Reviews: YI Wireless Security Surveillance Tracking

As Erick 407 Talk Our cameras were hacked twice, these cameras put your privacy at risk..

I bought this camera nearly a year and a half ago when we were looking for a solution for keeping an eye on my daughter when she first started sleeping in her crib alone. Out of the various models I tried this was honestly the best, the mounting was decent, the features are all great, we can even use the built in speaker to tell her to leave the blinds alone. Our son will soon be sleeping in the kids room too so this camera ( along with another black version I ordered ) have saved me and my wife tons of sleep and restless nights just being able to tap into the app and sneak a peek at how our daughter looks.

Now for the spooky part. We haven't had any app or hardware issues, but security appears to be what may be this camera or software's fault. This month May of 2018, my son woke up early in the morning around 4am for a late night bottle so I sat in the dark in our living room near my daughters door feeding him with the lights off. About a half hour into sitting in the dark with my son I heard a voice coming from my daughters room indistinguishable to the very end where they said the word "baby". It was a short 3 or 4 word sentence, but it happened. The voice was that of a young boy or woman. I was clearly rattled and logged into the camera to find her rolling around as if she had been nearly awakened. I then started to remember all of the various times I'd log into my cameras and find them pointing in completely random positions, facing a dresser or facing a doorway that leads to our living room. This issue also called into question my router which I will be upgrading also due to not having any logging capabilities for devices connected to it, but I searched the Yi Home app for any logs or IP statistics which it does not have, it only graphs how much you've used Cellular vs wifi to access the cameras. I had been using the cameras with the same password since day one with only myself and my wife having access to the app, so I changed the password and added a 4 digit pin to each camera.

After getting over my own anger/spooked out feeling I brought it up to my wife and she also said she has heard voices coming from the room, similar sound, and she's heard the phrase "wake up baby" or a quick yell. That only confirmed what I had heard and after reading some of the posts around the internet regarding hackers or losers with nothing else to do other than to hack into accounts and tell children to kill themselves I think it's only appropriate that Yi starts adding some kind of backend IP logging feature to show what IP, what login, and timestamps of all usage for at least a weeks period in case anyone were to have these kinds of issue. Since changing our password we haven't heard anything new, but I'm not sure exactly how easily defeated these security measures are for a seasoned ip camera hacker.

The next incident we have these are coming off the wall. It's been at least two years of private moments in and out of that room that could have possibly been heard/viewed and its creepy that someone might have been watching as my wife changed our babies diaper or tried to wake my daughter up to ruin our night. Aside from this very disturbing event, these cameras have been a great purchase, just be aware when purchasing...set as many passwords and security measures as you can. And also keep an eye on what position you leave these in, if you leave them pointed in a specific direction such as the baby crib and repeatedly find them pointed in other directions you may have someone else accessing them.

--- Update 6/9/18

These cameras are indeed very hackable. After changing passwords and adding a pin number to the cameras we had another incident tonight with someone watching our daughter as she was going to sleep. My daughter was calling for Mommy or daddy and my wifes curiosity was sparked, she logged into the cameras and was able to clearly hear talking and munching/crunching of potato chips of whoever was viewing our cams. It's disgustingly creepy and be warned I am removing these cameras from our walls. The manufacturer of these cameras has failed to safeguard your privacy.

We have the intrustion recorded on video.

A review bryan cutter tell us Not worth it, you have to now pay a Subcription.

 I’m very upset with this camera as YI needs to make this more secure! Creepy voice came through the camera while my daughter was in the kitchen saying “ HEY THERE” .... I immediately emailed the vender because I have my WIFI protected and the app that I use For this camera has a pin and that did not stop someone from creeping in! Watch the video below and you will hear the loser scare my child!

Also your SD card is no longer useful and they changed their policy and now you can not use the camera if you do not buy their $85 a year subscription.

As M. Y. 'Photographer | Tech Pro | Outdoor Enthusiast' said Great product, non-existent Support, and 2 out of 9 cameras failed.

[UPDATE 1/1/2018: I stand by the fact that technical support is POOR. I had never received a reply back to any of my email inquiries. As such, I downgraded the review from 4 to 3 stars.]

I bought 9 of these, 2 of which did not work properly. This then gave me a glimpse of Yi's customer service -- or lack thereof. I ended up returning the 2 defective ones in frustration.

