Wyze Garage Door Controller review: Open the garage bay door, Google
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Biggest problem with Wyze is their wildly flaky offerings and inconsistent product quality (probably because of their white label rebadging).
I say this as someone who has quite a few wyze cams setup and pays for the cam pro subscriptions for several of them.
I personally use a genie product for my garage door (a very dated mid-1980s/1990s craftsman dumb switch opener.) It doesn't use fancy vision systems though, it just uses a simple tilt sensor that's on the door.
Universal garage door openers are not included on every vehicle, even new ones. I have a $50k 2022 vehicle and it doesn't have a universal opener until the upper trims, and they don't work with old legacy systems very well or at all.
I say this as someone who has quite a few wyze cams setup and pays for the cam pro subscriptions for several of them.
I personally use a genie product for my garage door (a very dated mid-1980s/1990s craftsman dumb switch opener.) It doesn't use fancy vision systems though, it just uses a simple tilt sensor that's on the door.
Universal garage door openers are not included on every vehicle, even new ones. I have a $50k 2022 vehicle and it doesn't have a universal opener until the upper trims, and they don't work with old legacy systems very well or at all.
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Modern non-internet connected door openers are a far superior solution to this, and you avoid spending $20 to $50 annually. Also avoids the inevitable IoT issues.
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4096? Try 256. The last garage door opener I had that used a static code you set with dip switches had 8 of them.
Being able to remotely open and close your garage door. You could let someone in while you're not home or check that the door shut when you/someone else left and close it if it didn't.
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In my humble opinion, this represents yet another expansion of complexity and attack surface in exchange for marginal improvements to a problem better solved by simpler technology.
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To me, this sounds like a feature, not a bug. I have a several old phone chargers (in fact, I got rid of a few because I just had more that I could foresee having any need for), and micro-USB cables. Since we're not using it for data, and it's not a high power device, micro-usb is kind of perfect. Throw an old phone charger on it, plug it in, and good to go, right?
I like devices like these using micro-USB still - it's widely supported, you can still buy them if you need to, and cheaper than USB-C cables. Heck, you can pick one up at any dollar store, target, walmart, etc for a few bucks.
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The only use case I can think of really for where a "smart garage" might possibly come in handy is either I've left my home, and realize "shoot! I think I forgot to close the garage door", in which case I could check the camera and close the door if needed, or to let someone I trust into the house remotely for an emergency.
But those can be solved by giving a trusted family member or friend a spare key or spare garage door opener, too.
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Which will slowly creep up to $14.99/month then $19.99/month then...
IoT has many problems, not the least of which is the fact that you don't actually own the right to use them things; you just rent it at the landlord's pleasure.
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Killer app for me is having the garage close automatically at 11pm if anyone in my family left it open by mistake.
Also convenient for opening/closing it remotely and the occasional peace of mind ("oh crap, did we forget to close the garage?").
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Off topic:
I notice that other than "Ars Staff" no bio is given for the author. Several other occasional writers get the same treatment. I wonder what's up with that. Even if I were a one-time guest writer, I'd want a bio associated with my name.
I notice that other than "Ars Staff" no bio is given for the author. Several other occasional writers get the same treatment. I wonder what's up with that. Even if I were a one-time guest writer, I'd want a bio associated with my name.
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Cap'nAwesome
Ars Centurion
This is one of my main complaints about Wyze and is one of the reasons I have stopped buying their products - the other being their focus on monetization at the expense of features, like their failure to provide promised RTSP support for cameras. They did release beta firmware years ago but have since discontinued it while sticking to the public message that they are 'investigating' implementing it. I still have several of their v3 cams around the place with the beta RTSP firmware and they have out-performed my expectations for a $20 camera, but my enthusiasm for supporting their products has seriously diminished.
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"Open the Pod Bay Door, HAL."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Tim. You need to subscribe to the Cam Plus service first."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Tim. You need to subscribe to the Cam Plus service first."
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Yeah, so much modern consumer technology these days is about trying to force costly solutions onto problems that can be solved more simply and cheaply. My nightmare (and I am a professional technologist) is to have a house full of connected devices that need to be troubleshot, are brittle, and present a huge attack surface. This thing, let’s not forget, has a camera as its primarily method of door detection and is always internet-connected. That’s a lot of trust to put in a company just to address an occasional need.
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Yeah, that's definitely a feature.
I guess the question is, is it worth it?
For me, no. The very slight peace of mind of closing the garage door remotely is significantly offset by having a cheapo internet connected device controlling my home's ingress.
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I bought a bunch of wyze stuff and then stopped using it as they started trying to charge subscriptions and removing basic functionality. I would say stay away from this. It seems like a good value at first but you're trying yourself to a pretty poor brand. There are cheaper options that are also supported by Home Assistant.
