App is still trash. Works well 20% of the time.
I have 2 cameras set up through Birdsy, thinking maybe the hardware in one of them that I had might’ve been faulty. Nope! When one is working, the other one isn’t. I have to manually turn them back “on” in the app about every other day. Load times are ridiculous (over a minute to load per camera interface).
Show more
App, Customer Service and Instructions
I have been seeking a return and full refund now for 3 weeks. My system worked flawlessly for almost 2 months. I’ve engaged customer support and only via email it appears to tell them to remove the 3 cameras under my account and still has not been done. I was told they found a problem with the App and was pushing it out that same day. Here we are with no app update and all cameras still in my account and unable to use, control or change/delete. I own 1 camera only with a standard 2.4 Wi-Fi system and an apple phone. 3 weeks is too long! Email is not efficient! Frustrated beyond words!
Show more
App
The camera is great! The app is terrible though. I can hardly ever get it to show my live stream. It’s slower than a snail!
Cameras, great app is terrible
The camera itself is a quality product, as is the video that comes out of it, unfortunately, the app that supports the camera needs a major overhaul. There is so much wrong with this app I don’t even know where to begin.
Overhaul the app so you can advertise it as just as quality as the camera itself, and you have a total winner
Overhaul the app so you can advertise it as just as quality as the camera itself, and you have a total winner
Show more
Okay App But
It seems only one app works for each camera. I have tried to install the app on my wife’s phone but she is unable to connect to the already set up camera from her profile. Glaring over site and it makes the camera virtually useless.
Trash with no (slow) support
Avoid this like the plague. Nothing works as advertised. Support is 2 day lag between emails to tell you to reinstall the thing. Which is absurdly complicated compared to any other IoT device out there.
This is just utter trash. The list of things that don’t work correctly or just don’t work at all is too long for a review.
This is just utter trash. The list of things that don’t work correctly or just don’t work at all is too long for a review.
Show more
Big improvements w/latest update
There have been big improvements with the latest update. I can stream a live feed without shut downs or crashes. I can look at videos on the app without the app crashing, the live streams are far more stable.I can look at the live feed on my Amazon Fire TV, and it will go literally for hours without any crashes or stutters. There are still some improvements to be made to the ID, end of the favorites, but the app is far more usable now.
Show more
Camera is great, app is slow to the point of being unusable.
The camera quality is amazing. Great photos/videos captured when it works. Several times now, the camera disconnects from WiFi for seemingly no reason. The router is close to the camera, the camera itself is up to date, the app is up to date and my phone is up to date. There is a multi-minute loading period between each tab on the app, including just getting from the Home Screen to settings. Near impossible to set up again. From my experience, wouldn’t recommend based on this. Unfortunate because the camera quality is quite good.
Show more
Getting better
I’ve been using Birdsy for about a year now. This is not a review of the camera (which is great) or the underlying AI technology (also good), but of the app which has been lacking for so long. Basic things like displaying the correct temperature metric or getting a correct time stamp took months to implement, and now the time stamps are broken yet again. You can’t manually ID birds on the app yet. The “My Birds” section is broken to the point of uselessness, especially since you can’t ID birds or fix bad IDs. There seems to be no change tracking either, because old problems resurface that were fixed in past updates - basic stuff like remembering where in the list of videos you were. The video player is also terrible. It is next to impossible to get the scrubbing tool to go forward or backward in a video, and even if you do get it to work most times the video will refuse to load unless you force quit the app.
While there have been significant advances in camera pairing and sharing videos and other small fixes, the app itself remains a massive disappointment, especially for the cost of the system. The actual system Birdsy uses is great and the web version is light years better than the app. I hope one day they actually get the app up to par with the website so I can come back and give it a higher rating. I just can’t now.
While there have been significant advances in camera pairing and sharing videos and other small fixes, the app itself remains a massive disappointment, especially for the cost of the system. The actual system Birdsy uses is great and the web version is light years better than the app. I hope one day they actually get the app up to par with the website so I can come back and give it a higher rating. I just can’t now.
Show more
I love this
Works great, still new so new firmware updates fix quirks all the time. always getting better!
Caught some amazing footage already!
