Last night I tested the Wyze cams connected to the router but disconnected internet from the router via the Ethernet connection. There were NO EVENTS recorded during the entire night including my own activity intentionally walking in front of all 3 cameras multiple times throughout the night under multiple flood lights (which of course, it normally does record these exact events). I received an error message when I tried to access “events” this morning. The error message was, there are no events, please make sure your device is set to record events, of course, IT IS set to record events.There is NO reason for the camera to NOT record when disconnected from the internet but still remaining connected to the WiFi. Also, throughout the night I had to reconnect the iPad to the cameras, the little green dot came up and I was forced to reconnect to the camera several times. Another note; when I first turn on the advanced settings the sound button is green for a split second each time the app is restarted (another topic?) despite the fact that I have sound turned OFF on ALL of the cameras. I get the feeling I may be being recorded without my knowing, both video and audio possibly? (Will have to read the privacy statement carefully). Just a thought. So, WiFi on, WiFi off, none of that seems to matter, it will record the timeline, but nothing else, NO events whatsoever.
I prefer privacy over security personally. Ben Franklin once said “Those who would give up their liberty (freedom) for security, deserve neither.” I fully agree with that assessment. Can anyone please explain to me before I check the transmissions of the router packets, why this camera events failure is occurring when the Ethernet for the main internet is simply disconnected? Guess I am suspicious by nature, which in this world makes complete sense, because NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE can be trusted (ie: the reason for the cameras in the first place). especially government and corporations. Not that individuals are any less sinister, the exception being, most simply lack the organizational skills of the multiple criminal minds at work in those other 2 areas of society. Yes I read the thank you email from Wyze stating you did it ALL just for us. That is a whole lot of Bushwah!
In conclusion, will the Wyze Cam function normally without WiFi, and/or internet connectivity. The answer for me is NO, it will NOT. Having the ability to completely disconnect the cameras and the cameras remain fully functional is THE most important aspect for me. My privacy comes first. Microphones in my home continually recording to the cloud on the internet is NOT a thought which I relish. Envisioning complete invasion of my privacy.
This is very simple… the 12 seconds cloud alert events are stored in the cloud. No internet = no cloud. If the internet is disconnected, then the camera can’t upload the clips and that’s why you are seeing no events in the Events tab.
If you have an SD card installed (which it sounds like you do since you mentioned the timeline), it will still record to the SD card. You can set the SD card recording to Event Only to save you scanning through a lot of no-motion footage.
I have not noticed the momentary green sound button that you mention, but perhaps it’s some sort of self test on connection. The only way you would be being recorded is if someone somehow got hold of your Wyze username and password. Hopefully you are using a strong and unique password for the Wyze app.
Actually, I went back and there is 1 event 6:45 AM (EDT) and there was no internet connection? I believe, I connected it at about 7:00 AM (EDT) to make this post (previous post, creation of thread). The reason I say that is, the auto is still in the driveway in the 6:45 AM event, and I am fairly certain I did not connect the internet until after the auto was gone this morning. Perhaps once the internet connection was made the memory of the previous event was then stored to the cloud?
The last event yesterday evening was around the time I disconnected the WiFi Router from the internet, or shortly thereafter (according to the timeline). I will have to make closer connection and disconnection time notes to be certain. However, if you say the events are ONLY recorded to the cloud then, there is likely little point.
We always use the recommended password from the security feature of the browser ex: (Hre-23T-47R-22f-Qrz2). I think those are pretty secure passwords and doubt there is a breach of access from that standpoint.
I would personally prefer to see events stored locally on the µ-SD card. I prefer to be in control of as many aspects of the cameras, recordings and data as possible. A lot to ask for 20.oo µ$ ? Perhaps, but, my personal security goal nonetheless.
We’ll buy more Wyze cameras so you can pay someone to make those changes for us. Such as Personal Cloud/IP assignment, motion detection/events recording to µ-SD card with only WiFi connectivity and no internet, etc. While most people are trying to become more connected, we are trying to be secure and yet become more disconnected from the world. Our only goal is to protect ourselves to the highest degree possible, from the world we are attempting to become disconnected from, and the reason for that should be obvious. There is nothing good in this world. Pragmatically speaking of course.
Also, why would it disconnect from the camera/iPad periodically throughout the night? Is there a handshake going on between router, Wyze and the cloud/camera? Green button appears for reconnection. It does not happen when I am connected with internet, since the WiFi is 3 meters (10 feet) from the cam and the iPad is about 2.5 meters (8 feet) from the router.
The camera may hold the clip and try to upload it the cloud for a bit after it’s triggered. Hence it doesn’t surprise me that you might have one recorded some minutes before you reconnected the internet.
As I mentioned above, you can put the microSD card recording in Event Only mode, and then your events are stored locally. You do not need cloud event recording turned on for this.
I don’t know why you’re getting the disconnects. You may have to file a support request on that issue.
If I put the µ-SD card in event only recording mode, will I get no continuous timeline recording accompanying the events on the µ-SD card? I am assuming since it says ‘events only,’ it means only events will be recorded and not the recording timeline, which likely means, nothing outside the 12 seconds and 5 minute delay would be covered in the recordings. Which of course will not do for security review purposes.
The disconnects do not occur with internet connected, I have seen them with internet connected, only when located further from the WiFi router but, never in the same room, at least not that I can recall. I just thought it was strange being so close to the router and intranet traffic here is always very low at night on that particular router. A support ticket is probably above and beyond. It’s not a significant problem. Just curious more than anything.
The mSD recording is totally separate and distinct from the cloud event recording.
In event only mode, the mSD (timeline) saves every one minute segment from mm:00 to mm:59) that contains motion. Segments that do not contain motion are discarded.
SD card recording uses its own sensitivity setting, so it’s possible to have an event clip recorded but no SD card segment saved. Wyze is looking into that situation right now.
Okay, thank you, that explains a lot.
We prefer the full timeline recording with events, so for now, we’ll use it in the existing manner with both µ-SD Card and Events recording to cloud. Hopefully, in the future, corrections and improvements will be made. Here, we are using these Wyze Cams as a supplement to existing security measures and as internal security monitoring. Existing cameras are currently monitored 24/7/365. The Wyze Cams are additional and can currently only be viewed individually which causes some minor limitations for us.
Loki,
Thanks for the post. Will I still be able to see my camera if both my phone and the camera are on the same wifi without internet. I undestand the camera will not work remotely.
I would like to use the camera on my trailer will in the wilderness.
Not really. The product design requires internet to both set-up and also to re-connect any time you need to reestablish a connection. So, you might be able to view the camera’s video for a while with the internet disconnected, via your own WiFi router’s internal data connection. But, if the power to the camera is interrupted, or you take your phone out of the WiFi range momentarily, it will not reconnect. Also, notifications are only sent via the cloud. So, there will be no notifications if the internet is down.
My continuous recording to sdcard stopped during the PGE shutdown. The wyze and WiFi was on since we have power thanks to the Tesla powerwall but internet was out.