Review: Wyze’s Garage Door Controller is IoT garage simplicity

The humble garage door opener has gained a lot of smarts over the years. New models come complete with battery backups and wireless connectivity, even niceties like laser proximity detectors. But, if you live in a house of an older provenance, the machine that hauls your garage door up and down is probably a simpler sort.

The openers in my garage pre-date the Reagan administration. They’re Genie models made of stamped metal and painted a period-appropriate shade of avocado green. They are about as far from smart as a device can get.

Thankfully, the Internet of Things (IoT) is here to help inject a little more IQ into even vintage openers like these. The $54.98 Wyze Garage Door Controller is one of the latest. Yes, Wyze, the company known for its impossibly cheap home security cameras. At just $35 a pop, I’ve peppered my property with many of the company’s little white wireless, waterproof streamers.

The contents of the garage door opener kit.

Credit: Tim Stevens

The downside

The catch, of course, is that every few months Wyze locks yet another formerly free feature into the company’s Cam Plus plan. For $1.99 per camera per month, or $19.99 per year, Cam Plus re-enables things like endless cloud video recording and “AI-powered” detection of cars, packages, and even wildlife.

It doesn’t take long before that ultra-cheap Cam starts looking a little more spendy, but by then you’ll probably have enough of the things to make the $9.99 monthly Cam Plus Unlimited subscription seem worthwhile.

As, indeed, I have myself.

This is the modern, services-based equivalent of a bait-and-switch. I must confess this leaves a bitter taste in my mouth whenever I add another Wyze product to my IoT network. But, when the company behind my last “smart” product gave up on supporting its own product, I decided to swallow my misgivings and pay the $110 for a pair of Wyze’s Garage Door Controllers.

What’s in the box

The camera has to be mounted on the garage door opener.

Credit: Tim Stevens

Why two? While many Internet-connected garage door adapters can cover multiple doors, Wyze’s is strictly one-per. So, my setup was a bit pricey. However, if you happen to have an extra Wyze Cam v3 floating around, you can buy the Garage Door Controller add-on separately for just $18.99.

Indeed, the Controller is just a little white box that plugs into a Wyze Cam. The camera detects whether your door is open, while the Controller box handles the process of interfacing between Wyze’s online services and your offline garage door opener.

I won’t attempt to iterate through which openers Wyze’s system is compatible with, but most common and many rare brands are supported, old and new. You can see a full list here.

My openers were vintage Genie units, nearly as old as I, yet far more consistently functional. Despite literally predating the Internet, they’re compatible with Wyze’s add-on.

Installation and setup

Installation was straightforward. Inside the tiny Wyze box was the camera and Controller, about the size of a deck of cards, plus the necessary wiring and an AC adapter—though the camera is wireless for data, it still needs power. Annoyingly, that power comes via micro-USB instead of the USB Type-C standard, but since it will live on the ceiling of your garage, that foible is quickly forgotten.

The actual garage door controller, plus the big QR code.

Credit: Tim Stevens

The Controller sticks onto the side of your opener with double-sided adhesive, which you can also use for the camera. Or, if your opener is made of metal like mine, the Wyze Cam v3’s integrated magnetic base makes mounting that a cinch. Just make sure it can clearly see the garage door ahead.

After that, you just need to wire everything up. Modern openers will pair with the Controller wirelessly, but my ancient one relies on a pair of wires. When they’re shorted to form a circuit, that’s the signal to open or close. Installing those wires took me just a few minutes of fiddling with a tiny screwdriver.

When I was done, I used some cable clips to tidy things up, which are thoughtfully included, and then was left wondering what the last thing in the box was for: a giant QR code sticker.

Given Wyze’s supposed AI detection of things like pets and packages, I had assumed the company’s Garage Door Controller would be smart enough to tell whether a garage door is open.

Here’s what the finished install looks like.

Credit: Tim Stevens

I was wrong. As it turns out, the camera is really looking for a QR code, which you must adhere to the inside of your garage door at a spot where the camera can see it. If you have a particularly large SUV or truck, that may be a bit of a challenge. Slap that sticker on an upper corner to give your Cam the maximum room.

These stickers are a bit unsightly, but they’re far more convenient than the wireless, battery-powered door position sensors that most smart garage door opener adapters use. They’re also infinitely cheaper should you ever need to replace one.

After that, it was just a matter of enabling the cameras within the Wyze app. This process literally takes fewer than 30 seconds. Power on the camera, point it at the QR code on the app, and then wait for the requisite firmware updates. Give your Controller a silly name (I called mine “Pod Bay 1” and “Pod Bay 2”) and you’re ready to open your garage door from anywhere on the planet.

If you’re already swimming in smart home apps, integrating these adapters in the Wyze app means one fewer icon floating around on your phone. However, the Wyze app itself is getting to be a bit cluttered.

The upside

To open a door, you’ll need to open the app, wait for the video to load, then tap a little green button. On my phone, a new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, that process takes about five seconds—longer if I’m on a slow connection. It’s not the end of the world, but slower than I’d like. A dedicated desktop widget to toggle the Controller would be appreciated.

The good news is that once you tap that button, the door’s response is instantaneous. That’s a big improvement over some of the competing products I’ve used. For example, on Genie’s smart garage door app, Aladdin Connect, I’ve noticed delays of up to 10 seconds before the door itself responds.

The Wyze app.

Wyze

The Wyze app. Wyze

The app shows you what the camera can see and where to place the QR code.

Wyze

The app shows you what the camera can see and where to place the QR code. Wyze

What the controller camera sees.

Wyze

What the controller camera sees. Wyze

The app shows you what the camera can see and where to place the QR code. Wyze

What the controller camera sees. Wyze

My only other complaint about Wyze’s product is that the cameras struggle with contrast. That’s slightly problematic if your garage doors have windows, as mine do. On a sunny day, I’m left with a stream of six little white boxes on a field of black, those boxes being the windows in my garage door.

Some final thoughts

These, though, are minor complaints. I’m impressed at how well the system works and, crucially, how easy it was to install. Wyze has already figured out how to make its cameras a breeze, and the garage portion adds basically zero overhead. I even like the shrill little beeps the Controller makes before opening the door, while the integrated light on there is impressively bright.