connect or are slow to connect, error 20, error 20, error 20. Wifi tests around the house show no issues, great signal, strong up/down rates. Cameras are turned off of mesh roaming to allow for connectivity to their strongest AP, as has always been the case, but alas, every camera is acting up in the app again. I’m running out of ideas and patience, it’s only my wyze products doing this. All of my other iot devices are always connected, why do you hate me?

39

Are you using Android (what version) or IOS.

It seems that Wyze has problems with their Android app, which is funny as I now developers and they say IOS is harder to develop for.

40

Android, have tried both the latest public and beta release with the same results :frowning:

41

Same here. The last app update caused connection problems to occur again.

Being a IT person I know exactly what happened. They are probably running concurrent efforts to update and add functionality to the app and are reintroducing bugs by not following best practice to keep the code base and version controls correctly. Small company and they are no doubt using Agile for development. Agile means that defects are expected. Agile may mean shorter development cycles but we the customer pay the price with a buggy product.

I was close to dropping them in the fall when they finally fixed this issue. (I bought my first camera from them within a month of launch so I am a early adopter of their products) I have not been happy for the past few months with what they have produced and the quality of products. They are spreading things a bit too wide.

They really should form some strategic partnerships with some big players to survive the current downturns, instead they are putting their firmware on chinese products. Example, no one needed another Robot Vacuum. Theirs is nowhere close to being as good as the likes of Roomba for example. A roomba can last 15 years easily. From what I have seen of the Wyve vac, I am glad I did not order one even when i could have gotten if tor $180.

Back to the original subject, if they have not fixed the Android App within two or three weeks, I will definitely let Wyze know what I feel about it.

Thanks

Greg