Is the Wyze Cam Free Ride Over? New Cams Require Subscription for Some Features
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- Find Wyze products on Amazon: lon.tv/6gobv (compensated affiliate link) - I noticed that the new Wyze cameras that came out recently do not have the same free features as the prior editions did. In this video I'll walk through what features you'll now have to pay extra for. See more Wyze: lon.tv/wyze and subscribe! lon.tv/s
VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:46 - Old Cameras vs. New Cameras
04:17 - AI Notifications
04:41 - Cam Plus Lite
06:32 - Cam Plus Cost
07:44 - RTSP
09:04 - Conclusion
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All good things must come to an end. I thought upgrading to the OG hardware was going to be a good move but I'd be losing functionality without paying more subscription fees. When these V2 and V3 cams go, I'll be looking elsewhere. There's a lot of RTSP users out there that will abandon Wyze entirely because of this decision.
Yep
I love how the fact that they dropped the 12 second upload is completely hidden on their site. I give them about 6-8 months till they drop it on all their old cameras as well. I bought 2 of these and spent most of the week trying to figure out why it wasn't recording the 12 second videos anymore. Well, if you go to the event under the camera itself it only shows the snapshots. I went to the events tab on the main screen and discovered that there is a trove of 12 second videos that were all recorded with my pan Cam V3s. I do not have an SD card installed, so these videos are obviously uploaded as I was able to watch one of them for about 5 seconds before it popped up a prompt to pay for Cam + and won't allow me to view any more of them.
So, my question is, what exactly is the purpose of Wyze still taking, uploading, and storing Videos on a camera that does not have a Cam + subscription and only takes a picture without it? if I need to pay for that feature, then why are they still doing it when I am not paying for it. Between this and their failure to tell their users about a massive data breach until an entire year later, leads me to believe that Wyze is far from a reputable company. Why are videos that they say I cannot record being recorded and uploaded. I feel like we all deserve some answers to this. it's seriously shady.
Anything that requires a cloud account to work will eventually become monitized or useless. I suppose there could be exceptions but that's a good rule of thumb to know what to expect. They sell cameras cheap for a while and then start pushing the paid service until that's the only way to get the functionality.
Seen a number of cloud based "solutions" end up being bricked when the company goes bust. My default is to build local. And, physically isolate the devices from the internet. My recommendation is Blue Iris using wired PoE based cameras. Lot of extra work and expense but I never have to worry about the bottom falling out when a company goes bust or starts charging people for things they already purchased.
I've been using their products since the beginning and I am glad they are growing as a company - What I liked from the beginning is that they were not looking to milk their customers like others do. I guess my Wyze v3 will be my last product.
This is the problem with them using lowball customers.
Found this out the hard way when I bought the new pan cam 3. Wish there was an option to upload to a local cloud/NAS.
Thanks for covering that so well. I did not even have my cameras on the "Cam Plus Light" plan. Just fixed that!
I remember when WYZE first came out, and I still have their true OG cameras. Just picked up the new "OG camera," and it's great that they keep upgrading them and updating them. But I remember watching a video clip several years ago where WYZE said their service will always be free. Buy the cam, and that's it. I get that it is not a great long-term business model, but companies get money hungry and think people won't mind a $2.99 fee. It's not much, but im not paying for a service just to use the camera. This will be my last wyze camera. I'm looking for other options now that don't want to nickle and dime me.
Did you find a good alternative?
We had over 30 of their original stuff up to v3 now. The older stuff has started to not work and as they go we will find something else. We have found them to be glitchy and unreliable as a camera to keep track of our pets. There is no way we are paying for subscriptions to use a camera to monitor our home when there are a lot of other options out there. I am so glad we didn't buy more of their stuff with the way they are going.
One thing to keep in mind if you rely on the SD card for video storage is that the "event" captured could be something that results in the card being lost. e.g. a thief removing the camera, or a fire destroying it. In those situations you wouldn't have any useful footage. It sucks to lose such a big part of the functionality AND the ability to record streams yourself with RTSP..
That’s why I like the Blink sync module. All the footage gets stored indoors away from the camera.
Good to know info here ! I have (2) earlier models, & they do a decent job, for their price !
You might want to take a look at Reolink cameras. I have mine blocked from the internet and can still use the app on my home network. The camera support RTSP, but you can also use an SD card for local storage on the camera.
