Wyze app 2.50 - Released 3/25/2024

[WyzeJasonJ]

We are releasing the 2.50 app today! This has added the ability to snooze Event Video notifications and improved the Friendly Faces experience. We have also added support to login using Facebook and Amazon.

Read our Release Notes:

Release Notes & Firmware

[muerte33]

I just got the 2.50.0(437) on my android Pixel 6a.
Seems like V3 cameras (not Pros) are taking a long time to connect on group view.
I did the sign out/in and cache clear too.
Maybe others are getting the new version and doing the sign/out/in too?
Seems to be leveling out now.

[alcyon]

Language bug has been fixed.
Took you almost a year… but you made it!

[muerte33]

I checked in the new Android app version 2.50.0(437) on my Pixel 6a, and they fixed the crashing of the app when going into the spotlight setting on the V3 Pro.

Also the floating window icon is now available on the V3 Pro in the dark theme!

I still see the stuttering playback in event videos when using Cam+ unlimited and “record sound” OFF under advanced settings on V3 and V3 Pro cameras though.

Great progress!
Thanks Wyze Developers!

[peepeep]

@muerte33

Seems like V3 cameras (not Pros) are taking a long time to connect on group view.

I thought there was a little more lag-on-loading, too. Not sure, though. You know how that goes.

[Antonius]

Didn’t fix playing back the SD card from the events page on my newest V3.

[gyzmo]

What is the difference between the « new » and the « oldest » because I don’t have your issue with v3s and iOs 2.50.0(17)?

[Antonius]

I have Five V3 cams and the newest one I got in March of this year is the only one that will not play back the SD from the events page, it will playback the SD from live view just fine. All the cameras have exactly the same firmware (.8391). The V3 that Installed in February 2024 needed the firmware updated six times, the newest only needed four times?
There are a lot off post on the forum of other users having the same issue.
I am using iOS devices on 17.4 and just update the app to 2.50 from 2.49, no difference.

[a55bruce]

Didn’t fix my issue with the slow-motion live view on my video doorbell v2.
Group view is fine. Single camera view it takes 4 seconds for each second on the time stamp. Software version: 4.51.1.8444

[B57]

I just installed the Android app V2.50.0 (437) last night.

I have had the Cam Plus Unlimited plan for a little over a year now (its a great deal).

I was just browsing through the App, and went to the Account page, then to Services, and as I remember, across the top, it used to show various services/subscriptions in a horizontally scrollable list, like Cam Plus, Cam Protect, Home Monitoring, etc, but now only shows Cam Plus Unlimited (I only have Cam Plus Unlimited, but it used to show them all anyway).

And if I remember, it used to list the cameras that were assigned to the Cam Plus Unlimited subscription license, that you could add/remove cameras to. But the rest of the page is now just empty, with a “COMING SOON …” note at the bottom.

If I log in to my account on the web (not in the app), and I go to services, I can find my Cam Plus Unlimited, and it lists the cameras and I can add/remove cameras from my subscription, but this used to be in the app in 2.49.

So where is the list of the cameras assigned to my Cam Plus Unlimited subscription in the app now?

Is this now only available in the web account page?

[Antonius]

Who knows what they are up to. I have iOS and it says the same as yours. ? We need for @WyzeMatt to wake up from his nap and provide some info.

[WyzeMatt]

haha, well I can’t say anything more about what is coming next, but essentially we eliminated the need to assign licenses to cameras if you have the Unlimited plan, that’s all done for you in the backend now.

Lots of customers bought CPU but never assigned it to cameras. We wanted to fix that.

