Cync Indoor Smart Camera Guide

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GE Lighting’s Cync Indoor Smart Camera ($69.99) is the first indoor security cam to carry the Cync (formerly C by GE) brand name. The 1080p camera delivered sharp daytime and nighttime video in our tests, and offers a handful of useful features including person and sound detection, local and cloud storage options, and voice control. It works well, but the $51.99 Eufy Indoor Cam 2K Pan & Tilt P24 offers more features and 2K video for less money, while the $35.98 Wyze Cam V3 costs even less, supports IFTTT, and also works outdoors.

A Flexible Design and Storage

The Cync camera's white, oval enclosure measures 4.7 by 3.1 by 1.4 inches (HWD), and its round base and mounting arm allow you to tilt and swivel the camera in all directions to obtain an optimal viewing angle. The base works as a desktop stand, but you can also attach it to a wall or ceiling with the included mounting hardware. A sliding privacy shutter on the face of the camera lets you block the lens and the embedded microphone, while a microSD card slot sits on the right side. The back includes a reset button and a USB power port.

The camera captures 1080p video and uses infrared LEDs for black-and-white night vision. It has a motion sensor, an ambient light sensor, a microphone and speaker for two-way talk and sound detection, and a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio for connecting to your home network. The camera records video and sends push alerts when it detects people, sound, or other motion.

To view video recordings, you need to pay for a CAM Cync subscription, which costs $3 per month or $30 per year. That plan supports a single camera, lets you retain two weeks of video, and enables you to filter clips by detection evens (sound, motion, or people). Alternately, if you want to avoid subscription fees, you can purchase a microSD card (up to 32GB) to store the recordings locally.

The camera works with other smart devices via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant routines, and lets you stream video to compatible smart displays via voice commands, but it doesn’t work with Apple’s HomeKit platform. It also lacks support for IFTTT, and therefore can't interact with the scores of third-party smart devices that the service enables. It can't trigger other Cync devices, either.

Cync Mobile App

The camera uses the same Cync mobile app (available for Android and iOS) as the company's indoor and outdoor smart plugs. Tap the Cameras panel on the home screen to see a list of your cameras, and select a camera name to see a live feed from that device. Just below the video panel are speaker mute, two-way talk, manual video record, and snapshot buttons. Below the buttons are thumbnails of video clips that you can filter by event (motion, noise, or people)—tap any thumbnail to view the video, download it, or delete it. A Privacy Mode button at the very bottom of the screen lets you disable the camera and microphone.

To access the camera’s settings, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner and choose Edit Indoor Camera. Here, you can edit Wi-Fi settings; change the camera name and room assignment; select a video quality setting; flip the video; turn off the status LED; and enable audio recording and night vision. Detection settings allow you to configure motion and sound sensitivity settings; create motion zones; enable people detection; and set up notification schedules.

Simple and Reliable

It didn't take me long to set up the Cync camera. I already had the Cync app on my phone from a previous review, but if this is your first Cync device, you need to download the app and create an account.