I bought Birdsy to capture footage of our hummingbirds drinking from their feeder. The camera was easy to connect, and it has been recording great videos/audio of the hummingbirds. Overjoyed!! The problem I get, however, is the app closing sometimes when I try to load the camera settings to adjust the focus as well as a lot of lag - though this may be more due to my wifi not being too strong lately. Never have been able to figure out focus, but pressing plus on the zoom side works like a charm oddly when focusing on a central object. Works for me! The online portal is incredible to use, and I love the live video! The camera accidentally ID'd the hummingbird as a mouse/squirrel a few times, but I was able to quickly sort the tag out online. Overall, I am very happy with the purchase these last few days of trying Birdsy out and I'm sooo so excited for future potential/updates!!
Show more
Awful
Finally, the update to add a second camera. But wait, I can’t have both cameras playing live in the app at the same time?? Are you kidding me? Add in all the other issues (there have been many) and this kickstarter is a total disappointment. I would love to return the cameras and get my money back.
Very disappointing
Editing to add it's only gotten worse. Customer service is non existent, they just stopped replying to me when I pushed for a refund. I had to try remove the camera and add it again and now it won't even recognize the camera at all. Total waste of money. So disappointed in the customer service.
I expected the issues with ID's, which are in fact wildly inaccurate. (Cardinal-Grackle, House sparrow-Blue Jay...all very far off) But the constant glitches within the app are beyond frustrating. App crashes constantly, have to reboot the camera in the app several times a day to get it to start capturing videos again. Many, many visits by birds and animals are not recorded, and it's beyond disappointing. Hopefully it'll improve, so far I regret the entire purchase.
I expected the issues with ID's, which are in fact wildly inaccurate. (Cardinal-Grackle, House sparrow-Blue Jay...all very far off) But the constant glitches within the app are beyond frustrating. App crashes constantly, have to reboot the camera in the app several times a day to get it to start capturing videos again. Many, many visits by birds and animals are not recorded, and it's beyond disappointing. Hopefully it'll improve, so far I regret the entire purchase.
Show more
App rarely works
Be prepared to stare at the “loading” graphic for hours. WiFi issued cannot be resolved without it, so if it won’t load the camera is useless. Bird identification is usually wrong.
Very Poor App and Customer Service Experience
No sense in repeating everything all other reviewers have stated. It’s all been my experience as well. The app simply doesn’t work or only works partially at random times, so you have no consistent ability to control your camera or see the live feed. I never ever write bad reviews but I’m beyond frustrated. I’ve been waiting weeks for a response to my help request. It especially frustrates me to see FB ads for retail launches of this product when they have yet to solve any of the problems Kickstarter users are experiencing.
Show more
What a Mess
The app freezes, doesn’t communicate with the camera, or just won’t open. The camera doesn’t record video, let alone identify bird species. It sometimes takes two days for tech support to respond, and then it’s with useless instructions like “reboot the camera.” The camera has been rebooted dozens of times and nothing changes. I finally gave up and I’m using the camera to hold up some books.
Show more
Does not work. Zero customer support.
App crashes when trying to add camera. No response from Birdsy support at all. Camera is a brick and seems like a scam…
Very disappointed
The app and the camera do not work. Customer service and support do not exist. After almost three months have still not received a refund or replacement camera.
Vaporware - it doesn’t work
Camera is hardwired to router. Router sees camera. APP does not. Can manually connect to camera using QR code but cannot update camera firmware which is apparently required to use the thing.
Email only support with responses taking days. 6 days from their last communication.
Email only support with responses taking days. 6 days from their last communication.
So much promise
But not there yet. App hangs for long periods, says it’s offline when it’s not, requires rebooting every time it’s unplugged, some videos are editable, some are not. I had to install it three times and set up just to get it to work the first time. Missing essential features like batch delete. You have to go through each video to delete, which is prohibitively time intensive. Very buggy and inconsistent. Camera is great so hope the app catches up soon. The bird ID is pretty useless, but I don’t expect much from it bc I know how AI works and how long it takes to build a data set that’s accurate. I’d just like the camera to work with the app. This was released way before it was ready for market. If it doesn’t improve I’m going to ask for a refund.
Show more