But these are not "budget" cameras and wyze are way out of their league in terms of finances ...
Thanks for video! I have the old ones (which work perfectly fine for several years now) and just got 2 more. I also got the 1st nice email where they asked for $. I took the onscreen option of paying $1.48 a month which is dirt cheap for what I get. I use these to monitor our critters (mostly the wife:). If someone wants to "hack" a camera that shows our bunny, go right ahead!
wyze constantly ask for update when you need to use them, i'm replacing all of them with reolink cameras.
Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it!
I have had two V3 cams for a year now and just got the V3 pan cam. I went to the subscription pretty quick as i saw how hobbled these cams were with the 'cool down' periods in which you could be broken into before the cam cam back online
The first company to dial back their "free service" will take the heat but the rest will follow quickly behind to prevent being singled out later. If you appear to get something for nothing then that will not last .
Do we have some alternatives, other brands that are better ? I have some Wyse that last one year. I have many brand from 50$ TO 150$ but not really satisfied with the 1080 quality.
I am looking for a 4k video wired camera around 250$ but not sure to pick the best one.
Do you have suggestions ?
Thanks for the video. I have 4 wyzecams and didn't realize that the cam plus lite option was available and all I had to do was add the cameras.
well i'm glad they keep it simple and easy to understand 🤦♂
Do you think it's possible to buy another older v1 originals and add to the free account I have and get 12 second like my older ones give me now? I was one who could name there price and when one breaks I'm stuck to buy a new one and pay, unless I buy a old one off eBay and do you think that would walk around there forcing you to pay??
I’ve got the same pan camera you show in the beginning of your video. Guess I didn’t understand how “plus lite” worked. I never signed up for it and I’ve been reviewing videos using the memory card for years. Which works fine for me. The good news for me is I don’t have to do anything different.😂
I bought 4 V3 Pros just to find out about the change requiring the Cam Plus subscription. In addition to the weak wireless antenna on the pro I ended up sending them back. Why doesn't Wyze clearly note these changes when buying these cameras. Simply eliminating the feature by omitting the feature under the camera details is not right. They had to anticipate this would cause some confusion. I am moving to Reolink devices but will continue to use the old Wyze cams w/o subscription. Thanks for the info.
Will the older cameras without a subscription still be available?
Google: 1 subscription fee, add as many cams as you desire. Requires a higher entry price for the cameras, but they come with better quality and functionality.
I started with Xiaomi Dafang cameras and bought several Wyze cameras when they came out with what I considered an English version of the Xiaomi cameras. When they came out with their subscription service they offered existing customers a deal where you determine how much you wanna pay each month for all the cameras you have. In the interest of having them stay in business I signed up for what I thought would be a fair price. I doubt they will honor adding new cameras to my subscription.
If it's really OG then it would have person detect and the 12 second cloud storage for free.
I like the cameras. I continue to have one problem with one of the cameras I use. I use SD cards for all of them and use the cam plus lite. One of my V3 cameras will not add to cam plus lite list. It just keeps saying the camera is already associated with other services. I’ve reset the camera, I’ve deleted it and re-added it. I’ve reached out to tech support and they just tell me to wait for an update to fix the issue. All the other cameras work fine.
I like the simplicity of these low end cameras, like Blink which I have some as well. But I've also got a blue iris system running 6 cameras on a simple VM of my host server. BI is a great system, yes a bit more complicated, but at $60 to buy and $35 renewal yearly (I could be off a few bucks) for unlimited cameras is a nice alternative. And you can store as much content as you'd like all the while your content stays in your control. I think Eufy is still free, but that will likely change.
I'm not sure how much their data centers must cost, but I added another 16TB to my system (32TB in RAID 5) so cheaply I'd rather just control it myself.
I am with you on that one. I run Blue Iris with Lorex cameras. They are on a physically separated network. As you do I have full control and access is limited to me.
I set up Blue Iris to call an API provided by my Hubitat device. Using Blue Iris with Deep Stack one cannot get near my house after dark without setting off alarms.
Will Wyze be discontinuing all the older “free” models? If so, sounds like it’s time to stock up on the older cam models.
They discontinued them long ago
Can you install the pan v3 with cat6 cable ?
