SMS (text message) notifications

SMS notifications would be nice for those of us that have limited data. There are a lot of people that have Tracfone or Consumer Cellular plans that give people a limited amount of data… so people like us don’t keep our data on most of the time. SMS notifications would be very beneficial for us.

I know that this can be done with IFTTT… but that also requires that data be turned on.

I believe IFTTT also only provides a very limited number of SMS notifications per month.

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Yes… but as I mentioned… that also requires data to be turned on.

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If wyzecam could send email notifications then Verizon users could get those notifications as a text message on their phone by using phone-number@vtext.com when not connected to the internet. Other phone providers may offer a similar email-to-text message feature.

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IFTTT has a limit of around 100. Having SMS and push notifications will introduce redundancy. Are you looking for something different and any reason why the push notification may not be enough?

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As per my original post… push notifications requires data to be turned on… and a lot of people such as myself have limited data… and therefore can not keep data turned on at all times. A SMS message indicating an alert would allow people to turn data on only as needed to check the alert/video… and then turn data back off.

@BenSamuel One thought… push notifications themselves use very little data. So rather than using a strategy of keeping data turned off, it might be a good alternative to instead severely limit which apps are allowed to use data. This is done easily via Settings in iOS. I don’t know about Android, but I would think it would be possible there too.

In more recent versions of Android, it is possible to prevent apps from using mobile data in the background. It’s controlled via “Data Saver” and “Mobile Data Usage” in Android Oreo; at least on my Verizon Galaxy S8+.

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I like the idea of having SMS notifications as an option. It would help in those cases where users may not have data coverage or poor overall coverage. In those cases SMS will still get through as it is sent via the voice channel on cellular networks. So if a phone falls back to a legacy 3G or 2G network that really only supports voice then this could be a good option.

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Would love to see SMS notification, as well. When I’ve set my phone down or its being charged, my Fitbit band will vibrate to alert me to rec’d texts so that’s a great alternate way to be alerted to the Cam sensing motion or sound.

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I want a per-camera SMS notification option because, when you have several cameras in several locations, you cannot keep constantly looking at the feed in the app for every time the wind blew. Say I have one of all these cameras somewhere that, normally, should never see motion - but when it does, I really need to know right away. Indoor security, snake cage escape, missing artwork, repro Terminator 2000 come alive, etc.
Thank you.

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I also would appreciate an SMS notification. When using as a security camera, several immediate ways to notify of motion detected would be good, to offer as much time as possible to investigate or report before any criminal types escaped.

It would be nice to have the ability to get text message notifications

THanks

Is it possible to receive a text message or some quick notification when there is motion when I’m not home?

Welcome to the community, @lindatetzlaff. I have moved your post to this topic so you can discuss it more here, and also vote for it at the top-left of the topic. :slight_smile:

My Android Pie phone data saver is on. If I allow wyze to use background data do I also need to turn on my “Mobile Data” setting to get the wyze app notifications if the camera detects motion and I am not on WiFi? If so, will turning mobile data on cause a higher data use for other apps? My cell carrier has limits on data use and I’d like to keep my data use under 3 GB per month. I average about 75 MB/month. I occasionally turn on mobile data when there is no suitable wi-fi. I haven’t set up my Wyze Cam Pan which I just got and is on my desk in the box. Thanks in advance.

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Correct: Mobile data must be on in order to receive Wyze app notifications. I’m not an Android user, so I can’t help with the Android specifics. But I can give you some feedback from the iPhone perspective.

First, I have my mobile data on all the time and it is used by a wide variety of apps. As long as I don’t stream video, I have no trouble staying under 3GB a month.

That said, on iPhone, you can disable mobile data usage on an app-by-app basis. Therefore, you can turn off mobile data for any “data hog” applications and leave it on for lower usage apps. You would then leave mobile data enabled for the Wyze app to get notifications all the time. The Wyze app will use very little mobile data, unless of course you are streaming video from the camera(s) to your phone. In this scenario, you would want to limit live/recorded streaming while on mobile data.

I would assume/hope that Android has similar app-by-app mobile data restriction controls. Unfortunately, I don’t have the Android knowledge to tell you exactly where to find those settings.

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Yes, I use Android and if you want notifications in the absence of Wi-Fi, the data must be turned on. I get seamless notifications from the Wyze app even if I am in another state. I can view the live stream of all my cameras as well miles from home. The only time I see high data usage is when I’m viewing the live stream. Outside of that, it uses about 300 mb over several days.

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The best way to Self Monitor your house is with a Camera with Motions and/or Sound Alerts,
But what if you are away, or cannot receive the alerts.
It would be great if you can also have the Camera send text/SMS alerts to your neighbors (with their consent of course).
So if someone is breaking into your house or a tree falls on it, they are right next door and can check it out or call the proper authorities.
Neighbors watching out for each other is the best way to go.

Notifications by text message would be great! I installed Wyze Cam and sensors to monitor my mother with dementia. The wifi notifications seem to work so far to alert me if she gets up at night, but I’d like to monitor her movements during the day as well when I’m away from the home. Unfortunately, I’m on a limited budget and don’t have a data plan, so text message alerts would be wonderful for people like me.