Your Wyze App requirements have gone crazy. My father wanted security cameras and I sold him on the Wyze ecosystem. He has a Wyze Cam V3 Pan for over a year since 2024, and at the end of last year he added a Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell and a Wyze Cam V4…
Then Wyze changed the app requirements to 64 bit and now the app isn’t available on the Google Play store. Wyze’s web site says to install the old version BUT WYZE DOES NOT PROVIDE IT. Instead, they say perhaps install it from an app archive web site, however I consider it a security issue to download an app from an unofficial source. (How do I know it wasn’t modified or had malware injected?) Wyze could solve that by providing a direct download from their site, but Wyze has not.
So then that makes it impossible to know which android phones work with the app and which do not. My father needs a new phone, but I have not seen any site where as part of the specs they mention 32 or 64-bit operating system for Android.
Does anyone know if these lower tier models are compatible with the Wyze app directly from the Play store? Does anyone know how to determine if a model is 64-bit without physically owning the phone and installing a cpu id app?
The rest of that topic probably contains the best discussion here in the Forum regarding the 32-bit/64-bit issue since Wyze launched the v3x app. I haven’t been able to locate a solid official source (like finding verification on android.com that makes this information explicit), but I did see this on the Android Developers site:
That’s really challenging and frustrating, and I don’t have a good answer for that, either. When you don’t actually have the phone or the ability to throw something like AIDA64 at it (or just try installing the Wyze app from Google Play Store), then I guess you just do your own research as best you can (which I think you’re already doing) and find a vendor with a good return policy (just in case).
It’s just part of change. Home Assistant just warned a while back they were dropping 32 bit support. Too much work, too few users. Or something like that.
The transition has been going on for quite some time, albeit gradually across ecosystems.
As found searching; actual facts unknown, its internet fodder after all.
Google’s policies required all new apps and updates, as of August 2019, that include native code to provide 64-bit versions in addition to 32-bit ones. This effectively phased out 32-bit only apps for 64-bit devices over time, according to Android Central.
While Google Play continues to support 32-bit devices and deliver apps to them, the overall shift towards 64-bit only support across the ecosystem means some apps might not be available or updated for 32-bit devices, even if those devices are technically capable of running them.
The cost of dual support: Maintaining two distinct codebases (32-bit and 64-bit) for an app can be resource-intensive, requiring additional development, testing, and maintenance efforts. Given the diminishing number of 32-bit-only Android devices, especially newer ones, it becomes less practical for developers to continue actively supporting and updating the 32-bit versions.
Wyze probably thinks the same thing, too much cost and too few to support.