Zmodo Reviews

by Court2013

I tried the free trial and my cameras haven’t worked since… 3 months. I have called and texted to try and get assistance with tech support on 3 separate occasions. They were very very disrespectful and no help at all. (as I was trying to explain the cameras weren’t recording correctly and I sent a pic of the wrong time stamp … he proceeded rudely, “it recorded right there why would you tell me it didn’t”. Completely dismissing what I was showing him. Acted as if I was lying to him.

The free trial did worked for live data ONLY…. But the clips were so short it missed everything. For example: someone pulled into my driveway (captured) by the time they got out of the car, to my door, and knocked, the camera had stopped recording. So unless I was available at that exact moment to view live… I have no idea who was at my home. Which bothered me. I tried the free trial. Now I cannot see ANY recorded clips. They won’t open or play. And anything not live is time stamped 3-4 hours behind.

My boyfriend also tried to talk to tech support since he works in the IT world and it was no help.

by Notgonnabuyagain

I’ve had these cameras for a couple years now and for the price I don’t have any real complaints. However I have a huge issue with the company sending me spam through Zmodo (sales announcements, new products, marketing junk). The spam comes through Zmodo using the same notification alert that you would get if motion is sensed on the camera so you immediately want to look and pay attention to it. I’m sure that’s what the intent was however as a consumer who paid for the product I should not have to be subjected to spam for a product I’ve already paid for. I brought this up with support and they said there’s no way to opt-out from this “feature”.

by 8ate8

The time stamp on all 4 of my cameras is different. Also, in the Playback of recorded video, the time stamp doesn’t match the scrubber. Those two items together, means that if I am looking for a particular time, I don’t know which time to look at, the scrubber time or the video time, or if either of the times are even right.

Also during Playback, I’ve seen the timestamp embedded in the video jump ahead by 30 minutes. The video did not jump ahead, just the time. How hard could it possibly be to have all the cameras sync to a single correct time?

by Wheres Touch ID On Iphone ?

1. Motion alerts absolutely captures nothing! Two years I have these installed outside sounding my house it gives me pictures of something happen to my residence but whenever I have a visitor mailman’s here every day, snow season people remove my driver way snow, summer these people treat my grass and cut my grass however all these events these camera didn’t capture at all, what am I supposed to expect for the purpose of security what am I paying for??!!It gives me around 15-20 pics a day showing events with absolutely nothing but my yard view on the pics, once in a while it captures a blurry someone’s one leg or a corner of someone’s shoulder but mostly I captures nothing but just my yard views.
2. Four of these eight cameras stopped working after two years for no reason.
3. These devices are horrible connection with internet.

I spent 200$ on those cameras and a 800$ to install them, I’m planning to look other companies to reinstall different brand cameras, someone have better experience or recommendations?

by WhistleWolf

I installed 6 cameras in my house which never worked that great to begin with, but now they just don’t work at all. I don’t know if the company sold or what. But the service has gone from not-so-good to not-working-at-all. And yes, I have done the software updates. Some cameras have never been able to sync up to the proper time. Connection to Zmodo has always been unstable at best. Now Zmodo can’t connect to any of the cameras. I plan on throwing all of them in the trash and going with a new wired system, and you can bet I’ll be doing my research to make sure I never give this company another dime.

by Terry.yang

For every update they post, it made Zmodo worst to use.
The PLAY/Live button for watching live feed, is getting smaller and smarter, you can’t get 100% of the time to hit the right thing. there’s already a “Events” tab/button on the bottom of home page, there’s no need to add a listener to each line of device for “Event”. Implementing for UI design, making the button larger, the higher finger hit rate, you make the user easier to use.
On notification, please have a option to let user enable/disable if they want to show snapshot on each notification event (like motion detection, etc.) on locked screen. In the previous revision, it’s just show title, which it’s already good enough.

by Hunala

I’ve owned two this app Cameras since 2016. They worked great for years. Originally purchased as a baby monitor and they performed as expected actually better than expected.

Skip ahead four years and what was an awesome application with affordable cameras is no longer.

I’ve been beyond disappointed and frustrated this week. The application is no longer notifying me of sound or movements. My camera that was once used as a baby monitor turned into a nighttime seizure monitoring/notification system allowing for me to keep eyes and ears on my son who’s got Generalized Epilepsy. He’s been seizure free for almost 2 yrs and just started having breakthrough cluster seizures lasting over 10 mins. (Life threatening)

Now I’m stuck with a pointless device that won’t notify me if he moves throughout the night, let alone have a seizure.

