One of the best deals in the smart home is no more. The original WyzeCam V1 will be discontinued on February 1.
Wyze told customers in an email that they won't be able to use the camera after the end of the month and that the company wouldn't sell it anymore or improve it. Wyze discouraged continued use of the Wyze cam, saying that it carries increased risk for users. The first-gen model does not support a critical security update.
The Wyze cam V1 was a surprise hit. One of the original good budget security cameras, and normalized affordable home surveillance is what it is. It helped bring prices down for some of its competitors. Wyze's cameras don't require monthly subscriptions for premium features like Amazon Ring and the like, which made them popular. Wyze recently introduced a pay-what-you- want subscription tier for its cameras to add things like person detection. It's not clear if the new offering has anything to do with why the Wyze cam V1 was discontinued.
If you replace a bundle of cameras at the same time, you'll get a coupon for a new Wyze cam, but it won't save you much. Some of the forum users didn't like the olive branch.
The Wyze cam V1 is about five years old and is considered a pretty good run. Five years is considered the minimum promise for security updates from other vendors, including Google, which updated its entire product lineup last summer. Wyze has its own end of life policy.
If you are still using the Wyze cam V1, now is the time to swap it out for something new. The Wyze Cam V3 is the flagship model, but there are four other models to choose from, including the Wyze Pan V2, which can pan and tilt.
One of my favorite security cameras is the nest cam indoor, it is chic and it is a little more expensive. TP-Link and Eufy are two brands that make budget-friendly security cameras that integrate with Amazon and other platforms. Apple's HomeKit works with Eufy's cameras.
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