PROS:
- Great design and build quality
- Apps work great, though they are inconsistent across iOS, Android, and Windows, each with their Pros and Cons
- Ability to share camera feed with family
- Ability to record to microSD cards
- 7 days of 6-second motion alerts saved in the Yi Cloud for free
- Motion alerts work great
- Alert regions can be defined (via a rectangle)
- Can schedule when alerts are on/off
- Video quality is great
- Sound quality is not great, but acceptable
- USB cord is generously long
- Inexpensive
- Easy setup
- Dome allows you to easily pan around. TIP: double-tap on the video to move the camera around
- In California, I have some of the cameras mounted outside under the awning with no problems from the weather
- Manual was easy to follow: how to set up and reset. Does not go beyond that, however
- PIN option available to protect individual cameras from unauthorized access
- Videos are encrypted PRIOR to sending to the Yi Cloud
- Videos are encrypted PRIOR to you using the app to view each camera's Recording
- Windows app allows viewing of cameras in Groupings, letting you live view multiple cameras at the same time

CONS
- Privacy Policy is a bit overarching. Parts are required to send videos to the Yi Cloud for processing and storage, but one should still be cautious. For that reason, I don't have any Dome-style camera (that can be panned remotely) inside the house, and no WiFi camera in the baby room. Most of the cameras are mounted outside where privacy isn't a concern for us
- Cannot pause video playback
- Only the Windows app allows viewing of cameras in Groupings, letting you live view multiple cameras at the same time. iOS nor Android support that functionality
- No ability to access the cameras outside of the Yi app (such as with a web browser)
- Although setup was easy, voice prompts are loud and can scare people. Furthermore, when doing a firmware upgrade, the voice prompt loudly proclaims that step. Be aware of this if you have babies sleeping nearby
- Cloud plans were a bit confusing, especially when trying to look up how to activate the free, 7-day, 6-second motion alerts (You don't have to do anything. It's automatic)
- Shared cameras cannot have their alerts be independently turned on/off. This means that if I am adding a shared camera to my account, I cannot choose which shared cameras I want to be/not be alerted on
- WIFI cannot be changed through the Yi App. You have to reset the camera
- Removing or adding the microSD card requires a reboot
- Bookmarks do not work well: after a day or so, if you tell the camera to move to the bookmark, it doesn't return to the exact location of the bookmark
- Motion Tracking works, but lags to the point where the person has left the view
- Nightvision behind glass is poor unless angled in a certain way because the infrared lights will reflect. This probably is not a limitation I can fault the camera on
- Technical Support is poor. No replies to emails/feedback, nor assistance with the 2 defective cameras. I really wanted to keep them, but was forced to return them due to having received ZERO replies. What's the point of sending out "How do you like our products?" emails, including a "This is our final email to see if there's anything we can help you with", through Amazon if you have NO intention of replying back?
- Dome cannot be panned to look straight up (view is physically hindered by the housing itself)
- Unlike the Kuna app, the Yi app does not show you a snapshot of the live video on the main screen/dashboard. You have to view each camera individually in order to update the thumbnail for that moment. The thumbnails do not refresh when you tell the dashboard/main screen to refresh either
- You have to scroll and scroll to find the camera you want to see (I have over 6 cameras associated with my account, plus several more shared by my parents). It would be nice to have a grid/more compact view available

APPS
iOS Version
- Fast loading
- No iPad version available (it displays a zoomed-in iPhone view instead)
- Timeline navigation was a bit confusing at first: to switch from Live view to Recorded view, you have to tilt the device sideways. It was not immediately apparent
- No ability to view multiple cameras at once

Android version
- Fast loading
- Timeline navigation is a bit more intuitive: there are buttons you can press to switch between Live/Recorded views
- No ability to view multiple cameras at once

Windows version
- VERY fast loading
- Timeline navigation was a bit difficult to initially discover
- Can view multiple cameras at once
- No ability to to change certain settings that the iOS and Android versions allow you to change

With all that said, since I am quite technical, I went ahead and bought 6 more for my extended family. Let's hope that the cameras will last since I'd shutter having to try to contact support. These cameras work very well for the price you pay, and the biggest selling point for me was the ability to record to microSD card without needing to depend on a Cloud subscription. With other vendors, requiring a Cloud subscription can often be detrimental when the Cloud is inaccessible

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Review Suburban Daddy experience They Continually STEAL FUNDS From My Bank Account.