These are hitting the trash and it’s time
to find a reliable company that would never pull the wool over their loyal customers eyes by forcing a subscription in order for their device to truly function like it use to. Key words USE TO!!!

by Mrwilson8313468

Do you guys beta test your software before a new update? I pay for 4 cameras per month on the cloud service. When I receive a motion alert on my iPhone , I open the alert, takes me to the camera that alerted me, then just sits there, it will not play. I have to back out and then open the alerts again, then find the said alert to see whatever the alert was.
It’s frustrating because i didn’t have any issues before this update.
Also the playback is horrible, the zoom feature seams outdated and sluggish. Please do something this app, I have 6 of your cams at my home .

by Auntieans

Idk if it’s the updates or what, but the recordings skip. I paid for a year subscription for 2 of my cameras. It’ll record when the motion hits, and then randomly freeze the frame for 10 seconds. Every 10 seconds when it’s doing the skip stuff, it’ll just update the frame with no sound. It’ll do that for a few minutes before it’ll play a recording like it should. I’ve reached out to customer support and they tried to say it only records when there’s motion, but that’s not what I signed up for. Then, they tried to say I needed to unplug the device and plug it back in. I have tried that several times- doesn’t work.

by BJackson21!

App functions very well most of the time, I have very little complaints with getting the live feeds from all of my cameras.

I am not a fan of the detection area for motion sensing though. Most other cameras I am able to select specific areas with little squares on the screen. This one only allows you to resize a big box. I have a big bush that my camera looks at and I can’t remove that from the detection area without also removing an area that I want motion to be detected. I wish I had the little squares or something better that I could select specific areas and not be limited to one big box.

by DrDabz25

I’ve had my this app cameras for 3 years and I have a few things to say about them.
1. The cameras work well no matter the placement. Day, night, rain or shine. They are going to be working.
2. Number 1 is the only positive thing about them.
3. The application development is equivalent to drink hot dog water. Most of the time the Zmodo is slow running and does not like to sync with my cameras. I truly have never been able to connect a camera on the first try.
4. When you get motion updates you get 5 seconds of capture if you don’t subscribe to Zmodo and pay an extra few. So not only did I have to buy my cameras. I have to subscribe to your lame service that barely works just so I can have more than 5 seconds of recorded motion. Further more they only backup your recording for 7 days. So if you get robbed you better make sure you deal with your hotdog water app record trimming day one or you won’t have them.

by Ptravimp

Had problems buying my subscription and my cameras go on and off and I believe their hacked or they don’t work and weird images on them called many times and no looks into it. I should have tech look it or pi see for them self. Please this app look at tech and see and I had one camera won’t turn on for months n I have cloud I pay for this service because it cheaper then others but a lot problems

by Nehsvshg

For me Zmodo works great. Some issues with making a clip and getting the time stamp to work. I would have given this a 5 star if there was an option so select an alarm of your choosing when a motion was detected. You only have the iPhone “pling” sound. Not something that will get your attention for sure. I’ve written them several times about this and never heard anything back. It’s either something they don’t care about or just can’t get working. Who knows!

by Cab1981

Okay hole there is always room for improvement when it comes to technological advances, I will say that the this app apps, and camera systems are very efficient, extremely easy to install and definitely pretty easy on my pockets as opposed to other camera set ups. I love these things but I wish the cameras were able to oscillate or self rotate to span the entire area:) I do want to THANKYOU! I feel much safer now and feel that these cameras work very well both day and night
(night vision equipped). Please continue your company’s great work thus keeping the safety of my family as well as others’ as your top priority V’s. The extremely large corporations that seem to be more geared towards making that cash:)

by CloudRebel

After being negative with my reviews for 5 years I am now giving 4 stars because they provided the option to get the adware off Zmodo screen every time I log in. If they got rid of it permanently I might give 5 stars. HOWEVER one more thing I am UNHAPPY about is that when I first installed my cameras I was temporarily able to turn each camera on and off individually with Zmodo . Apparently that is only temporary with the free trial of way too expensive cloud service they give you. IMHO That ability should be available to me as an NVR System Owner. It’s not and I don’t like that they teased me with it. Overall, however, the recent improvements made by this app make this cameras solution with my NVR a good value vs others.

by Jerm4377

I bought my first camera a few years back and have been pleased with them ever since . I now have 8 cameras and have had very little problems with them . The regular updates and improvements are great . If the developers are reading this I don’t know if you are working on it or not but I would like to see a grid choice for multiple layouts . You have it set up so it will show a 4 grid but I would like to see the multiple (6) or up to 8 or even 10 . Thanks for a great product .

