YI Home Camera Review

Considering an affordable security camera like the YI 1080p Home Camera? You might like its easy install, smart detection, and smart cloud search.

But its video is choppier than a chef on a cooking show and the two-way audio is spotty, so we have some reservations.

When it comes to features and price, YI is similar to Wyze Cam v3 and Blink Mini. YI Home Camera doesn't have Wyze's weatherproofing or Blink's user-friendly controls, so it’s got some tough competition.

The YI Home Camera has an attractive modern design, but it's not as maneuverable as other home security cameras. It doesn't have a fully pan-tilt lens like Wyze Cam Pan—you can only move the YI up and down—so mounting it on a wall might make it difficult to get a good viewing angle.

Fortunately, the YI Home Camera's wide-angle lens makes up for its lack of maneuverability. No matter the size or shape of the room I placed it in, it was easy to find a good angle that captured the majority of the room's area.

• YI Home Camera 1080p
• USB cable AC adapter
• USB power cable

YI Home Cameras use 1080p HD video, so the daytime picture quality was nice and clear when the connection was good. Turning your smartphone screen to the left or the right simulates camera panning so you can see more of the picture. (We won't talk about how much time I spent entertaining myself doing that.) The camera's night vision was also quite clear, so no complaints there.

This camera can detect the difference between humans, animals, and other motion, helping you discern between pets, friends, and foes.

I've used security cameras with two-way audio before, and I've found that it's a great way to talk with my kids when they're at home and I'm not. Sadly, the YI Home Camera's two-way audio rarely worked, and when it did, the sound kept cutting out—on both sides. The last thing I need is yet another way for my kids to avoid listening to me, so it was disappointing.

The YI's sound detection feature worked great for alerting me to loud noises, and I could adjust its sensitivity. It's a nice feature if you want to use the IP camera as a baby monitor or get notified if your dog barks when you're not at home.

I set the camera up in my office, and despite the poor performance of its live feed, YI's motion sensor video recordings and app notifications worked pretty well. 

Unfortunately, the YI Home Camera often had very poor connectivity. Whenever I opened the app, it took several seconds to a full minute to buffer. When you're anxious to see what triggered a notification, that amount of time feels like an eternity. If it did finally manage to connect, the video was choppy and occasionally pixelated. 

Sometimes the app would tell me the camera couldn't connect and ask me to check network settings. When I did, it always showed connectivity as "excellent."

Other times, the app didn't give me any notifications about connectivity, and I would assume it was connected. But when I'd walk through the room and still see a "live" video feed of an empty room, I'd realize it wasn't really a live feed at all. 

It's a cool trick for a bank heist movie, but not so great for my home security camera.

When the IP camera detected motion, the app sent a notification to my phone. The videos were mostly clear, but to view anything longer than a six-second notification clip, I had to switch over to cloud storage or the SD card footage.

I liked that I could adjust the frequency of the notifications in the app so I wouldn't get a constant stream when my kids decided to use my office for a game of hide-and-seek, or when my husband was going in and out searching for his tape measure. (It was on his desk the whole time.) 

I could also set a schedule for the camera so I wouldn't get notifications while I was in there working.

If you buy monthly cloud storage, you’re looking at plan tiers around $5, $12, and $19. You can save $50 if you pay yearly.

The YI app includes a cheaper basic plan that's only $3.99 a month and not offered on the website. So be sure to shop both the app and the website to find a plan that works for you.

YI's monthly cloud storage fees are about the same price as you'll find on Reolink cameras, but Reolink covers more cameras and is more reliable overall. By comparison, Wyze security cameras give you free 14-day rolling cloud storage for all motion- or sound-detected events.

If you opt out of cloud service, you can use the YI camera's microSD card storage (SD card not included) instead. We inserted an SD card into the slot for our test period, and it gave us about three days of motion-triggered recordings, even in high-traffic areas.

We like that YI Cloud adopted the fast scanning feature like Google Nest cameras use so you can find the recording you need quickly by looking through a spread of thumbnail shots. 

Unfortunately, trying to play back the clips from these thumbnail images worked only about half the time. You can also fast-forward video up to 32x normal speed to search through it quickly.

YI Home Cameras didn’t used to sport smart home integration, but now it connects with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. This is a huge win since its lack of integration knocked it down a peg in our ratings previously.

Installing the YI Home Camera took only about 15 minutes, with no tools required. The app and voice prompts from the camera walked me through every step of setup.

• The camera base has adhesive so you can conveniently stick it to a wall or another flat surface with no screws. 
• The magnetic base lets you securely attach it to a metal surface like a refrigerator (so you can finally see who's been eating your favorite yogurt). 
• YI Home Cameras need a wall outlet. Unfortunately, its cord is only about 6 feet long, so if you want to put it somewhere farther from an outlet, you'll need to use an extension cord.

When I contacted YI support with a question via email, a representative got back to me with a personalized response within 24 hours. There's no other customer support beyond email—though the website has an automated chat bot to help you find information.

We love how the YI 1080p Home Camera funnels great features from pricey top cameras into this inexpensive home camera: smart detection, smart cloud search, and smart home integration. But we wish YI created quality technology to prevent lag and keep its video feed connected.

You can find more camera recommendations on our rankings of wireless home security cameras and cheap security cameras.

We tested the YI Home Camera 1080p by installing it first in a living room and then in a home office. We monitored the camera using the YI Home app on an iPhone, and we tested the connection both at home and away.

We tested the camera's features with normal use, and we also used scenarios that simulated real-world applications. Our full methodology can tell you more about our review process.

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