WARNING: They will not let me cancel my subscription and are STEALING monthly payments from my account. Paypal is useless and we are now escalating to legal action for fraud and theft. THEY COULD DO THIS TO YOU. THEY ARE THIEVES (where my account is concerned, for legal reasons, I can only report my situation, and WARN OTHERS of their DECEPTIVE PRACTICES.)

A review AmazonJunkie experience Very Affordable Home Security System Alternative.

With all of the options out there now it is difficult to choose the right item for your individual needs. Sometimes reading reviews can often lead you to what you would not initially pick.

This review is for the YI Dome Camera 1080p Home Security Camera. And the YI Home Android/IOS app.

First of all. As pseudo technologically challenged people. This Camera and the APP needed to operate it are VERY easy to install and use. The instructions are easily understandable. We had no problem connecting the camera/s to our WIFI. We did not need to place the camera directly next to the WIFI box as instructed. The camera paired with the APP running on a tablet instantly and easily with no problems. Once you plug in the camera, it has voice commands on what to do next! Way cool!

Initially, after reading several negative reviews about the privacy issues using the APP on your phone or tablet. As does MOST APPS that can access your contacts, documents, make changes to your phone/system etc.. We decided not to install the APP on our phones or old tablets.

Warning: The APP ONLY runs on Android or Apple/IOS systems. We own PC computers. The camera was already in transit after learning this. BUT, we contacted the company with our predicament. They quickly responded within 30 minutes! With a link to download the APP version for PCs. But the PC version of the APP does NOT allow about 80% of the original Android and IOS system settings and features. It basically only allows live time viewing and controlling the camera direction and maybe IR light on and off. No recording and saving options.

With that and the privacy issue in mind. We simply bought a NEW Android tablet to use ONLY for the security cameras!
The Android APP has ALL of the features stated and works flawlessly and easily. We purchased the cameras to monitor our front and back yards after a neighbors' pit bull dogs tore up our vehicles front end by trying to get to another neighbors cat hiding under it! This happened in the early morning hours when it was still dark outside. We did not know this was happening as we walked out to the car until the dogs barked at and almost attacked us out of nowhere!

Warning 2: This is an indoor use only camera. We placed the camera on the window sill facing the front yard and driveway. We purchased this MOSTLY for night time viewing in the event of another dark time dog attack. To use the night time IR light for better quality night time recording. Disappointingly, when the camera is facing a reflective surface (the window) at night time. The IR light will bounce off of it. Making the video vary from perfect night time vision to as if your taking a picture with a flash going bright white. Never a stable vision. It constantly focuses and refocuses. Again we were discouraged.

BUT we contacted the company again. Resolution. Turn OFF the IR light setting. And BAM! Perfect night time recording! Night time recording is black and white opposed to more color using the IR. Even with the HD setting, and the minimal light outside from our front porch light and public light posts. You can easily see vehicle make and models as they drive by! And can easily identify trash being blown around in the wind!

The Motion Detection is GREAT! Only recording when motion is sensed. You can choose the motion sensitivity from low to medium to high. On medium, it will not record when our bushes are blowing in the wind (which is ALWAYS) but WILL when people jog by, cars drive by, even birds flying close! High sensitivity it will record the smallest of movement like when rain is dripping down the window or when clouds are moving fast.

So far. Even after reading several bad reviews for several different reasons. And fearing having to return even if from our own errors. Any problems we have had. We contacted the company themselves and they helped us EVERY time. Responding within hours of the request! We are VERY pleased with this product and its support. Not to mention the price!
The HD recording IS HD and awesome! The camera itself has a Micro SD card slot to save videos directly to it should you choose not to buy the Cloud Protection Plan. If you're only doing motion sensing recording, the SD card option has enough storage. As for negative reviews of the cameras ceasing to work after several weeks/months. Well, that DOES randomly happen with technology! I am sure if it happens with us. We will contact the company and see if there is any warranty or repair available. And if not. $53 for a new camera is NOT horrible if it gives you a great senses of security!

This price (even with buying a new tablet for the APP use) PALES in comparison to the large security companies with monthly membership costs. 5 stars all around!

This a word from Ryan Terry say Untrustworthy.

 I purchased this in order to keep an eye on a new puppy, to see how he handles the workday hours home alone in a play pen (being let out at lunchtime, of course), and for that purpose it works well enough, on paper. I did have a bit of trouble finding the correct spot to place it, due to its very limited ability to tilt down, but ideally I think it should be mounted on the wall or ceiling and plan to do so — if I decide to keep it.