[carverofchoice]

@WyzeMatt

well I can’t say anything more about what is coming next

Well, I asked about it in the AMA anyway! Maybe if enough people vote on the question, someone at Wyze will approve to give us some hints and details because the event says we can ask you guys literally “ANYTHING”…so now we’re asking. Here guys, go vote for Wyze to answer something about it anyway:

https://www.reddit.com/r/wyzecam/comments/1boggvy/comment/kwqk7d8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[robberstea]

The AMAs are worthless. Even the CEO ignores user issues that are brought up there. Still no sharing controls after years of “looking into it”. My wife can’t even view SD card recordings without logging on my profile. But, hey, we’ve got dark mode now for whatever that’s worth.

[carverofchoice]

I see things very differently. AMA’s have been awesome and “wishes” are complex. I know we get frustrated when our preferred wishlists aren’t implemented, but I know that it is definitely not the case that they aren’t listening or reading them, because I speak with employees a lot. I know Wyze actually does read the wishlist. The Wishlist in particular is synced by Jason with their internal system. It is also discussed by employees and employees review it sometimes even if they aren’t commenting and influencing particular requests in one way or another. I remember one example I was talking to an employee for the first time a year and a half ago and she told me she was really excited to actually talk with me. She said she’d seen my posts all over the forums, etc and even though she, herself, didn’t post anything in the forums, she did read a bunch of stuff. So I had no idea who this person was at all, but she felt like she already knew me from reading through the forums a lot. It was really interesting. Jason and others have confirmed many times that other employees do read things in here.

I also actually brought up the SD card sharing issue in one of the AMA’s. One of the cofounders answered me directly. He indicated they haven’t been “ignoring” this issue at all, but that they have purposely chosen not to allow sharing the SD due to security and liability concerns. When you “share” a camera, they want to make sure that the new account is only ever able to view events that happen AFTER the share takes place because there are people who use these for lots of different purposes and not all shares are with a spouse. Some might be businesses or sharing with babysitter or any number of other considerations and they need to make sure that people who get the camera shared with them can only see events starting after the share takes place. They can easily do this with the cloud events, but just giving them access to events that happened in the previous days. However, if they shared the MicroSD card, then shared users would be able to access all the footage that exists on the card, including files from before the share. There are complications with that and they said this is why they haven’t changed the settings. It is absolutely not that they “ignored” the desire of some users (including myself) to have this.

I did end up giving the founder several solutions to overcome this objection, and he said he hears me/us and that Wyze will consider such things. Who knows. But even then, User requests have to be considered in light of multiple variables.

When this was brought up to the VP of product in an AMA, he said, regarding the wishlist:

We look at [the wishlist/roadmap] with the team every week

There are many things that decide whether or not a wishlist is implemented, and there most definitely are wishes that get granted specifically because of the suggestion being put on this wishlist.

That’s not to say that all wishes will be implemented. In another thread I listed a bunch of things that generally go into considering user requests/votes for things:

@carverofchoice

There are THOUSANDS of wishlist requests, and often multiple more per day being created.

As Wyze has said in the past, implementing a wishlist request has to be a balance of popular demand as well as MANY other factors. Keep in mind that I am in SUPPORT of this wishlist and want it to be implemented, so don’t think I am arguing against it. I am just trying to explain why it can be reasonable for a wishlist to take a long time or to not ever be implemented in some cases even if it is “popular”.

The following are some common things companies like Wyze weigh against the popularity of their users’ requests/votes

(not all of them are applicable to this specific request, but I plan to refer to this later for others in general too, so I’m going to be thorough…):

