YI Technology Reviews 722

Would less than one if possible maybe the worst app ever for using your camera full of ads diversions to advertising

Bought a camera in 2019 then a second in 2021, and was happy at the time with them, and the app was ok- not perfect, but usable. But, not surprised recent ratings for their app are nearly all 1. Lately, YI have been that bad at business they think it's a good idea to keep moving the goalposts so far, it's virtually unusable. WE PAID for the camera and SD card, so you shouldn't severely limit us access to them! By all means, charge for full cloud, but adding time limits to access our OWN camera and SD card is very bad practice. The app had a couple of iffy aspects in the first place with ignored user requests on their forum (hanging on 25%, constantly obscuring notification bar for mobile data no-one wants, the latter being the simplest fix). There was sometimes the "Yes, we'll look into that" responses, but nothing was ever done. They were instead plotting how to strangle the functions further to try and get people to pay a subscription. This is one good example why I have auto-updates turned off. An update all too often means making it worse for the user through greed, and no improvements. It's your own undoing YI, most of your cameras will become unnecessary e-waste as a couple of your monthly payments will get us another brand's camera that don't do this unscrupulous practice. A shame, as the cameras (at least the 2019/20 models) were good for the price.

🖕you hoe hoe

If there was zero stars this is what these con artists would get, do not purchase this camera it's full of ads and while someone is robbing your car stereo for example,you have to watch a ad for 60seconds, so let hope you might see full footage.

Sold as a great product originally and then the introduction of compulsory advertising ruined the camera use. Mine is now in the rubbish bin and a new Tapo camera has replaced the Yi. You fools.

A piece of junk camera. I prefer to buy a new one than pay for its mandatory subscriptions to use it...

I purchased a pan/tilt camera from YI years ago with the understanding the camera would work find without a subscription. They have made this camera unusable and I get a few seconds to view my sd card unless I subscribe. Don't trust this company. For the cost of a couple months subscription, I have purchased a new camera that works better and still no subscription required.

Don't buy Yi cameras. If you do you'll be plagued by adverts. If anyone invades your property it'll be too late to spot them live.

They started adding adverts when viewing the cameras making it impossible to quickly see what’s going on.

Now this month Dec 2025 they limited the amount of video you can play back from the SD car without a subscription.

When I bought my 5 cameras none of this was mentioned.

They are scammers, do not buy.

If you want to view the camera what do you have to do, watch an ad. Once you've watched that ad and you bring up your camera you get 90 seconds to view it, after that another ad to view it for another 90 seconds. Ads here adds there ads everywhere. All they want is your money. And the cameras don't even give a good enough picture to be worth paying them to view. So unless you want to pay a crap ton of money out of pocket or view an ad every time you want an open a camera or view it for more than 90 seconds then feel free. Other than that, you can get cheaper cameras with better pictures at a better price. These people are absolutely ridiculous and trying to use crappy cameras to get money. I wish only the worst for this company.

This company is crooked. I no longer have this camera that I bought. I also cancelled the subscription and now they’re telling me I have an iCloud thing that’s $13 a month that they continue to take out of my account. I have emailed them numerous times cancelling it I get an email back saying it’s cancelled and they’re still taking money out of my account. I had to go as far as putting in a report with the police for fraudulent activity in my account. Do not trust this company you cannot cancel the subscription they will not allow you. They will give you credit instead even though you do not use the services or their equipment. I bought my camera off of Amazon. It was cheap. I have recently moved and I’ve upgraded to a very nice system which I no longer use Cami vision/Y lot iCloud storage/the app yet they still charge and they continue and they have been doing it for months they are crooked. They are fraudulent. I have been dealing with this issue for months still to this day still charging my account. Anyone that uses this company beware they’re scammers they’re fraudulent no matter how many times you talk to the team and tell them that you want to cancel the subscription that you’re being charged for they don’t cancel. They just continue charging your account as it stands because I’ve told my bank they’re withdraws have been fraudulent. I gave them no authority to do so my card is no and there’s an investigation never again. Will I ever deal with this company ever?

Absolute rubbish app…. They force me to watch multiple moronic ads when I need to access my camera so doesn’t work for emergencies….. I am tossing these cameras into the trash and wil find another brand.

I'm not going to repeat what has been said many times by other victims of this company. The hardware is reasonable but the software, advertising and business model are terrible. I can only suggest to anyone thinking of buying from this company is do not. I'm throwing my two cameras away because I'm now using Ring products that are far, far superior.

do noy buy, full advertisement, it is a scam

This company along with Kami have run a bait and switch program. They sold cameras that use sd cards that don't require a cloud service but now bombard you with constant ads and limit your sd card and live viewing to mere seconds. This makes the cameras virtually unusable without buying their expensive cloud service. There are plenty of honest companies that offer sd card recording and no required cloud.

Forced subscription and invasive ads doubting so much that my cam goes first in China's server before getting back on my phone .. it happened when all Chinese characters appeared on my phone screen..

HAD THIS CAMERA Yi, a couple of years and on Christmas day it stop me viewing the camera,on the screen was one big add telling me if I want to continue viewing I need to take out a subscription,BE WARNED THEY WILL BRICK YOUR CAMERA AFTER TAKING THE MONEY FOR IT,I just got a new camera today,add free and subscription free, going up tomorrow, Yi IS FOOL OF SPYWARE THAT WILL MESS WITH YOUR DEVICE,YOU WILL NOTICE IT WILL BE RUNNING SLOWER, USING MORE DATA, GET RID ,

Greedy,wicked,dishonest, developer, now U can only view 90 sec of live or SD card activity on your camera. BUY FORCED SUBSCRIPTION IF YOU WANT FULL VIEWING COZ AFTER 90 SEC U R DISCONNECTED! New way to steal from U. I replace this yiiot with different brand! Don't buy these cameras. BUY other name BRANDS.THEM CHEAPER ANYWAY! These guys are sitting in India operating, scam capital of the world!!!

Brilliant camera to start with then it's nearly impossible to view recordings even on sd card you are constantly bombarded with ads and cannot get rid unless you subscribe to there cloud which is expensive don't touch it unless you are willing to subscribe

I bought the memory chip so as not to be required to pay for a monthly service. They have limited the time that I can use my camera to 90 seconds. I am purchasing a camera from another company. I will be trashing this piece of shit and deleting the app.