Canary Pro Indoor Security Camera

Trash company. Do not buy their hardware.

Absolute trash company. Originally could view brief video clips for 24 hours for free. Which is why I spent hundreds of dollars on their cameras. Eventually could only view videos for 3/4(?) hours after an app update. Just wanted basic cameras with no monthly subscription.

Now as of a recent update - I CANNOT VIEW EVENT VIDEOS AT ALL on the app unless I “Upgrade to view video clips”. Are they serious? You can no longer view recorded video clips (like if it detected movement when you were gone)- the entire purpose of getting these cameras. They are now forcing you to pay monthly to view recorded clips/events. I can still view cameras live. This company is terrible- DO NOT BUY THEIR CAMERAS.

Inexpensive Option For Keeping An Eye On Things

I've been using this device for a few weeks and it's been working well. The so-called night vision is pretty useless (see first image); however, I can turn on the lamps (remotely) using Alexa and then the view is good (see second image). My only concern is that my network connection is not always up and occasionally it does not restart automatically. Crossing my fingers that the WiFi will be stable while I'm gone.

Never connects... too much hassle

The camera is great WHEN IT WORKS!!! We have had more “no connection” or “untrusted connection” or “unable to connect” messages that this hardly seems worth the hassle! We’ve always been in a secured WiFi network too so this makes no sense. Zero (and I mean zero) customer service assistance either!!!

The give you a FAQ page only it never solves the issue you’re dealing with. No direct number to contact.... oh but you can email them only to NOT receive a reply.

Like I said- it’s slick when it works. But our 2 cameras have NOT worked more than they have. Overall- not an awesome system.

Taurus

February 26, 2020

The best

I love it it's like no other you must have one in your home I'm back to let you know how much I really like this cam my heater fan got stuck and because of this cam telling me my air quality it let me know something was wrong when I got home i fond it was my heater if not for this my house would of been in trouble thank you so much for this cam

Mimositas

February 16, 2020

Absolutely am must for home security

I’m an absolute fan of Canary security cams . As always they are making improvements and it is fantastic for home security. All in one camera 🎥- status updates and night vision . The upgrade allows two way talk and longer recording time. I would like to see higher camera resolution in the future. Also works internationally so you can bring your cam with you adding vacation security just add WiFi connection.

I have used these cameras for years and I have had zero issues- highly recommend!!

Daigs

December 27, 2019

Decent Option For The Price - Needs HomeKit Support, however.

I bought this because it was more than 50% off MSRP. It's a good device. Looks sleek, picture and audio are pretty decent. Set-up was simple as well.

My only complaint is that despite years of Canary saying they plan to add HomeKit support, they still haven't. For less than $50, it's still a viable home security option. The experience is refined and polished it's just missing that one thing.

Ashley Monge

October 3, 2019

USE PROMO CODE FOR CANARY PREMIUM MEBERSHIP

I LOVE this camera! It records every motion or just ppl. You can set it up how you like! Siren works and it’s very loud! I don’t know why it has so many bad reviews anyways if you decide to try it out? To secure your home I recommend you buy the whole one year membership for $99 but if you use this (promo code: members50off6 ) you’ll get it for $49.50 or if you only want it to try for only one month for $9.99 you’ll only pay $4.99 with that same code! HURRY... and apply this promo code before it’s too late!

Click the HELPFUL button to know if the Promo Code worked for you! I hope you like saving money like me! Cheers!!

Definitely not new

I've used this system in the past, so this isn't exactly about the product. It is about the condition of the product when it arrived. This package came just as seen in the pictures. It has a sticker claiming it to be new, but I have my doubts.

Biggest bang for the buck!

We got canary because we felt we needed to see what was going on. We also liked it because we could see our dogs. Never thought we would catch someone breaking into our home. Without this amazing and clear camera we would have never caught the guy. The sound quality and picture were fantastic. The cops were amazed at the quality as well.

1:50

dex

March 7, 2018

No cloud member ship but you can upgrade. Will ...

No cloud member ship but you can upgrade. Will send you notification within a minute if he detected a movement. I needed to buy an extension as the one they have is too short.

