Perhaps the messaging and UX of the app are subpar? Saying the comments are subpar for HN kind of makes me wonder if I am subpar for not knowing how to use a cheap app - So I looked closer...

There is a view playback "button" - a large one, you are right. However I expected such a button / feature to be accessible near the top or view menus.. the view playback 'button' sort of looks like a title bar imho - especially when it appears while you are watching a video clip.. maybe if it was moved, more rounded, had a shadow.. I dunno.

Maybe I've clicked it before and did not see much there? I just did it again. It doesn't show much.. and if I look REAL close - there are a couple of faint light green slivers where - wow - some video clips play if you scroll right on them..
I've never noticed this before - It seems to work as you describe..

but there is nothing really showing me that it is coming from my local sd card - it's confusing, are these from the cloud?

I was expecting a list of thumbnails with time stamps next to them, length of clips and tap to save / tap to delete.. not expecting much - but certainly did not find what I was looking for before.

Now that you've shown me where it is, I'm glad it's there - but I definitely desire to find something that has a better lay out.

The 'view playback' should be on other screens as well - and they should use the sd card icon in more places than the stop screen of cloud playback or whatever it is. imho - not a UX expert yet.

"You can sign up for Cam Lite for free and end up with MORE functionality than before (person detection, longer clips, etc). You don't even need to provide a payment method, you just have to get past their pop-up guilting you into paying to cover the storage costs."

- How confusing.. and no I don't want MORE functionality for a small fee or free - I don't want person detection (and would only use such a feature if it was disconnected from the internet / only using onboard processing / storage - I would trust netatmo.com 's cam with this, not many others) - I don't want more of my video stored in anyone's cloud. I hate the nag screen of 'share this clip to make our AI better' - I don't want to be guilted into anything.

"Local storage is not going away. Local playback via SD card is still fully supported. Only the event clips which are stored in the cloud are "going away"."

-This is not very clear in the messaging. Here is the message on my main screen now:
"3 days left to keep video recording and gain Person Detection. Opt in now."

To me, this sounds like a cheap company about to brick the products unless they can raise money by getting people to opt in to sharing data and money.

I would add a message assuring everyone that local SD card storage will still function.. but the message says "3 days left to keep video recording..."

Sorry that my confusion and subsequent posts seem subpar for HN - maybe the youth of today click and tap more with all these apps and use serendipity to discover how they work. Frankly I am happy to find another brand that is easier on my eyes and brain, luckily it seems there are plenty of options these days.

When I chose wyze, it having local storage was one of the reasons I tried it - they keep pushing for cloud stuff and I will keep running for other options.

Serendipitously, I recently stumbled upon a kasa tplink cam system with local SD card storage; on display at my local ace hardware - and then I also find them at best buy.. and the price is not bad.. so I'm going to be giving their system a try. Their app may be just as bad as wyze's is - and if so I will feel meh about the software but not cry because the price, like the wyze is easy throwaway/giveaway without a tear shed.

I can look again at reolink, nightowl systems, arlo, and even Eufy or something as well - I'm guessing someone has down a roundup of local storage cams recently?

"You can also find OSS firmware that you can easy flash onto them that removes all the cloud features and keeps everything local. " - I may look into this more - would be nice to have an option for it to connect to an app that does not need the parent company's servers and such as well, although it may save time just finding something else that is already setup that way I guess.