I got a magnet from harbor freight
Ether 40 or 90 lbs hold magnet drilled the center hole just a tad bigger
Used the supplied screw with the Wyze pan V3 and pulled down my old Wyze V3 leaving the metal disk with 3M backing and just put the pan V3 in place works great
Somebody was talking about a magnet being close to the motor in the pan cam might cause stress or damage to it. not sure if thats the case or not but something to consider
@@BradiKal61
Well I got one of my 4 pan V3 from Amazon and got a 3 year warranty for it
So if it dies warranty here it comes but honestly it shouldn’t be a problem
How hard is it to return Wyze products?
For the most part I enjoy my Wyze products, 5 cameras and two watches. I was complexed on why I could get mine or my dads new pan v3’s added to our plus lite plans until I seen the comments online. I only pay for one plus subscription for the camera that sees the most area outside, the rest I rely on the sd card.
Sure there are better cameras out there, but for the price I think they are great, they will probably replace my wired cameras completely as they die out.
Google recently shut down Stadia. They let users enable the controllers as standard bluetooth game controllers. Will Wyze let users enable these as standard RTSP cameras if/when they shut down their business in 5-20 years? Or will they brick devices? Just a thought about cloud subscription required devices.
What company can I take my business to now that Wyze has lost my business? I have a friend with Ring and he hates how he has to pay them money FOREVER. I chose Wyze because it was free so that OVER, any recommendations?
That's the extra step, just having to decline to sign up? That's not inconvenient, I'll take that.
These cameras are still clear winners in my book, still the most superior!
Does anyone have the RTSP firmware download file still?
I like the cameras but I dislike any subscriptions...
So can I be away from home and have the opinion to turn it on and watch live at any time ?
Thanks for the great review! I'm one of those who will be damned if i pay a subscription, since; 1. my budget is already more than maxed out. 2. I can always fall back on my wired system. But was just wondering if the non subscription usage, can monitor things in a real time stream? I realize, you can record onto the card and playback everything which has happened, but have not gotten a clear answer as to being able to let say, monitor the front porch activity for deliveries or something like that. Would i even know if someone came to my front door in real time with this non subscription usage?
nice video I have 10 wyze cam three v2 and 7 v3 two I pay for the plus. two days ago I installed the wyze thermostat I want to get the new v3 pan
This is so much better than the 3
I have 2 wyze pan and scan cameras one as my live dash cam and one at my apartment watching the parking lot
I'm waiting until we get more versions of v3 Pro. Won't that be the solution where you don't have to pay for subscription with their cameras? Faster detection no extra fees... Just more expensive camera.
I disconnected my 3 cameras and hub and since then my streaming device no longer goes offline
Just remember; Wyze can decide to force everyone to upgrade the software at any point, since they make you log in to use the software. The cameras would still work, but changing any features would become annoying without finding some sort of 3rd party software.
I deleted the email without reading it completely, but I thought that's what they just sent out. Everyone needed to update the cameras
I missed out on cam plus light
Unfortunately, Now there is no way to simply cancel to subscribe to CAM+, then playback video. This capability no longer exists. The only way to view the SDcard data without subscription is to go directly to the SDcard raw footage and scroll the timeline until an event is tagged. Then let it replay from the event. It unfortunate, because I really love the new V3 Pan and even willing to pay for the subscription, but want nothing to do with storing data on their servers. Not being able to run RTSP into my BlueIris is enough to return the 6 V3s I just bought from Amazon
Keep up the great work
Can I really get zero cool down with these cameras, and can I power them with a car battery and adapter?
I definitely won't be buying any more Wyze cameras then. I have a couple v2s that I've had for years, using SD cards for storage. There's no way I'd pay for a subscription just for the camera - a better solution would be to get a camera that can be configured to work with a third party storage service like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
I have 2 Wyze already streaming to my Synology and love it. Guess I'll be looking elsewhere for new cameras. To me it looks like they're making things worse for themselves! guess they won't be in business too much longer!
What I do as I have an extra pc running win 11 is use the windows phone app which lets me see the wyze feed on my pc! I can see 4 cams at once on there and can use obs studio and even broadcast or record my phone screen! So if you have an extra android and pc you can essentially record, or even share it with all your friends and followers on youtube or whatever you use at your discretion! Note : there is a bit of a delay when streaming live to youtube etc. but that is true with most streams anyway!
How to setup pls
Yup,
I will not be purchasing a newer WYZE camera just for the cam plus lite reason .
