Review: Cync Indoor Camera

When it comes to security cameras, a lot of us have mixed feelings. Cameras can be incredibly useful. We want to know if people are breaking into our house while we're on vacation, or if our kids got home safely from school. We want to check in on our pets while we're at work or see if our babies are safe and soundly sleeping. 

But we don’t want to worry about being watched against our will. You can turn off most Wi-Fi-enabled security cameras via the accompanying app, or unplug them every time you come home. But there’s an easier way with Cync’s (formerly C by GE) indoor smart camera: Just slide the shutter closed. Genius!

Photograph: Cync

In my testing, I've found C by GE products to be capable and affordable. The rebrand hasn't changed that so far. This camera works well and is very similar to a lot of its competitors. Its standout feature is the shutter. It physically covers the camera lens to reveal bright red plastic underneath. A crossed-out camera symbol is vivid visual confirmation that nope, nothing nefarious is going on here! There's no guesswork and no squinting at a tiny LED to see what color it is. Closing the shutter also turns the LED status light and microphone off. 

Obviously, you need to remember to slide the shutter down when you’re ready for it to start recording again. You can also turn privacy mode on and off from the app wherever you are, as long as the shutter isn't covering the camera. So, for example, if you want to know the pet sitter got there, but also want them to feel comfortable, you can wait for the alert and then turn it off. They'll know it isn't watching them when the green LED light goes out.

Of course, no shutter can provide 100 percent security. People can get into nearly anything: Ring doorbells, baby monitors, and even the security systems of large corporations have been compromised. A recent Eufy “software glitch” allowed users to view other customers’—that is, complete strangers’—camera feeds instead of their own.

When you invite a camera into your home, you're taking a risk. The shutter on Cync's camera offers, at least, an extra layer of security. As with any security camera, choose a strong, unique password and set up two-factor authentication. Cync makes that easy by automatically setting up the latter (and you can't opt out). Once you enter your password, it prompts you to put in an emailed verification code. You should also change your Wi-Fi password from the default the company gave you, and keep cameras and routers updated via regular software updates. Also, maybe don't get naked or do anything, er, terribly intimate in front of any camera, on or off.

Photograph: Cync

The camera body is small and, like most of the cameras we’ve tested, pretty unassuming. It fits on a side table or shelf easily enough, or you can mount it. It rotates 360 degrees on its stand, so you can face it anywhere before you go—this also makes it easier to mount nearly anywhere. Unlike panning cameras, you can't change its direction in the app while you watch the live feed, only manually—which might be a bonus for those of you changing your clothes behind the camera lens.

It has 1080p video, which is standard and clear enough to make out faces pretty easily. There's also two-way audio to hear and talk to whoever is on the other end. You can also flip the videofeed in the app, which comes in handy if you're mounting the camera at an awkward angle; say, in a corner, so you don't have to turn your phone to see the right angle.

You can also tinker with the settings for motion detection sensitivity and zones—for example, if you live near a busy street and only want to know what's going on at your door or window. You can also turn off motion detection altogether. There's also person detection, so it can avoid alerting you every time your dog jumps up on the couch.

The camera has a MicroSD slot on the back, so you can store recordings locally instead of through a cloud subscription. If you'd rather pay for a subscription, it's $30 per year or $3 per month to get two weeks of storage. You don't have to use either of those if you only want the live view. That's free within the app, and you can hit record manually if you notice something. 

Any photos and videos that you manually take are saved to your camera roll, but you need to give the app permission first. Unfortunately, there's no free limited storage option, like Wyze offers.

You might be confused by the branding; I was. I tested the company's smart lights and plugs under the name C by GE. After the company was purchased by the smart-home company Savant and rebranded under the name Cync, it released two official products: this indoor camera and an outdoor smart power plug. 

The newly baptized Cync says more products are coming, and you can still find the old ones for sale. Most of the devices that you already own—with the exception of the Sol lamp, which is no longer being sold—will work with the new app. The website also notes that they will continue to get regular firmware updates.

Like the old app, Cync is easy to navigate. New and experienced smart-home users should feel right at home here, with scenes, rooms, and different homes available for setting up. There's support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa too. I love being able to ask my Google Nest Hub Max to show me my camera feed while I'm in the other room or to control my lights when my hands are busy, so we expect and appreciate this kind of functionality.

If you want a security camera to keep an eye on things when it should—and not when it shouldn't—this is a good bet that costs a fraction of what some of our other picks sell for.