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Because this article is about IoT devices, I first read the title as "...IoT garbage simplicity".
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I angled my outdoor security cam so that the bottom of the garage door is in the corner of the frame. I check it every once in a while when I get paranoid (and my neighbor has a key and can close it for me if necessary).
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Came here to say the same thing. I got burned on their very first foray into home security, which they abandoned within a year. I ended up importing it into Home Assistant, and am currently working on replacing it with an ESP32-based solution that's wired, so I won't have to replace batteries anymore, my data never leaves my house, and I don't owe anyone anything in order for it to continue working.
Fuck the Internet of Shit (TM).
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I use it, its ok....the camera has to be pretty close to the QR, so you cant have the camera cover the entire garage, just the door.
Also on more than one occasion, the main Wyze camera list said the garage was closed, but when I actually clicked in to the camera, it was wide open.
Also on more than one occasion, the main Wyze camera list said the garage was closed, but when I actually clicked in to the camera, it was wide open.
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I used to have 4 wyze camera's a hub/basestation and a Cam+ subscription. Until one day... all 4 camera's refused to connect to the hub. Hib had a flashing blue light. Support was no help, other than.... we'll send you a new hub. New hub had same issue. Support no help other than: flash the bios, which didn't help. So dumped it all and switched to Blink.
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If you are sufficiently geeky, you can use Raspberry Pi (assuming you can find one) or Arduino to build a device that checks to see if the garage door is closed and then closes it at 11 PM for you. And if you aren't sufficiently geeky, your local MakerSpace can probably help you.
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A while back Wyze cams were found to be sending data to China. I have no idea if they still do.
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I have one of these too and was quite impressed by the ease of setup and, since I've standardized on Wyze cams in general, love that it's part of the same app/ecosystem.
The purpose of this is not to replace your traditional opener, IMO, since fumbling with an app is much more inconvenient than hitting a button on a dedicated device in your car. I bought it entirely for its ability to notify me if it detects that my garage door has been open for a while, and to be able to verify that my door is closed when I'm not home (and close it remotely if so) for peace of mind. The fact that it can record activity is a bonus. It's also a nice way to let friends/neighbors into the house remotely without having to give them a key or something.
The only disadvantage is the line-of-sight requirement for the QR code, which does require strategic placement if you have large cars that fill your garage. But that's pretty solveable.
The purpose of this is not to replace your traditional opener, IMO, since fumbling with an app is much more inconvenient than hitting a button on a dedicated device in your car. I bought it entirely for its ability to notify me if it detects that my garage door has been open for a while, and to be able to verify that my door is closed when I'm not home (and close it remotely if so) for peace of mind. The fact that it can record activity is a bonus. It's also a nice way to let friends/neighbors into the house remotely without having to give them a key or something.
The only disadvantage is the line-of-sight requirement for the QR code, which does require strategic placement if you have large cars that fill your garage. But that's pretty solveable.
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What a horrible solution. Vendor lock in, always on camera, always on uplink, cloud based processing. The running cost, the security attack surface, and the un-green power draw for what is essentially a 1 bit open/close information boggles the mind.
The BoM should be: 1x ESP32 or Pi Zero W, 1 relay, 1 reed switch, 1 magnet, few feet of wire, old USB charger. 2h weekend project to expose a GET and a PUT REST endpoint for a 1 and a 0. Done.
The BoM should be: 1x ESP32 or Pi Zero W, 1 relay, 1 reed switch, 1 magnet, few feet of wire, old USB charger. 2h weekend project to expose a GET and a PUT REST endpoint for a 1 and a 0. Done.
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When our opener died gruesomely several years ago (the gears, they were everywhere), we got a new chamberlain model that has wifi and a bit of smarts. I don't think I've actually had it connected to our wifi for a couple of years. Thankfully, it does not need to be. The main reason we got this model is because it has a 5 min auto-close timer so if you leave it up it is self closing. This is kind of important since our boiler is in the garage and we live in Alaska. It also has battery backup. So, I think in a case like this, having a semi-smart device is best since it can do things on its own without having to connect to the internet. No need for an app either since I have a keypad that we can enter a code to open the door from the outside.
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In their defense, they've been using that term for at least the last 3-4 years, they aren't randomly throwing it in their marketing material to catch the latest AI frenzy.
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I had to replace my garage door opener a few years ago. The company I used for the install ran out of the "dumb" ones so brought a "smart" one and said they'd install it instead no extra charge. So I let them. It connects to WiFi and has an app. It also was able to pair with the button in my car, though the "dumb" one would have done that as well.
I've used the app two times in 4+ years to let someone in the garage when I wasn't home. I've used the app to open or close the door myself a few times. But usually, I just use the keypad if I'm not in my car.