To start, both this unit and the other two 720p YI Dome Cameras I purchased had smudges on the camera right out of the box, despite being "brand new", which was a bit disappointing. The smudges were on the orb part, rather than the lens, so I suppose it could have been worse.

The stream quality is okay but it still leaves a lot to be desired. It somehow manages to lag and stutter even while connected to a stable 120Mbps WiFi network, which is very strange. Video is captured at 15fps but played back at 30fps, so it ends up looking like an old-time slapstick comedy skit (sped-up). The "night vision" capability is very limited, but it's certainly better than nothing. The video quality may technically be 1080p, but the quality is pretty bad, even with plenty of light (see attached photos). Overall though, considering the price, it's a decent product.

However, as most others have said, the real problem with this device experience is the mobile viewing app. By default, it installs with far more permissions than it has any reason to require (Camera, Contacts, Microphone, Phone, and Storage), with the real kicker being that it installs with the ability to modify system settings. Considering that most people purchase this device with security as a priority, the fact that it has such widespread access to your device should raise concern. Here is a detailed list of YI Home (Android) app permissions:

DEVICE & APP HISTORY
- retrieve running apps
- android.permission.READ_LOGS

IDENTITY
- find accounts on the device

PHOTOS/MEDIA/FILES
- android.permission.MOUNT_UNMOUNT_FILESYSTEMS
- modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
- read the contents of your USB storage

CAMERA
- take pictures and videos

MICROPHONE
- record audio

WI-FI CONNECTION INFORMATION
- view Wi-Fi connections

DEVICE ID & CALL INFORMATION
- read phone status and identity

OTHER
- disable your screen lock
- prevent phone from sleeping
- connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi
- android.permission.FLASHLIGHT
- control vibration
- view network connections
- have full network access
- modify system settings
- change network connectivity

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As an Android Developer myself, I have to say that several of those permissions make no sense at all, as to why they would be required, and many of them indicate that the YI Home app was created by either an inexperienced or otherwise questionable developer.

Example 1: There are no features within the app that could possibly have any use for the "retrieve running apps" permission (which is pretty self-explanatory as to what it allows). The kind of apps that would request this permission legitimately would be task killers, battery monitors, etc; apps that need to know what else is running in order to function properly.

Example 2: Far more disturbing is the permission to "disable your screen lock". Again, there isn't a single feature or function within the YI Home app that would require this for any reason at all, and having to allow your screen lock to be disabled by anything other than your pattern/pin/fingerprint (e.g. anything other than you yourself) is very concerning.

Example 3: The permission to "android.permission.READ_LOGS" allows the app to read low-level system logs, most likely in order to track runtime errors. However, any respectable app developer would use their own log buffer to track these, whereas this permission grants them access to sensitive information about your system that can be (and likely is) used to mine your data. And I don't believe for a moment that this was some kind of oversight or result of inexperience developing apps.

But in the immortal words of that guy from Reading Rainbow: "You don't have to take my word for it!" You can see how unnecessary all of these permissions are yourself. Once you have the app installed, go into Settings > Apps and select Yi Home. Then tap Permissions, and toggle off Camera, Contacts, and Phone—note that if you toggle Storage you'll lose access to the video thumbnail showing on the main cameras page, along with the ability to save photos/videos from the camera stream, and if you toggle Microphone you'll lose the ability to use two-way audio. Once that's done, tap the back button, scroll down to "Modify system settings", and toggle that off. After doing all of this, go back to using the app as usual. You might have to log in again, but otherwise you won't notice any kind of reduced or impaired functionality of the app. Why? Because the YI Home app doesn't need access to Camera, Contacts, and Phone, nor does it need the ability to modify system settings. Regardless of why it requires these permissions by default, the simple fact that it does puts you at risk.

In the end, I'm going to do some research to find an alternative—one that, unlike this one, isn't tethered to an app that I am absolutely certain I can't trust. Because if I can't trust their app, why would I trust their camera to see the inside of my home at all times?

Another customer Miki M tell us This camera is fantastic!.

I love this camera! It does everything we wanted it to. Grandpa is in assisted living and we can watch him day and night. We can even talk to him and remind him to stay in bed or tell him that will be late for a visit. Sometimes the sound that I hear on my smartphone is not the greatest quality but what he hears in his room is perfect. I love that we can watch him and I love that the staff know that we can be watching them day or night. One feature that I wish was different is that that app cannot be open with any others on my phone. I've thought about having a separate phone just as the monitor for the camera. It is worth every penny!! I bought my second one just today!!