by Scaudio

5⭐️'s for all aspects- Don’t understand the bad ratings- never had a problem with the fixed Wide Angle units - VERY inexpensive Cams>moved many times, easy to reconfigure if you READ the instructions —- App is Constantly updated incl NEW features along with improvements, Cloud Service is very reasonable & reliable, nice images, esp like the 720P Cams due to lower bandwidth req's & better low light vision - Overall incredible Value for the money 💰- if you don’t like these go spend 3x the money & you might get better Cams\Features....
Just hope we’re not being monitored given it’s a Chinese Co.

by Zamion66

We have used this app cameras for 4 years. If we had in issue their support team was helpful friendly, and courteous. They walked us through every step. Their is a subscription service available to save recordings for sometime depending on the level. However I did not use this service until recently. They have always notified us when they detect motion. For a 100% D.I.Y. security system, I highly recommend this app.

by LibNBri

We use these cameras around our house for live streaming/monitoring our kids. Never subscribed to any services. It works perfectly for our needs. I’ve bought several more devices and might subscribe in the near future. Honestly, great devices for our current purpose. Will update my review if our opinion changes once we subscribe.

by DougNearDC

Omg I’m so glad I didn’t read the reviews before purchasing the this app camera. I asked a friend what he was using and he sent me the link and I ordered it. I’ve had my camera for about 5 weeks now and love it. We use it as a dog cam. When we leave the house our dog barks. I get the alerts just fine. I can hear him and I can talk to him. The image looks great. I have no complaints at all. I even recommended it to a coworker. Reading some of the reviews I was thinking it’s probably the operator not the equipment.

by Hayl No!

...before I wasted my money on this garbage. Obviously by the current whopping two-star rating people hate Zmodo. this app should be alarmed. Or at least concerned. Here’s the deal. The cameras are mediocre. During the day the resolution is acceptable but the night vision is a joke. The instructions are sketchy and incomplete but I figured them out. I have the 500mb hard drive recorder. All useless. Why? Because the system refuses to run without crashing constantly. Half the time it doesn’t record anything because the system is down. So I bought a range extender. Didn’t help. I have a two-band router I’ve run the system on 2.5 and 5. Makes no difference whatsoever. So I ask you this app, what good is a “security” camera system that won’t stay running? My router is several years old. So I have a new one on order. I’m not the least bit hopeful it will make any difference but if it does I’ll update this review. If it doesn’t I’m throwing the entire system in the garbage, then doing thorough research and buying a system that actually works. So stay tuned. See if I lit my cigar with hundred dollar bills, or if I change my tune. I’m hoping for the later.

by Equality 100%

Zmodo has turned into Longmont PD, if your on vacation & you get alerts. It only saves them for 36hrs. I got this to catch these pigs but, they found someone to destroy my evidence. I used to have to erase false alerts constantly to make room for new alerts & now their trying to tell me Zmodo deletes them automatically in 36hrs. If your trying to catch someone that knows or is a pig... good luck with these guy’s. Not recommended for those that need “Security” I don’t know if it’s a tactic to force you into buying cloud services but there’s other companies that use SD cards on their products. Shop around before you buy this JUNK! ADD ON: I wasn’t given a link to reply but was told this app allows 36hrs of recording (confirmed) & that’s how it used to be! But your company accessed Zmodo ON MY PHONE & deleted them! How do you explain the invasion of privacy to felony destroy evidence? When I had time to review the alerts they was gone! Every app I’ve ever used will not even archive anything unless it’s been marked as seen!

by Daya Papaya

I hate to write this review because just a week ago while using the older version we were SO STOKED ON it. I wish I could just email tech support but have a 6 month old and finding this info is too time consuming!

-It WAS in real time. If it had a delay I couldn't tell. Now there's almost a 10 second delay!
-it froze on me for 20 minutes while my son slept in his car seat in our AC bedroom... so while he looked peacefully asleep, he was actually crying for an unknown amount of time! I never checked the time on the screen because we never had this issue before the upgrade, plus the speaker I had on maintained the hum of the AC! this is what prompted the review. My son is only 6 months old! I was furious & he was sweaty and a bit traumatized!
-we had seemless 350 degree scrolling while viewing cameras, now IF it scrolls I only have maybe 45degrees.