I will not drink the subscription coolaid.
I beg to differ, Wyze has been stripping features out of their products for several years and putting them behind paywalls! I gave up on Wyze a couple of years ago.
Daer Lon, I just got the pan v3 and have it ALL set up but I cannot get it to record when it detects motion, can you help? It tracks motion and will record if I push the record button. I am enrolled in the annual subscription !!
Even on the old cameras you need the cloud to get AI alerts. Without person notification there are too many alerts.
You can find Old cameras on Facebook marketplace if you need them
The biggest disappointment with the new WyzeCam Panv3 is that it deosn't work with the Wyze lamp socket. Technically, it will power the camera but you do not have lamp socket control as you would if you were using the regular v3 cameras.
I don't have any old wyze cameras. I'm a first time buyer, so I guess this change is no big deal to me
Eh, I'm finding that the Cam Plus AI detections miscategorize many objects. The majority of false detections are marked as vehicle, but I also see a lot of "packages" that simply aren't there. It almost seems like they're in the early stages of training their AI dataset and relying on their customers to accurately tag their videos to aid in that training.
thanks for news they new cams don't work with cam plus lite!
I've been using wyze v3 for almost 2years ,no more free person or event records, now its 20, going to 25/yr.,
Great review. Now that it forces the sign up and cloud storage with no local integration, im out
Yeah they've changed all of how our Wi-Fi able cameras work for home it's all about them being able to gain the sight of your camera they got to make sure they're getting everything on your camera or you are not allowed to use it... and I've been hearing that the doorbell ring camera without permission is making a TV show or a movie out of a bunch of people's ring doorbell clips without most of the estimation from what I understand the problem is is that 90% of the stuff goes to a cloud that someone else controls
I have never been able to put an SD Card in any of my Wyze cameras
For clarity...
Accessing video from the cloud is obviously via the internet.
Accessing video from the card is via the wifi. Does that mean it is not available to a cellular phone out of range of wifi or?
It works over the internet too.
@@LonSeidman thanks!
These cams are still a great deal, sucks about rtsp though
it does not record contiuousely when you hit record in the main window when you close out the app or just go to your phone main screen it stops recording .. the webbased interface sucks has hardly anything on it like the app does so your stufk with the app.. sometimes its all over the place records someone follows then a car comes and follows it loosing track of the person you were wanting to follow... sometimes it does not return to home position mine stopped doing it its brand new dont know if its a bug etc.. you have to pay to get past the 5 minute cool down.. so if you have an event takes 5 minutes before it cools down to track another person or record.. this was where the constantly recording in one position woulda been nice but nope it wont record all the time only does like 30 second clips where it should be 1-2 minutes.. its cheap thats the only good thing about it and 12.99 a year when you sign up it gives you 20% off so instead of 15 dollars a month etc its 11.99 for the whole year so it shows you clips from the cloud not your sd card if you want to download it it saves to the sd card but it shows like 20 gigs used sooooo what is that always on recording no its not its weird is that 20 gigs on the cloud of sd card and you cant take the sd card download and say email it to yourself orr your ios picture photoes nope stayes on the app you want that recording get on a ladder and get it outta the cam.. they really need to fix this thing
also 5mp camera last i checked 1080p is like 8mp and 4k is 12mp .. so this thing cant see faces even close up its choppy etc even with 1tb download and upload speeds that i have.. im not impressed only thing good is its cheap you want quality get a reolink they are about 200 bucks for a ptz but i figured i was broke sooooo...
Yeah, I agreed with the other reviewers. Seems like wyze is getting sneaky after cam v3. Free video cloud gone, more subscription options means reduce functionality of my current subscription… hard to say if I’ll still buy more wyze products, but again, they are still pretty cheap comparing with other products out there… May be Eufy next…. Lol
Thank You and eventually I may stop buying the Wyze Cameras! I have 3 now.
Just turn on cam
Plus light for person defect it’s free…
Thanks, Lon!!
This is my comment every time I see a Facebook ad:
Wyze: PLEASE add Fast Forward scan capability when reviewing stored videos. ASAP!
Even at a slow frame rate, it would be MUCH better than the current 30-sec skip ahead option. Many things can be missed in 30 seconds!
I will NOT buy another Wyze cam until they fix this!
.
FYI - Even inexpensive EZviz cams have 2x, 4x, 8x AND 16x fast forward for free!
