[Updated 02-13-20] Data leak 12-26-2019

I agree there’s a lot of upselling and subscription marketing in the industry, but I would disagree that Wyze has been part of it. Wyze has been selling cameras for almost 2 years with no subscription and no upsell, while continuing to add new free features. The only paid service they currently offer is a direct request from customers to allow longer cloud recordings and it’s very reasonably priced to cover Wyze’s cloud storage costs.

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Oh gosh, I didn’t mean to imply anything negative about Wyze.

Yes, they sell great hardware at an even better price. And yes, they have only just begun selling additional services, but I implore everyone to not be naive as to why you cannot find a $20 stand-alone device not dependent on the cloud.

I wish Wyze all the success in the world; hell, I have sold many friends and family on these cams, and have helped install no less that 50 for said people.

If Wyze’s original business plan did not include recurring services as a means of revenue, I’d argue they aren’t very smart about business. And I’m saying just the opposite; of course added services for fee are part of that strategy…and they’ve just barely gotten to that point.

Not exactly, if you have multiple cameras. Ring Protect is $10/month or $100/year for “unlimited” devices.

Let me further illustrate my point. I, too, was looking for that “one-time” purchase, and backed this crowdfunded device many years ago: https://getpiper.com

It promised to be the all-in-one device with no recurring fees. And it was, until the original Canadian developer sold the business to a business, which later sold the intellectual property to ADP.

Does my device still work? Maybe; can’t say - as I’ve since replaced it with updated hardware. But I can tell you this - the minute the business sold, all investment in app development stopped, and now all they have is a landing page; they stopped selling them 2+ years ago.

Get it?

woah, yea, that really stinks. I hope it doesn’t happen to Wyze, but, I mean, I was totally invested in the IRIS system, then they went full cloud, then they shut down. So, i understand, granted they paid me half for everything i bought, which was nice, before they shut down. I have the ring system and use the Wyze system to supplement specific needs. Ring IS a security company, unlike Wyze, and I use them as such. Wyze, I use to keep track of non-critical things.

Anyway, is there another forum or is there a wyze discord we can all talk about this stuff instead of filling this topic up with posts not related to the specific topic? (and because i think this is getting closed)

EDIT: it’s not being closed, I read that post wrong. Another post was closed and went here.

If it turns out that there’s something to the alleged breech, you’d probably be the first to complain that Wyze didn’t flush their sessions once they heard about it.

This was due diligence on the part of Wyze and any responsible company would have done the same.

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FWIW, here is it that device’s original competitor: https://canary.is. Also available years ago on crowdfunded site as a “one-time” buy. I struggled in deciding which to fund, and went with the one that would deliver sooner.

Anyhow, long story short, they are still around, updating their app, introducing new hardware, and doing just fine business wise.

Can you guess the difference? When Canary came to market, 6-months later they introduced cloud recording/storage, etc…

EDIT: forgot link to referenced product

Oh, forgot - I dunno. I’m not on Discord, and though we are filling the thread with security banter, I’m not sure it’s inappropriate unless Wyze says otherwise (or closes the thread).

To compare Ring to Wyze is comparing Apples to Butterflies. Ring and Wyze both use AWS for their cloud services and storage. Ring is owned by Amazon who owns AWS. Take a wild guess who gets a better deal on AWS pricing?

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Yes, I am sure that Ring gets better pricing. I was just pointing out that with multiple cameras, the price structure can become quite exorbitant quickly.

Potential Sol’n: Full local control and local recording!

Edit: Added solution statement

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Your needs may be better met by an IP camera.

Wyze gave us that option already. Isn’t that the custom firmware?

Wyze can’t satisfies everyone’s demand, that is why they are asking for our input and they weigh it in

Indeed they are, but I also like my Wyze cams and have different use cases for them.

I hear you, as a matter of convenience, Wyze (and the like) are tough to beat.

Wyze has made alternative firmware available that lets you stream video from the cameras to any program that can open an RTSP stream.

All I want to say is thank you to al the Wyze team,
You have handled this unfortunate incident perfectly. Very transparent. keep up the great work guys and gals!

Understood. Admittedly, I have not tried it, as they themselves said they would not be developing new features for said firmware.

Beyond that, I’ve heard - maybe somewhere in this thread even - that the RTSP still connects to the Wyze cloud. And if that’s the case, it’s still not the solution that others posting here are looking for.

OK, then why not get yourself Ring devices, instead of getting Wyze cams and having to subscribe to CMC?

Vote with your wallet!

I don’t mean to hijack someone else’s response - but I can tell you why I don’t.

Amazon sells Ring footage to law enforcement, and I don’t want my cameras, recording my actions, on my property, and sending it to any third party, let alone law enforcement.

More info here: Five Concerns about Amazon Ring’s Deals with Police | Electronic Frontier Foundation

EDIT: added link to article

I know this isn’t directed to me. But I actually have ring as well. I feel it is better for security and love the unlimited cloud storage. They lack features though that Wyze has, and I use both together, since Wyze is so cheap :smiley:

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