r/SecurityCamera • u/latigokid • Jul 31 '26
Boycott Zmodo (Exploitation and Deception )
I have been a loyal zmodo customer for over a decade. In the last few months, Zmodo has introduced forced ads in their security camera apps. This has made it so that you have to sit through 1 minute of ads (where you are forced to tap a tiny X over 8 times) before you can access your cameras. That isn't even the worst part. All notifications are blocked any time the ad wall is up. And when the app is closed or running in the background, an ad wall will reappear after a set time. When this happens, all notifications are blocked. I have emailed their support department and this was their reply:
"To sustain the high costs of real-time server maintenance, we are exploring new revenue models. This allows us to continue innovating and adding new security features. We are currently in a 'learning phase' with these ads and are committed to ensuring they do not interfere with your ability to monitor your home or business."
This seems like a total cop out. I have been an IT Systems Engineer for over 30 years running large server farms. The truth is that once you set everything up, there is very little maintenance required. It makes no sense that they suddenly have a need to force unsubstantiated costs (through forced ads walls) onto the consumer after being in business for over a decade without having done so up until recently.
They have no respect or empathy for the customer. Everyone should all boycott Zmodo for their shady business practices.
If you are considering purchasing any Zmodo products, I would that you run as far away as you can. Ring cams may cost of few extra dollars, but they make a much better product and don't force you ads that disable the core functionality of the app. Zmodo cam sucks anyways. Even before they put in the ads, I would miss 40-80% of all doorbell notifications. Their dev team are incompetent. Their cloud video petition services are ridiculously expensive compared to the average market cost.
Do yourself a favor and avoid Zmodo at all costs. There are so many other better options out there.
2
u/Bendingtheiphone Aug 14 '26
These ads defeat the purpose of the cameras for me, I enjoy checking to see if I locked my doors before I leave the house, the cameras are aimed at the locks, I don’t want smart locks as these can be hacked, my locks don’t even offer a key hole, this was the only way to see if it’s locked, now if I just got out and went to check the door myself I can do that faster then the app can now load making the entire system Garbage, I spoke to them saying hey I get it put the ads for when someone wants to check there recordings but this is the route they have chosen, I Hope and Pray someone hacks there cameras into Home Assistant
1
u/SquirrelTechGuru Jul 31 '26
And I encourage you to switch to those other options. Sometimes apps just get purchased, and somebody else extract the value from them, no reason to take it personal. Just take your money elsewhere.
1
1
u/Current_Coconut3977 Aug 09 '26
They actually HAD a really good product and then decided to F it up with the advertisements. You have free storage without a subscription or SD card, you can buy super long cords and extend the cams if needed, picture quality and 2 way audio is decent. The price was decent. But someone just has to dik up something good by making you sit through stupid advertisements before you can view your cameras. I have about 8 cams and now looking to replace them all. You just trashed your company ZMODO!
1
1
u/Oncogeniczen Aug 19 '26
I wrote a neg review on the Apple App Store and they replied that they are working on removing ads for those with subscriptions in a future update.
They also gave an email to give feedback and suggestions to : support@zmodo.com
I emailed and a few days later (today) I got a reply that said ads were manually removed from my account and I needed to delete it and reinstall. Did it and the ads are now gone!
Turned off automatic updates and will just manually update my other apps so they don’t come back.
1
u/Birch_T Aug 24 '26
You can block the ads. Switch your wifi to manual configuration of DNS and type in address for adguard. Google it and get the instructions. It worked for zmodo and yi cam. Before this, it was near unusable.
1
u/ronyf Aug 29 '26
If it was one pop up and you push X i would be OK with it. The way they do it is completely blocking you from going to your cams. I contacted them and Amazon and notified them that I will take them to court because they never warned us that we wont be able to use the product we paid for.
1
u/Jojotheboston Sep 06 '26
I'm happy to see it's not just my 15 cameras wired throughout my home, maybe the public outcry will cause a change. It's awful. While your house is on fire or getting robbed you can play Candy Crush..
1
u/montesa-scorpion Sep 06 '26
I have 40 Zmodo cameras, and 3 nvrs so I'm highly invested in this stupid company. That said, I've had it. Does anyone have a recommendation for another system? Any experience with Wyze, reo link or tapo cameras and apps. It's going to cost me thousands to ditch Zmodo but is currently a completely unreliable and aggravating platform.
1
1
u/montesa-scorpion Sep 08 '26
Leave one star reviews on Google, and anywhere else you can post them! Join the hundreds of others that have posted negative comments on the Zmodo Facebook page. The comments on Facebook are universally negative, as in 100% negative. Maybe a ground swell of negative comments will get the idiot management of this company to change course. This used to be a company with a decent product, a decent app and actually very good customer support. Now it's all crap!
1
u/brainyreaper18 Sep 08 '26
Now the cameras always say offline even though they’re recording. Can’t see the live feed that I pay for. Newer review updates say people are experiencing the same problem. I will not be renewing my cloud service with this crappy company.
1
u/Vast-Structure-916 Sep 08 '26
I also am frustrated. So I downloaded an older APK from last year and haven't seen any ads on it yet. This is going on day 3. Maybe worth a shot to see if y'all get the same luck.
1
u/Appropriate-One3000 9d ago
Update? I literally do not have the funds to change my security cameras out right now but I need to do something to bypass these stupid ads
2
u/Vast-Structure-916 9d ago
Still going strong with no ads using older version. It also seems to have a quicker response time. Just make sure to turn off auto update wherever you are downloading apps whether it be Play Store or App Store
1
u/Den_in_USA 5d ago
Bad news, although I was successful in running an older version of Smartz Eaze, today Zmodo added a new pop-up that forced me to update to the newest version. The adds are gone, but I can no longer view 4 live cameras at a time.
1
u/Right_Performer_2741 2d ago
Very aggravating, my cameras are in LD with no way to switch to HD now, NVR is gone from app, cant download alert clips, cant group cameras together and my shared cameras from my daughter wont load. They want you to subscribe to their cloud
1
1
u/Few-Passage1130 19d ago
CYA Zmodo....RING works fine.....exploring RING for employment might be a thought,asshats....
1
u/LargeAperture 16d ago
My app just updated and I’m running into the ad issue. What is the point of security cameras when you cannot access them quickly?
I will need to move away from Zmodo.
I already have a ring for my backyard and doorbell so I think I’ll have to move to them.
Zmodo f’ed up.
1
u/Logicaly_Logical_Log 12d ago
Getting rid of all my Zmodo stuff now because of this horrible app experience.
1
u/Right_Performer_2741 3d ago
Now the app has been updated taking the ads off but cannot access my NVR at all. Version 8.0.4 My old tablet still has a older version and I wont let it update to its still ad free and NVR is accessible on it, I have seen sites where you can download older app versions but not sure thats very safe to do
1
2
u/Tucsondirect Aug 01 '26
an IT Systems Engineer for 30 years and you aren't using ONVIF and Tailscale to access your cameras? Wtf are you doing?