Canary - Smart Home Security Reviews

I’ve used this app for about three years now and there are just consistent issues with Canary . It will stop giving notifications. It will stop loading. It will log you out. It will erase any notification it had. Save yourself the trouble and choose another company. This one isn’t worth the headache.
———————————————————————-
Since the devs responded I’ll say I’ve already reached out to them about Canary and the camera issues and they usually just tell me to restart and reinstall. They’ve provided no useful information for it to stop. Look at the critical reviews and you’ll see. Canary will stop sending notifications, it takes 5+ minutes to get an alert after it happens regardless of which plan you have, they try and entice you by saying you can get a $100 gift card but not giving you a way to bypass that without sending an email, Canary will wipe your videos free or not. The camera will randomly stop working. All this app has is buy a new one, reset the camera by unplugging it, or reinstalling Canary . They don’t care to fix the issues. I’d never pay for an unreliable service.

Don’t believe the high ratings. I’ve been a customer since the beginning. They’ve continued to remove features that were included. I had something trigger the camera at 3:30 this morning and I couldn’t view it at 8. Used to have 24 hours of footage (actually, used to be able to view a month, but they took that feature away and moved it to their premium tier). Now can only view ‘today’ - by what ever the developer defines as today apparently. Also, not sure how the developer got my old review removed, but I suspect that is why their rating is higher now. Removed a lot of negative reviews. After not being able to view my video from just a few hours ago, I’m finally done with this product. Getting something with local storage. Recently set up some Eufy cameras for my mom. Much better picture quality, local storage, and pan capabilities for a fraction of the cost. Going to switch to their products.

After a few years of experience with this app cameras & their service it is time for an upgrade. I will definitely NOT resubscribe to their service nor purchase any of their cameras. Half of the this app cameras I’ve purchased have quit working (hardware failures) and their customer service did absolutely zero to help despite multiple emails. Even while the cameras were physically working, their service (app, features, software) were unstable, buggy, and unreliable. Again, despite multiple customer service emails all that I received were empty promises about fixes and new features that never happened. The only consistent experience with these products & services was a continual decline in overall quality and value. There are too many better alternatives available in the home security camera market to waste money or time on this app. Don’t be fooled by their cool looks or accessories.

So I must have missed the email that said the 24 hour timeline is now only three hours, unless you upgrade to premium. When this app tells me in the middle of the night it detects motion, I better get up to look because by morning, poof!

We are using canaries we bought years ago when the services were all free. We don’t want to just toss them, so the good news is that we can still 1) view LIVE, and 2) view recordings as long as it hasn’t been over 3 hours. We won’t pay for premium because they raised their prices for multiple cameras, and frankly there are better options out there.

As soon as we can no longer view LIVE and/or any recordings, then we’ll toss them. But for now, at least they are useable, free of charge, and for that we are grateful.

I have two homes and used this app cameras in both locations both for security when we are there, but also to keep an eye on the home that we’re not at. The cameras are of good quality and have been up and running for about three years. The initial setup was a little challenging for this non-technical person, but they have run pretty much flawlessly since I installed them. I do not pay for their professional monitoring, but I do pay for the 30 day backup. In the event a crime were committed the backup would help give law enforcement the evidence they’d need and enough time to get it retrieved. I would definitely buy them again.

I’ve written a few reviews about the cameras and app over the years, both Pro and Cons, but finally one of the cameras died… big sigh R.I.P. Time of death was sometime after the occasional wash down of the exterior of my apartment sooo I may have blasted the life out of it. To last that long even without having to have endured years of user abuse would’ve made it a good investment. We have another brand of newer and “higher tech” (but more fragile cameras) already installed but I kept my Canarys functioning as backups because of their solid build. Sooo I bought a new this app camera lol. Thanks this app and Here’s to years more of reliable camera security! Cheers!

Purchased my this app camera when they first came out. As with most new tech they had “growing pains” but when they started cutting services and requiring $ to get back what we had it started going south, now down to a 3 hour history-few second clip it’s now virtually worthless. I understand you can’t make money on the cameras alone and the “paid services” is how you’ll try to make money now but there are many better options available and have been got a long time. I have 2 homes and have purchased a competitors line of cameras that are truly a 4.5 + star competitor. The only reason I keep my this app is to peek in on the dogs I keep in one room when I’m not home but otherwise now just a paperweight. So disappointed, really believed this app was going to be the one to beat, instead they are now the one every other camera does beat.

