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Anker's eufyCam 2 Pro Camera With HomeKit Secure Video Now Available From Apple

zorinlynx said:
Does anyone know if these can work with Homekit secure video *ONLY* without having to sign up with a Eufy account?

I see a lot of people complaining that the cameras can't be hardwired, but for me these are very intriguing as I'm interesting in covering a location that has no power or network available.
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That’s how I did it ... opened the box, charged the cameras.

In the mean time, I plugged-in the base station and added it to homekit using the Apple Home App.

To my surprise, the base station upgraded it’s firmware by it’s self with no intervention on my part (I think it happened in the first two hours that the base station was powered on).

Once the cameras were fully charged (about 10 hours later) I added them to the base station (sync with the button on the camera and the base station).

The cameras appeared in HomeKit and where ready to be used.

Like the base station, after 1 or 2 hours ... the cameras upgraded their firmware by themselves ... so this was also a surprise for me.

And finally, to answer your question, all this without EVER DOWNLOADING the anker app. No Eufy account... no nothing. It all worked juste by setting everything up with the Apple Home App.
 
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ToqQrrl said:
That’s how I did it ... opened the box, charged the cameras.

In the mean time, I plugged-in the base station and added it to homekit using the Apple Home App.

To my surprise, the base station upgraded it’s firmware by it’s self with no intervention on my part (I think it happened in the first two hours that the base station was powered on).

Once the cameras were fully charged (about 10 hours later) I added them to the base station (sync with the button on the camera and the base station).

The cameras appeared in HomeKit and where ready to be used.

Like the base station, after 1 or 2 hours ... the cameras upgraded their firmware by themselves ... so this was also a surprise for me.

And finally, to answer your question, all this without EVER DOWNLOADING the anker app. No Eufy account... no nothing. It all worked juste by setting everything up with the Apple Home App.
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That’s awesome to hear / know. I’m just waiting for confirmation that their video doorbell (battery) works in HomeKit. I was told that it is not compatible by their customer service agents via email last week. But some people say it works?
 
8000XE said:
That’s awesome to hear / know. I’m just waiting for confirmation that their video doorbell (battery) works in HomeKit. I was told that it is not compatible by their customer service agents via email last week. But some people say it works?
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Please keep me informed on that ... I’m also interested for the doorbell !
 
It says it autodetects humans vs animals "to avoid false triggers", but what if you WANT to see animals (like in the middle of the night do I have racoons or bears or whatever)? Can I set it to detect more than human movement without constant recording?
 
I’ve got nine of these outdoor cameras running between two houses, and they’re really great. Except for the battery life.

In my case, recharging them every 2-3 months is outweighed by the ability to install the cameras wirelessly, in locations where a wired camera isn’t easily possible. Time will tell how the batteries hold up over time.

I’ve also been happy with Eufy’s indoor pan-n-tilt indoor camera, which also supports Homekit Secure Video. (The Aqara indoor camera has a slightly wider-angle lens than the Eufy.)

I hope Apple makes HomeKit Secure Video recording available to more than 5 cameras.
 
HiRez said:
It says it autodetects humans vs animals "to avoid false triggers", but what if you WANT to see animals (like in the middle of the night do I have racoons or bears or whatever)? Can I set it to detect more than human movement without constant recording?
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If you use it only with HomeKit like I did ... then you configure everything with the Apple Home App in regards to what Apple allows for Secure Video.

For example, I have one camera in my front-yard that I setup HomeKit secure video to detect humains and/or vehicles ... you do that with the Apple Home App.

And in my back-yard ... the camera is setup for detecting humans and/or animals ... again using the Apple HomeKit App.

This means that it will record and notify you only if those conditions are meet. Anything else, you don’t get notifications and it won’t record.

All this when only using Apple’s HomeKit ... like I said in an earlier post ... I didn’t install nor use anything from Anker so maybe it’s different if you go with the “Anker way” ... but I’m using it the “Apple way”.
 
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I had these cameras for 30 days (Amazon return period). Compared to other HomeKit cameras (Logitech, eve, ecobee) their quality was vastly superior. But as others have said the battery life is terrible. I got 2 weeks on one and a week on the other. Considering you have to take them down to charge it was too inconvenient so often. Also they regularly had connection issues and would completely stop working. Had to reset them multiple times. In the end one never worked right again.
 
ToqQrrl said:
If you use it only with HomeKit like I did ... then you configure everything with the Apple Home App in regards to what Apple allows for Secure Video.

For example, I have one camera in my front-yard that I setup HomeKit secure video to detect humains and vehicles ... you do that with the Apple Home App.

And in my back-yard ... the camera is setup for detecting humans and animals ... again using the Apple HomeKit App.

This means that it will record and notify you only if those conditions are meet. Anything else, you don’t get notifications and it won’t record.

All this when only using Apples HomeKit ... like I said in an earlier post ... I didn’t install nor use anything from Anker so maybe it’s different if you go with the “Anker way” ... but I’m using it the “Apple way”.
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Are you able to set a time schedule where you only get notified during certain hours ? Setting it up the Apple way that is.
 
8000XE said:
Are you able to set a time schedule where you only get notified during certain hours ? Setting it up the Apple way that is.
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Yes ... the Apple HomeKit App allows that in the settings ... you can say for example ... notify me in the day time ... or night time ... from this time to that time...