TLDR; people can just scan the bolded points quickly

• Technical Feasibility: Assess whether the requested feature or product is technically feasible with the current infrastructure and technology stack, which includes how Wyze’s app is currently structured vs needing to wait for a future revamp of their whole app first. It’s also possible that the older cameras don’t have the necessary resources (processor, RAM, etc) to even support doing this on the SD card. When I try to move forward or backward on some of the other cams, sometimes the camera stalls out. I think the older cams may not even be CAPABLE of supporting this. They could probably do it on some of the newer cams with more powerful resources though. We just don’t know for sure, but they probably do know.
• Resource Allocation: Evaluate the resources required, including personnel, time, and budget, to implement the feature or product. Don’t misunderstand, I think this wishlist would be a GREAT ONE for the year of the camera, and I voted for it and support it. However, that would also mean taking away those same resources from other things that may be a higher priority in other ways for something that frankly wouldn’t necessarily bring back in what it costs to create it. It is more of a luxury feature than a necessary one. A Luxury feature I WANT and would love…but I can still do most of that manually or in other ways, so I haven’t LOST functionality without it.
• Alignment with Company Goals I’m not saying this or any other one specifically does or doesn’t qualify, just saying this is a consideration they have to balance in general.
• Market Demand: Do most or all other competitors offer it or are there lots who still don’t? Does it address a pain point for a significant portion of the user base?
• User Impact: How would each of the thousands of requests impact the user experience and satisfaction? Not just of those most vocally requesting it, but the whole userbase.
• Compatibility: Is it compatible with the rest of their hardware, software, services or general ecosystem? And not just functionally, but in general. For example, I’d think they were off their rocker and start thinking of ditching them if they started selling Goat Milk instead of tech products, no matter how many people requested it on the wishlist.
• Regulatory and Legal Compliance: Something might be legal in some states but not in others, and it might not be worth it in some cases to try to comply with every state’s minutia and instead scrap the whole idea, or it might be worth it, and just require some extra resources to implement it. Point is that it’s a consideration for various requests.
• Security and privacy: a lot could be said on this, but most of it is obvious
• User Feedback: including things beyond the wishlist such as support tickets, surveys and user reviews, and even community engagement (also, while votes are one consideration in the wishlist, they have also mentioned how other things like analyzing thread activity, etc can also be a consideration)
• Competition: in an AMA, the VP of product mentioned this was a big reason they were going to stop doing “Lifestyle Products” as he said: “Products like the Watch, which end up being fashion accessories, have been too crowded and complex for us to make significant traction in, so you’ll see less investment in these “Lifestyle” product lines as we continue to refine our focus back on these three core areas.”
• Scalability: Can it accommodate a growing userbase? Will it cause issues farther down the road?
• Technical or Design Debt: This is actually one of Wyze’s biggest struggles right now. In this case, they already have a lot of limitations from the design debt of the foundational block of their app. This makes some things really hard to do, or to go back and change as far as it relates to UI updates. That could be an issue in this FF/RW wishlist since it would require UI changes. In other wishlists, they may also have to consider whether something would cause technical debt for future development or ecosystem expansion and compatibility concerns, including if they try to make any of their compatible with Matter standards.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Will the expected benefits outweigh all the costs of implementation? This is a HUGE one that can’t be overstated.
• Mass Appeal: Is the wishlist something that will benefit and be used by the majority of their users, or is it an edge case request or niche benefit that the majority would not use (this has been part of the rationale for why RTSP and API ecosystem integrations haven’t been implemented, since while a lot of us most active and most outspoken users want them, the majority of users would not benefit from them and they want to first devote resources and priorities toward things that almost EVERYONE can benefit from before they do things that will benefit smaller select percentages/groups).
  • Part of this could involve taking into consideration things like user base demographics, market research, surveys/feedback, user persona analysis, usability testing, data analytics, feedback aggregation, user impact assessments, user inclusivity, market differentiation, growth potential, long term impact, and many other things on this list)
• User Opposition: The wishlist often doesn’t take into account whether implementing a feature might face opposition from a significant portion of the user base or raise concerns. I have seen tons of wishlist requests that I STRONGLY oppose, but there is no downvote option, and most of the other people who would oppose it aren’t in the thread because they are only looking for things they want and ignore the rest.
• Integration: How easily it integrates into Wyze’s current ecosystem
• Innovation: Is it an innovative and unique option that could differentiate Wyze from competitors
• Longevity: Does it have long-term relevance or a short-term trend that’s not worth the investment
• Sustainability: Including ongoing maintenance requirements and whether something aligns with the company’s sustainability goals
• Phased implementation: Wyze actually does a lot of this. They will introduce something on a new product, and then depending on the response and use-metrics, they will then sometimes expand it to other models if it is well-received and worth the time and effort to do so.
• Market research: To understand the size of the potential user base that could benefit or be reached by it to justify prioritizing the feature/product
• User Education: would it require extensive user education for them to be able to use the feature, and are users willing to invest that time in learning it?