This used to be a great app and a quality product. In previous versions you could save clips and recordings from your home security camera for a week or so without having to pay for the premium service. This was useful for far more than home security. Was able to save clips of my kids first steps, and reactions to family getting amazing news. Now, unless you go premium, you can only save videos when the system is armed, and they’re only saved for 3 hours. If something happens while you are away from your phone then all the money you spent on your cameras was for nothing. I used to recommend them to everyone, but now I no longer do. Only giving it 2 stars because it used to be a great app.

I bought this camera and it worked fine but over time they have reduced it to become a useless brick by making more and more of the standard features available only as part of a premium membership. I get an alert that there was motion but when i look at the timeline the video never loads. How can they get away with selling a product based on a set of features that they are offering for the purchase price and then remove all the features that the customer paid for until the thing literally sits on a shelf and does nothing?

What a scam!

And it keeps suggesting i pay for a premium membership, but considering how badly it works, never even playing the videos, i wouldn’t give this company more money because the premium features probably don’t work anyway!

This application and camera is amazing I can’t complain about anything other than that man cannot get any better. I love the fact that you can move around so easily through the application and the alerts are always on point. I would recommend us to anybody who is looking to keep their home safe and also keep an eye on their kiddos or on and your love ones including their pets. This camera is worth every penny and it is definitely the most you can get bang for your buck.

Half the time it wants me to log in even though I am logged in. When it realizes I am logged in, it then just shows “Loading latest entry…”. I have waited for up to 10 minutes and nothing happens. On the web browser version, you can see thumbnails of the videos recorded. I have 3 cameras. When you view the thumbnail video, it plays the wrong video from the wrong camera and there is no way to switch to another camera! You can do it on the mobile app, but not the web browser version. Also, if you try to ask for support or help, they use a “ask a question” help menu, but if you can’t find an answer, then there is no escalation path or any email addresses on how to get further support.

At the beginning of August, I was charged for the service. I contacted customer service four days after being charged. I was told that they couldn’t give me a refund. I complained but was ignored. Then, a few days later, one of my cameras described. I contacted support to let them know and that I was heading out of town for a few days. The person who responded gave me instructions on how to reset the camera. I had to explain…again…I was not near the camera. After several days of going back and forth, I was told that I had to pay an additional fee for the second camera. I explained all of the issues with the refund before and said I wanted my money back. I got this response “ I apologize that we're unable to provide a refund in these circumstances.
Your additional device will still work with basic service on the following location:

Another One (9435 S Twenty Mile Rd)

If you have any further questions or require any further assistance going forward, please let me know.

Kind regards,

They take your money and offer poor quality and horrible service. I’ve contacted the BBB.

Before you buy this product, go look at the user community pages. You will find that nobody can figure out how to Cancel a subscription. Once you are subscribed, you are locked in and can never get out without a major hassle.

This group is the usual subscription scam. They put you on subscription and bill your card without telling you, even when you are no longer using their cameras and they know it. There customer service is hostile and abusive. Before you buy this product go online to the this app website and see if you can find a phone number anywhere at all. They hope to never hear from you. Good luck! Nice design, good looking product, but Scam customer service. Beware!

I just moved to my new condo and got things setup again on Internet including my this app cameras . It took a bit to change location and redirect programming from beforehand, however, I like the wide angle inside views and how it auto switches modes to night mode and away when you leave home. For privacy, recording can be set by preferences and can monitor as needed by their online service! What I really liked was being able to monitor my home while away from anywhere!!

Eventually the Flex camera batteries die. They will no longer hold a charge. I am unaware of any battery in a rechargeable device that will last forever. this app must be aware of this — yet they apparently have no solutions for their customers on what the fix is when this happens. Is it possible to replace the Flex battery? Must you buy a new camera? Does this app sell replacement batteries for the Flex.

Why is this app unwilling or unable to address this problem? Your lack of customer support sends a clear message to those pondering which security cameras to buy.

Your total lack of any guidance on this issue is the paragon of corporate arrogance and disdain for your customer base.

I have been a this app premium member for years now. I like how small the cameras are and how easy they are to put up and around the house, however, Canary has been on the decline for years. Buttons no longer work, takes forever to load playbacks, Canary no longer switches to away mode and back to home mode automatically. We constantly have cameras that won’t charge or won’t connect. Customer service takes 3 days to get back to you….. we are looking for other options at this point.