Even more complicated ... in the daytime and if I’m away from home ... you can do all kinds of crazy rules.
 
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ToqQrrl said:
Yes ... the Apple HomeKit App allows that in the settings ... you can say for example ... notify me in the day time ... or night time ... from this time to that time...

Even more complicated ... in the daytime and if I’m away from home ... you can do all kinds of crazy rules.
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I assumed as much; but you know what happens when you assume.
 
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Just to give you guys more info on battery life ... I’ve installed my 2 cameras on October 17th ... so they’ve been running for 1 month and 3 days ... one of them is at 90% and the other one at 85%.

The one at 85% has seen more action because it’s my front-yard camera ... the other one the back-yard camera.

It would seem that in my case, they will need a recharge after about 6 months.

Can’t say for sure yet because I want to see what happens when the weather gets cold in winter.
 
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ToqQrrl said:
Just to give you guys more info on battery life ... I’ve installed my 2 cameras on October 17th ... so they’ve been running for 1 month and 3 days ... one of them is at 90% and the other one at 87%.

The one at 87% has seen more action because it’s my front-yard camera ... the other one the back-yard camera.

It would seem that in my case, they will need a recharge after about 6 months.

Can’t say for sure yet because I want to see what happens when the weather gets cold in winter.
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That's interesting but I don't know what's going on, some people saying 6 months, others saying battery is dead between 1 week and 2 months. Charging twice a year is a lot different than charging 25 times a year, that's a make or break difference.
 
HiRez said:
That's interesting but I don't know what's going on, some people saying 6 months, others saying battery is dead between 1 week and 2 months. Charging twice a year is a lot different than charging 25 times a year, that's a make or break difference.
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Seriously... I think it’s like everything else these days ... if you’re lucky ... you get a kit with a “normal” battery and if you’re unlucky you get a “defective” or a bad batch that have faulty batteries.

At least, most retail stores give you 30 days to return and I guess that after 15 days you know if you got a good or bad kit.
 
People keep asking about power. The Anker subreddit mentions this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/anker/comments/jx6apf

aw3cv7v888061.png
 
I wonder why they didn't put solar panels on these to extend the battery life.

EDIT: Haha right after I posted, I see they are releasing a solar panel. Still, why not some smaller integrated ones?
 
Trik said:
This is a bit of a buzzkill:

Battery life: 3 months (HomeKit enabled); one year (HomeKit disabled)
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I have these cameras and they are so easy to charge it’s not even an issue. I charge mine every few months and it’s pretty much effortless. For the convenience of no cable chasing and having the feed available in the Home app? Absolutely worth it.
 
CJ Dorschel said:
Thanks for this. So can you use local storage? I have a few Synology NAS’s with camera licenses I’d like to make use of. If these fit I’m in.
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The home base that comes with this setup can store up to 16 GB. Even though this system is compatible with Home Kit, I only use the Eufy app on my phone and not Home Kit. I should mention that this system is not meant to record continuously, 24/7. The batteries would run out in a hurry. It only stores short segments on the home base when motion is detected from either camera. For my purposes, that works great.
 
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I have a Eufy camera. And the HomeKit integration is not yet ready for prime time. It lacks a ton of features that just using the eufy software has. It also massively drains the battery. However eufy cameras are definitely a good setup. They’re a ton better than my old ring. Notifications are quick and accurate. Battery lasts me about 3 months with setting on optimal surveillance. Motion detection zones were spotty but with software updates have improved and I rarely get a false positive now.

I like it as I’m not tied into some cloud storage that I have to pay for. All my clips are stored locally in the home base.
 
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I have a couple of these, but the Logitech Circle is better for me. No separate base/hub device, connects to Wi-Fi directly, smaller device, no battery, no maintenance required.

Been waiting for 4K HSV cameras, but maybe HomeKit doesn’t allow it? I cannot think of any other reason there’s no such camera on the market yet.
 
icanhazapple said:
resilient to winter outdoors
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Forget about winter. The manual says you can't put them in direct sunlight.


I've said it before, and I'll say it again: yes, people will pay for "convenience" but ~$150 per camera is beyond ludicrous. I've bought 9, yes NINE cameras (all the same model): PoE, Weatherproof, metal body, 1080p, ONVIF support... total cost was about $215. For nine cameras. If you include the cost of a licence for SecuritySpy (Mac CCTV recording software) it's about the same again, ~$220 to cover 9 cameras, that I can put anywhere.

How much would 9 of these things cost me.... so a 'base' kit, for $350, and then 7 additional cameras at $150 each.. $1400. vs... $400. And I can put mine in sunlight, and they don't need to be taken down to charge for an entire day, every 3 months.

That's what I really don't get about this. What kind of 'convenience' do you get from having to charge the battery in something that's generally fixed in place?
 
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HiRez said:
I don't know what's going on, some people saying 6 months, others saying battery is dead between 1 week and 2 months. Charging twice a year is a lot different than charging 25 times a year, that's a make or break difference.
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It's almost like batteries don't make much sense for something that's fixed in place... 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
hellosil said:
If the cameras had a power cord it would have been better.
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Use one of these, and route the usb cable to the camera. They make outdoor ones, but your fixtures are pretty weather proof. You can plug them in when you need to charge, or leave them plugged in all the time.
 
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