Tech Friday: The inexpensive Wyze Cam now supports Alexa
Posted By RichC on July 20, 2018
I’ve been using the Wyze Cam to keep an eye on our Florida condo for a couple of months now … and besides an issue with a low-cost router overheating, it has been excellent. I’ve been thinking about adding a second one with the adjustable viewing angle, but it is not on the high priority list.
Although I don’t have an Amazon Echo in Florida, I can see a day the “habit forming” Alexa device will be nice to have at the condo for a variety of home automation tasks. Now that Wyze Cam is working with Alexa, there is yet another reason to set up an Echo in Florida too. If you are in need of an inexpensive security type camera, you won’t regret buying the $25 Wyse Cam.
The Wyze Cam has long been a strong contender for the best deal in connected home security. I haven’t actually tried the thing out, but Greg was “surprisingly impressed” with his hands-on time with the 1080p camera. That’s probably enough in and of itself to justify the $20 price tag.
Now the dirt-cheap camera’s getting some added features, courtesy of a software update. Starting today, owners of the Wyze Cam v2 and the $30 Wyze Cam Pan will be able to use Alexa to summon live video feeds on the Echo Show, Spot and through the Fire TV Stick (using the voice-enabled remote). Sorry, no luck for those who picked up the first-gen device. Hope that $20 camera is working out for you, otherwise.
The feature is available this week as a free update to the Alexa app. Wyze joins Ring, Arlo, Nest and Canary, along with Amazon’s own security cameras, of course. But if nothing else, its option is certainly the cheapest of the bunch. One of these and an Echo Spot will set you back $150 — not too shabby for an on-the-fly home security system.
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