Wyze cameras are some of the most widely used smart cameras in the modern smart home. They’re inexpensive and can easily be found at most online and in-person retailers. For the most part, these cameras work great – with only occasional issues.
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One issue that some users have found is that their camera's footage gets stuck in black and white. This is typically due to night vision mode, which makes your videos look black and white. Daytime, nighttime, anytime – the footage appears in black and white. Obviously, this shouldn’t be – so how do you fix this?
Key Points
- Wyze Cams can get stuck in night vision mode, even in daytime.
- The most common fix involves changing your night vision settings in the app.
- Placing the camera near an object can also cause this problem.
- Failing that, there are a few other possible fixes to try.
About Wyze Cameras
Wyze cameras and video doorbells are just one of many smart home camera brands you’ll find in stores and online today. They’re also one of the most affordable cameras on the market. The common, indoor Wyze Cam v.3 comes in at $35.98 (Wyze.com), while their newest addition, the Outdoor Cam v.2 starter bundle comes in at $73.99 (Wyze.com).
These cameras work using Wi-Fi. This allows them to connect to the Wyze app, where you can adjust your cameras’ settings to your preference.
For example, you can adjust things like Motion and Sound Detection Sensitivity, as well as if you want them to record motion or sound events – or even both!
Wyze is also one of a select few brands that offer local storage and recording to a microSD card. You can adjust these settings in the Wyze app as well.
Another great thing about Wyze cameras is that they have Night Vision. Night Vision on Wyze cameras allows them to see in the dark. But how does it all work?
Night Vision On Wyze Cameras – How It Works
Night Vision is a nifty feature on Wyze cameras that can help your camera see in low light and in the dark. When your cameras are in Night Vision mode, your live and recorded footage will appear in black and white. If you happen to use the Wyze Cam v.3, you can also get Night Vision mode in color. You can adjust these Settings in the Wyze app, under Advanced Settings.
Night Vision works when the sensors on your Wyze cameras detect changes in lighting. When the light gets low enough, the camera’s night vision will turn on. Using infrared lights, the cameras can see in low or no lighting so that they can catch the footage that you need.
Sometimes, however, Night Vision mode gets stuck and when you view your recordings, it's like you’re watching a movie from the ’50s! That may be fine if you’re into that, but if not, you’re going to want to fix it. But why is this happening in the first place?
Wyze Cam Stuck in Night Mode – Why?
Having your Wyze cameras stuck in Night Mode isn’t all that ideal if it's daytime. The black-and-white footage may make it hard to distinguish certain things in your videos.
So why is it happening and how do you fix it? Here are a few solutions you can explore to bring your footage to the 21st century!
Settings Adjustments
One of the first places you’re going to want to check is your Settings in the Wyze app. Technology is great – but it isn’t perfect. What may seem like low light to you, may seem dark to your camera’s sensors.
To start assessing the problem, go into your camera’s Settings, then to Advanced Settings. Scroll down to Night Vision Mode to see what your current settings are.
For example, if it’s set to “On”, whether it's day or night, your camera footage will be in Night Vision Mode. Change it to Auto to automatically adjust, or Off to make sure it doesn’t switch when you don’t want it to.
Next, look at the section labeled “Night Vision Conditions”. On the next screen, you have two options, Dusk or Dark.
If it’s set to Dusk, it could be that your camera is mistaking brief periods of low light, or a poorly lit room, for Dusk, and switching to Night Vision.
To adjust this, you have two options:
- You could either switch it to Dark to ensure the camera only changes to Night Vision when it's actually dark.
- You could turn Night Vision off manually so that you don’t have to worry about mistaken light conditions.
You can also adjust how the IR lights respond to the distance of other objects by selecting Far or Near.
Making sure all settings are adjusted properly usually solves a majority of night vision footage issues.
Camera Placement
Sometimes where you place your camera can have an effect on what time of day the camera thinks it is. When placed near large objects, or where the shadows of objects may cover your cameras as the sun goes down, these can have an effect on the camera's night vision sensors.
Because of these shadows or obstructions, your camera may think it's Dusk or Dark, depending on what settings you have in place.
Check where your camera is, and what’s around it. It could be possible that you’ve placed it in a great spot initially, but then someone put an object near or in the way of the sunlight that would otherwise reach your camera. Adjust all possible objects, and see if things change when it’s lights out again.