.
PS - I've got a Wyze Cam Pan v1, and reviewing the video clips is TORTURE. I will NOT buy another Wyze cam until they fix this!
PPS - Has Person detection gotten substantially worse since the first 2 weeks of 2023?
-------
Still waiting for this change in an upcoming update.
Not as a tool to push your additional, fee-based, subscription model.
But to stay competitive by offering it for FREE.
ASAP!
Also I never liked their AI defection for the cost it over advertises. Should be cheaper since people have tons of Wyze cams for a blanket one time cost IMO
I am not touching these cloud based cameras and subscription model. I am happy using onvif camera with my synology nas.
If I can't use it thru Synology Surveillance Station, it's no good to me.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Another comany giving something cheap then charging you extra for the better stuff :( I guess we can look as one big package of $119 plus what ever the waterpoof plug will cost.
Wyze was good, then not so much. Sill have to pay with an older cam, including pancam
I have had Wyze cameras and they started charging last year if I want to get a live 12 second clip when the sensor is triggered. I'm going to try something different without a monthly fee. Goodbye Wyze cam.
You can name a price of zero on Cam Plus Lite without having to pay.
@@LonSeidman Thanks. I will have to check that out. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my comment. Take care
This sounds like a commercial tobuy ubiquity unifi, you need no subscriptions no contract and ALL data is stored locally. I bought a udm and it was up and configured in less than 30 mins. Full hd video from anywhere.
Completely lost my interest at "no RTSP".
Very informative
Thank you for your support!
I won't be purchasing any more Wyse camera because of this subscription fee. Bye-Bye-Bye Wyze.
I get the fact that server storage costs money but the benefits of having the clips stored on the server needs to stand on their own Wyze should not be removing/disabling other features on the camera in an attempt to force customers to unwanted subscription fees. NOT COOL!!!!
I hate everything having to be in the cloud. I wish they could allow local storage with ai built in.
Both my cameras have 128 gb cards in them
And how do those 128gb cards do because I have a 32gb in my V3 Floodlight and I was reading somewhere that there's issues when you install anything larger than 32gb in any of the Wyze cams?
Wow that sucks
Tbh they offer the cheapest 1.99 per device or 100 per for as many as you like..that's cheap..
Cameras work well, but the Wyze App security plans are a scam. The App suggested that I upgrade plans due to the number of cameras I have. They upgraded my plan on 12/09/2023. Then instead of replacing the existing plan they charged me for a full year on the new plan in the amount of 107.66 in 12/11/2023 and then for the old subscription the amount of 108.74 on 12/14/2023 when that subscription was to be cancelled and replaced by the new. They will not credit me back and everyone I speak with tells me all sales are final. Poor customer service. Also with a language barrier the conversations are hard to get through. If you buy these cameras self monitor only. Do not pay for subscriptions.
I thought it's always been like that. For awhile.....
No RTSP is a bad decision
so wyze wants to go out of business ? ok cool , i'll just go to another vender.
Every Pan Cam I ever brought was crap. Everyone of them went out on me. They did not last one year. I am done buying them. Not even the new Pan3
They will go under because very few people subscribe
I had the V2 Cam with they crippled it with a firmware update. Taking away functionality is theft. I will never buy another Wyze device ever again.
Trying to cancel my subscription, have not been successful. These are old cameras.
Require Subscription and can't use on PC and other programs. it's PAY TO USE !!! and no RTSP
this is horrible, this is where Wyze jumped the shark.
If anyone decides against purchasing new products, or any products, from Wyze because of the "forced" subscription, I would say that is pretty darn petty. The cost of the cameras alone offset the sub price, let alone the tech inside. No other cameras on the market offer what Wyze does at this price point. They have their flaws, of course, they are at this price point, lol, but the pros outweigh the cons for me and many others. Its been fun and inspiring watching this company grow over the last 5-6 years since they opened up shop in 2017.
Thanks for the content. Cheers.
I started with them @ v1. They hook you and then real you in. It was likely the plan all along. Charge more for the camera then.. tired of everything in my life becoming a rent-all 'you'll own nothing and be happy'
Their products and service pretty much sucks anyways. Most of the features don't work properly and even when you pay, it still sucks. I have 8 cameras and it was my worst investment. GOODBYE WYZE. RIP.