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HomeKit Secure Video Support Rolling Out for Anker's eufyCam 2 and 2C

I regret upgrading my Circle 2 camera to HomeKit Secure Video. I already had decent HomeKit support with the standard firmware, but now that I've completely upgraded, I've lost the ability to also view my camera on my Amazon Echo devices and any web connected system of my choosing; And that sucks.

I never needed more than a days worth of video, and great; I have 10 days worth but who cares? I don't!

The only obvious upgrade is the LUX sensor which is pretty neat, and I can use this for my garden lights. Otherwise I now need to find a way of reverting back to the old firmware which I'm told is possible but tricky to do.....eurghhh.
 
It’s just a shame the 2C has a light, the camera can trigger alerts with motion, but motion cannot trigger the light. The light is simply there for you to manually trigger it on and off within the app. This is mind blowing to me.

I read in a forum that eufy said people complained of the light not doing much so they disabled the feature altogether? Crazy...
 
iBreatheApple said:
It’s just a shame the 2C has a light, the camera can trigger alerts with motion, but motion cannot trigger the light. The light is simply there for you to manually trigger it on and off within the app. This is mind blowing to me.

I read in a forum that eufy said people complained of the light not doing much so they disabled the feature altogether? Crazy...
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If both the motion and the light are shown in the Home app, you can run an automation to turn on the light when the camera senses motion. I have our Ring floodlight camera set this way through home assistant. Also comes on when I open the garage door at night so the driveway is lit as the garage door opens.
 
HiRez said:
In this article, it says motion detection for this is done on-device and not in the cloud, so that should be more of an Anker request, no?
Click to expand...

I have LogiCircle 2 set up as HSV endpoints, and when you convert to HSV, all control is handed over to Apple. The motion detection may be done on the device, but there is no control in the Circle 2 app anymore. I can say "Alerts for any motion, animals, cars, or people" but that is all done by Apple.
 
Is it true that you need Adobe Flash to watch the live video from your browser?!
On Reddit few users are complaining about this: Eufycam Security Cameras browser feed view and HTML5? Right now, in order to view the feed from Eufycams via the web browser portal, one has to enable flash.
 
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I'm about ready to return my Eufy 2C's... Activity zones do not work, at all... At least for me. I wanted to only trigger notifications and recording for the activity zones, which is what they are for, right? Greatly diminishes my battery, picking up trivial events way down my street and outside the set activity zones.

As far as the topic, HSV & HomeKit. I wrote about this in another section, but it's current iteration for Eufy is worthless for me. It was even more sensitive to motion and false alerts. Battery is even more compromised and I would lose about 7%-10% a day when it was on.

Using HomeKit:
  • Scanning the QR code on the camera, didn't work to add it, and would error out. I had to activate it from another proximity setting.
  • No way to set activity zones (doesn't work in Eufy App anyways)
  • No way to adjust motion sensitivity
  • No way to activate the 2C's siren or light
  • No way to use microphone and speaker for 2 way conversations
  • Finding clips is a PITA.. It doesn't have a list with timestamps, instead it has a scroll interface on the bottom of the live camera feed.
  • Turns timestamps off
  • Activates the status light, even if you turn it off in the Eufy app, HomeKit will just go ahead and reactivate it, further exasperating the battery issue.
  • Really the only thing I can think of that's positive over the stock Eufy app is notifications show a screenshot preview.
As far as the camera itself, aside from the activity zones, it's decent. Notifications come in quick, accessing the live video feed is almost instant on my home wifi, picture is clear, sound is decent, and the stock app is pretty robust. I also tried the Ring stick up cam and it was plagued with issues. If Eufy fixes the activity zones, it'll be a fine camera. If Apple/Eufy decide to add additional/better support for the features of this camera in HomeKit, even better.

EDIT: To clarify, I was using the 2.0.9.8h firmware, which does have HSV support. With that said, I will try 2.1.0.4h when I am able to download it. Right now it doesn't allow me to.
 
