Camera · Wyze
Wyze Cam v4 privacy & local-first review
Plug-in, Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) · List price: $44.98 (list)2
Last verified · 1 unverified item
35Local-First Score
how we score
how we score
At a glance
| Works without internet | Partial Partial: records to microSD without Wi-Fi if scheduled beforehand1 |
|---|---|
| Local storage | Yes microSD (up to 256 GB)2 |
| Home Assistant | Community only No official integration; community docker-wyze-bridge3 |
| Open protocols | No No RTSP firmware (Wyze offers it only for Cam v2, v3, Pan v1)4 |
| Subscription needed? | Partly Not for SD recording; Cam Plus for AI detection and full-length cloud clips2 |
| Cloud account required? | Required Yes (camera is bound to a Wyze account)2 |
| End-to-end encryption | Unverified |
Score breakdown
| Works without internet | Partial | 8 / 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Local video storage | Yes | 15 / 15 |
| Home Assistant, locally | Community only | 6 / 15 |
| Open protocol (RTSP / ONVIF / Matter) | No | 0 / 10 |
| No cloud account required | Required | 0 / 10 |
| No subscription for core recording | Partly | 4 / 8 |
| End-to-end encryption | Unverified | 0 / 7 |
| Privacy policy: does not sell your data (brand) | Ad sharing disclosed Uses ad partners across the web and apps; says some of this "may constitute 'targeted advertising,' 'sharing,' or 'selling' under certain laws."5 | 0 / 5 |
| Police requests: warrant or no access (brand) | Legal process Wyze says government data requests must come with a subpoena, search warrant, court order or judgment (a subpoena is not a warrant). Its privacy policy also allows disclosure for "lawful requests by public authorities".657 | 2 / 5 |
| No incidents in our tracker, last 5 years (brand) | Incident found 3 in our tracker since Oct 2021 | 0 / 5 |
| Total | 35 / 100 |
Privacy notes
- Live viewing in the Wyze app requires an internet connection, per Wyze.2
Firmware & phoning home (not scored)
- Wyze offers its separate RTSP firmware only for Cam v2, v3 and Pan v1, so this model has no local-stream firmware option.4
Police & law-enforcement requests (Wyze)
Legal process Wyze says government data requests must come with a subpoena, search warrant, court order or judgment (a subpoena is not a warrant). Its privacy policy also allows disclosure for "lawful requests by public authorities".657 Compare companies
Security incidents & settlements (Wyze)
| Date | Company | What happened | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2024 | Wyze | About 13,000 users were shown thumbnails from other people's cameras after an outage; 1,504 tapped them.89 | Data exposure |
| Sep 2023 | Wyze | Web View caching issue: up to 2,300 users may have seen feeds from 10 users' cameras for about 40 minutes.1011 | Data exposure |
| Mar 2022 | Wyze | Bitdefender disclosed an authentication bypass (CVE-2019-9564, CVSS 9.8) and remote code execution flaw in Wyze Cam v1/v2/v3 with a technical write-up; v2/v3 were patched, the discontinued Cam v1 was not.1213 | Serious vulnerability |
| Dec 2019 | Wyze | Wyze server leak exposed data on about 2.4 million users.14 | Data exposure (before window, not scored) |
Similar cameras compared
| Device | Score | Offline | Local storage | Home Assistant | RTSP/ONVIF | Subscription | Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubiquiti UniFi G5 FlexCamera · PoE | 90 | Yes | Yes | Local push | Yes | Not needed | Not required |
| Ubiquiti UniFi G5 BulletCamera · PoE | 90 | Yes | Yes | Local push | Yes | Not needed | Not required |
| Ubiquiti UniFi G4 InstantCamera · USB-C, Wi-Fi | 90 | Yes | Yes | Local push | Yes | Not needed | Not required |
| Wyze Cam v4Camera · Plug-in, Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) | 35 | Partial | Yes | Community only | No | Partly | Required |
| Wyze Cam Pan v3Camera · Plug-in, Wi-Fi | 35 | Partial | Yes | Community only | No | Partly | Unverified |
More from this company: Is Wyze safe? Policies and incident record. Have a question about this device? Ask us or suggest a device.
Spotted an error? See our corrections policy. Informational only, not legal advice.
Sources
- Wyze: Which Wyze Cams can be used without Wi-Fi? · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze: Wyze Cam v4 product page · checked Oct 22, 2026
- GitHub: docker-wyze-bridge (community project) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze: Wyze Cam RTSP (firmware for v2, v3, Pan v1 only) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze Privacy Policy · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze: Your data request contents explained · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Consumer Reports: Ring, Google, SimpliSafe could share footage with police · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze forum: Update on 2/16/24 security issue · checked Oct 22, 2026
- The Verge: 13,000 Wyze customers saw into other homes (Feb 2024) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze forum: Web View service advisory (Sep 8, 2023) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- The Verge: Wyze Web View issue showed other users' feeds (Sep 2023) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Bitdefender: Vulnerabilities identified in Wyze Cam (Mar 2022) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Wyze: Response to 3/29/22 security report · checked Oct 22, 2026
- The Verge: Wyze server leak exposed 2.4M users' data (Dec 2019) · checked Oct 22, 2026