How it works
You don't need any of this to use the app, but it explains most of what you'll run into, and why some things work the way they do.
One app instead of two
Before this app there were two: Eufy Security for cameras, doorbells, HomeBases and sensors, and Eufy Clean for robot vacuums. Both were built on eufy's old cloud interface, which eufy is switching off as it moves everything to its new platform, the one the current all-in-one eufy app uses.
Anker Eufy is a fresh app built on that new platform. It covers every eufy product line, and you sign in once for all of them.
Built from what your devices report
The old Eufy Security app had 37 drivers, one per camera model, each with a hand-written list of what that model can do. Every new eufy product meant a code change and an app update.
This app has one driver per kind of device (the tiles you pick from when adding one). When you add a device, the app asks your eufy account what that device actually reports, and builds its controls from that:
- Your camera has a spotlight? You get a Spotlight switch. It doesn't? No phantom switch.
- A model released next month pairs the same way a known one does, with no app update needed.
- A control appears only once the device has reported its value. If something you expect is missing, the device didn't report it. See the FAQ.
Where Homey already has a standard capability (motion, battery, locked, on/off, dim, vacuum state), the app uses it. That's why these devices work in Homey's own Flow cards, Insights and voice control. Everything else becomes a custom capability named after the setting.
Signing in
eufy ties a sign-in to an account and a device identity. The old app borrowed an identity derived from your e-mail. Your phone's eufy app presented a matching one, so each sign-in kicked the other out. That's why it told you to make a second "admin" account.
This app creates its own device identity the first time it runs and keeps it. To eufy, Homey looks like one more phone. Use your normal account.
If something else does take over the session, the app signs in again by itself, waiting a little longer each time so it doesn't hammer eufy's servers. Repeated sign-ins are what make eufy start asking for captchas. If it can't get back in, devices show "Not signed in to eufy. Repair this device to sign in again." See Troubleshooting.
Your password is kept in the app's private storage on your Homey and is only ever sent to eufy.
How events reach Homey
eufy devices talk to the cloud and to the app over several channels, and this app listens on the same ones the eufy app does:
| Channel | Carries |
|---|---|
| Push notifications | detections (person, pet, vehicle, doorbell press…) and their thumbnail picture |
| eufy's message service | live state from devices that report through the cloud: vacuums, mowers, lights |
| Direct connection (P2P) | HomeBases and wired cameras: sensor and alarm state, controls, video |
| Cloud refresh | a periodic safety net, so state catches up even if a message was missed |
The app registers with eufy's push service as its own phone, so detections reach Homey even when the eufy app on your phone is closed. Events raised in the eufy app show up in Homey too.
Battery cameras
Waking a battery camera costs battery, so the app avoids it:
- Battery cameras are never kept connected. Only wired HomeBases and mains-powered cameras are.
- Detections and their Event image arrive by push and don't wake the camera.
- Dashboard widgets never wake a device.
- A snapshot or live video does wake the camera. You choose when that happens.
More in Images & live video.
Is a device online?
Many eufy devices are quiet for long stretches, especially battery ones, so "no news" doesn't mean "offline". A device is marked unavailable only after it has been silent for longer than its kind normally is:
| Device | Unavailable after silence of |
|---|---|
| HomeBase / hub | 6 hours |
| Vacuum, light | 12 hours |
| Lock, mower | 2 days |
| Camera, doorbell, keypad, sensor, display | 7 days |
The message says so: "No report from this device for …". A HomeBase also counts as alive when any camera behind it reports.
Memory
A Homey Pro gives each app at most 150 MB of memory, and this app uses about 120 MB just being there. That leaves ~30 MB for extra work, and relaying a video stream through the app (see live video) uses most of it. That's why the relay is an opt-in setting and not the default.