Just to clarify, even if someone pays for cam plus, there is no fast forward or rewind setting that can be used on the SD card playback. The only option is the function to jump 30 seconds forward or 30 seconds back, and that is free for everyone. There is no way to pay to get a forward or rewind option for the SD cards. Part of the reason for this is that the cameras have hardware limitations affecting this. Wyze is currently looking into options for improving video scrubbing of SD card playback within those limitations. For example, they have mentioned they are looking to show us a thumbnail image while we scroll forward or backward so it’s easier to see where we want to start playing the video. They said there are other things they are working on as well, but it’s my understanding that any video scrubbing features for the SD card will remain free.
As for the full length cloud videos, those cost money because if they didn’t charge for them they’d go bankrupt and then none of our devices would work. Pretty much every company that allows full length events stored in the cloud charges for them or subsidizes the cost to make their users pay for it in one way or another because they have to. Wyze does offer 2x and 4x on their full length cloud videos, but cloud storage costs them money, that is the main reason why there is a fee for it. You can get 12 second cloud storage every 5 minutes for free with Cam Plus Lite, but that is also subsidized from other users paying for it, and there is no need to provide 4x speed for something that is only 12 seconds long.
I can understand the frustration because I too have been advocating for improvement with their video scrubbing options. I have asked about it in several of the “Ask Me Anything” events that they do regularly. There was one just this month and I asked them if they had any updates on this effort:
So it looks like they are hoping to have some improvements coming out for us by the end of the year.