You open the Wyze app, tap the Events tab — and it’s empty. Someone walked past your camera an hour ago, but there’s no clip, no thumbnail, nothing. The camera is online, the live view works, but it just won’t record.
A Wyze camera that won’t record events is almost always a settings problem, not a broken camera. Event recording depends on a chain — detection on, subscription active, storage available — and if any link breaks, the Events tab stays empty. Work through these 7 fixes in order.
Fix #1: Turn Event Recording Off and Back On
The quickest fix, and it works more often than it should — a stuck setting just needs a refresh:
- Open the Wyze app → tap your camera.
- Tap the Settings gear (top right) → Event Recording.
- Make sure Detects Motion is toggled ON. If it’s already on, toggle it OFF, wait 10 seconds, and toggle it back ON.
- Do the same for Detects Sound if you want sound-triggered events.
Now walk in front of the camera, wait a minute, and check the Events tab (the calendar icon at the bottom of the app). If a clip appears, you’re done.
Fix #2: Check Detection Settings and Sensitivity
If event recording is on but the camera still misses things, the detection itself needs tuning:
- In the camera’s Settings → Detection Settings.
- Raise the sensitivity slider — if it’s set very low, the camera ignores real motion. Start around the middle and test by walking past.
- Check the Detection Zone — if a zone is set, make sure it actually covers the area where motion happens. A zone pointed at the sky records nothing.
- For Wyze Cam Outdoor, check that motion detection is enabled in the camera’s settings — the PIR sensor needs to be active for events to trigger.
Too-high sensitivity causes endless clips of shadows and branches, so find the middle ground after it starts recording.
Fix #3: Verify Your Subscription Status
This one catches a lot of people — cloud event recording is tied to your plan:
- Open the Wyze app → Account (bottom right) → Services.
- Check that your subscription (Cam Plus or similar) is active and assigned to the right camera. A subscription assigned to a different camera won’t help this one.
- If your plan recently expired or a payment failed, cloud events stop — renew or reassign, then test again.
Note: on free cloud plans, short cooldown periods between recorded events are normal — back-to-back motion may not each produce a clip. If you need every event captured, that’s what a subscription or local SD recording is for.
Fix #4: Check the microSD Card (Local Recording)
If you record to a microSD card instead of (or as well as) the cloud, a bad card silently kills recording:
- In the camera’s Settings → Advanced Settings → Manage microSD Card. Check the card is recognized and has free space.
- If it shows errors or isn’t recognized, power off the camera, remove the card, and power back on. If cloud events start working, the card was the problem.
- Reformat the card in the app (this erases it), or replace it with a new high-endurance microSD card — regular cards wear out fast under constant video writing.
- Confirm Record to microSD Card is enabled and set to Events Only or Continuous, whichever you want.
Fix #5: Update the Firmware and the App
Buggy firmware is a classic cause of recording that “just stopped”:
- Wyze app → Account → Firmware Update. If your camera shows an update, install it and don’t unplug during the process.
- Update the Wyze app itself from your phone’s app store — an old app can fail to display or trigger events correctly.
- After updating, restart the camera (unplug 30 seconds, plug back in) so the new firmware loads cleanly.
Fix #6: Power Cycle the Camera and Check WiFi
A camera struggling to stay connected can’t upload events reliably:
- Unplug the camera for a full 30 seconds, then plug it back in. Wait 2 minutes for it to fully reconnect.
- Check the signal: camera → Settings → Device Info → Signal Strength. One bar means the camera is barely hanging on — move it closer to the router or strengthen your 2.4GHz signal.
- Remember the Wyze Cam v3 and most Wyze cameras connect on 2.4GHz WiFi only — a recent router change can silently break the connection.
If the camera keeps dropping offline entirely, that’s a deeper connectivity problem — see our guide on the Wyze Cam v3 keeps going offline issue for the full walkthrough.
Fix #7: Factory Reset the Camera (Last Resort)
When every setting looks right and nothing records, wipe it and start over:
- With the camera plugged in, press and hold the setup button (on the bottom of most models) for about 10 seconds, until you hear “ready to connect.”
- In the Wyze app, tap + → Add Device → Cameras → your model, and run setup again on your 2.4GHz WiFi.
- Redo your detection and event recording settings afterward — take screenshots first if you can.
Still no events after a fresh setup? Contact Wyze support with your camera model, firmware version, and a description of what you’ve tried — at this point it may be a hardware fault.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my Wyze camera not recording to the SD card?
Usually the card itself: not recognized, full, corrupted, or not a high-endurance card. Check it in Settings → Advanced Settings → Manage microSD Card (Fix #4), reformat it, and confirm “Record to microSD Card” is actually enabled. If the camera doesn’t see the card at all, try a different card before assuming the camera is broken.
Do I need a subscription for Wyze event recording?
For cloud event clips, yes — you need an active plan assigned to the camera (Fix #3). Without one, you can still record locally to a microSD card with “Record to microSD Card” enabled. Local recording works even with no subscription at all.
Why did my Wyze camera stop recording events all of a sudden?
The usual suspects: an expired subscription, a firmware update that reset settings, a dead SD card, or the camera quietly losing its WiFi connection. Work through Fix #3 (subscription), Fix #5 (firmware), and Fix #6 (power cycle + WiFi) — one of those covers nearly every “it just stopped” case.
Why are some events missing but others recorded?
That’s usually detection sensitivity or the detection zone (Fix #2) — the camera only records what its sensor considers motion. Raise the sensitivity, widen the zone, and remember that short cooldowns between cloud events are normal on free plans, so rapid back-to-back motion won’t always produce separate clips.
The Bottom Line
A Wyze camera that won’t record events is almost never broken — it’s a toggle that flipped off, an expired subscription, a tired SD card, or a shaky WiFi connection. Start with the simple refresh (toggle event recording off and on), then check detection settings, subscription, and storage. Work the list in order and the Events tab fills up again.