Updates
It could also very well be that your Wyze software is in need of a good old-fashioned update. Wyze often has bug fixes and will tell you whenever an update is needed. These updates come in two versions – software and firmware.
Software refers to the Wyze app, and firmware refers to the internal workings of the actual camera. Both need to be updated regularly to keep everything working smoothly.
To keep the software up to date, you’ll want to start by going into your respective app stores. Android users will go into Google’s Play Store, and Apple/iOs users will go to the App Store.
From there, you can search for the Wyze app. When it comes up, it’ll show that it’s already downloaded onto your device. You’ll then look next to the Wyze icon for an Update button. If one is there, you need to update the app. If not, you’re all updated on the software front.
Now, what about firmware? Wyze is usually pretty on top of notifying you that a firmware update is needed – sometimes to the point that they get annoying!
But if you don’t get a notification and want to check manually, go into your Wyze app, then tap on the particular camera you want to check on. You’re then going to tap on the gear icon in the top, right-hand corner to get to the camera’s settings.
On the next screen, among the various options you’ll see Device Info. Tap on that, and on the next screen scroll down to Firmware Version.
Tap on that to see if your firmware needs to be updated or not.
Perform the updates needed, then force close and restart the app to see if the updates helped with the camera footage.
Rare Issues
Though rare, it's possible that your camera can be stuck with black-and-white footage and it not be related to night vision. These are usually related to system bugs that may or may not be resolved with a software or firmware update.
One bug happens when the IR lights turn on, but they don’t want to turn off. Whether it's the IR lights or another issue, you can try to remedy the issue by restarting your camera. You can do this via the Wyze app.
In the Wyze app, go to Settings for the particular camera you're trying to restart, then scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen to where it says Restart Camera. Hit the Restart button.
At this point, it's also a good idea to force close the Wyze app as well. After a couple of minutes, re-open the Wyze app, then check on your camera. If things still aren't looking right, it may be time to reach out to Wyze for further assistance.
Do Other Smart Cameras Get ‘Stuck’ in Black and White?
So let’s say Wyze is giving you too much hassle, or you’re interested in what other cameras offer night mode. There are actually a variety of cameras that offer night mode – it’s a pretty standard feature in the smart camera world. But do they have their own issues?
Ring
Ring is one of the top brands of smart cameras.
So it would stand to reason that they would offer night vision. After all, they have a good portion of their product line dedicated to cameras that are designed to monitor your home day and night!
Like Wyze, Ring has the ability to give you night vision in black and white and color. When it comes to issues with their night vision, it’s fortunately quite minimal. Common complaints about night vision not turning off are usually due to low light and obstructions. Once removed, they're all good to go!
Eufy
Eufy users have also experienced issues with their cameras being stuck in night vision. While some simple fixes have worked, some users needed to swap the cameras out for being faulty. A system bug was apparently the culprit in this case. Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence and Eufy performed any necessary swaps without cost to the consumer.
Arlo
Arlo’s Pro 3 is actually heralded as one of the cameras with the best quality night vision. But they too have been known to get stuck in night vision, yielding only black-and-white footage. In this case, placement of the camera tends to be key.
Their sensors are quite sensitive to light – as well as the lack thereof. Wherever an Arlo camera is placed, there needs to be little to no obstructions, so that the camera sensors can pick up on the correct amount of light.
Nest Cams
Google Nest Cams too have their occasional night vision issue. But in this case, sometimes Night Vision doesn’t want to turn on, as opposed to not wanting to turn off. The sensors here are key, much like Arlo.
External light sources ‘tricking’ the camera into thinking it's daytime, is the usual offender. Beware of placing Nest Cams where light from outside lights or other light sources will hit the camera, and not let it switch to Night Vision.
Technical Difficulties
Having good camera lighting at night is essential. But that’s when we need it – at night, not during the day! Sometimes your Wyze camera may display night vision, giving you black-and-white footage even in the middle of the day. Fortunately, with some adjustments to Settings and applying updates, this is easily remedied.
If Wyze is giving you hassle, you may decide you want to try a different brand. But, whether it’s Wyze, or another brand, at the end of the day, all cameras are prone to issues. With a little tweaking though, most are easily fixed.
