eufy doorbell and camera app.

By Patrick Murphy, 4 September, 2023

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

hi, its a while since i posted here. any of you who are completely blind will have a problem with this. those of you who have some sight may not. when either the camera or the door bell is activated, a notification is sent. at this point, you have the option to "view" the video clip. there is also the ability to speak to the person on the other end. however, their "hold and speak" button does not work when voiceover is turned on, despite the "pass-through" feature. i know this, because my wife used my phone with voiceover turned off. eufy's answer was "sorry". at the end of the day, what i purchased was a fancy door bell. the app, from an accessibility view is disgracefull to say the least. its base for storing videos is compatible with apple homekit, but the cameras are not. in short, avoid this product at all costs. regards, patrick.

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Comments

By Patrick Murphy on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

further to my review above, i have been in regular touch with eufy. their responses consist of "how they are striving to get better" emails. nothing has changed in the app. the only reason i am updating this is that i have discovered one other thing in the app, which will be of use to those of you using voiceover like myself.
for the last two days, the door bell has been off-line.
i didn't know about this until a friend told me about it.
although the app is inaccessible, i still have it set to allow notifications.
at least that way, you get something from it.
however, there was a notification on the main screen of the app saying that the door bell was off-line, but it did not come through as a standard notification.
so, for the last 2 days or so, i have had a piece of plastic on my wall that was doing absolutely nothing.
stay away from eufy. they are only getting worse from the point of accessibility, especially for voiceover.
i cannot speak for other accessibility features on ios, as i only use voiceover.

By Squirrel on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

The Eufy app is certainly far from perfect, but I'm using it to manage and monitor a system consisting of several entry sensors, some motion detectors, a keypad, a Homebase unit, and an external security lamp and camera. It took a little time to familiarise myself with the app layout and some poor button labelling, but the app is now mostly manageable. Eufy simply improving button labelling would be a major step in the right direction. Even in its current state, don't write it off completely as a non-starter for us VoiceOver users.

By Brad on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

I've not used the app fully but it seams quite acccessible.

By Siobhan on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

I'm a fighter, in that, I give crap to developers, however i also pull my boxers up and really try to make what i have, work. Case in point, differing vendor, my thermostat is currently offline. Why? My ISP changed both my username and password, and Irish temper being what it is, I got the thermostat off my device out of sheer annoyance. However even though I had tried, reconecting is not working, it was "inaccessible" as you would almost have put your assessment. Except that I put my flaws out there, I got rid of it, I need help putting it back. I haven't done that yet, but it will come in time. If this app is so terrible have you really looked into going to the website, or asking for a screen recording be sent, a zoom chat, Facetime etc to show them? even if they can't make jack of what you are showing them, if your curtain is off, they can say, oh he is using, whatever button. Also, it helps to say your buttons need alternative labeling, and not just, button, button, button... Just my junk. Also throw in their face that they are inaccessible according to the WCAG I think it's 2.3? or something and make them do the work, not just on here.

By Brad on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

This is a bit off topic but really? Irish temper? Siobhan mate, you're from florida, at least that's what I'm assuming FL stands for.

Americans make me laugh when they use expressions like that, I'm sorry but that's just an excuse. It's like saying redheads have a temper, it's kind of used like a get out of jale for free card in Monopoly.

There's so many Americans who clame to be part of these people who have never been to another country in their lives, i wonder why that is? I'm british/irish probably, I have family from ireland or at least an uncle but I don't go around almost bragging about it. Why? Because 1. I can't be bothered.

2. Have you seen what the british have done?

And 3. i'm shit at bragging, I just don't see the point.

By Brian on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

You go, Siobhan. You show them who their daddy is! 😹

By Patrick Murphy on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

i have sent screen recordings, etc to them showing them what is on the screen. however, obviously, it looks fine to them. support have no way to look at your screen. i also threatened them with wcag2 or whatever. big company, loads of money, can afford to ignore those of us buying their products. afterall, as usual, people with disabilities trying to use these things are in the minority. i have over 25 years experience in software development and a msc in web accessibility. i would never have released an app in such a bad quality. i also offered my help for nothing, which was not taken up. how much more can i do?
anyway, thanks for all of your comments. it is much appreciated to see that other people are interested in this, but for now, i am going to leave it alone, as it seems to be going nowhere with eufy.
if it does eventually resolve itself, i will post a further comment here.

cheers and thanks,
patrick

By Brad on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

That's the problem with companies, they just don't care. They know people won't sue them and if they do they'll probably have really good loyers.

