Y-CAM strips away web portal (app only)

[MrMobodies]

I was given a camera a couple of years ago pulled out of a job, it had 7 day recording free online storage. Y-cam discontinued it the free recording and wanted £10 a month to renew. I needed something temporary last year and found it was reduced to £2 a month for 2 weeks of footage. Some months ago it stopped working, I think it was early February or March. Just a blinking red light but there was a powercut that day, let me guess maybe it was doing a firmware update during the powercut and became bricked. I forgot about it during the lockdown but now when I went to look to cancel the subscription I found this message:

Y-cam Web Portal Closure.

20 February 2020

Eight years ago, Y-cam launched their first HomeMonitor cloud cameras to help families and businesses look after their homes and belongings. Maintenance was done via the web portal and videos could be viewed on a PC or the HomeMonitor app.

Since then, the development of the Y-cam app and advances in technology have allowed us to offer mobile users much more functionality than is available on the website, such as Bluetooth setup, push notifications and phone call alerts. We want to ensure that our customers have the best experience of our products, and to this end we will be retiring the website on March 31 2020.

This just means that you will need to use the Y-cam app on your iPhone or Android smartphone; your service will not be interrupted or affected in any way.

To enjoy the power and convenience of Y-cam security in your pocket wherever you are, simply download the app by going to Apple’s App Store or Google Play and searching for Y-cam.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this announcement, please contact us at homehelp@y-cam.com.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Y-cam Team

I didn't notice that message at the time.

The "APP" on my phone had nothing but problems, it would hang on playback even with the updates that went by but it only worked well at showing live footage that's all.

Anyway I think it is very poor to offer one mode of access to a cctv system.
What if the APP stops working due to changes in the operating system of the phone/tablet or even on a global scale.

One incentive not to buy and not even use lockedown managed camera's when things like this are away.

[Halcyon]

Yep, typical IoT technology. Perfectly good hardware is rendered completely useless because of dependence on some "cloud" or activation server somewhere. When that service disappears or the company decides to no longer support your product, you're left with a paperweight.

My opinion is, if you buy a product, the product should do the thing that it was designed to do, for eternity, regardless of what happens to the company.

[MrMobodies]

I would never buy anything like this in fact I was against it when I found out it was brought without me knowing. Someone thought they could just buy it, mount it anywhere, without any means of power or network connection and that was when it was dumped on my desk and asked to make it work.

The picture wasn't great more like 480p but it had a microphone.

I was trying to find the original firmware for it years ago so I could join it to an IP recorder but found too many firmware versions for different pcbs  that didn't match and it had I think the controller was called "Grains".

Just looked on Trustpilot many complaints 30% bad 5% poor.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.y-cam.com

It looks like they are trying to reduce the debt over the years and Era Home Security Limited took over in February 2019.
https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/company/06039855-y-cam-solutions-limited
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06039855/officers