VicoHome Cloud Service

What is the difference between VicoHome cloud services?

If you have No Plan,

• You can enjoy 7-day + no more than 1GB cloud storage of recorded videos for free. But you cannot use intelligent features, such as AI Analysis, intelligent notifications, and activity zones.
• Once you register a VicoHome account, you get the 7-day + no more than 1GB cloud storage of recorded videos automatically.

If you have VicoHome Awareness Basic Plan,

• You can enjoy 15-day + no more than 3GB cloud storage of recorded videos.
• You will unlock intelligent features, such as AI Analysis, intelligent notifications, and activity zones.
• The prices for different packages are:
  • monthly subscription: $2.99
  • 3 months: $7.99
  • 12 months: $31.99

If you have VicoHome Awareness Plus Plan

• You can enjoy 30-day + no more than 5GB cloud storage of recorded videos.
• You will unlock intelligent features, such as AI Analysis, intelligent notifications, and activity zones.
• The prices for different packages are:
  • monthly subscription: $4.99
  • 3 months: $12.99
  • 12 months: $49.99

If you have VicoHome Awareness Pro Plan,

• You can enjoy 60-day + no more than 10GB cloud storage of recorded videos.
• You will unlock intelligent features, such as AI Analysis, intelligent notifications, and activity zones.
• The prices for different packages are:
  • monthly subscription: $7.99
  • 3 months: $23.99
  • 12 months: $94.99

If your currency is not US Dollar, the final price may fluctuate slightly according to such as your currency to US Dollar exchange rate, and tax.

How to cancel the automatic renewal of VicoHome?

• For iOS users, to cancel the automatic renewal, please manually turn off the automatic renewal in iTunes/Apple ID settings at least 24 hours before the expiration time of your subscription. You can cancel it in iCloud payments, Setting – iTunes Store & App Store – Apple ID – View Apple ID – Account – Subscription, find our App, and close.
• For android users, to cancel the automatic renewal, please manually turn off the automatic renewal in Google Play Store settings at least 24 hours before the expiration time of your subscription. You can cancel it in Play Store payments, Mine – Subscription, find our App, and close.

Please note that if you cancel within 24 hours before your service expires, you will still be charged for the next subscription period. The subscription service will end at the end of the next subscription period.

What’s the “AI Analysis” feature and how do I use it?

This is a paid feature, and you need to purchase the Awareness service to use it.

After you purchase the Awareness service, the “AI Analysis” feature will be available for you. There are four AI-analyzed objects currently, namely “Person”, “Pet” (dog and cat only at the moment), “Vehicle”, and “Package”. 

After enabling an AI-analyzed object

1. The camera will analyze a movement and recognize whether the enabled object is in the movement. If yes, the related cloud recording will be marked with an icon of the object.

For example, if you enable “Person”, the camera will analyze a movement and recognize whether there is a person in the movement. If yes, the related cloud recording will be marked with a “person” icon.

One more example, if you enable “Vehicle”, the camera will analyze a movement and recognize whether there is a vehicle in the movement. If yes, the related cloud recording will be marked with a “vehicle” icon. The camera will further analyze whether the vehicle is approaching, parked, or leaving.

2. It will show under “Smart Push” on the “Notification Setting” page so that you can set only receive notifications when the camera recognizes the object.

For example, if you enable “Person”, there will be a “Person” option under “Smart Push” on the “Notification Setting” page. If you select “Person” under “Smart Push”, the camera will only send a notification to your phone once it recognizes a person in a movement.

One more example, if you enable “Vehicle”, there will be three vehicle-related options under “Smart Push” on the “Notification Setting” page, namely “A vehicle is approaching”, “A vehicle is parked”, and “A vehicle is leaving”. If you select “A vehicle is approaching” under “Smart Push”, the camera will only send a notification to your phone once it recognizes an approaching vehicle.

3. You can quickly filter out all cloud recordings with a certain recognized object.

How to create an Activity Zone and how does it work?

This is a paid feature, and you need to purchase the Awareness service to use it.

What is an Activity Zone?

An Activity Zone is a specific area within the camera’s field of view that you can create. It can effectively reduce unwanted notification disturbance.

What will happen after creating an Activity Zone？

After creating an Activity Zone, the app will send a notification to your phone only when a movement is detected within the Activity Zone. It is important to point out that all movements that occur in the camera’s field of view will be recorded, regardless of whether they are detected within the zone or not. So you can see that the Activity Zone feature only affects notifications.

Combine Activity Zone with Smart Push

Considering that both Activity Zone and Smart Push only affect notifications, you can combine the two features for a better experience. For example, after creating an activity zone, you can select “Person”under “Smart Push” on the “Notification Setting” page. As a result, the camera will send a notification to your phone only when the camera recognizes a person in the zone you set!

How to create an Activity Zone?

1. To create an Activity Zone, please pap the camera “setting” icon > tap “Activity Zone” > tap the “+” icon at the upper-right corner.
   • Drag the corners of the zone to resize the zone.
   • Tap and hold within the zone to reposition it.
   • Tap the pencil icon to customize the zone name.
   • Tap the “✓” icon to save.
2. To edit/delete an Activity Zone, please pap the camera “setting” icon > tap “Activity Zone” > tap the “settings” (gear) icon.

Note: You can create up to three Activity Zones per camera.

What is a package detection feature?

