The smart home company sent an email to its customers this week stating that system maintenance on February 8th at 12AM PT will impact every feature of the system that relies on the app or website. That includes being able to alert Noonlight, the professional monitoring company Wyze uses for its Sense security system, about a potential break-in.

Not only will your security system be down, but if you use Wyze cameras to keep an eye on things going bump in the night, you’ll have to stay awake. Wyze cameras won’t be able to upload any video to the cloud or send alerts for motion or other events to the app.

While it’s a good thing that Wyze is giving customers a heads-up, the flip side is that everyone is getting a heads-up. It’s posting a sign that any location using this equipment will be unprotected between these hours, with basically no notice to create a backup plan or take other precautions, depending on your security concerns.

It's also worrisome that the professional security customers have paid for and rely on can be completely disabled for “maintenance.” The Verge reached out to Wyze to ask what recourse you would have should something happen in your home during that time period. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

The Wyze Lock keypad and fingerprint scanner will still work during the down period, but you won’t be able to use the app to unlock it. Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

The full list of the services that will be down is copied below, and you can view it on Wyze’s support page. But in short, the Wyze app will essentially be offline with no rules or automations running and no function for arming or disarming your system or locking or unlocking a Wyze lock. You can still use the keypad on the Wyze Lock and Lock Bolt to get into your house, and the fingerprint sensor will work.

And while you can still arm and disarm your Wyze Home Monitoring system with the keypad and any disturbance to contact or motion sensors while armed will trigger the Wyze Sense Hub alarm to go off — you’ll just have to call the police yourself. Of course, an internet outage could also cause this issue. Wyze doesn’t offer cellular backup in its security system, as competitors such as SimpliSafe and Ring do.

Additionally, it appears there’s little recourse for customers understandably frustrated by this turn of events. The company’s terms of service state that its service “may be temporarily suspended without notice” and that you “will not be entitled to any refund, credits, rebates, or any other compensation for such suspensions.”

The text of the email Wyze sent to customers detailing the services that will be down.

Hey friends, 

The Wyze app and Wyze websites will be down for scheduled maintenance on February 8th at 12:00 AM PT. The process is expected to be completed by 2:00 AM PT.

Here’s the scope of impact:

• Users will not be able to log in, sign up for accounts, or use the app.
• The following sites will go into maintenance mode at the same time: 
• wyze.com
• forums.wyze.com
• view.wyze.com
• services.wyze.com 

Wyze Cams:

• Event Videos will not be uploaded to the cloud during this time.
• Notifications from during that time will not be sent.

Wyze Sense:

• Rules that would be triggered by Wyze Sense in the maintenance window will not work.

Wyze Services:Cam Plus:

• Event Videos will not be uploaded to the cloud.
• AI tags will not be generated.
• Notifications from that time will not be sent.

Cam Protect:

• Event Videos will not be uploaded to the cloud.
• AI tags like Person Detection will not be generated.
• Notifications from that time will not be sent.
• Arming and disarming the system will not work.
• Alarms will not trigger the siren on the Wyze Cam.
• Noonlight will not be contacted.

Wyze Home Monitoring:

• Event Videos will not be uploaded to the cloud.
• AI tags will not be generated.
• Notifications from that time will not be sent.
• Arming and disarming through the app will not work.
• The physical Wyze Sense Keypad will still be able to cancel alarms and arm/disarm your system.
• Alarms that occur during the maintenance window will trigger the Wyze Sense Hub siren.
• Noonlight will not be contacted.

Wyze Lock and Wyze Lock Bolt:

• Keypads will still work without the cloud service.
• The fingerprint scanner will still work without the cloud service.
• Unlocking with the app and auto-unlock WILL NOT function during the maintenance window.

Wyze Thermostat:

• The thermostat itself can work without internet but heating/cooling usage data and HVAC filter life data will be lost.
• Geofencing may not work.

Wyze Mesh Router:

• The router will continue to function.
• Some setting changes will be unavailable.

Thank you for your attention!

- Your friends at Wyze

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