Peace of mind for family and pets

I recently got the Canary security system. The set up was easy and instructions simple. The design is sleek and blends in with the decor. My main reason for getting it was to keep an eye on my dogs while I am at work. I like the speaking function, which has proved both useful and entertaining. The first time I tried to talk to my dog, he came right up to the camera! Another time, I caught my Lab climbing up on the furniture and told him to get off and he listened. The picture quality is excellent. Photos are of my Berner when I started to talk to him. The home health feature is good, and valuable to help monitor the temperature in the house, during various weather conditions. The ability to switch the recording on and off when you want is key. While watching some of the timeline videos, and seeing myself walk into the house, I noticed my posture. The Canary has made me aware of my posture and I am conscience now and have been trying to walk and stand up straighter. Who knew a security system could help improve my posture. I have never had the app freeze or crash. The Canary gives me piece of mind not only with my pets but overall security. I am very satisfied with this system. I would highly recommend the Canary for someone looking for a security system.

Don’t buy. Abilities are slowly going from free to paid.

This used to be great. I was able to record movement and watch live from different modes for free. Now you have yo pay a subscription if you want to do anything. Which is a load of bull because I paid a lot for the services when I bought the equipment. Now they want you to pay again to use the stuff you already were using. Extortion if you ask me. The ONLY reason I still have if plugged in, is to measure the air quality. At least that’s still free.

Unless they give us back what was already ours, then do no buy one. You will regret it.

Perfect modern security camera

Great product all around. I had been searching all through the internet and in gadget stores, yet nothing I found fit the bill like this one. The Canary has everything I was looking for. It's small in size and has an incredibly sleek appearance. You can set it up almost anywhere and it blends right in (might even add a decorative touch, for some). I placed mine on my fireplace mantle and it looks great! The set up is incredibly easy, you just plug it in and download the app. The app offers you a real time view of your home - with a wide angle lens - whenever, and you can set it to "nighttime" and "away" modes for it to alert you when motion has been detected. It also records footage automatically, allows you to actually talk through the camera if there is an intruder, and it can notify emergency services if you find necessary. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. Everything I was looking for in a security device. I purchased Canary because had concerns that my babysitter had been slacking off when she was supposed to be watching the children. Using the Canary, I was able to check-in on her, LIVE, over my phone. And just as I suspected she was not doing her job, that little lazy bitch. I'm incredibly satisfied with it so far, and have already recommended it to my friends and family.

Completely satisfied Canary customer!

Extremely pleased with my Canary! Wanted to get a small home security monitor to have in my apartment and was looking into a few brands. I was recommended to check out Canary and have to say it was simple to order and even simpler to install. Took no more than 2 minutes to set up the device and the app. No permanent installation needed. Live stream works great and the ability to add more devices later is flexible. May look into getting an outdoor camera to add on.

Still love my Canary

This is my second Canary device after purchasing my first almost a year ago from another retailer. Canary continues to be one of the easiest products I’ve had to setup, and I am not very technically savvy. I use the original Canary to watch over my home while I was away. At the time my house was on the market, and many people were walking in and out. I had peace of mind knowing that I could watch over what was going on. This new one is going to be used to watch my new grandson while he’s napping in the other room.

I did purchase the paid membership plan (at a discount) as I want the two way talk feature and 30-days of video history. I’ve seen a lot of the recent negative reviews due to Canary’s recent change of what’s offered for free but I understand that this is a business and I want to continue to support Canary as it has given me peace of mind for so long.

Happy Mom

I'm pretty techy and here's what I found super dope about Canary:

Easy setup, like beyond idiot proof!

Great picture quality, check out my pic.

Temperature, humidity, and air quality monitoring feature.

We feel safe and secure now that we have this little piece of technology. Plus I love tuning in while at work to see my kids!

The camera comes with a lot of great features for free, but we're considering a membership depending on what we think after a few more months use.

Canary makes me feel safe!

I love Canary. I decided to purchase this second device after receiving my first one from my husband as a gift. Our first one is in the living room which has a good view of most entrances into our home. This new Canary is going in my daughters playroom so I can keep an eye on her while she is playing and I'm upstairs. They also recently updated their software so watching live video is much faster now!

I signed up for their paid membership so I can use the two-way talk feature to talk to my daughter while she plays. I know this is a feature that some competitors offer for free but I also want the longer video recording and the cost really is competitive compared to others out there.

I also just bought a Google Home and noticed Canary announced an integration with it so I'm excited to check that out.

Great product, but company doesn't do a good job with information dispersion

I really like this product. It is easy to set up, and works fantastically. I accidentally destroyed the cord because I'm a clumsy fool, but luckily it fits a (somewhat) standard cell phone charger. I do wish I could buy a replacement cord, but that's my own fault. I'm fine with paying $9.99 a month for cloud storage, but I do wish they told you it was an extra $5/mo when you add a flex, so be aware of that. Only reason that it's not 5 stars is because they didn't explain the extra charge.

Fanciest most expensive paper weight I’ve ever owned!

