I agree with having the local mode for the cameras to have local viewing on the LAN. When the internet goes down. I purchased these cameras for security but now I see all that has to happen is cut the internet and all my security the cameras give me is gone. This makes Wyze a very weak system for security. Wish I had figured this out before I purchased 10 cameras.
They still record to an SD as long as they have power but yea, they need internet for the app to work. You can pull the SD card and browse it locally but you can’t simply browse the LAN ip like a Dlink cam to get a web interface. I think there is third party firmware that might allow this though. Not sure what scenario the issue is. If you aren’t local and need to playback, no cam will work without internet.