So with that in mind, if I had a dumb garage door opener, I don't think I'd consider buying the equipment and service in the article. Maybe others could find regular use out of it though.
I've used the app two times in 4+ years to let someone in the garage when I wasn't home. I've used the app to open or close the door myself a few times. But usually, I just use the keypad if I'm not in my car.
So with that in mind, if I had a dumb garage door opener, I don't think I'd consider buying the equipment and service in the article. Maybe others could find regular use out of it though.
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Meanwhile, just this weekend, our "smart" garage door opener, that will frequently interrupt my attempt to open/close it via the app with an encouragement to sign up for that Amazon "service" that will let delivery people open the door to put packages inside, decided on its own that it was time to close while my wife had the tailgate up on her SUV. It also decided to not sense the resistance of said tailgate and bent it to the point it won't close.
Yeah, most definitely looking for a replacement opener that is a whole lot less "smarter".
Yeah, most definitely looking for a replacement opener that is a whole lot less "smarter".
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I'd never ever use anything that has to go through a third party server to open my door. Subscription aside, what if they go out of business or fall victim to a DoS attack?
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Yah, I see the value in this sort of thing, but not this particular solution. It is handy having a way of remotely determining if I left the garage door open, and being able to close it, my neighbor isn't always around to be able to close it for me, or having an automated alert if the door didn't fully close as I was driving away, and I didn't notice.
But having a device open to the internet kinda negates that sort of security....
I'm currently debating how I want to build a solution for myself that connects to Home Assistant, and is more reliable than a camera pointing at a door using "AI" to determine if the door is open or not. Currently thinking Arduino or similar, with a reed switch to determine if the door is open/closed. And possibly throw some sort of ultrasonic sensor above where I park the car so it can use intelligence to know if the vehicle is in the garage or not (ie: have it send an alert after 5 minutes if the vehicle is gone, vs 30 minute warning if the vehicle is there sort of thing). All connected to Home Assistant, which I can access via Wifi at my house or VPN when away.
But having a device open to the internet kinda negates that sort of security....
I'm currently debating how I want to build a solution for myself that connects to Home Assistant, and is more reliable than a camera pointing at a door using "AI" to determine if the door is open or not. Currently thinking Arduino or similar, with a reed switch to determine if the door is open/closed. And possibly throw some sort of ultrasonic sensor above where I park the car so it can use intelligence to know if the vehicle is in the garage or not (ie: have it send an alert after 5 minutes if the vehicle is gone, vs 30 minute warning if the vehicle is there sort of thing). All connected to Home Assistant, which I can access via Wifi at my house or VPN when away.
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If you want something more open source and without a monthly fee, I recommend OpenGarage. It uses ultrasonics instead of a camera to detect garage door state as well as garage occupancy, which I think is a better and simpler solution: https://opengarage.io/
If you have a raspberry Pi or the another server at home, it integrates well with HomeKit using homebridge: https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-og
If you have a raspberry Pi or the another server at home, it integrates well with HomeKit using homebridge: https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-og
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Eh, I got a relay up there controlled through a glance card to the camera in my garage (HomeAssistant). This article is a reminder it’s supposed to have a visual and audible siren if it has remote functionality, though. Guess I’ll add that to the project list.
Spouse has a standard remote. I only put the relay up there because it was 10x cheaper than buying a new remote. Process of getting to opening is about the same speed the article describes.
Seems like a good option for the price. Now if Wyze would only give us a local (documented) API…
Spouse has a standard remote. I only put the relay up there because it was 10x cheaper than buying a new remote. Process of getting to opening is about the same speed the article describes.
Seems like a good option for the price. Now if Wyze would only give us a local (documented) API…
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Exactly the problem. Threats hide inside of complexity.
Very true. What scares the living shit out of me is that the industry is very rapidly getting the ability to actually put AI into everything now, not just marketing words.
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I have a hard time understanding the desire for yet another camera / security risk in the home. But a "smart" garage door opener when deployed right I've found to be super useful. The Meross adapters cost almost nothing, take 5 minutes to wire into the unit, another 5 minutes to pair with Homekit (bypassing any manufacturer app/credentials) and allow my entire family to open the garage door easily from any device. My watch is probably my most used garage door opener. And for peace of mind I can set the garage door (and all locks) to close/lock in the evening automatically.
Smart doesn't have to be so complex or expensive.
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The QR code thing is a little weird. In my home's DIY setup - which includes an arduino-controlled badge reader w/ custom software/drivers for my partner to open the garage after a bike ride (fob attached to bike helmet) - I used a simple time-of-flight sensor on the ceiling to detect door state. When the door is open, it reads ~12" vs ~8' when closed. No AI or complicated sound analysis required.
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