Scenario: I’m using a little router to provide a 2.4GHz WiFi network.
I power up a V2 cam. It associates with the WiFi base station in the router, and is assigned 192.168.8.169 from the router’s DHCP server. Note that this camera had previously been added to my Wyze account using this router, so the cam knows the SSID and password.
On my iPhone, I choose the same SSID. The iPhone associates with the base station in the router, and is assigned 192.168.8.124.
I verify that both devices are on the same subnet: the iPhone can ping the V2. That demonstrates that the iPhone can connect to the camera.
On iPhone, I launch the Wyze app (v2.3.69) and select on this particular camera in the list of my Wyze devices. But it is not able to connect to the camera. After several connection attempts, it fails with “Connection failed. Error 27”.
For good measure, I force-quit the Wyze app, re-launched it, and tried again. Same result: the Wyze app cannot connect to the V2 camera, even though they are about 5 feet apart, connected to the same WiFi, and have IP addresses on the same subnet.
Since the app can’t connect to the camera, I’m unable to configure the cam to record to a microSD card in advance. I can’t configure the cam to do much of anything, since it’s not visible to the app. Therefore, the answer to your question is NO
It’s my understanding that the reason the app is unable to connect to the Wyzecam in this scenario is that the camera has no internet connectivity. It’s connected to WiFi (which is the configuration you asked about), but for this use case my WiFi router is not connected to the internet. You’ll see that I’m replicating the Off-line recording scenario which is the subject of this thread.
This configuration for recording in the field used to work - witness the time-lapse video of the Norwegian fjord I captured last year.
Gwen – if people should be able to record, then what what this response:
WiFi is not Internet
Internet is required for SD card recording, at least initially.
So – the way the software is currently configured, you need to be on WiFi that is connected to Internet to get authorization to start up and record to the SD card. After that, you can lose both WiFi and Internet and keep recording.
But no, as the software stands, connecting only to WiFi without it connecting to Internet (at least initially) will not get you a recording.
Kyphos - I’ve forgotten exactly what you have tried - but have you tried loading both the version of the app THAT DID WORK and the firmware THAT DID WORK?
I know it is a pain but it seems that Wyze updates “stuff” and breaks things that worked before and when we bought our cameras, but apparently is not important to the majority.
I’m using an iPhone. Once one updates an iOS app, there’s no going back (unless one has taken exceptional measures with 3rd party tools to archive the app each time the developer releases a new version). And then more voodoo to sideload an older version into the iPhone. So no, I haven’t gone ‘back in time’ trying to recreate the app + firmware environment that previously worked for off-line applications.
This was the original information that I was provided. I received different feedback when I checked in again recently. Though this is hinging on configuring your Wyze Cam to record locally when connected to WiFi and the Internet. @kyphos, are you able to do that before you leave for trips?
WyzeGwendolyn,
I can configure my V2 to record locally (to SDcard) prior to departure. In order to do so, the cam needs to be connected to the internet. The app authenticates with WyzeHQ, the camera authenticates with WyzeHQ, the app connects to the cam, and I can set it up for recording to SDcard.
However, upon arriving at a remote destination (i.e. somewhere without internet), I’ve found that the camera DOES NOT do any recording if it has no internet connection to WyzeHQ. I described that use case previously.
I’ve done a number of tests exploring the possibilities:
if the camera has no WiFi connection (and thus no internet), it does not start recording when it powers up in the field, even though it had been previously configured to record to SDcard.
if the camera is connected to WiFi using a portable travel router, but the router has no internet connection, the camera does not start recording when it powers up.
After both of these tests, I disconnect the camera from power, take it back to home base, and power it up. It connects to my WiFi (with internet connection), and I use the app to View Playback. Nothing on the timeline.
You would have to keep the camera powered up using a portable power bank from the time you powered it where there was Internet until you arrived in the remote location.
Not practical, given the places I travel to.
Not very reliable, either.
And of course, if the camera were powered all the time from a battery pack while en route, it would be recording constantly, filling up the SDcard and potentially overwriting what was already on it.
The team says that this sounds like a bug that we had on previous firmware but this should not be the case now. @kyphos and @Newshound, have you tested this on the firmware that you’re currently running? If this is still a problem, could you please confirm what firmware version you are using for me?
Alright, could you please try this and then send in a log through Account > Report an Issue > Help & Feedback and let me know the ticket number you receive in a reply email?
Maybe some of that authorization (if that is what it is) could be done with a local token to allow any security concerns to be addressed while also allowing completely offline use like @kyphos and other users like them need.
Camera was configured for local recording (events only) to SDcard.
Camera was configured NOT to record to cloud.
At 4:15pm, camera booted up, and connected to WiFi.
iPhone was connected to the same WiFi. The iPhone could ping the camera (@192.168.8.169). Even though they were on the same subnet, the app could not connect to the camera. Error 27.
As far as I can tell, nothing was recorded to the SDcard, despite lots of motion right in front of it.
As per the subject of this thread, this test was performed with no internet connection. To be clear, the camera was connected to WiFi, but the WiFi router was off the grid, with no internet connection.
Could you please try this with continuous recording instead of recording on event? Recording on event is tied to the motion detection settings so if you have that turned off you would not record locally.
Can do - but note that there was lots of motion occurring right in front of the camera. Local recording to micro SD card is set to on, with Record Events only selected.
Did you have motion detection turned off? That’s the cloud one but ALSO is the setting for when the camera would consider something an Event. So if you turn it off, it basically has a sensitivity of zero and wouldn’t be expected to record events.