A die hard Canary fan for over a year, I even purchased an additional Flex unit to keep an eye on our front yard. However, as of October 2017 Canary has disabled all key features of their devices behind a $180 per year membership fee. Gone are the 24 hours of free cloud-based storage, night monitoring, and a full record of activity captured by the motion-activated camera. The only remaining function is to watch events live; good luck if someone decides to break into your home and harm your family, Canary has the night off.

I bought this device because the marketing materials and product description explicitly promising “No monthly contracts or fees”; classic bait and switch.

The App has Click-Bait Advertising!!!! #@&$!!!

They’ve taken away recordings, no longer even show a photo or timeline. NOW CLICK BAIT in the app of a home security product!!! I uninstalled the app and took a hammer to the camera.

Update: Canary is citing their “competition” as a reason for removing features from existing customers. Buyer beware! They’ve now done this multiple times making my camera useless for the purposes I bought if for. Of course I can pay $100 a year to get some of the features back. And I’m confident that they will raise their prices.

When I purchased the Canary, it did exactly what I was looking for - monitored our house while we were away and when we were asleep at home. It would record video when it detected motion and send us motion alerts - all part of the free plan. In October 2017 they're revising their plan so that you have to subscribe to a membership plan to have full video recording and night mode for alerts when you're sleeping. If these features were not available when I bought the product, I wouldn't have purchased it.

I think it's lousy that they're changing their plan and not offering a buy back option if you no longer want the device.

Al Sargent

July 23, 2017

Fragile, frustrating installation process, and lots of false positives

Here's my frustrating experience going through the Canary installation process. (For context, I'm fairly technical, and was formerly a developer and sysadmin, so I'm used to working through technical problems.)

1. I started going through the standard installation process, and paired the Canary with my phone over Bluetooth using the App, and by pressing the button the Canary to get it to blink blue.

2. Then I was asked for my wifi password. I walked *with my phone* to another part of the house to get the wifi password.

3. When I stepped away, the Canary app told me it that I was out of range and that the Bluetooth connection had dropped. No worries, I thought. After all, good Bluetooth software always automatically reestablishes the connection when you’re back in range.

4. I got the wifi password, plugged it into the Canary app.

5. But then I couldn't re-establish the connection over Bluetooth.

6. I tried pairing with the yellow audio cable but that didn't help either.

7. So now I have a Canary that couldn't connect to my phone.

8. I kept quitting the Canary app, turning off the Canary, and pressing the button on top to get it to blink blue. After several unsuccessful tries, I eventually go it to work.

So, net-net, eventually everything got sorted out, and I can see live home video on my Canary app.

But it's very unfortunate that the Canary developers didn't consider the use case above -- paired device, step out of range of bluetooth, then come and fill in WiFi password -- and accommodate it in their code. As it stands now, Canary has a very fragile installation process.

Additionally, Canary gives a lot of "false positive" alerts when I'm in away mode. For instance, when the angle of the sun changes ever so slightly. But that's not super annoying.

Defective from the start.

The camera had significant connectivity issues and failed to provide reliable motion detection. My Nest camera didn't have any connectivity issues even when I couldn't get the Canary camera to load. I felt like I spent a majority of the day just opening the app and hoping the camera would load. Sadly, more often than not, it didn't load. Even with the Canary camera plugged into the ethernet cable, it's still had connectivity issues.

2nd the IR lights never would turn on. They would occasionally flicker and then just stop working altogether. What's the point of having a night vision camera, if it doesn't actually record at night? PS there is also no way to manually turn on or turn off the infrared lights. It is incredibly frustrating and provide a substantial glare if you were trying to use this camera to look out a window or to protect the doorway.

3rd there is no way to compare your Air/Temp/Humidty charts for any period longer than 24hrs. Charts are great but what's the point if you can't compare them to historical data?? I had purchased this to try and keep track of the allergen levels in my apartment, but the sensor only gives you a vague reading and it doesn't show any useful data.

4th, I was really really excited for this product and let down in a way that has left me feeling severely disappointed. It's been frustration since I opened it. The servers were down when I try to sign up. The timeline video only records in motion so there's no way to review it to see if there was a camera failure. I've had difficulty getting support.

Long story short, do yourself a favor and just get a different camera that has proven reliability. Don't get let down like I was.

Better than others I have used.

