smart cam app

Discussion topics covering Ooma Home Security
sbrammer
Posts:15
Joined:Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:04 am
smart cam app

Post by sbrammer » Sat May 30, 2020 1:21 pm

App was acting strange the camera would record, but I couldn’t see it on the app, nor could I live look in on the camera feed. Been going on for a couple of weeks

So I removed and reinstalled the app, tried to login, but received “error fetching cameras” message.

Now it won’t login me in at all.

Grrr... honestly, I’m almost at the end of the line with the Ooma cams. And this may be the last straw, but I would like to get this resolved as this camera was bought new from eBay in March. It’s the black one.

So any suggestions would be appreciated

CB27044
Posts:2
Joined:Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:50 pm

Re: smart cam app

Post by CB27044 » Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:05 pm

Exacty same issue here.

Have multiple cameras and confirm that my last "Home Secure" payment was processed at the start of May.

All my Butterfleye cameras appeared to be online and connected to the network, but I just powered them down as there were other forum posts here mentioning "solid red" lights and non-responsive cameras.

The 'Ooma Smart Cam' application on any of my devices give me an "Error Retrieving Cameras" when attempting to login with known good password.

The 'Ooma Home Security' application shows all registered cameras, but clicking on any displays the message "There are no recorded videos" despite the fact that it looks like the cameras have been triggered and recording.

Opened a case with support tonight --- there were some video clips that I had hoped to download, but not sure if that will be possible.

Hoping to get some meaningful feedback, but based on other posts here it sounds like there is a known issue within the company and Ooma isn't clearly communicating about cause or expected resolution to their customers --- makes me speculate whether they've:
[1] decided to exit the smart camera business as suggested by other posts (if that is the case - not cool; there's better ways to do this than simply shutting down service without notification, but judging from the frequency of updates to the app or updates to firmware I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case)
[2] experienced some type of security incident and shutdown the service (without any update it's hard not to speculate)
[3] have shutdown service due to some type of update related to the "solid red" lights being reported (bad firmware bricking devices?)
[4] have a significant outage (acknowledgement/communication and update would be appreciated)

Sure would be nice if someone from Ooma would provide some type of update in the forum to paying customers. Will post here if anything comes from my support ticket - would appreciate if anyone else could post their experiences as well.

Thanks!

pamelaantonacci
Posts:82
Joined:Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:44 am

Re: smart cam app

Post by pamelaantonacci » Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:21 pm

The Smart Cam is discontinued / The Ooma Butterfleye department is shut down.. I was told "there is no longer an engineering team for the BF cameras.. There’s only a team that part-time monitors the backend services"... I would love to see the cameras still supported in some way, & also add integration with Alexa like ring has. I think discontinuing the cameras is dumb on Ooma's part especially when they want to be in the home security market.

CB27044
Posts:2
Joined:Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:50 pm

Re: smart cam app

Post by CB27044 » Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:35 pm

Just a quick update. I reached out to support --- after a dubious start when the support agent asked me for my username and password (what?!) they did manage to restore my access and I was able to login again at least.

It does look like I am missing a few days worth of clips, but at least the access was restored.

Explanation was: "A major changes has been made in the camera server to fix the log in issue."

Had asked about the missing clips and if I get a reply I will inquire about the support and anticipated lifecycle for the SmartCam ecosystem, but it would be great if someone from Ooma would offer a definitive response in the forums.

Read through some of the investor/analyst calls and it would seem that Ooma really is focusing on the SMB market for their phone systems --- looks like the suspicions of others in the forums is accurate and the home security (especially the SmartCam) may no longer be seen as an area of strategic growth where on-going investment is being made.

It's been ages since the last firmware/application update and looks like this is just legacy support. If this is the case I wish that Ooma would clearly indicate this fact and define an end of life date for this offering so that customers could be aware.

Regretting the decision made a few years ago to purchase 5 x Butterfleye cameras as it would seem that it is likely a dead product and destined to become a doorstop when either Ooma does discontinue support or the mobile applications simply stop working due to Android/iOS or new mobile devices render them inoperable.

Guess it might be time to start looking for a new (open source?) option.

If anyone else is having the 'Error Retrieving Cameras' message at logon - try e-mailing [url]mailto:Support@Oomacare.com[/url] or opening a case at https://support.ooma.com/home and it looks like Support should be able to at least be able to get you back in to the application.

Good luck!

sbrammer
Posts:15
Joined:Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:04 am

Re: smart cam app

Post by sbrammer » Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:15 am

Thanks. I will try to reach out to support, and hopefully they can help gain me access back to app.

sbrammer
Posts:15
Joined:Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:04 am

Re: smart cam app

Post by sbrammer » Sun Jun 28, 2020 10:37 am

I contacted support via email and they were able to get me back into my camera account by doing a reset on my account.

dqtech
Posts:8
Joined:Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:04 pm

Re: smart cam app

Post by dqtech » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:45 pm

I had the same issue at the beginning of June. I managed to get a hold of support and spoke to Sally. After a few exchanges she said they did a major update to their server for the camera. Only way to fix it was for me to give them my user name and password and they somehow “reset” my account. Everything ran well for a few weeks, but now my SmartCam went offline and I cannot get it back online. Paper clip reset seems to reset the camera but there is no startup chime. After about 30 sec of restarting or powering on I get a solid blue light. It stays on for 5 min then the camera turns off.

Any thoughts?

pamelaantonacci
Posts:82
Joined:Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:44 am

Re: smart cam app

Post by pamelaantonacci » Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:29 am

Do you have the Gen 2 camera? meaning the Ooma Smart Cam? I also lost all connectivity on June 26th to all of my 6 cameras. Just showing the play button with a line though it saying offline / cant establish stream.

dqtech
Posts:8
Joined:Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:04 pm

Re: smart cam app

Post by dqtech » Wed Jul 01, 2020 8:16 pm

@pamelaantonacci

Yes, I have 1x Gen2 camera and 3x Gen1 cameras.
My Gen1's are working fine (except one Gen1 camera; it doesn't record on motion triggers, but live steaming works -go figure), but my Gen2 behaves like yours. According to the config page for the Gen2, the last time it was online was June 26th. Now it shows offline and has the same play button with the line through it.

Have you had any luck getting support?

pamelaantonacci
Posts:82
Joined:Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:44 am

Re: smart cam app

Post by pamelaantonacci » Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:21 pm

Some bad news from OOMA.. Apparently the Gen 2 are end of life. They are offline for good. They said that the GEN 1s will soon follow the same fate.

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