Why You Shouldn’t Buy YI or Kami Cameras in 2025

YI Technologies and its sister brand Kami Vision have been selling affordable, SD card-compatible home security cameras for years. They had a decent reputation, earned a thumbs-up from our editorial team, and even enjoyed a long-standing (but now defunct) partnership with Cove Home Security. 

But things started to change a couple of years ago, and now customers describe YI as an out-right fraud. 

What’s going on? Are YI and Kami scams? 

We’ll take a look at the specifics in a moment, but here’s our overall take: We don’t recommend purchasing YI or Kami cameras at this time.

According to posts on Reddit, Trustpilot, the Google Play store, the Apple App Store, Amazon, and the Better Business Bureau, the main issues with YI and Kami include the following:

• Constant advertisements while using the free version of the app
• Motion-activated video clips locked behind a paywall
• An inability to use local storage despite a microSD slot on the camera
• Cancellation difficulties due to disconnected phone numbers and poor email support

Let's take a closer look.

YI customers report seeing advertisements at every turn, including when they open the app and again when they try to navigate to the live video feed. Because the ads are about 30 seconds long, it can take a minute or more just to open the live feed.

The ads first appeared on YI and Kami apps in 2023 but have gotten more invasive over time. Some users say the ads make the cameras virtually useless. 

Kami/YI cameras record a 6-second clip whenever motion is detected. Customers on the free plan report being prompted to subscribe ($5 to $15.42 per month) in order to view these clips. Some people say they already pay for a subscription and still can't view the clips.

As with the advertisements, this paywall strategy makes it virtually impossible to use the camera as intended — to assess or respond to a home security emergency. 

For many people, YI/Kami cameras were appealing because they supported local storage instead of cloud storage. Local storage is the better option for people who have privacy concerns, poor internet connections, or low budgets.

Although the footage is written onto a microSD card, clips can be accessed remotely on the YI or Kami apps for convenience. But some customers say the apps no longer allow access to their microSD cards. Instead, they're pushed to subscribe to the cloud storage plan. 

If you're unhappy with your YI or Kami subscription, cancelling may be easier said than done.

The YI/Kami help center instructs iOS users to cancel their paid plan through Apple Subscriptions. Everyone else has to call or email the support team.

But customers say the support line is disconnected, making it impossible to cancel over the phone. Others say it takes days to hear back via email — if they hear back at all. One customer reached out to us and said they've spent a month trying to cancel their plan.

We found two customer service phone numbers for YI/Kami, called both, and confirmed that they're offline. We also emailed [email protected] but have yet to receive a reply. 

Due to the problems with usability and poor customer service, we recommend avoiding YI and Kami cameras for now. 

If you already own YI or Kami cameras, we're sorry to say there's no magic fix. No other app will work with the cameras, so there's no way to circumvent the ads and paywall. There's also no way to predict whether the company will roll back these changes.

The best solution seems to be to move forward with new cameras. 

You can view our favorite security cameras without a subscription to see what else is out there. TP-Link and Eufy sell cameras with local storage for about the same price as YI/Kami. We've tested both brands hands-on and are happy with their performance.

If you need help comparing specs for other YI/Kami alternatives, please reach out to us at [email protected].