Love this camera. Few false reads and reliable

It is nice knowing that I have a digital record of anyone entering my home while I am gone. My only concern is that the notification on my phone is instantaneous and often overlooked. The sound on my phone should be loud, clear and long in duration

0:20

cleartechnowdotcom

November 28, 2016

40k of Computer Equipment stolen. Canary was "offline." This product has a fatal flaw: no internal video recording. W/P…

The night our office was robbed the canary conveniently went offline. We installed our canary and it operated perfectly for two days. I would check in from home and see that everything was alright in my office. The night of the robbery the canary went "offline." This is the worst thing to happen to my family business in 10 years. I have no video footage of the act. Here's the fatal flaw of the Canary, there is no onboard video recording, the device must be connected to the internet to work in any capacity.

This is such a serious oversight I can't believe it. When you browse the canary website, they are clearly a technology company first. They relish talking about the geekery of their product: the bluetooth, the motion alerts, air quality? blah blah; it's a good sell. But when it comes to the SECURITY there is very little substance on the website (a few buried articles in the help section). Wouldn't it be wonderful if this stupid device didn't need to stay on the internet and could record to internal memory if it was knocked offline? It can't. Wouldn't it be nice if it had an internal Li-Pro battery that could keep it running when the power goes out? It doesn't.

FLAWS:

Canary's site says when motion is detected the device notifies you, so then you can look and decide to call the cops. That's great if the thieves decide to rob you at 6pm when you've got your phone close by, but unfortunately most people are sleeping when they are robbed. There is no automated defense options. and, for people who habitually leave their phone in another room, forget it.

You can't set it to sound the alarm on first unusual activity detection. No standalone automation.

As mentioned, if the power or internet go out, you're SOL. No internal battery or video memory storage.

No door/window triggers.

The iPhone app has a BUG, when you toggle the app to set the Canary to "Away" mode (more strict motion notification), it often doesn't change and you have to repeat the process 2+ times, if it ever changes (i gave up sometimes when it just wouldn't do it).

CONCLUSION

This product is designed for tech dorks (like me) who are unlikely to ever get robbed in the first place (not me), and want another useless piece of BLUETOOTH enabled garbage that will allow them to spy on their pets.

Amazing Camera!

When I ordered this I was so excited to see if it was a decent system and well I wasn't let down! This thing is so nice. The video quality it records in is great. The night vision is really great! It is a little smaller than I expected but that's ok it's compact and very nice looking. The unit itself I have had no problems with And love it 100%. But the one thing they need to work on is the app. It has a lot of bugs, it crashes a lot, etc. for example I'll try to set it to private mode and the App will crash... but then when I go back in it will be private . Not a huge deal but I'd like to select something and not have it crash on me. To me all is good! The app just needs some fixing :) Good product.

UPDATE 9/12/17: They have made some nice updates to the app/system... for 1 they have fixed some bugs in the app itself so you see fewer crashes and all that. But the major thing they changed on the app/system is the new Talk Feature!!! I didn't have that when I first bought my Canary but now that's it's here it's super nice. Keep in mind you have to have their subscription to have the Talk feature along with the 30 day timeline, etc. I did just buy the subscription today for $10/month to try it out and it seems pretty cool... mainly I'll only use the talk feature and maybe the 30 day timeline but I can't stress how nice it is to be able to talk to whatever/whoever is by the camera. My pets will do something they aren't supposed to be doing and I can very easily talk into my phone and have it come out the cameras end to get my pets attention. The person on the other end can talk back as well if you didn't know that. Again I love this system and plan to order the smaller canary for outdoor use! Very good product definitely recommend to anyone that's looking for a security camera and not wanting to put a giant whole in their pocket! :)

UPDATE 9/19/17: While it's a good camera it always disconnects and reconnects over and over again (I attached a screenshot to this) but I'm not sure if it's me and where my camera is located or not but it's quite annoying at times. I may just hard wire it and hope for no disconnections. It's a great camera as I said eairler in this review but the whole disconnecting thing is aggravating.

KC Olsen

September 8, 2016

Good product one fault in my opinion so far still learning about it

as stated in the item description it was very easy to install video quality is great you can even zoom in with your fingers on the screen to see better.

I would of given it 5 stars however the notification system sends a message to you as a notification on my iPhone. I get over 20 notices from sports scores etc and its very easy to miss that someone is in your house, would be great if it was a text so you would see u have a new message with the notifications it just goes into a long list unless you check it all the time otherwise a good buy

Update

Under the free version it only saves video Gor 24 hours so if u want to view something that happened over 24 hours ago your out of luck unless you pay 100 per year a little disappointing

Good inexpensive home security...

