My camera turns on from time to time when it is off… should I say hi to someone on the Wyze network or is this a hacker? LOL? Do I have no control over on and off? Should I unplug it completely when I want it off?
The camera is never truly “off” if it has power. It should be called “disabled” or maybe “sleep”.
While it may make sense to change your password, ensure your 2FA is set up, etc, it is likely just a glitch, others have reported similar things in the past. It could have done an auto firmware update, or there could have been a power blip, or even just maintenance/updates on the wyze servers could (and I believe have) potentially wake it up.
Yes if you want it OFF for privacy reasons, put in a smart plug and turn off the power remotely (you can group multiple smart plugs so you can turn them all off with one tap). Doesn’t have to be a wyze branded plug, in fact some say use another brand for extra security (which may be a bit over paranoid). But the wyze plugs may be more convenient since they can be controlled in the same app. Just note that you should really do the “safe eject” of SD card if you have one before doing that, though I know that there are many that don’t. It may just result in corruption at some point, especially if you have continuous recording or lots of motion.
Personally, I won’t allow any internet/cloud cam in any private space. The closest I have is looking at the inside of my exterior doors (nowhere near my living spaces). I have a spare one I set up monitoring the living areas when I go away for a couple days, then it gets unplugged and put away.
Great advise since Wyze did have a 2024 security issue that allowed some users to see other user’s cameras.
That wasn’t the first one, probably won’t be the last, and you can find it for every brand out there too, hence my rule.
If I wanted to monitor the inside of my house (other than temporarily while I’m away for long periods), it would be a closed circuit system with NVR, and the only access from the outside would be via my very secure VPN setup.
On the other hand, I suppose if people want to watch me picking my nose and talking on teams calls, maybe I should just add a subscription fee. Worst onlyfans ever.
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Do you do that a lot 
Yeah, I’ve argued before that it’s not really “off” but in more of a “suspended” state like a PC that can be activated with a magic packet via Wake-on-LAN. The actual camera features (those related to image capture) may be turned off, but the device itself is still “on”, connected to the network (assuming it’s working properly), and ready to accept a “wake up” command to make the camera features usable again.
I don’t know what labels Duo Cam Pan uses when it’s “off”, but I think Wyze doesn’t really help matters with some other Cams the way they label the state when Turn Off or Privacy Mode is invoked. Whenever those Cams are in groups, the individual Cam pane just says “This device has been turned off.” This is the case even for things like Cam Pan v3 and Cam Pan v4 when Privacy Mode is enabled. I have to tap into an individual camera’s main screen before I see a different message, like “Your camera is in Privacy Mode.” (for these Cam Pans) or “Your camera is turned off.” (for something like Cam v4 or Cam OG). I’d really like to see more consistency.
Also, I noticed a few months ago when testing RTSPS on a Cam Pan v3 that it continued to stream even when it was supposed to be “off”:
Granted, that’s a β firmware and expected to have bugs. I haven’t tested this specific thing again since updating to 4.50.16.5654 β firmware, so I don’t know what the current state of that feature is.
I also don’t know what the implications are for a device that’s “off” (or “in Privacy Mode”) with respect to its Alarm Settings (ability to detect CO and smoke alarms). I haven’t ever tried testing those with a Cam that’s supposed to be “off”.
I think that or using a smart plug to cut power is probably the thing to do if you really want “off” to be off. I don’t know which (if any) is better between the Eject MicroSD Card and Turn Off buttons within the app, but I would expect both to complete any pending microSD write operations to reduce chances of card data corruption. I haven’t seen any test data comparing the two, though, and I tend to use one or both prior to removing a Cam’s power.
Welcome to the Forum, @fresgo! 
Yeah I think it is fair to assume that “turn off” should hopefully finish any writes and leave the microSD in a semi-safe state. I have my cams do a weekly reboot and I assume that “restart” safely completes writes and possibly even unmounts the SD card, but of course I don’t know that for a fact. That being said, I’ve never had a corrupt SD card or file in that 2+ years, and they’re always recording/writing, so I think it is a safe assumption. As far as “turn off”, can’t say, but having one shortcut for a “turn off” automation for all cams then a second for “power off” the plugs would probably be safer than just cutting the power.
Having reviewed corporate and retail security footage before, I don’t think anyone realizes just how much they pick/scratch/sniff various things when they don’t think people are looking.
Add audio and you realize a few more embarrassing actions are taking place too.
Actual footage from my old office
I was thinking exactly the same thing, with the mention that doing this would obviously require the use of Wyze Plugs and not smart plugs from another manufacturer.
Actually I was thinking it might be better to have another brand smart plugs in case whatever was causing the cams to wake up would also affect the plugs. As long as both brands let you put a shortcut to the automation on your phone’s home screen, it would still be pretty simple.
Of course there is no guarantee that another brand smart plug wouldn’t wake up from the same network event or whatever is causing it, but I’ve never seen it happen with the amazon or TP Links that I’ve set up for friends and family.
I dig, and if part of the issue is thought to be because of unexpected commands from Wyze servers, then I’m on board with using a different plug brand. I think a lot of users recommend that for resolving issues that cause Wyze Cams not to reconnect to Wi-Fi with the thinking that a third-party plug might be a more reliable solution for power cycling those Cams because that plug wouldn’t be dependent upon Wyze’s cloud to act. In this case, I mentioned Wyze Plugs specifically because you referred to two Shortcut Automations, and that would require Wyze equipment for the Plug.
That’s true if you don’t mind that Wyze’s use of Android widgets blows. It’s ridiculous that they still don’t offer a 1×1 option for running Shortcuts; you’re stuck with at least 3×3, or at least that’s what I see in the current production app. The Tapo app allows me to drop a much more efficient shortcut widget on my phone’s home screen.