They just announced this is coming, but that it will probably be for cam plus only.
They originally told us the VDB could not stream the video to Google or Alexa because of the incompatible resolution (Google and Alexa didn’t allow portrait view streaming or something like that), So when they titlted it sideways to be able to stream on Echo Shows, I was excited they were allowing it even though they previously said they wouldn’t allow it. Then people complained and filed tickets with Alexa, so Amazon pressured Wyze about it and Wyze said they might have to disable access completely again to stop all the tickets to Amazon. That would be sad.
Honestly, I don’t understand how portrait view is the issue…I do “Drop ins” to my Echo show from my phone all the time and it streams my phone video in portrait just fine in a video call…why does streaming another kind of camera make a difference? That is confusing to me.
V2 RTSP is working. V3 RTSP project was just barely completed and is in initial testing with Wyze employees and is expect to be released in 3-4 months, though it could be sooner. They won’t do RTSP with the WCO because it’s battery-operated, but they are considering doing it for the VDB next, but haven’t started.
They’ve done a little of this with specials, such as buy 4 subscriptions in a bundle and get them cheaper than normal, but I would love a better option too.
They said a fix for this is on the way.
They mostly stick to Beta or News from Wyze forum groups. To my understanding, the “ask the community” and “Tips” sections are virtually unmonitored by employees and left completely to the community (including mods and mavens who are very knowledgeable and can and have passed on really important things). Still, only a few threads are really addressed much by employees themselves, though I have seen interaction increase in the second quarter of this year. Hopefully engagement continues to go up.
Just out of curiosity, in contrast to the top 10 annoyance, what are your top 10 favorite things about Wyze?
I’d like to be able to delete “ALL” events all at once. Irs frustrating to have to delete many, many times. I’m aware of sensitivity settings and Detection zones but that doesn’t work when I have shadows moving due to clouds & wind during the day.
I delete all my events at one time. Pick the day/date scroll to the bottom of the page, Tap the pencil >select all >delete. It will delete the entire day.
I’ll second the solution offered by the previous comment. I usually delete over 50 + events every day by just scrolling to the bottom of the event list, then select them all and delete them all. A very easy process once you get used to it.
I think API would be my #1 frustration. I still love Wyze and all, especially their dedication to decent prices and low profit margins, but the API shouldn’t be that hard: others without any special access have helped develop part of this already from scratch. Look at Tiny Cam and the new Home Assistant Wyze Integration by Joshua, and that one is open source on Github, so Wyze could even copy most of that, add a few missing parts, make it available officially, and it would cost them very little & take relatively hardly any time but it would make such a huge difference for tons of people. There are so many people who have offered to do ALL the work for Wyze if they just made a public API. There really is no downside. They’d get free labor with people adding tons of huge benefits and a very vocal amount of support and recommendations with word of mouth advertising and satisfaction. It seems like a no-brainer to me, I just don’t understand how they don’t see this from a logical point of view, especially with their core values of being friends with customers. I am hoping someone just doesn’t understand and will eventually come around once they actually understand the issue in full.
On my iphone, on the events tab, I. tap the pencil, I tap Select All, then select “Delete” in the lower right corner. And everything goes away.
I will filter by the offending camera first, that went trigger happy, then do these steps to delete all the rouge events, and preserve the events for the camera’s that were not producing the excessive amount of Events.
Which, brings up another annoyance… we’ll call it 11, and 12
No scroll bar when viewing events in they Wyze app,
No way to jump to the bottom of the event list (I have 15 cameras, many events, everyday)
No way once I’ve flicked my phone forever to get to the bottom, to jump back to the top.
If I am at event 50 of 100 events, and I open one, and it gives an error that it could not view it, I am returned to the top of the event list.
No way to filter events by “Sound Detected”
While viewing events, and viewing wildlife (Birds, raccoons, coyotes, Hawks, Mice, Rats, Snakes, and requested by wyze to “Tag this video” to ‘…improve aI by sharing this one video with wyze”, I don’t have a “wildlife” button… Unless of course I consider all of the wildlife my “Pets”
I am totally with you on item number one. I actually have an Android tablet and it’s a total pain since I keep it in landscape mode while eating out. There needs to be something for this that allows initial operation in landscape mode.
