Wyze Pet Detection Not Working? Here's How to Fix It
The AI-powered pet detection on Wyze cameras is a brilliant feature for pet owners, allowing you to get specific alerts for your furry companions and easily filter out other motion events. However, when this feature doesn't work as expected, it can be frustrating. You might be missing important moments or getting incorrect notifications.
This guide is designed to help you troubleshoot and resolve the most common issues with Wyze's pet detection. By following these steps, you can get your camera back to accurately identifying your pets.
Common Issues with Wyze Pet Detection
First, let's pinpoint the problem you're experiencing. Most issues fall into one of these categories:
- No Pet Detections: The camera isn't tagging any events as 'Pet', even when your pet is clearly visible.
- No Pet Notifications: You can see events correctly tagged as 'Pet' in the Events tab, but you don't receive a push notification to your phone.
- Inconsistent Detection: It works sometimes but misses other obvious pet movements.
- Frequent False Alarms: You get pet alerts for things that aren't pets, like shadows, leaves, or other animals.
Step-by-Step Guide to Troubleshooting Wyze Pet Detection
Work through these solutions methodically. The majority of issues are related to settings within the Wyze app.
1. Verify Your Cam Plus Subscription
Pet detection is a premium feature. It is not part of the basic motion detection.
- Open the Wyze app and go to the Account tab.
- Tap on Services.
- Check that you have an active Cam Plus or Cam Protect subscription and that it is assigned to the specific camera you are troubleshooting. If the camera doesn't have a subscription assigned to it, the AI detection features will not be active on that device.
2. Check Your Event Recording and Smart Detection Settings
This is the most common place for misconfiguration. You need to tell the camera to look for motion and then to analyse that motion for pets.
- In the Wyze app, select the camera you want to configure.
- Tap the Settings icon (gear symbol) in the top right.
- Go to Event Recording. Ensure the main Detects Motion toggle is switched ON.
- Go back to Settings and tap on Smart Detection.
- Inside the Smart Detection menu, make sure the toggle next to Pet is switched ON. You can also enable other categories like Person or Vehicle here if you wish.
3. Configure Your Notification Settings
Just because the camera is recording pet events doesn't mean it's set up to notify you about them.
- From the camera's settings page, tap on Notifications.
- Ensure the main Notifications toggle is ON.
- Under the 'Wyze AI Events' section, make sure the toggle next to Pet is also ON. This tells the app to send you a push notification specifically for this type of event.
4. Fine-Tune Your Detection Zone and Sensitivity
If you are getting too many false alarms or missing events, you need to adjust the camera's sensitivity and tell it exactly where to look.
- From the camera's settings, go to Detection Settings.
- Sensitivity: Use the slider to adjust motion sensitivity. If you're missing events, increase it. If you're getting too many false alerts, decrease it.
- Detection Zone: This is a very powerful tool. Toggle it on and draw a box that covers only the area you want to monitor for pets. For example, exclude any windows where you might see passing cars or trees that sway in the wind. This will dramatically improve the accuracy of your alerts.
5. Power Cycle the Camera and Update Firmware
Sometimes, a simple reboot is all that's needed to fix a software glitch.
- Power Cycle: Unplug your Wyze camera from its power source. Wait for 30 seconds, then plug it back in. Give it a few minutes to fully restart and reconnect.
- Update Firmware: In the camera's settings, go to Device Info > Firmware Version. The app will tell you if an update is available. Keeping your firmware up to date ensures you have the latest performance improvements and bug fixes.
By ensuring your subscription is active and meticulously checking your recording, detection, and notification settings, you can solve almost any issue related to Wyze's pet detection feature.