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MacRumuer said:
I bought the Eufy Video Doorbell 2k. IMO the best wireless video doorbell. I hope they add HomeKit support.
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I recently got the doorbell, and 3 Eufy cam 2's (well bought 2 and got one free from Best Buy) and believe its the best system going. Very happy with them.
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OriginalMacRat said:
I'm not interested in anything that requires a hub.
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You'd rather have your info in the cloud? That seems silly.
 
Dobbs2 said:
Install the camera that needs to capture the car footage close to an outdoor light.

Place this in the light socket.

Then route a usb cable to the eufy camera and hide the cable.
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Unfortunately that won't work for their setup, but something like this might work for my future setup at home that I've been rolling around some ideas for. Thanks.
 
Trik said:
Please Apple, for the love of all that is holy, add support for "motion zones" to HSV... The development cost will be paid for in lowered storage costs... I have almost all notifications turned off since I live in an Urban area and the camera can't differentiate between a person walking on the street, and a person walking up to my door...
Click to expand...

Looks like you got your wish. This and facial recognition is being added to the Home App in iOS 14.
 
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Bistroengine said:
Looks like you got your wish. This and facial recognition is being added to the Home App in iOS 14.
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That's good news.. What about 2 way audio and allowing the app to leverage the camera's built in capabitilies? Like turning on a camera light or siren, if equiped? Of course my only experience with HomeKit and a camera is Eufy's offering. Which was pretty bad (not the camera, the integration with HSV/HomeKit). I had to turn it off within a couple days as it burned my battery and brought nothing that the Eufy App didn't have. Even HSV wasn't good, as trying to find a clip with the way it's displayed was aggrevating. No timestamp, nothing.. Merely a scroll bar on the bottom of the feed. It's like trying to find a scene in a movie without knowing the time it occurred. Hopefully this will be remedied.
 
Tzuten said:
That's good news.. What about 2 way audio and allowing the app to leverage the camera's built in capabitilies? Like turning on a camera light or siren, if equiped? Of course my only experience with HomeKit and a camera is Eufy's offering. Which was pretty bad (not the camera, the integration with HSV/HomeKit). I had to turn it off within a couple days as it burned my battery and brought nothing that the Eufy App didn't have. Even HSV wasn't good, as trying to find a clip with the way it's displayed was aggrevating. No timestamp, nothing.. Merely a scroll bar on the bottom of the feed. It's like trying to find a scene in a movie without knowing the time it occurred. Hopefully this will be remedied.
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Not sure on those things. They just showed off motion zones and facial recognition. I imagine more might be coming for security related features at some point. Baby steps :) That's disappointing to hear regarding HSV. Hopefully they'll improve this with iOS 14.
 
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Bistroengine said:
Looks like you got your wish. This and facial recognition is being added to the Home App in iOS 14.
Click to expand...

I actually yelled during the keynote I was so happy. Now if Netatmo would just release their doorbell, I can put a bow on my home security cameras and stop fussing with them!
 
Two way audio is Eufy limitation, not Apple’s. The new indoor cams have it and so do Logitech and Eve. I just got the EufyCam 2 a couple days ago and have been testing them. Setup to homekit was easy with no need to use Eufy app or a login. Firmware updated to HSV fairly quickly. Unfortunately I have problems with connections (no response, black screens, someone else is viewing) and battery life is dropping too fast.
 
munpip214 said:
Two way audio is Eufy limitation, not Apple’s. The new indoor cams have it and so do Logitech and Eve. I just got the EufyCam 2 a couple days ago and have been testing them. Setup to homekit was easy with no need to use Eufy app or a login. Firmware updated to HSV fairly quickly. Unfortunately I have problems with connections (no response, black screens, someone else is viewing) and battery life is dropping too fast.
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The battery drain with HSV on was not acceptable. I’d drop 5% in a couple hours or less.

The amount of false positives on motion detection was also an issue. There’s also a myriad is smaller problems that make a HomeKit integration not worth it right now. Kinda the point I bought these cameras was the promised HomeKit support. I’m sure it will improve, has to, no other way than up.

Until then the Eufy app with storage on the home base is a fine solution
 
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