This is a paid feature, and you need to purchase the Awareness service to use it.

Package detection is a technology based on the continuous evolution of algorithms and massive data. When the camera watches the package being picked up or put down, it will notify you of a push message. You can check the status of the package in the push message in the notification bar. The detected package is highlighted by a bounding box in your notification.

You will see the corresponding tags in the video list:

• The package was picked up:
• The package was delivered:
• The package was stranded:

How to make Package Detection work?

1. Camera position and distance.

It is recommended to place your camera at a height of about 8 feet( 2.5 meters) and tilt it so that you can see the area where the package is located.

At the same time, the distance between the camera and the package should not exceed 10 feet (3 meters).

After removing the camera for charging or changing the location of the camera, remember to reconfirm whether the package position is accurate.

2. Camera view.

Please make sure that the package is visible in camera view and that it is not blocked by other objects.

At night or in the case of insufficient light, the detection capability is decreased. Please mainly refer to the detection results during the day or under sufficient light conditions.

3. Select package.

Please don’t forget to select the package in the Notification Settings/ Smart Push.

At the same time, frame the area where the package may appear on the video screen in conjunction with the location of the package on the ground to improve the recognition accuracy of the package.

Tips: The minimum detection size of a package is 8x10x1in (20x25x2.5). It may be difficult to detect a package that is less than the minimum size.

Why sometimes a package cannot be detected?

Package detection is a technology based on the continuous evolution of algorithms and massive data. Sometimes, the detection rate is low. Please check the following reasons:

1. In the case of nighttime or insufficient lighting, the detection rate of regular boxes will become lower.
2. In the case of irregularly-shaped packages, the detection rate of the package will become lower.
3. In the case of interlaced lighting and shadow at night, the detection rate of the package will become lower.
4. In the case the distance between the camera and the package is too close or too far, the detection rate of the package will become lower.
5. If the package stays for a long time, the detection ability will be affected. It is recommended that you take it away in time after receiving the package notification.

What is a vehicle mark?

This is a paid feature, and you need to purchase the Awareness service to use it.

After you purchase the Awareness service, the AI recognition feature can mark the recognized vehicle as a known vehicle, and this info will be updated to the push content.

How to set up a vehicle mark? 

First, please make sure that the same vehicle is detected by your camera at least 20 times so that the camera can recognize your vehicle. Generally speaking, the camera can detect it for 2-3 days to find your vehicle. Please note that your vehicle can be seen clearly by the camera.

Second, when the camera recognizes that the same vehicle has appeared multiple times, the app will pop up a prompt to ask for confirmation. If you choose yes, the camera will mark it.

Third, you can tap the App “User” icon->tap Intelligent Service Assistant to click the Vehicle mark to add/edit/delete the recognized vehicle. Please note that you can mark 5 vehicles at most.

Last, you can choose to receive the notification of your marked vehicle or not. You can tap the camera “setting” icon to enter Notification Setting ->tap Push notifications of marked and unmarked vehicles>> to enter Vehicle Notification. On this page, you can turn on or turn off the notification of marked and unmarked vehicles. If you turn on the Marked vehicle, the camera detects its movement, you will receive the following notifications: A marked vehicle is approaching, A marked vehicle is parked, A marked vehicle is leaving. If you turn on the Unmarked vehicle, then you will receive the following notifications: A vehicle is approaching, A vehicle is parked, A vehicle is leaving.

Why are notifications delayed after purchasing a VicoHome cloud services?

When you have no plan, there are three steps to receive a motion event notification on your phone.

Step 1 Camera detects a motion event and sends it to its cloud server on AWS;

Step 2 The cloud server sends the motion event info to Apple(iOS)/Google(Android) notification server;

Step 3 Apple(iOS)/Google(Android) notification server sends the notification to your phone, and there will be a pop-up notification on your phone.

However, when you purchase a plan, there will be one more step between Step 1 and Step 3. That is: The motion event is been analyzed by the AI algorithms in the cloud to decide whether to send the notification or not. For example, if you select “Person” under the “Notification Setting” page in the app and the camera recognizes a person in the motion event after analysis, it will decide to send the notification, and vice versa. That’s exactly why you may feel a little longer to receive a notification after paying.

Why are there so many videos with no movements?

Some users may be confused or annoyed that there are too many cloud recordings in which there seem to be no people or even no movements. Why’s that? To answer this question, let’s know about the camera’s trigger mechanism first.

This is how motion detection works: when the PIR sensor perceives a change in the environment, motion detection will be triggered. The change in the environment can be a moving object, light change, the alternation of hot and cold air, etc. Particularly common false triggers include trees shaking after being blown by the wind, the cold air of the air conditioning, etc.

If you have this issue, here are tips for you to adjust.

1. Change the position of the camera to avoid false triggers like trees or plants triggers.
2. Set “Detection Sensitivity” to “Low” or “Medium”. After doing that, the distance the PIR sensor can perceive will become shorter so that false triggers may be reduced.
   • How to adjust sensitivity: tap the camera “setting” icon > tap “Motion Detection” > tap “Detection Sensitivity”.
3. Some models of cameras also support the “Cool down time” feature. After enabling “Cool down time”, no video will be recorded again within the set time interval.
   • How to enable “Cool down time”: tap the camera “setting” icon > tap “Motion Detection” > enable “Cool down time” and select “Interval Time”.