I would like to mount a Wyze cam indoor on the window pointing to the outside.
I tried this in the past and there was no way to disable the microphone on the camera.
Is that still the case? I dont want any possibility of the camera microphone turned on for privacy issues.
Has Wyze addressed this issue?
You can turn off sound recording, but if you want it totally disabled so that nobody can turn it back on, you’d need to disassemble the camera and physically disconnect it (which will obviously void your warranty).
I personally would not put one of these cameras (or any “cloud cam”) where it can see or overhear private spaces.
Exactly. Wyze needs an option to disable the microphone. To me, the best solution would be a dip switch to turn it off. I would be okay with a software switch with an icon on the home screen showing it turned off.
There is already a software switch and if you tap the image you can see the line through the microphone EDIT - meant to say speaker (which is for listening to the microphone). Then disable sound recording in the options. Personally, I wouldn’t consider that enough, someone who gains access could easily turn it back on, or a firmware update could change the setting, etc.
Unlikely they’d add a hardware switch to it.
People have torn various models of cam down and disconnected the mic. If you don’t want to do that, a small piece of tape over the mic (thicker the better) would likely make it insensitive enough to be inaudible, but you’d need to test it. Depending on what type of condenser they’ve installed, you may be able to use a needle in the hole to permanently damage it enough to make it inaudible. Obviously that’s an extreme approach though.
Here is a video showing how to unhook the Cam v3 microphone connector.
Isn’t that for turning on the “Talk and Listen” feature? i.e. turns on your phone mic so that you can talk to someone at the camera.
The camera microphone is always on … you have to follow @StevenA 's video to physically disable it.
I misspoke and should have said “line through the speaker icon”.
If you disable “record sound” and do not toggle on the speaker icon, then the mic is effectively “software disabled”. However that is far from being completely disabled.
The entire microphone built into Wyze is not thought out very well. What if you have shared accounts that can just listen in on conversations? There are reasons to need to share an account without wanting to grant audio access.
Having a camera outdoors is one thing, but having one indoors is really a privacy risk in my opinion.
Which is exactly why I say do not use them in private spaces, and definitely don’t share a cam in a private space with someone else. If you share a cam, even if there was a way to prevent them from hearing audio, they can still see stuff you may not want them to see.
I mainly would like to mount a cam in the window looking to the outside yard of house. Mounting the cam inside eliminates the harsh outside conditions, easy to mount, easy electrical plugin, BUT the microphone listening while mounting it inside is a no go for me.
Add one more advantage to your list, mounting inside makes it harder to steal or tamper with the cameras.
I have been using Wyze Cam v3 cameras inside looking out for almost 5 years. I have Not had a camera, SD card, power brick or power cord fail yet.
My wife and I are Empty Nesters in a 4 bedroom house. My Wyze cameras are in rooms we rarely have conversations in. I have tested the camera audio recording quality. While having a conversation in an adjacent room, some words can be heard but the conversation can not be followed. I could unhook the microphones like in the video above, but my wife and I just never shout out SS numbers, Passwords or PIN numbers inside our house.
One more thing to be mindful of, is if your cell phone gets compromised it has a microphone and camera.
“Record Sound” (in Advanced Settings) only disables sound on cloud and SD recordings.
The camera microphone is still active on camera livestream.
The Speaker Icon is to turn your phone speaker ON/OFF.
If Wyze is going to specifically market a camera that mounts in the window, why would they have a microphone that can’t be turned off?
Logically one would think the microphone is there to record what the camera can see, not the conversation that is in the room.
I don’t see legally how this is not already a challenge with dual consent states that require all parties to consent to being recorded… but I am not a lawyer.
Wyze needs a better solution.
We are saying the same thing. If recording is off and your phone speaker is off, the microphone isn’t doing anything. However it is easy to turn back on if someone gains access or it is shared.
Because glass is a halfway decent transducer and it can actually pick up audio from outside when mounted to the glass.
All my cams are mounted outside of windows, if it is a double hung window it is very easy to route the flat cable through the bottom to a power outlet inside. The windows close and lock fully. I’ve had no failures in 3.5 ish years and they’re all exposed to direct rain, sun, snow, etc. Even a casement window should work if you get the wire in the right spot.
