I have been a Wyze camera customer for a LONG time. I have some V3’s, V4s, Pan Cam, Battery Cam Pros etc…
I have mostly just set them up and used the basic LIVE and occasional view stuff off the SD card.
Does Wyze ever add more drastic functionality to these cameras after they release them? I have the new Solar Pan Cam and it seems like a great Cam with lots more potential.
I guess I am trying to keep any hopes and expectations in check. I know there is the wish list section, but is that just a place where hopes & dreams go to die?
I will chime in that I am the opposite of you and hope Wyze keeps staying the same I have been using Wyze Cam v3 cameras for four years and grandfathered into Cam Plus Lite.
I have Not had a v3, cord, power brick or SD card fail yet. Everything is working for me the way it was four years ago and I hope it stays the same.
My Wyze cams have worked wonderfully. My post was regarding Wyze adding more software functionality. I wouldn’t stay with Wyze if I had a lot of issues with them breaking and not working.
I had 1 V3 Cam that fogged up and 1 Pan cam that would not turn on and Wyze replaced it.
Our needs and wants will always vary and I respect that. I am also happy keeping software functionality the same, so much that I am still using Wyze App version 2.50 even with version 3.xx released 1.5 years ago.
Unfortunately as the new firmwares roll out, we’re going to lose that option. I’m assuming it will get updated on all recent cams. I’d guess v3 onward but that’s just a guess. The v4 has it pending.
If that was the case, then I wouldn’t expect to see so many Wishlist > Wishes Granted topics or blog entries like this:
Much as @StevenA commented on the differences in our needs and wants (and I’d also add expectations to that list), I wonder what you consider “drastic”, because I expect we might differ there, too. In any case, I can think of a few feature additions/functional changes that I’ve seen on some of my Wyze devices post launch. Here are two:
Unfortunately, Wyze’s app and firmware release notes tend to be pretty sparse, and they don’t always make announcements about feature additions or even things like significant UI changes. ↩︎
Like I mentioned, I have been a Wyze Cam customer for many years and like the products. I haven’t had many issues over the years. I dont even mind paying the monthly subscription for service.
For the Solar Pan Cam:
Ability to point the camera in different locations and it stay pointing in that direction. Dont return to the Home waypoint
Limit the pan, so it doesnt record what’s behind the camera
Time Lapse
Track Animals and pets
Schedule automation to turn on and off continuous recording
Schedule automation to pan the camera to the next waypoint so it takes more advantage of the pan ability.
I realize Wyze is probably trying to balance battery life in these battery cameras, but this camera and my Wyze Battery Pro hardly ever get below 98 percent of battery during any given day. I think Wyze could allow these battery cameras to get more active and burn through some battery during the day. Its like having a sports car and never getting out of 1st gear.
I believe this should already be possible since Home Waypoint is not required. You should be able to delete the Home Waypoint. I just tried and was able to delete my Home Waypoint, move the camera’s position to some other non-Waypoint view, leave the Live Stream screen for a minute or so, and then open up the live view again and see the camera still pointed where I left it.
Honestly I wish I could have the old “return to home when detection zone is enabled” behavior on my Panv3 as sometimes I forget to move it back. When I wanted it to stay, I would just turn off “track motion” and it would stay there. Maybe they need to add some sort of pause/hold button.
I’m familiar with that change—or at least what I’ve read about it—but didn’t ever try to use both Detection Zone and Track Motion concurrently on Cam Pan v3, so I can’t speak directly to that. What I described above is specific to my experience with Solar Cam Pan since that’s how this topic is tagged, though I believe it may also apply to Cam Pan v4 since the Home Waypoint requirement was removed from that Cam’s firmware back in October.
Yeah it was really the only reason I enabled detection zone on it (it had no effect when track motion was on, other than ensuring it returned home). Seems the 2 newer pan cams now force this, which for me I’d like, but I would also want the ability to pause it in a certain spot. I guess creating a temporary waypoint (or having no waypoints) is the way to do that now.
I’m not sure how it works on Duo Cam Pan, because I don’t have one of those, but on Cam Pan v4 and Solar Cam Pan it’s now possible to delete the “Home” designation entirely. Even before the change that removed the Home Waypoint requirement, it was pretty easy to just reassign “Home” to another Waypoint for whatever reason and then reselect the original “Home” at some later point in time.
I wish I could designate the one on my Panv3 as “home” and have it return there. Though I haven’t tried deleting and recreating it, maybe that’s been added with all the changes.
I don’t know if they’re making that change to Cam Pan v3’s UI/function or not. I don’t see anything to that effect on my older Cam Pan v3, which is running the 4.50.15.4800 firmware, even when I view it with the v3.10.0.b743 public beta app. My other Cam Pan v3 is currently disconnected (I don’t even have it plugged in), but it’s got the RTSP β firmware installed.
To add a “drastic” improvement I would like to see - better (or any) local home assistant integration. Ideally rtsp natively and supported on current versions.
I briefly installed an eufy indoor camera with the intention of pointing it out of the window. The camera was 4k, so I thought the quality would be better than my v3, which was also pointing outside through the window.. During daytime time the quality was good, but at night time hardly any difference to the v3 so sent the camera back. What I did like about the eufy app was a feature where you could view playback on the sd card at different speeds.I could view a minute footage in about 20 seconds at 4x speed. It would be great if the wyze app had a similar feature. I found the 4x speed the ideal option even though you could goto 16x speed. Higher speeds seemed to miss frames. at 4x speed no frames were dropped.
Forgot about that vote!. It appears that the feature is now hidden under the radar, as the post to vote on it is from 2018. If other manufacturers of camera apps can do it, why can’t Wyze?