I’m sure there are a ton of others that Wyze takes into account that I either overlooked, forgot, etc. But, my main point is that it doesn’t really matter solely how long ago someone requested something, or even necessarily how many people voted for it. Those are certainly factors that matter, but there are dozens of variables that go into considering whether or not to implement a specific request. A wishlist may have a total green flag on 90% of the variables, but have one or 1 or 2 others with a red flag holding it up in a way in which another wishlist request with fewer votes actually gets priority ahead of it because of other factors. What I love about the way Wyze handles our requests is that they actually RESPOND to every request and label the expectation. In this case, Wyze didn’t PROMISE this request, but they gave us the courtesy of informing us they weren’t planning to implement it. They labeled it as “MAYBE Later.” They get around to telling us on each request if it is “Probably Not” or “Maybe Later” or “In Progress.” If they tell us Probably Not or Maybe Later, they have absolutely responded. It may not be the answer we hoped for, but at least they responded. That’s more than 99.99% of every other company out there. I acknowledge they won’t do the majority of the things I make requests for, but I am glad they give me the courtesy of responding. I’m not entitled to get everything I ask for. I bought their product either knowing it doesn’t have a feature, or when I get it and find out it doesn’t have that, They allow me to return it within 30 days for a refund so I can find something that DOES have what I want. That is 100% reasonable.

If I choose to keep a product, knowing it doesn’t support the thing I want, that’s on me. I can hope they consider changing things in the future, but I’m not entitled to it. I can return it when I find out it doesn’t have something and get something else instead.

Then I use this wishlist as "I’m already totally satisfied with my purchase, because you gave me the chance to get a refund and I decided it fit what I wanted already, but It would be SOOOO COOOL if you also did this." and then I get excited anytime they do add something, instead of being angry until they do so, which makes absolutely no sense to me. If I’m angry, I should’ve either not bought it or returned it when I found out it didn’t have it.

Again, I voted for and support this wishlist, and definitely am excited at the news that they appear to be working on something for this here. I am just saying, I’m not mad it took so long because I knew it didn’t exist when I got my product, and I chose to keep it still, and I realize there are a TON of variables for them to consider when deciding which wishlist items take priority. But I get an update about every wishlist item they complete, and they are always adding new stuff for us. Here is a list of several Wishlist items they’ve added due to user input:

Wishes Granted

These are the items requested by you, our wonderful community members, that have been launched.

And that doesn’t count all the things they added that were requested outside the wishlist, nor all the rules and actions and other things that are aggregated elsewhere. They DO add things for us, but again, there are THOUSANDS of requests and they have to weigh all the other factors to determine what gets priority.

I guess the overall point is that they DO read the wishlist, and they do listen, but there are a lot of things to consider for each wishlist request and deciding which ones get priority over the THOUSANDS of other requests when they have limited resources. Asking in AMAs helps, voting and commenting in the thread can be helpful and are one of the variables that matter, but there are several other considerations too. If every user posted and told Wyze they wish they would make a magical flying unicorn and they didn’t do it, wouldn’t mean they didn’t “listen” though. They care what the community wants, but there are also many other things to consider.

[Antonius]

What does Reset Services actually do? iOS app.2.50 bottom of settings.

[habib]

Click and you’ll find out

[Antonius]

You first

[Seapup]

Click the green info icon. It rebinds the service (Cam Plus, etc.) between backend and cam. Funny though, Reset Services button is displayed even if cam has no assigned subscription. Maybe it’s a UI placebo.