Smart Home Security System such as Vivint operates in the United States of America and is considered to be among the best. Vivint has a complete collection of home security cameras and video doorbells integrated into its smarter security plans. One which people often ask about Vivint’s cameras and its video doorbells is whether the devices can function properly even when there is no WiFi or internet connection. In this particular article, we will explore all the cameras that Vivint has to offer and whether they can function while the WiFi network is not available.
How do Vivint Cameras as well as Video Doorbells function?
Every security camera and video doorbell offered by Vivint relies on WiFi and internet connectivity for certain key capabilities. Indoor and outdoor cameras, as well as the video doorbell all require an internet connection, and because it streams and records video, it has to be connected to your home’s WiFi. Some of the home appliances that are installed in a home for security purposes include The cameras that record clips and send the video clips to Vivint’s cloud server through the internet connection.
You can view your cameras in real-time through the Android or iPhone app that comes with the WiFi and internet-enabled cameras from Vivint. Vivint’s cloud storage also allows your cameras to capture periodic event-based video clips in case of motion or sound. Using the clips you can review even these areas in the app or desktop web portal of the program whenever you want or even if the local internet connection is down. The employment of WiFi is the driving force behind most of the fundamental functionalities of Vivint’s cameras.
Vivint Security Cameras are of three types namely; Ping Indoor Security Camera, Reveal Outdoor Security Camera, and Stick Up Camera. All these cameras require a stable WiFi connection and internet connection to function optimally. Similarly to the Spotlight, Vivint’s Video Doorbell works only with a WiFi connection to your home network.
Nevertheless, do they work offline at all?
With the above in mind, it will be seen that the Vivint cameras and the video doorbell as much as operate ineffectively if not for an active WiFi connection. In case Your Home WiFi or internet connection is down, then the cameras will not be able to Broadcast the live video Feed. They also will not be able to record videos detected at an event and upload them to the cloud or send you notifications when motion or sound is detected.
The cameras will still be powered on some limited offline activities:
- Motion Sensor Activation: Most of the cameras have motion sensors and they can continue to turn on when it detects movement in the vicinity. The camera is usually activated by the motion sensor and the unit records the events occurring in the vicinity. However, you can’t record or stream any video without WiFi since it is the main source through which videos are shared to the cloud or the related mobile application.
- Status Light/Sound Effects: Ping and Stick Up cams have LED status indicators that may still turn on due to the motion sensor. The Stick Up Cam also uses sound, making a clicking sound when it detects an event. Thus, the cameras do respond only to a limited degree but have nearly no interaction options.
- Mobile Connectivity Issues: Sometimes you may disconnect your phone/app from the camera only because internet/mobile data is interrupted while the camera’s WiFi is still on. If so then the cameras will record activity to the cloud but you are unable to view the video stream or receive smart notifications, but only for a limited time. Internet connectivity is resumed the moment that mobile data is not hindered any further.
Reconnecting WiFi and Internet
In the event of a disruption to connectivity, your Vivint cameras will stop recording as soon as the WiFi connection is available. They will reconnect with the cloud servers to upload and record clips in the cloud as usual. Video clips recorded by the camera upon detecting a change in the event while the WiFi connection was off may also begin uploading if the camera stored it locally.
The Vivint mobile app shall also regain functionality once it can connect again to the cloud and cameras. You will then be able to continue with the live streams and status updates as they come through in real time. Smart alerts may also be received anytime when the system is offline and when it has been caught up with the activities of the house.
Hence you can imagine if WiFi/internet is back in service, then there is no sign that something was interrupted in the first place. The cameras return to their normal operations on their own after a short time.
Each of these potential options involves using other means of communication other than the internet during internet outages.
Vivint knows that smart security must contain devices, including cameras, that’ll continue to operate even in the absence of the internet. While today’s camera needs WiFi, that same company, Vivint, has stated that it is going to release a new 4G LTE cellular camera in the future. There would be no requirement for WiFi; it would instead use portable 4G mobile networks like a cell phone would work anywhere. This would allow for operations to proceed as normal even for clients that have their properties in rural areas where there may be poor or no internet connection.
Vivint already has a cellular backup internet through 4G LTE cellular to ensure connections even during local outages of their Smart Home Hub panel. Hence incorporating cellular capabilities in cameras would fit this technological focus on internet disruption fallback. Vivint’s goal is to have as few failures as possible for equipment as critical as security protection, including cameras.
Local Storage has been considered as a big NO for Vivint Home Automation System.
We did find some security cameras that can record to an SD card and save to a local memory so at least some video can be recorded without WiFi or internet, albeit not remotely. At least, without connectivity, the footage would be recorded and saved for review later rather than having no documentation of activities when disconnected. This would create a backup and additional layer of protection if the internet connection were to fail.
Vivint has not explored the use of SD cards in the cameras but instead has opted for cloud storage. There are other risks with local storage - are SD cards or other storage devices lost damaged, or failed while cloud backups are much safer. Another area where scaling is an issue for higher resolution recordings is in the media on which they are recorded and the need for a long-term archival solution. It appears to be a decision by Vivint to provide stable Smart Detection experiences instead of adding a level of uncertainty with onboard camera storage.
However, many consumer benefits still exist even with those risks of going to the local storage at least having it as an extra layer of redundancy. Given that internet, instability persists as a norm, having layers of failover through hybrid cloud and local storage support in one video security solution will offer its users added confidence in their security needs. Vivint may contemplate adopting this flexible approach in its future devices once the industry finds better ways of dealing with some of the pain points associated with SD cards.
Conclusion
In conclusion – no, Vivint smart home security cameras and Video Doorbell are fully dependent on a WiFi connection to function and cannot do so without an internet connection. As soon as WiFi and internet connection is back, all functionalities related to live, activity, notification, and recording of events go back to normal. Preferably, options that can be implemented to further enhance resilience when internet connections fail include; backup internet or perhaps taking cameras to cellular capabilities. However, it was adding local storage in the future as it would provide the users with an additional redundancy to avoid missing cases recorded during drawbacks. Even though this redundancy could give Vivint customers flexibility in the reliability that they desire from such essential security monitoring solutions in all types of settings.
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