I am really hoping that the WYZE camera, floodlight, motion detector kit when installed does something more than just send a notification and notification sound to your phone. If someone is prying open a door when you’re asleep, wouldn’t it send an alarm sound or at least call your phone (a ringing sound would probably wake you up). My phone receives many text messages (notifications) with discrete sounds all hours of the day and night. There should be something more distinct, louder, because someone in you back yard at 4am is way more urgent than a politician asking for a campaign donation or Burger King telling you there are free french fries today!
How would it know someone is prying open your door? It just detects motion.
You can have cams set to sound an alarm when they detect an event (they have an internal speaker). But it won’t differentiate between someone coming home that is supposed to be there and someone breaking in.
They do offer a security monitoring service for a monthly fee, but not sure how well it works or if you want someone able to see your video.
They also sell other types of sensors that you can integrate with your system (door open etc), not sure if you can set different notifications for those but I would think they would be able to have a distinct sound, or trigger alarms on your cams, etc.
There is an SMS feature in the app to send a text message, never played around with it, not sure if it requires subscription or how customizable it is.
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Android treats you like an Admin, so if you use Android, there are apps like Tasker, MacroDroid, and Buzzkill that will watch notifications and allow you to have a specific notification make any sound you want. You could make your phone do a siren sound or whatever. I actually do this for some special notifications during certain time periods.
iOS users won’t be able to do that, but the Wyze app does allow you to set up a rule to trigger a siren on a camera. You can do similar things if you have Alexa speakers.
The problem is that Wyze cam notifications are fairly limited. If you don’t have cam plus, then any kind of motion could trigger a notification. That could be a person, but it could also be headlights passing your window if a neighbor is backing in their driveway or something. If you or a family member come home late, it won’t know the difference between different people.
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I’m thinking since they said they got a motion sensor, an automation for the motion sensor to set off alarms on all cams from 10PM to 8AM or whatever would do the trick and not be triggered by headlights etc (pets are another story though).
But lets be honest, if you want security against someone forcing entry into your house, that’s not really what this system is for. Simplisafe, ADT, etc would make more sense. By the time you wake up and grab your weapon of choice, the police are hopefully on their way.
My security system is a 100 year old house that I intentionally do not oil the exterior door hinges, plus they’ve been painted so many times they stick a bit. The noise of the door unsticking and squeaking is enough to wake me up, and I’ve got protection in easy reach of the bed.
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Oh! I missed the motion sensor kit…so he has the hub and sensors? That is what the HMS subscription is for. You can arm the system at night or when you leave the house, and then yes if the door is opened while it is armed, you can definitely have it set off a siren in the house, and a professional security agent will text and call your phone to see if you’re okay or need law enforcement sent. You can also set rules to have all the cameras at your property set off a siren if something is tripped while armed and sets off an alarm. That is what the HMS is for.
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As long as you don’t mind some guy in an Asian country being able to see your cams (I guess you can probably block them from that and only send motion/door notifications). But if you don’t want to pay a monthly fee, you should be able to have them trip sirens on the cams. Does Wyze have a remote siren that you can mount anywhere (like in the bedroom)? That would definitely wake you up. But yeah the monitoring service is the way to go as far as a true security system, though I’d still wonder why not just go with Simplisafe at that point.
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HMS itself (using the motion and contact sensors) doesn’t allow anyone to see camera events.
Cam Protect is the security service that uses just cameras to determine alarms, and it only allows the security agent to view the alarm event video, not the live stream or other events.
FYI, Wyze contracts through Noonlight for the HMS and Cam Protect services, and Noonlight’s security agents are not in Asia, they live in the United States…specifically, California and Arizona (and the company itself is primarily headquartered in Santa Monica California, with a second office in West Hollywood, California). And yes, you can block them from seeing the video event if you want and just have them get a text notification that there was an alarm they need to contact you about.
Though, honestly, your guess isn’t that random, I’m surprised Noonlight is not using virtual assistants in the Philippines like everyone else doing remote phone, email or chat work seems to nowadays. All the companies I’m working with have a ton of Virtual Assistants from the Philippines now as do the majority of companies in their industry. Some of the Virtual assistants I deal with even do more work and better work than most of the in-office staff the companies I contract with have. It’s kind of impressive. But none the less, Wyze’s partner, Noonlight, is employing people in the US as the security monitoring agents.
For me, mostly the cost is insane for what you get IMO
Limited customization
Limited integration
Cameras are not worth it
Personally, I’m more likely to recommend people go through Home Assistant over Simplisafe (or even Wyze HMS unless they have a lot of Wyze stuff like I do). Then you can do almost anything and cheaper and better in nearly every way with few limits on customization, integration, etc.
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I take it back then, every other security monitoring company I’ve seen has agents in Malaysia, India, Philippines, etc. While Wyze has done a good job separating themselves from China, they still use a lot of Chinese tech and my guess was they probably have agents there (though that guess appears to be incorrect).
I’m not a shill for simplisafe or ADT or whoever Comcast resells, but given that Wyze tends to be a bit buggy and it isn’t their primary focus, just gives me a bit of hesitation. Just one of those gut feelings.
My security system (internal only with dial out to local dispatch, no active monitoring) and cameras are totally separate and I guess I just feel that’s the way it should be. At least in my case they are for two totally different purposes. The cameras give me the ability to monitor things when I’m not home and gather evidence should something happen, the security system is strictly for notification of an actual intruder, and unless you do something dumb, is almost immune from false triggers etc. My fire alarm system is part of the security system too so it serves a dual purpose, but still a very focused, specific purpose.
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Not that I’m aware of, but @SlabSlayer has described a “wake the dead screech siren” and a Rule (Automation) to activate this “aftermarket Honeywell Siren that screeches like a banshee with its butt on fire.” @Seapup describes a similar setup.
I think that’s a reasonable thing to ask, and I chimed in on an earlier discussion here:
They don’t play well with others (i.e., they’re a closed system with no meaningful home automation integrations of which I’m aware), and as of this writing their “Multi-User Accounts” feature is still “IN DEVELOPMENT”, something users have been requesting for years (just like Wyze), but their equipment is easy to install and manage, prices for basic monitoring aren’t exorbitant, and monitoring service is Johnny-on-the-spot, in my experience.
I guess to me I’d consider that a good thing. Maybe I’m old fashioned (or just old) but security should be a closed system, home automation (especially when we’re talking about cheap IOT devices) is totally separate and little to no communication with it.
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I get that, and I don’t disagree. I’m still somewhat leery of “smart” locks as a component of physical security. I just wanted to make the point about how even though SimpliSafe has reliable (in my experience) motion and entry sensors, those aren’t going to integrate easily into another system for automating lights, for instance.
I see that Google Home still has a “Works with Google” link to SimpliSafe, but I’ve never been eager to connect the security system to Google Home like I have with Wyze and other IoT devices.
If a person is detected by any of my outdoor cameras, three of the amazon Alexa’s in our home will say “person detected at ____ door”. We’ve had this setup for a few years now at three different houses, and it’s worked very well.
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