The brand behind the SwitchBot Curtains, Wonderlabs, has just released a new pan and tilt home security camera with a built-in Privacy Mask to deliver additional peace of mind to your smart home setup. The camera has two motors and can rotate 360-degrees to ensure whole-room viewing. With a 1080p sensor, 2-way audio, and more, this smart home camera could be a great choice for your setup. Head below for more information including pricing, availability, and additional details.
SwitchBot’s 360-degree pan/tilt indoor camera keeps privacy front and center
SwitchBot’s latest smart home device brings a lot of familiarity with a privacy-focused twist. We’ll start with the familiar here. It has a 1080p sensor to record your home and store the footage either locally on a microSD card or in the cloud, meaning it can function with or without a subscription. There’s also 2-way audio in tow to allow you to hear what’s going on at home and even communicate back if there’s an intruder.
In addition to that, the camera can pan 360 degrees and tilt up to 115 degrees vertically to ensure you can see the entire room from a single vantage point. When it comes to nighttime recording as well, that’s made possible by the eight infrared LEDs that illuminate dark spaces when the lights go out. Of course, SwitchBot is known for connected devices, so you’ll find full Alexa support in tow as well.
Now, onto the unique feature here, the privacy-focused nature of SwitchBot’s latest camera. If you only want to use a camera when away from the house, and keep things locked down when home, then this model is perfect for that. Whenever you arrive home, the camera’s lens will automatically “retreat” into the device’s housing to ensure that it’s completely covered. This means the lens won’t be able to record anything as it’s physically blocked from seeing anything, which is far more comforting than just software saying “hey, don’t record,” which can always be overridden. At least with this you can visually see whether the cover is engaged or not, allowing you to know if it’s recording or giving you privacy.
You can purchase the SwitchBot pan and tilt camera from Amazon at $39.99, and it’s shipping now.
9to5Toys’ Take
It’s nice to see that companies are starting to take smart home privacy seriously; hopefully we’ll see more products like this start to make their way to the market now that consumers are beginning to focus more on privacy than just features. One of the reasons I don’t have cameras up inside of my house is the fact that I just don’t trust companies to keep servers secure anymore, which has proved beneficial to have at the forefront of my mind time and time again.
With cameras like this, however, I might consider placing them in key areas of my home so long as they stay covered during the day and only record at night, or when I’m away. What do you think? Could this privacy shutter get you to rethink placing cameras inside your home?
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