Setting up a remote WiFi router and WiFi network connection can be a straightforward process, and I don’t mind that if the iOS or Android apps require such a setup to connect and control multiple Wyze cameras.
However, I don’t know why the WiFi router has to connect to the internet just to setup the Wyze cams. While internet service is typically not an issue at home, obtaining internet service at remote locations can prove challenging unless one pays for such a service. It would be helpful if Wyze cameras could function without an internet connection. As an example, I purchased an A9 Mini Camera from Temu for only $5.99, which has its own WiFi phone app to connect directly, without the need for an internet or WiFi network connection.
Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @rokoodle!
Wyze cams must be registered to your account on the Wyze Servers where their settings are stored from your selections in the app. Without the internet, there is no way to authenticate your account and store the settings supplied by your app. All routing for the P2P live stream also uses the Internet to initiate the connection. Additionally, after setup, the cam must also have internet connection on any subsequent power cycle in order to initiate, authenticate, and secure it’s settings. Once those settings are secured, the cam will continue to operate even if the WiFi is removed, however you loose all server supplied functionality like live streaming, video upload, AI detection, notifications, and rules automations.
Thank you for the comments. To be specific, it is not “…if the WiFi is removed…” it is if the Internet connection is removed “…you lose all server supplied functionality like live streaming…” that is the stupid part. I can maintain a WiFi network in the remote location very easily by just keeping power to a WiFi Router, but to pay for an Internet serivce at each remote location. It is just stupid. Can Wyze be a little more flexible on this. Another stupid part is that the cameras don’t automatically connects to the WiFi network after a power outage, all the all server supplied functionalities require manual re-connection very stupid. I don’t who develops the Apps, it is flexbile at all.
Why? Why does P2P live stream requires Internet when the App only runs Smart Phones only, and there are no desktop Apps that we can Archive all the cam recordiungs? stupid restrictions for no reasons. Why?
Just so I understand: You want to have wyze cameras, connected wirelessly, to a local area network (LAN) that has no wide area network (WAN) connection to the internet?
A use case here would be helpful. I do volunteer work at a remote orphanage in mexico, and I’ve thought about adding cameras.
Do you plan to be in that remote location with no internet connection, and you just want to watch your cameras in real-time from the phone?
Is the goal to have the cameras use the memory cards and record continuously, and then you want to watch the video stored on the cameras using the playback feature on the phone?
You never want to be able to watch the live or recorded videos from a remote location?
You want to be able to connect to the cameras from your phone on the LAN and never have to go outside the LAN to connect to the cameras at all?
When the cameras boot, they must have Internet or they will not boot. It may be as simple as the cameras need the correct time, but in any case, they do not boot if they have no Internet.
Once up and running, they will continue recording to an SD card until they lose power, even if they lose Internet. But upon re-powering, they again will not boot if they have no Internet.
Once up and running, if you call up a stream, they (should) keep running that stream even if the Internet drops. That is because the stream runs locally from the camera to your device.
However, if you exit that stream and try to re-enter it, you will likely be locked out if you have no Internet. That is because all new streams require authorization from the servers to start the stream. This is not a stream-to-anyone-anytime type of camera, and all authorizations are fresh in real time.
All events are totally Internet-based, so no notifications if no Internet. The notifications are not cached; they will evaporate.
Any hesitation shown above is because I haven’t tested those functions today. But know that this is a camera that requires Internet to operate, and without it you will be very disappointed. I don’t expect that to change.
Mine do; may depend on your router/ISP. I’ve used 3 routers so far in 5 years and haven’t had one that didn’t reconnect all cameras after a power outage. And I have a lot of cameras.
I believe newshound may have misspoke. The devices will boot but just not work. For example, when you buy a new wyze camera, they boot up and go into pairing mode.
When you boot up a device that has no internet, the light will flash over and over, and you can then click the button on the bottom and put it into paring mode.
I believe that they do boot up, they just don’t work without the internet connection.
Use case I don’t have the answer for; If you have configured the camera properly with internet connection, you then shut off the WAN port on your router by disconnecting a yellow cable to your modem for example or just unplug the modem from the wall, the cameras then lose internet connection, and the light starts flashing blue I think. Do they still continuously record to the SD card when they go into this state? Do they also record events even with no internet and when internet is restored do they then get pushed to the cloud from the SD card?
Also, if you have internet and everything is working, then you shut OFF the camera, then disconnect the WAN port or unplug your internet modem, then fire up the camera, it will flash blue for no internet, but will it still continue to record to the SD card?
I believe the answer to both of these is no, they don’t record…once they lose the internet, they are kind of dead in the water so to speak.
To be more accurate, what I did was - after the initail setup of the cameras via a WiFi router with Internet Connection, I disconnect the Internet but kept the WiFi router and its WiFi network; suprisingly the server supplied functionalities like live streaming continues to operation without the Internet service. So I thought that was great, I just have to configured the camera via the IOS App one time once; the configuration should be kept and everything should work from that point on.; so I went one more step further by disconnecting the power to the cameras &the WiFi router - thinking then later they will restart and reconnect automaticaly - when I powered up the cameras as well as the WiFi router.
However, if it did not reconnect automatical. You see - if my test was successful, I can connect Wyze Cam to WiFi router without Internet service.
It is almost 1 AM where I am and trying to understand clearly here…
You are saying that you had it all setup with internet. You then removed the internet connection. From your phone you then connected to the app. You were able to view live video from your cameras within that LAN.