While Daniel A. Gorski experience Once Set Up Works Like A Dream.

Bought two of these cameras, one to keep an eye on my back deck and patio door and the other to keep an eye on my basement. Although it only supports the 2.4 GHz WiFi band (keep this in mind during setup -- if you set up using a 5GHz connection on your smartphone, it will fail. You need to connect your phone specifically to the 2.4GHz band on your router), the video feed is high quality at about 25KB/sec with about a three second delay. You can zoom up to 8x (digital, not optical) to magnify certain spots.

The live feed allows you to have controlled one-way or two-way conversations through the speaker/microphone. You can wither subscribe to the YI Technologies cloud storage service or you can record and access video/photo feeds from an optional 64GB micro-SD card you insert into the back of the unit.

I was fortunate to read some earlier reviews! NOTE: this unit will not work right out of the box -- unless YI Technologies has updated the firmware on their factory units. Instead, you will need to download the latest firmware from the YI Technologies site to a micro-SD card (usually inserted into an SD card adapter) on your computer, rename the download file per the site's instructions, then pull and insert the micro-SD card into the back of the unit to upgrade the firmware. Once the latest firmware has been installed, the rest of the setup is pretty much plug and play. The firmware process added about 30-45 minutes to the process that otherwise would have taken about five minutes.

In conclusion: great product, very reasonable price. Invest in a 64GB micro-SD card for each unit. Download and install the latest firmware from the YI site, following their instructions. Make sure you set up the unit with your smartphone connected to the 2.4GHz bandwidth if you have a dual bandwidth router (2.4 and 5GHz). Once set up, your router will automatically take care of the 2.4GHz/5GHz translations so you don't need to switch your smartphone every time; this is just a setup requirement that is typical for most/all of these types of devices (including video doorbells) since 2.4GHz maintains a stronger signal over a longer distance from the router than does the 5GHz bandwidth (as of this writing).

The unit can be set on a table or you can use the separate mounting plate to attach the unit to a wall or ceiling. You'll just need to have access to a power source. So, if you have a drop ceiling, you can attach the mounting plate, purchase a long USB-to-micro-USB cable to run to your power source (the unit comes with a 110-volt to USB power adapter) and you can get a full field of vision of your surveillance area.

The smartphone app is excellent and pretty intuitive to use. With it you can add cameras to your suite, switch to different cameras for live view, set up detection rules for each camera, and access any feed history based on the notification rules you set up, including motion detection. If you use a memory card, the history record will overwrite the oldest entries once the card is full.

Another customer R.C. experience easy to setup.

PROS: Inexpensive, motion tracking, free 6-10 second cloud recordings (saved for 1 week), memory card for local video storage (all can be viewed from app), night vision, works well to set alarms and view memory card recordings, fast notifications, zoom in/out in live view and recordings, duplex speakerphone, subscription to cloud service not required, easy to setup, powered by a standard USB cable, minimal delay in live view, wide viewing angle without the fish eye distortion.

CONS: No Amazon Echo Show support yet, 1080p image quality is just okay (I have a 720p model and I don't see any difference in sharpness), motion tracking is slow and not very accurate for objects moving close to the camera (it detects you, but doesn't follow you fast enough if you walk within 3 feet of camera), no time/date stamp on downloaded recorded video (only on live view and if viewed from app), controversial terms of service.

TIP: Use a fast memory card as recommended. When I first bought the camera, I put in an old memory card I had laying around. It would stop recording and live view was spotty/freeze. I initially blamed the camera until I swapped it out with the recommended memory card. If you don't subscribe to the cloud service like I do, hide it well or mount it high up so it won't be tampered with. Need a longer cord? Don't buy a long USB cable, use/buy a cheap extension power cable instead.

Another customer Scott O'Donnell said Good...maybe there is something better?.

The camera does what it should. My biggest problem is that when the motion tracking is on it likes to tracks shadows.....so instead of following the person or animal, it will follow the shadow instead, so I see nothing. Overall, it will pick up a bug flying by the camera or my dog or cat running by, which is great.
I do wish that the camera would upload to a designated shared hard drive or even a personal ftp or cloud server. With all video all being stored on the memory card, if someone took the camera, there goes my video as well. I could opt to use their cloud server, but I think that costs money.
I have a relatively slow internet connection at home, and I am able to see the video on my phone when I am away just fine.