All systems down

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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.

A keypad door lock on a door

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.”

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