Wyze Labs

Wyze Labs, Inc. (formerly Wyzecam), also known as Wyze, is a U.S. company based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in smart home products and wireless cameras. Wyze Labs is a small start-up, formed by former Amazon employees.

History

Wyze was incorporated on July 19, 2017, by the four co-founders: CEO Yun Zhang, CPO Dongsheng Song, CMO Dave Crosby, and Elana Fishman. On January 31, 2019, Wyze announced a $20 million investment from Norwest Venture Partners.

Products

* Wyze Cam - The original Wyzecam (V1), which was announced on August 19, 2017, provided 14 days of free cloud storage via Amazon Web Services with the ability to insert an SD card for continuous storage. The camera was invented by Ting Ye, of iSmart Alarm, Inc., and a patent issued on September 25, 2015 (Patent No:D858,603). V2 was released to the public for pre orders in February 2018. It offered a better camera sensor for improved day and night vision, better audio quality (including two-way audio), and motion-tagging. The camera is manufactured by Tianjin Hualai Technology for Wyze.

* Wyze Cam Pan - Wyze's third product was announced on May 30, 2018. The WyzeCam Pan captures 1080p video at 15fps, has an 8x digital zoom, and a 120-degree field of view.
* Wyze Sense - The Wyze Sense starter kit includes a motion sensor and two contact sensors. The sensors are connected to the internet through a bridge, which can manage up to 100 sensors, is powered by the WyzeCam V2 or Pan; the sensors run on replaceable button-cell batteries.
* Wyze Bulb - Wyze released the Wyze Bulb, a smart-lighting product, on July 17, 2019.
* Wyze Plug - Wyze released the Wyze Plug on September 24, 2019; it enables appliances to be turned on with the Wyze app or using voice control.
* Wyze Lock - Wyze released the Wyze Lock for early access on December 3, 2019. The lock also has an optional keypad accessory for quick unlocking from outside of the home.
* Wyze Band - Wyze released the Wyze Band for early access on March 24, 2020. The band includes fitness tracking and has built in Alexa for smart home control abilities.
* Wyze Scale - Wyze released the Wyze Scale for early access on March 24, 2020.
* Wyze Cam Outdoor - Wyze announced the Wyze Cam Outdoor on June 23, 2020; it is a Smart Home Camera rated for outdoor use, it is home to a 1080p camera sensor, 2-way audio, and communicates through the Wyze Base Station using Wi-Fi, which supports up to 4 other Wyze Cam Outdoor devices, and also has a Micro SD card slot in addition to the one on the camera. It was released to the public in August 2020.
* Wyze Headphones - Wyze announced the Wyze Headphones, over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones, on September 22, 2020.
* Wyze Video Doorbell - Wyze announced their Ring Doorbell competitor on September 22, 2020. It has a 1080p sensor with a 3:4 (vertical) aspect ratio with either recording or live view from the Wyze app. It also includes 2-way audio and automatic motion alerts.
* Wyze Thermostat - Wyze announced the Wyze Thermostat for Pre-order on October 6, 2020. It allows smart heating/cooling control from the device, via the Wyze app or with voice assistants (Google Home and Amazon Alexa).
* Wyze Cam V3 - On October 27, 2020, Wyze announced the Wyze Cam V3, the successor to the Wyze Cam V2. The V3 is rated for both indoor and outdoor use along with other upgrades including better low light performance, two-way talk, and a siren.
* Wyze Robot Vacuum - On November 10, 2020, Wyze announced the Wyze Robot Vacuum. The vacuum includes features like LIDAR, room mapping, virtual walls, and scheduled vacuums.
*Wyze Watch - On December 1, 2020, Wyze announced the Wyze Watch. The smartwatch is made from aluminum alloy and features fitness tracking, SpO2, heart rate and a 9-day battery life.
*Wyze Car - On April 1,2020, Wyze launched a limited (5000) run remote control car. Powered by a Wyze powerbank. The car was remote controlled by a separate phone app and used a Wyzecam V2 as its eyes (sold separately).

Controversies

In August 2019, IPVM reported that Sensormatic, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson Controls, had sued Wyze, citing seven patent violations. Wyze prevailed in the lawsuit, as of September 2020.

In December 2019, the company acknowledged that a server leak had exposed the details of roughly 2.4 million customers. The company's response included logging all users out of their accounts, requiring all users to reauthenticate.

In 2021, Xiaomi submitted a report to Amazon alleging that Wyze had infringed upon its 2019 "Autonomous Cleaning Device and Wind Path Structure of Same" robot vacuum patent. On July 15, 2021, Wyze filed a lawsuit against Xiaomi in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, arguing that prior art exists and asking the court for a declaratory judgment that Xiaomi's 2019 robot vacuum patent is invalid.

In 2022, security firm Bitdefender announced that Wyze had discontinued WyzeCam v1 because of a security vulnerability that Bitdefender had reported to Wyze three years before, which is an unusually long time for a vulnerability to go unreported to the public. Wyze did not make any public announcement about the vulnerability.

In spite of claims that the Android app collects no data, initially launching the app requires one to provide Wyze with a verifiable email address and telephone number. Verification is via email and SMS respectively and contains code numbers that are required to enable the app. Users have complained that a 10 character, mixed case password is required to control a lightbulb.

See also

* Xiaomi
* Google Nest

References

{{reflist

External links

* https://wyze.com/

Smart home hubs
Companies based in Seattle
2017 establishments in Washington (state)
Video surveillance companies
Home automation companies
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies
Headphones manufacturers
Lighting brands
Internet of things companies
IOS software
Android (operating system) software