Some questions:
1.) Are you sure the WAN/ISP connection was removed?
2.) is your wifi devices in Access Point mode?
3.) Is it possible that your ISP modem’s wifi was still on and the cameras connected to that access point?
4.) Are you sure you were live streaming and not watching event videos from the wyze cloud server?
5.) Was your phone connected to the cellular internet for internet access?
I guess what is puzzling me is that I am fairly sure that if I am within one of my homes, connected to the same home wifi network my cameras are located, and I then pull the plug from the back of my fiber optic modem, not only will my phone lose internet connection, but there is no way I could see the live stream from those cameras on the LAN, nor could I access event videos from the cloud.
I am fairly certain as well that even if my phone got connection from the cell towers and I had my wifi on my phone turned off so i was NOT on the lan, there is no way i could see live stream because there would be no active way to connect to those cameras either. I could view the event videos, though.
I have experienced a situation where a hurricane was coming into town, so we boarded up the windows, closed everything down in the house, ran out the door, locked our deadbolt, checked our cameras, and fled to the airport. While at the airport, we noticed we could not connect to the live streams. We could see the event videos, and could see the last video it had saved to the cloud. About 3 days later everything came back online. I had no recorded videos in the cloud. Several of the cameras never connected back to the internet. I flew back into town and made sure our property was okay, rebooted the cameras, and all was fine after that.
Thanks - will read in the morning (by morning I mean in 12 hours or so - lots of meetings in 6 hours from now).
My reference here was that the SD card does not start recording. So the most basic function, nor any other, is available.
Yes, until the next power outage.
Already covered that – the events that occurred during the outage evaporate, and are not cached.
Interesting question! Untested as far as I know. A ‘software-OFF’ camera is still a booted camera, so would need to test. but at best a special-knowledge workaround tho…
You should be able to see live stream for at least some amount of time if you’re already connected locally. But if you exit and try to come back you won’t be able to get authorization from the Internet servers. If you weren’t already streaming when you lost the Internet, then you won’t be able to get authorization to start a stream. There may also be reoccurring time-related re-authorizations in the several minute arena.
If you pulled the plug from the back of our fiber optic modem prior, then no, you wouldn’t be able to see live stream because there would be no active way to connect to those cameras. You can still view the event videos because they are on Wyze servers and still within your grasp.
My guess is the Internet got interrupted to your house, which would be required to view live streams in your house from outside. This could be due to a power outage. You could see the event videos because they were on the Wyze servers and still within your grasp. Any videos while your house was offline evaporate, which is why you saw none of those.
All the others here have provided great details, but in summary Wyze cameras do not and are not designed to work like this. Wyze cameras are smart cameras, marketed for their AI, cloud events, and viewing from anywhere. They were never designed to be used without an internet connection, so they don’t work like that.
A closed circuit security system would be a better fit for your use case.
Thank you very much for your comment & Excellent Questions & below are my answers:
1.) Are you sure the WAN/ISP connection was removed?
Yes, I am sure because I physical unplug the ethernet cable off my Linksys EA5800 AC1000 Dual-Band WiFi Router’s internet Port, after I booted two Wyze Cam v3s.
2.) is your wifi devices in Access Point mode?
No, it is not a Access Point, it is a $13 used Linksys EA5800 AC1000 Dual-Band WiFi Router from Ebay.
3.) Is it possible that your ISP modem’s wifi was still on and the cameras connected to that access point?
No, my ISP cable modem (Arris SURFboard SB6183) doesn’t have WiFi,
4.) Are you sure you were live streaming and not watching event videos from the wyze cloud server?
Yes, I was live streaming.
5.) Was your phone connected to the cellular internet for internet access?
No, my phone was only connected to the WiFi network that was created by the standalone $13 used Linksys EA5800 AC1000 Dual-Band WiFi Router with the actual ethernet cable disconnected from the Arris SURFboard SB6183 ISP cable modem.
Again, after initial setup of Wyze Cam v3, a standalone WiFi router can maintain network connection with a smart phone that only connected to the same WiFi network without Internet service. While that works great standalone, as soon as there is interruption of the power to the Wyze Cam v3, it looks like it needs to re-initiate again which require internet connection - that is the stupid part. It can work standalone, but Wyze App had to be stupid not allowing auto re-initiation with last known WiFi network connection. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
Yes, you are absolutely right. Wyze cameras in CCTV Mode, as I have proven the Wyze has the capability to operate at CCTV Mode with a standalone WiFi router, if only those Stupid APP Developers wake up and put an option to select CCTV Mode after initialization, all those Stupid APP Developers have to do is to allow cameras to connect using the last known working WiFi connection settings even after a power interruption, why do the cameras have to reinitialize with an Internet connection.
If only those Stupid APP Developers wake up and improve the App, you can take your setup anyway and it will work, even somewhere with no Internet service; all you need are the cameras, a WiFi router, and a smartphone.
I don’t why you guys love these cameras so much, if those Stupid App Devs don’t improve it with this flexibility soon, I am returning my cameras back to Home Depot & give them a bad review.
Because we don’t think everything and everyone at Wyze is stupid. I don’t think Wyze cams are the right fit for your particular needs. Perhaps another brand would be a smarter choice and meet your particular use case. Returning them would be a good choice.