Bummed we can't rely on it anymore- and my hubby just bought s bunch of new cameras... hoping you guys can fix these issues... if not we will return it all! and I'm sorry I didn't write a 5 star review before the upgrade- but I loved Zmodo and the program before this upgrade. I'd love a response back, if you're able! I wondered if it's just a hiccup, something I'm doing wrong, how to fix it, etc... but after reading other reviews it seems it was a very poorly thought out upgrade, and I look forward to an explanation or at least a statement saying you're working on it! Thank you:)

by Mommyva

I’m paying for the 7 day cloud but it only records in glitches. It misses A LOT! It also has no sound most of the time. I turn the sound on to listen to the videos but the sound comes and goes. Most of the time there is no sound. It’s frustrating.

There’s also a time lapse recording which I liked, but the problem we have is that it will skip recording full days. For example yesterday someone came to my home and it didn’t record them at all even though they were wandering around the front of my porch. I thought that maybe the time lapse would show a quick blip of something, but when I viewed the video the date said 6/4 at the top but the date on the bottom was of 6/3. So it shows me the same time lapse two days in a row, rather than showing me the correct video on the correct date I’ve selected. It’s done that multiple times now, where it completely misses people that are in front of the camera for up to 10 minutes at a time.

by Jscairono

I’ve had these cameras for over a year now. They work well for the most part. However, the most frustrating thing is when I open them to view the live feed, I ALWAYS have to force close Zmodo at least once and reopen to view. It will say connecting and then not connect until I close it out and go back into it. This delay has caused me to miss several important things such as a suspicious vehicle driving by that I needed to view immediately. Zmodo needs to load more efficiently without me having to go out and back into it. Also, the time stamps are off on several cameras, and I don’t see a way to fix that since it’s supposed to be automatic with the time zone. Sometimes, some of the cameras go offline for no reason and then randomly go back on which is also frustrating. I’m going to miss something important because of that one day as well. Other than those things, they are great quality and affordable. I’d raise my rating if the company would fix those issues I’ve mentioned.

by Jada_Harvey

These cameras used to be good but it lags so much now. Some can’t seem to get off the “establishing secure video channel” loading screen. The quality is also terrible at night with the night vision. It’s good In the day (kind of, you can’t really see good details) but terrible at night.

Now the real problem lies between all of these details. People like robbers and car jackers could be outside but the camera lags so much and gets stuck on the loading screen that it is so difficult to even see who is outside. By the time it loads the robber would have already been in the house or the car jacker would have stole or robbed our car.

You could be a great company if you at least tried to eliminate some of these problems to make sure everyone can have a safe life in peace.

by D******t

The this app cameras and Nvr set up is a very good and affordable system. The quality for the price is extremely good. The 720p equipment was good. I upgraded to a 1080p system and the picture quality is very professional. The system and Zmodo is Nice But...I gave it 3 stars because I had trouble and emailed customer support a week ago and no one has called or emailed me back. When my Nvr is hooked up to my router the cameras on the monitor goes off and on continuously. Some cameras will stay on all the time while at least 4 of them out of the eight lose connection for a minute or so and come back on. The thing is when I disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Nvr and the monitor is not on all 8 of the cameras come in perfectly and stay continuously on Zmodo . I really needed some help because I wanted to view the cameras continuously on both my monitor and app without any loss video going on and out but the support team seem like they have thrown me to the curb.....

by HarryS.Truman

(YES, I would give zero or less if allowed)
This horrible app went from crappy to worthless in the speed of an update!! BRUTAL!! These terrible cams are just ok when they are actually working which is maybe 75% of the time. I have a couple nest cams and I bought these as a cheap alternative. In my opinion they really are not worth the money no matter how cheap you can pick them up, both the cams and app are garbage. I have had no issues with my nest cams period!
****UPDATE*****
Deleting and reloading got Zmodo working again....optimistic
****UPDATE****
After all the “updates”, “bug fixes”, etc. you would think things are getting better but it DOES NOT!!! It just keeps getting WORSE!!!!
ATTENTION!!!! Anyone needing to trust a camera for security or to keep a watchful eye on a loved one (infant, handicapped or elderly) DO NOT USE THIS CAMERA!!!! These are toys at best and CANNOT be relied upon PERIOD!!!
THE MARKET IS FULL OF BETTER CAMERAS!
****UPDATE****
As of 6-6-18, I am pleased with my cameras and Zmodo !! They have become much better and more reliable. For a while it was as if they were abandoned by the developers. Up until now I have had them at one star and would have gave zero or less due to as stated above. I was ready to throw all my this app cams in the trash and actually did throw one away because it just wouldn’t connect anymore. Right now I give 4 stars and can recommend.

