WiZ is rolling out a new home monitoring feature that takes advantage of the smart lighting company’s existing motion-sensing Wi-Fi smart bulbs. Paired with a new $70 indoor security camera, WiZ Home Monitoring can alert you to potential intruders in your home. Using WiZ’s exclusive SpaceSensing feature, which detects changes in Wi-Fi signal strength caused by movement to turn lights on or off, the system can send an alert to the WiZ app when motion is detected. The new camera can show you what’s going on.
The WiZ Home Monitoring Starter Kit, which includes three WiZ A19 full-color smart bulbs and a camera, will be available from June 15 for €159.99 without pricing in the US Or, if you already have a pair of WiZ bulbs or lights, you can buy the camera for $69.99 (89.99 euros) later this month. (At least two bulbs are needed for SpaceSense to work.)
wifi detection it’s a very promising environmental technology for the smart home, and this isn’t the first system to take advantage of it. Origin Wireless Hexadecimal is a smart security system that uses Linksys Wi-Fi routers and technology to detect motion in your home.
However, the WiZ option is a super simple solution from a hardware perspective. While it’s not quite as robust as a security system complete with sensors on every door and window, it’s infinitely easier to set up — most people know how to screw in a light bulb.
There is no hub or siren or professional monitoring. Instead, when the “alarm” is triggered by any movement, the lights can be set to flash erratically to scare off a would-be intruder. The Home Monitoring feature is free and works on WiZ’s recently released WiZ V2 app. You can also customize monitoring for only certain areas of the home. That can come in handy to make sure your roommate doesn’t take leftovers out of the fridge.
You can set customizable routines that control lights and trigger monitoring, which can be manually turned on and off in the app or set on a schedule. The monitoring feature also includes presence simulation, which can automatically turn lights on and off to make it appear as if someone is home.
WiZ, owned by Signify, says that 80 to 90 percent of its existing lights and all of its new products will work with SpaceSense and will be compatible with Home Monitoring. That includes all Connected by WiZ brand lights.
At launch, you need the new WiZ indoor camera to use the home monitoring features. WiZ says the camera is the first of many home monitoring products the company is planning.
The WiZ indoor camera streams and records in 1080p and has a 120-degree field of view. Infrared night vision, image-based motion detection and two-way audio add to its safety features, plus the camera’s built-in microphone can listen for sudden loud noises and send notifications when it hears glass breaking or gunshots a smoke alarm.
A built-in microSD card can record footage locally, or you can subscribe to cloud storage for up to 30 days of recordings (pricing for this was not announced). The company said that all images in the cloud are end-to-end encrypted, and even the local SD card storage is encrypted, and the images can only be accessed through the WiZ app. The subscription also adds the option to use privacy and activity zones with the camera and the ability to start a manual recording while streaming.
The camera is pretty basic in terms of hardware, but it’s the software features that are the star of the show here. If the system can deliver what it promises, the simplicity and low price make it a very intriguing home security solution, especially for apartments and smaller houses.