People don't really follow the laws in the UK when it comes to disabled people either but I thought they were better about that stuff in the US, mainly cause Americans love love love suing people/companies.

By Patrick Murphy on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

hi brad.
think its bad in england, try where i am in dublin. the irish are about 1200 years behind when it comes to things like accessibility. "wcag2" is probably some committee they have set up to do something different. they love giving initials to reviews, committees, etc. over here.
needless to say, the national council for the blind, barely understand how to turn on a windows pc, never mind helping with something like this.

count yourself luckey you dont live in ireland.

patrick

By Lee on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

Guys, I had a doorbell that uses the Awiit app. Exactly the same issue. There is no way of pressing and holding the answer call button with VO turned on. Spoke to them 3 times and they just said we are looking into this. a year later and no change. Gave up.

By Lee on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

What is the "pass through" stuff? Are you saying there is a VO gesture/way of turning this on/off like in JAWS Insert+3 lets the next key press to bypass JAWS. If not what is this?

By Patrick Murphy on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

their answer is basically "go away and dont bother us". as a result of all of this, does anyone out there know if there is any brand of door bell/outdoor camera that actually works fully with apple homekit?
i believe, although i have not seen it, that ring has exactly the same problems.
i really think, that apple needs to rethink their policy on what is and is not allowed on their app store.
imagine the impact it would have, if eufy had been told "your app is not accessible, go away".
they could then only advertise, that their products were android compatible.
if the app wasn't available on the app store, they would definitely think twice.
it would cut their market nearly in half!!
nothing should be on these stores if they are not wcag2 compliant.
apple, why not start saying "no" to these people?
they would want this share of the market so badly, that they would make their app accessible within weeks, in order to get it up on to the app store.
come on folks at apple, give those of us who need your help a hand.
afterall, i was told by one of your support people, that apple's mission was to insure that everyone across the planet could use their products.
well, if crap like this keeps getting to the app store, then noone who is disabled, blind etc, will be able to use or want to use your products.
get one up on android!!
if its not accessible say "no"!!

By Patrick Murphy on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

hi lee,
the idea here with voiceover as i under stand it is as follows.
as you know, you can double tap to get something to react, whereas the standard person would tap once.
if someone wants to hold an icon on their screen, they just put their finger on it and hold.
with voiceover, the procedure is the same.
instead of the usual double tap, you double tap and dont release the last one.
this should "pass through" the single tap that a person would normally use to the phone.
you will hear a sound, indicating that it is held down.

i hope this makes sense to you.

patrick

By Lee on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

Ye'h I guessed it maybe that was what you meant and yep on the app I mentioned tried it and voila nothing happened!

By Patrick Murphy on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - 03:41

come on apple, i know that some of your people read this forum.
i was told so by your staff that run the accessibility help line.
give us an answer.
why are you letting apps up there on the app store that are not even wcag2 compliant?
i know this is getting a little off the ball at the moment, but start with eufy, and make an example of them.
afterall, they are actively advertising that some of their out door cameras are apple home kit compatible.
they are not!!
false advertising, and using your name to promote a product which does not work with your software.
are you going to stand back and let this happen?
alexa certainly didn't!!
lets give equal opportunities a shot here, and give good old siri a shot.
at the moment, she/he can control nothing made by eufy despite their claims.

By neil foster on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 03:41

thanks for the info on eufy, was thinking of getting one will avoid!
whilst both ring and blink apps seem to be very accessible, just thought it might be worth mentioning. that there are homebridge plugins for both, that allow some use from the home app. though u would obviously need ahomepod/ipad/tv if u want to use the automate stuff.
also as far as pass thru goes. with the 3 rising tones.
if u physically put your finger on the button(at least i thinkso!), by scooting round the screen where u think it is, till it speaks, keep finger there, switch vo off and then tap. had a couple of aps that works on.

ta

By Patrick Murphy on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 03:41

Hi Neil,
thanks for your info above. although the eufy home base that records the stuff is home kit compatible, it makes no difference. i am told by both apple and eufy, that half duplex is being used to communicate with the cameras and bells to talk to them. i have tried the home app after adding the eufy base to my home kit, but again, its useless.
even since my first post, eufy have consistently ignored the needs of us who are blind etc. i made the point to them, that there was no point in having a door bell, not being able to see who was at the door, and still not be able to talk to them.
i got the usual corporate response, "we will look into it, sorry for the inconvenience".
anyway, before i start to rant again, hahaha, just stay away entirely from eufy, they dont work with their own app or apple home kit for accessibility.

cheers,

patrick