by Jeffsp68

I have had my first system for 3 years. Cameras are just starting to get foggy. Could probably clean but replacement cameras are affordable so I’m just replacing. I have purchased one additional system to replace my existing cameras and TWO systems for my church. All the systems were easy to install and get up and working. Don’t get bummed out to quick, once you learn how the software works you will like it. As far as customer service - At first it was a bit frustrating with no manual and no phone number to call, however I have emailed them on several occasions ( help and warranty returns) and EVERY time they respond and are helpful. Usually get the response over night. Returning something usually takes two emails as they try and resolve the issue first. The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is, when you return something, it has been my experience that they send you back something that may have been refurbished. In my experience the replacement is not perfect. But it does work. These small negatives will not stop me from purchasing another system (unless the cost goes way up)

by HonestAbeReviews

Ok first off lemme tell you guys the 1star people have no patience or wasn't willing to throughly test all the outcomes. The camera works and for the price is really works well. Without subscription the camera will stay give updates and such but just not as accurate because it's time locked instead of time framed and sometimes the wind/other stuff kinda mesh together so the recording can be off sometimes. It's to be expected with all cameras not just this app though unless you have it on the cloud.

Zmodo works well and connects but only flaw is that it won't say your cameras connected; it'll just stay on "connecting" then tell you something went wrong when in actuality it's already connected. Nothing too big. The camera itself is way cool and built well. Some of the cam has a speak feature which is way cool. If youre on a budget, I'd recommend this product.

by Karliwally

I’m currently living in the Bronx NY but I also have a house in the Caribbean. I’ve set up cameras at both locations by myself and they work perfectly! I’ve got the 8chan NVR for my house back in the Caribbean and I’m using the subscription for the Bronx. I’m currently tryna figure out how to merge the two so I don’t have to log out to switch locations (since they run on specific WiFi networks I’m not entirely sure it’s feasible but I’ll give it a try!)

My two cents: This is totally worth the money! Zmodo is fabulous. Never had any problems. One camera had problems getting staying connected initially because of range issues but after a couple hours left alone it runs smoothly! This is really a bargain. And, I am a real customer!

Best of luck. Patience. And zink every camera individually!

by Dlm1402

Cameras are good and individual displays are fine but I am very disappointed in recent app changes. At one point Zmodo would display a multiple camera view in real-time and also would let you swipe from camera to camera. Not any more. Not sure why. That was the real value of this app to me. Now searching for cameras and an app that provide those features.

UPDATE: just read an answer to a different review and it addressed my issue. I must have previously had a default regroup that was deleted, and therefore lost my multi-view. Recreated the group and the multi-view and swipe are there. Thanks this app! Wish I knew what happened to lose the grouping, but anyway, the features I previously enjoyed are there. So back to 5 stars!

by CrimsonEcon

I’ve installed a dozen this app cameras at three different locations. Compared to the other cameras I’ve installed (D-Link, Neo, Foscam, Omna, etc.), the this app cameras are the hands-down best in terms of price/performance and reliability. There are some other cameras with better optics and sharper images, but the this app HD cameras are plenty sharp for my needs at a small fraction of the cost, making them a great value, especially if you need multiple cameras. Installation via Zmodo has been super quick and easy with all models of cameras. Zmodo is always upgrading with valuable new features, like the ability to group cameras to view four at once. Zmodo shows short recordings from the past 36 hours any time a camera detects motion, for free (don’t need a paid subscription). There’s no perceptible delay between opening Zmodo and viewing camera feeds (most other brands take 10-45 seconds to establish a connection). And I’ve never had a camera go offline, which is critical since my cameras are in remote locations. Bottom line is that Zmodo and the this app cameras are the best I’ve found. I can’t say why the 1-Star raters have had bad experiences. Zmodo has worked great for me.

by Megmaghersh

All my previous concerns have been fixed!!! Thank you! I love that it gives me 4 displays on the page and I can chose one to view and zoom in on! Thank you! Much much better

(This upgrade has taken the live video feed away from the home page, so it no longer shows all camera feeds live, only have pictures of the "app couch". I tried to label the Chanel's on Zmodo so I'm not guessing what room to look in, and it saved the name, but it does not reflect it on the home page or at the top when selecting the "Channels". If you are in a Channel looking at one room, It no longer allows you to slide from page to page, and you have to close the big screen to go back a page to select the next camera you want to view. We have a stay at home nanny, and it makes this very inconvenient when something is going on and you can't follow the experience. Oh, the live chat is a joke. Log in as a guest..... then it tells you to log in with your app to make the experience better. Why give me the option?..... then no one answered anyway?..... this upgrade is terrible And not user friendly.)