Surprise - WYZE is no longer providing current firmware versions for SD card flashing

Cameras
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I called WYZE support yesterday morning. I was on the phone with them for over 90 minutes. [Wyze Ticket 4862153] I even spoke with an escalation technician. Come to find out there is NO WAY to download or even obtain the current firmware in file form anymore. WYZE may eventually make it available, but the support center has no idea if or when that will happen. I was told that they make previous releases available for download, but not the current release.

When I questioned why the previous v3 firmware release, version 4.36.16.5654, is no longer listed on their Release Notes & Firmware page at all (and thus unavailable for download), I was told it is no longer listed because that release was buggy and replaced with the current firmware. How do you like that circular logic? After all, every previous version of firmware has had bugs and was replaced with the next version. :man_shrugging:

One can honestly say that WYZE is truly hiding information from their customers by completely pulling releases from their official documentation as if the release never existed. Reputable companies would never do such a thing! An honest company would simply add a note about the “bad” release and ensure the firmware was no longer available for download. (Clearly WYZE has the no longer available for download bit covered!)

Furthermore, I was told that support could not send the current ZIP file for the latest firmware via email because the engineering team will not provide the file to the support team. Over the air is now the only way to get the latest firmware on a v3 camera. (Likely other camera versions as well.)

During my long conversation with support, I also learned that WYZE is no longer manufacturing v3 cameras. Once they are sold out, there will be no more. So for anyone that wants a v3, find one quick while supplies last.

Being a customer since 2018, I know that WYZE has offered the current firmware version for download since inception of the company. Why the sudden change without any communication whatsoever?

I don’t get it, but WYZE never ceases to amaze.
:exploding_head:

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I would certainly like to hear this confirmed from a non-CSR employee.

Having worked in Customer Service through College, including as a trainer, I know CSR’s frequently say things that are not necessarily 100% official policy and are sometimes deductive reasoning, etc, and you can often get other CSRs to give conflicting answers for things. I could definitely see a CSR check and see that newer firmware hasn’t been provided starting this year and just tell people they aren’t doing it anymore and give a logical reason for it. I’ve seen that countless times from lots of reps in lots of different major companies do this. Also the support bot seems to disagree with what the rep told you, which tells me this new policy isn’t part of their knowledge base and hasn’t been made official or the support bot would have access to the change. I’m not saying the CSR is wrong, just that I’d like a full employee (non-CSR) to comment on the issue and confirm one way or the other before I am totally confident of why we aren’t seeing downloadable firmware anymore.

I learned about this a few weeks ago from their website:

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The only thing I’ll really miss from the V3 is the Invisible “Near” IR…which is why it’s been the only camera that I use as a babycam because all other cameras use visible far IR with a creepy red glow that scares my toddlers and is a deal breaker…but I also disliked it as a baby cam because:

The V3 didn’t have very good audio processing and often doesn’t alert me when my babies cry or call out to me, and if I try to talk to them on it, they can’t understand me and get more scared. So it’s a catch-22 of how it’s both the best and worst model as a baby cam.

Also, it’s only 1080p and I mostly stick to >=2K now.

I only started loving V3’s again because they added native RTSP.

But I know a lot of people loved them for the free use of Cam Plus Lite features. I think that will soon be pretty pointless. Sending frames to a local AI model for detections is getting really easy and cheap and better. I think it won’t be long before Agentic AI’s are able to make Cam Plus Lite almost pointless. It’s already possible for anyone with tech skills, but I think it will soon be easy for anyone without any tech skills.

I think Wyze really needs to start offering more local edge detections included to keep pace with competitors though. That’s why people loved the V3’s was for the free person detection. Losing that and not having alternatives in the current line up will push users to competitors.

I hope they go back to making firmware available for download. I think it’s a big mistake not to do so, but I have seen they stopped allowing firmware flashing in newly released models in the last year or 2 and now for models that have always had it, but stopped doing it this year. So I am guessing it is true they are stopping completely. I think that’s a mistake. But I’d still like to hear it from a non-CSR employee. I’m going to tag this post to remind me to ask about it in the next camera-related AMA.

#AMA2ASK

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Thank you for your reply kind Sir. Part of the reason my phone call with support was so long is due to the fact I refused to believe the CSR. I kept having her put me on hold to ask others. I was told that she contacted engineering three times asking for the latest firmware file and they told her 3 times that they would not provide it. I then asked her to put me on hold and transfer me to a manager. She said management does not take calls, but she could put me in touch with an escalation person. She didn’t call it an escalation person, but I don’t recall the exact term that she used. In any case, that person got on the phone and confirmed the same thing two more times; as I continued to plead my case for what had always been available in the past.

Thanks for pointing out they haven’t updated their support bot. I noticed this as well and mentioned it during my rather lengthy call. The CSR then pointed me to the page linked below, stating it was just updated recently. Notice how it no longer says download the latest version, but instead states “Download the desired version…”. The CSR stated this is because the latest version is no longer available for download. Again, according to support, moving forward they will provide the previous version, [Which is not true per my previous post.] but not the latest. I also pointed out that none of the firmware is available to download for the v3-Pro. She told me that not all cameras can be flashed. Which is true, but not true for the v3-Pro. She had nothing to say about that and insisted we stick with the topic at hand since I returned the single v3-Pro I purchased years back.

https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360031490871-How-to-flash-your-Wyze-Cam-firmware-manually

We went round and round for the full 90+ minutes and I hung up very frustrated and in complete disbelief. I do not blame you or anyone else for not believing it. As I myself still find it hard to believe! When you do get confirmation from someone other than a CSR, please share their logic as to why WYZE made this unwise change.

Thank you again!

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You did a great thorough job! The additional context makes it much more believable.

I will still plan to ask for a public statement in an AMA or elsewhere, but I think I believe it based on the extra details.

I wonder what their rationale is. Even if we now are sure it’s accurate, the why still has me baffled.

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