Nice security device for the money. You don't have to arm and unarmed this system every time you leave your home... It does the work for you based on your smart phone's location. The wide angle camera lens allows me to see both entrances of my small home and most of the living room, kitchen, and rec room areas. If motion is detected while armed, Canary will alert my smartphone and send a video clip of that motion giving me the option of sounding an alarm at home or calling emergency service (police, fire, etc), or flag that motion so Canary can learn what it is. It looks like a small Bluetooth speaker sitting on your desk or bookshelf and installation is a snap. Almost forgot, it monitors temperature, humidity and air quality too. I recommend Canary for those looking for a good inexpensive home security system.

jhwhiteh

February 10, 2016

The best All-In-One Security Solution on the Market Today!

Update 17OCT17

The Canary has been a steller performer for me this past year. I have changed wireless network gear a few times and reconfiguring it to access the new network was a breeze. The quality of the night-vision still amazes me! What a great product!

The Canary is the best all-in-one solution available today! When I decided to purchase an All-in-one security solution for my home, I couldn't decide what to buy so I bought the Canary and the Piper to compare them against one another. After a detailed comparison, I discovered the following...

Pros

The camera on the Canary is far superior during the day.

The night mode is fantastic as shown below and the PIPER DOES NOT HAVE A NIGHT CAMERA unless you spend $80 more than the Canary.

The timeline is much more intuitive and, unlike the Piper, there's not a 15 second break between alerts and the next set of recordings.

The Canary is much more aesthetically pleasing and, in addition, does not stand out and draw attention to itself for what it is intended to do.

The wide angle camera covers my entire living room when situated correctly.

The setup was far easier than with the Piper and the audio cable setup is ingenious!

The air quality monitor is a nice advantage.

The power cable is very long and allows for strategic placement.

The status light ring at the bottom is a nice plus.

Ethernet connectivity is a nice feature I utilized instead of the wireless setup.

Cons

Only the Piper has a "loud noise alert" which I discovered to be very handy in alerting me when my dogs go at one another or there's some other disturbance in the house not necessarily related to movement. It allows the event to stand out and that's a nice feature for sure.

I can talk through the Piper unit when away from home to tell the dogs to knock it off or to communicate with my family of need be. Nice feature not available on the Canary

There's no battery backup if power is lost with the Canary. Piper has battery backup. I have it plugged into my UPS to ensure it operates if I lose power for a period of time.

Overall, my use proved the Canary immediately fostered a feeling of positivism and trust. This was due in part to the easy setup and rock solid performance. The Piper was difficult to setup and would not record event after event unless I enabled the auto-rearm feature which makes no sense to me as a technical person. I highly recommend the Canary to anyone who wants to secure their apartment or home and have ease of use and intuitive design. Perhaps you will find, like I did, a number of additional uses for the Canary than just a passive security system.

As a side note... most of the independent reviews on YouTube and other sites indicate you cannot download videos, etc. These are early reviews not indicative of features currently available. You can indeed download videos and features will be added over time I imagine to make the Canary more and more valuable for the owner. Pictures below are real images extracted from my phone:

**Update**

I have thoroughly tested the Canary and found it to be exceptional. It automatically arms the unit when I leave home and alerts me via push messaging when there's an issue. I also launched it on my iPad Air 2 and watched the camera live, in pitch black darkness no less, and was presented with a wonderfully clear video which I left running for 2 hours. During the 2 hours I had it running, it never dropped video nor did it hiccup in any way. If asked, I can't think of anything else I'd add to this device besides the loud noise alert. The Canary is so very rock solid it's very much worth your consideration.

This is genuine customer review.

Great first impression

Initial impression is excellent. Unit is smaller than i expected and sits nicely on a counter, desk or other flat surface, and most importantly is innocuous. Fit and finish is clean and professional.

I really like the way video is uploaded and segments are available via a timeline.

Did not have an issue with the motion detector although i do not have pets.

I plan on posting updates. I just pre ordered a 2 pack. Price is very appropriate for the quality of the product.

Keep shopping!

Don't waste your time or your money. They advertise this as a monthly fee free product...it is & it isn't. The system keeps limited recording, twelve (12) hours for free. If you want more time to view your recordings, you have to pay a fee.

I was fine with the fee. It is substantial less than a monthly alarm company monitoring fee, but there are other problems. Within less than twenty-four (24) of activating the system it went off line. The system was set-up following the simply directions and it appeared to be working correctly. However, in the middle of the night, less than twelve (12) hours after setting up the system it malfunctioned.

It is giving the error, "Unable to connect at this time" It has been giving this same error for nearly 8 hours now. I uninstalled the app and followed all the directions/steps on the help FAQ page. Yet the error has not been cleared. I am returning the system for a full refund. I DO NOT have time to "babysit" a system that is supposed to be protecting me, my family and my home.