Landscape on my iPad 12.9 Pro, with keyboard, is my number 1 frustration. I hope they are creating v3.xx of the Wyze App as a fully compliant iOS and Android Tablet app that FULLY supports Landscape.
Yes, I have many things about Wyze that I don’t appreciate. What do I like… hmmmm must be something, I have 8 WOCS, 6 V3s and a doorbell camera
WOCs: Battery operated, Wireless so I can place them around my property to get some great wild life video… I use them basically like a trail cam.
WOCs and V3’s I like the cube shape of the cameras, as there are easy to place on the ground on my property on flat ground, Covered with a rock or in a small wooden box to blend it in with the landscape.
Price is great for what I’m using them for.
Doorbell Cam works well, and doorbell chime plugging into anywhere in the house works well. Volume of Chime is sufficiently loud for us.
V3 Cam’s starlight feature is good for using them flush against a window pointing out, provide no light in the house at night. During the day works well for viewing any activity. Tried a time lapse one time worked well, until a light got turned on in the house that night,
Fairly easy to setup via any cell phone
Video quality is good for the most part, except for my WOC’s that don’t do well with the sky or the grey birdbath, that actually unacceptable video quality.
Able to setup WOC in the front yard area to trigger my Alexa Echo Show to show my doorbell cam upon detecting movement.
Able to view four camera’s in landscape mode on my iPad, iPhone and Android phone, Wish the rest of the app was capable of such a feat.
Able to get some priceless video’s of my 17 year old blind cat via two of the V3’s in my Sun Room
I tried to remain postive on all ten, but slipped a few times, I could add annoyances to some of those but held off for now
No worries about the struggle, it’s just interesting to me to hear both sides from people. I have my own share of disappointments and likes with most things too. Sometimes it’s easier to focus on the frustrations because those are something we can try to influence change over and we’re already satisfied with the things we like. I think you did a good job with putting good thought into both sides. Thanks for sharing.
And don’t get me wrong, I AM supportive of people sharing criticisms and feedback in mature ways such as you are doing here. Wyze has pretty clearly said that a lot of their decisions come from what they read about in the forums and such when a lot of different people say the same things. So criticisms have a very important place. I don’t like it when it delves into obsessive negativity, whining and constant trolling with nothing else ever being published by certain people (I usually end up muting or blocking some of those accounts), but I definitely believe in people sharing criticisms and suggestions for improvement. I think you’re doing great bringing up things since Wyze says they look for people to talk about the same things to guide their decisions. I’m all for improvements taking place, especially when the efforts are done maturely as you’ve presented your points. Thanks, and keep it up.
#1 is the lack of a public API and local access to the hub for sensor state #2 is lack of RTSP in all cameras and without having to flash.
With these 2 addressed, I would have no reason to full buy-in into wyze ecosystem. After all, it needs to be mutual trust. For consumers to trust Wyze, they need to trust prosumers with api access.
Arguably opening up might hurt Wyze business model. So maybe test it with only part of the products?
Still a Garage operation. I boxed up the Security Package and dropped at GoodWill. I understand how Startup’s are Startup’s, But Wyze does not have the R&D as Ring has…I will not be a Beta Tester in 2021.
We can change the sound sensitivity levels. I personally haven’t noticed Wyze being any worse than sound detection for other companies I’ve tried (at least 3 others), especially if I adjust the sensitivity. Though I am eager to see if their AI can make sound detection actually useful by being able to distinguish things I actually care about like Human speech vs pet noises, vs crying, and whatever else. They should add some other useful sounds people are looking for, like maybe the sound of a pump turning on or whatever else people use them for. Any suggestions on what to change with sound detection other than the options they give us for adjusting the sensitivity level like they’ve already allowed?
I think using a better microphone and speaker could make a good difference. Dave Crosby recently said they designed better versions of those for the upcoming version 2 of the Wyze Cam Outdoor (whenever the chip shortage is resolved). I would say a better microphone and speaker in every cam would be a great improvement. Some recordings do seem to have a little latency between the audio and video, and I would really like that to be resolved along with making it more clear to talk through the camera speaker and have people be able to understand more clearly. The trick is doing those upgrades without making the price jump through the roof. Hopefully they can work that out though, I’d love those updates.