Had 2 this app’s All-inOne in our 2 homes for the last years. Canary certainly has issues and sometimes it works fine, sometimes the temp/ humidity tracking does not work and sometimes it doesn’t work at all.
What’s especially annoying is when the this app does not work at the home we are not and Canary tells you to reboot it! Hard to do, when you are not there!! That’s why most of my this app’s are on a timer and are rebooted once a day. The notification sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t. I am certainly not impressed with it!

Apple TV app is fixed. Happy about that. Overall I’m mostly happy with the product and Canary . Been using it for years for security and evirornmental monitoring. I have some connection problems from time to time but since I’m not sure of the cause I don’t want to reflect my review.

I have this for about 5 years, and later got the flex. I tell Family and Friends to get this app. I Love the Features siren police and talk. I have used all but calling police. I scared the crap out of my rental management. They kept entering without notifications. They know now I’m watching. It’s a comfortable feeling to keep eyes on ur place and environment. Now outside Flex hit and miss recording movements near my porch. I still recommend very good Product.

?? Like what happened. I used to love my this app and randomly after one bad update everything went down hill. It first started beeping randomly , and not being able to connect, and now it just doesn’t work at all . And I’ve tried support and they just say “we’re having issues with IOS devices” , like.. okay? I have nothing BUT IOS devices? It’s also Been MONTHS?? Is there no other way to reset this thing up besides Canary ?? I’m at such a huge loss and I’m so disappointed in how this company has turned out. Just go to Ring. Their customer service actually works.

UPDATE: Don’t buy anything this app. It’s a money-grab in my opinion. We have 5 cameras and nothing ever works. Canary interface is garbage, cameras get shuffled on Canary , can’t scroll video well, crashes, and on and on.

Zero customer service. They respond with canned answers demonstrating they haven’t read your concerns. Just DON’T be foolish, DON’T waste your money.

this app wouldn’t replace my two bad cameras so we bought two more. Hard wired Ethernet. Two different locations. Still make noises- after disconnecting all other wireless anything. Still freezes throughout recordings. No customer service. Made us test over and over and do their QA for them. Going to have AmEx charge back. Been years of issues.

Hello everyone, I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia we have more than ample Wi-Fi high speed Internet here. I continuously have issues connecting to the cameras in my house continuously having issues with Canary on my phone and continuously have to reconnect through my phone. The recorded videos only last approximately 15 seconds and 24 hours hold in the cloud unless you pay a monthly subscription. You also can’t speak through the camera unless you pay a monthly subscription unlike ring.
Moral of the story avoid this company and product all together and stick with ring. Their app is garbage

I love my this app my daughters each have one in their homes. It’s a great little device no one never knows that you have this device within your home. And it’s very stylish it could be well hidden but yet it’s a great Security device I would recommend this app for college students adults and keeping an eye on your seniors thank you have a great day.

I love the new alerts which differentiate movement from people. I have multiple locations and this feature alone filters situations in a meaningful way. When I received an alert that there was a person in my office lobby at 5:00AM, it was a reason of concern. this app is always looking over my shoulder, even when I am not there. Thanks this app!

Don’t bother signing up because of the $99 subscription fee won’t be refunded if you’re not satisfied with performance or service. Don’t worry about customer support because they’re only speak to you over the phone long enough to get you started in an email loop. Just don’t bother and save your funds for a quality security device instead. They also have a class action lawsuit for this very reason. Unauthorized charging of users account without their knowledge. Read the other 1 star reviews to learn more!

I have location permissions set to always, and yet it is not triggering when I come and go from home. I live alone and just came home to my furniture having been moved around after only being gone for an hour, and immediately checked my this app app. It hasn’t been switching between home and away at all today (and for how long before then?!). Absolutely horrified. I have the location switching set to auto, everything is enabled. How can this be so glitchy and completely fail the ONE TIME I NEEDED IT MOST.

Switched internet companies. Cameras worked better with AT&T but since switching to Spectrum go offline multiple times a day. And they seem to come back online if I delete Canary and reinstall. We have other wireless products (nest) that don’t go offline since the switch. We use these cameras to keep an eye on an elderly parent so they have now become completely useless to me. I’m beyond frustrated with this camera system.

I have had this app for several years and it performs very well. Only issue I have had is it periodically does not recognize when I am home and get notifications until I turn it off.