‎Outdoor Camera Firmware 1.18 (September 2023) | Page 2 | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
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5.7K Messages

Tuesday, September 5th, 2023 3:36 PM

Outdoor Camera Firmware 1.18 (September 2023)

Hi folks,

The next firmware update is rolling out for the Wireless Outdoor Camera. As a reminder, your cameras update automatically, so there’s no need to take action. Learn more about the update process here.

Here’s what’s coming to your Cameras in Version 1.18:

  • Improved connection to SimpliSafe® services
  • Further reduced delay to livestreams
  • WiFi performance improvements
  • Fixes to address battery drain when no motion is occurring
  • Partial fix for Outdoor Camera flashing blue issue
  • Optimizations and stability improvements

Previous Updates:

20 Messages

2 years ago

Also adding myself as another customer with two brand new outdoor cameras that were purchased 4 weeks ago that I just realized today are also behind on firmware updates. Both of mine are stuck at 1.15.6.391. Had no idea there was a 1.16 update let alone the upcoming 1.18 one. I've been wondering why these cameras are SO slow to load even though I have them connected to solar power. It takes 7-10 seconds for each outdoor camera to load live view. And catches the very end of any motion or movement.

Looks like everyone is have the same problem that resetting and re-adding the cameras do nothing. Looks like Simplisafe's developers need to first fix why none of our cameras are auto-updating firmware to begin with, before trying to even roll out this 1.18 version.

2 Messages

2 years ago

Mine are 1.15 too. They continually fail to record or show live view, even though the signal is ‘good’. Support seems to be clueless - only suggestion is delete and reconnect, which I have done several times. One minute the camera works then it doesn’t. Three cameras all the same. Paying for a monitoring service but looks like I need to rip SimpliSafe kit out and install a more reliable system! Such a shame but there you go. 

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3.4K Messages

@andy_192730​ The Outdoor Camera needs to communicate to both your Wi-Fi router and Base Station to function. Since your cameras have a good Wi-Fi connection, I would try moving the Base Station closer to them to improve their communication.

11 Messages

I've had good performance with all indoor stuff and doorbell CAMS .
I so wanted two outdoor cams    but the fact they can't get their fixes TO the outdoor cams in a timely manner
makes me unwilling to pay even their sale price.
I'm sure they are made overseas & thus still have a lot of unsold stock with 1.15
No big deal if they had a better system to ship/install the darn firmware.
I manage a support group for a software co. I co-founded.
If I couldn't get fixes to my customers, uh..  they'd all be "upset"  like we are.
SSafe can do better.

2 Messages

@emily_s​ hi Emily. First of all moving base station doesn’t work because cameras are front and back. Move it means it’s closer to one camera but further from another. The actual fix was simple. I was given one of your extenders and connected all cameras to that. Extender only works at 2.5g . Network operates at 2.5g and 5g . Your cameras only work correctly at 2.5. So forcing them to the extender fixed the issue. Cheers

20 Messages

2 years ago

It's been an entire month since the 1.18 firmware update was announced and yet there's been no resolution for why our outdoor cameras are still not updating from the 1.15 versions. Yet the only response we get is a scripted copy and paste response of "it'll be rolling out soon" or "move your base station closer" as if that's not already obvious or a feasible solution. My base station is in the direct center of my house, across from my router and modem by a few feet, and my outdoor cameras equidistant to the base station. My cameras are just a month old and the same problem is happening with people whose cameras are 1+ year old. This isn't an isolated issue. Something is going on here. We need a solution to get this firmware pushed, especially since I have just 1 month left of my trial to test the full potential of these cameras.

105 Messages

I wish you luck with your system, if you are still able to return your system i would suggest you do so. Ever since they introduced the cameras they have been unreliable and to be honest JUNK. Return if you can and look into another security system. Take it from someone who has been through this nightmare.

11 Messages

2 years ago

Well i wanted to see if they had improved the outdoor cameras as the reviews on the initial release were not stellar. 
Let me as Support this:

Are new cameras sipping now at 1.18 or is Present stock still 1.15. 
The fact you can’t force an upgrade is bad. 
Apple manages to disseminate iphone upgrades pretty quickly and there are a “few” more iphones out there than there are SSafe outdoor cams.
I wanted to buy two some time ago, but waited.
Seems like I was pretty smart.  

11 Messages

Well  I can't edit  my query to support
I also just got the big discount email

but based on what I'm hearing  I dooubt I'd try the outdoor camera unless it drops to $50  AND has at least 1.18  LOL

3 Messages

Is there any update on this? 

I set up a brand new camera earlier this week and noticed sub par motion detection and battery life. Upon investigating i see the camera is still on 1.15 i have attempted to delete it and set it up again to "Kickstart" the update. 

I understand its not a feature to initiate the backup yourself but why isnt it? 

Is this in the Dev Que?

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3.4K Messages

@ktmashFirmware updates for 1.18 are now rolling out slowly to all our users. You should see this update on your camera(s) soon.

Our devs deliberately rollout all software releases gradually on their end. When you see a notification to update your Base Station on the Keypad, that’s after we’ve made the update for the device available on our side. 

When updating the Base Station, your system will go offline, which is why the user should initiate it so we know you're home. However, when it comes to updating the cameras, the process can be paused/resumed. For example, say there’s an alarm while a camera is updating its firmware: the download will automatically pause so your cameras can record the event, and then they will resume updating their firmware once the alarm has been canceled.

20 Messages

Emily................

1 - great to hear the 1.18 firmware is slowly rolling out now (though I thought we were told this once already)......to be honest I'm not holding my breath on getting this update since I never got 1.16 or 1.17 - why would I believe I'll get 1.18?

2 - That's nice that the camera firmware download will pause if there is alarm but to be quite honest it is not really relevant to this thread.  None of us are concerned about that particular point.  What we would like is the ability to manually tell the camera to 'check for updates'.  

6 Messages

2 years ago

On October 16, 2023, we checked and saw that for the first time, both of our online cameras (some had dead battery or were otherwise offline) had updated to 1.18. Then, today, October 17, 2023, we saw that in the app, those cameras were both marked as “UPGRADING”. When we checked again a few minutes later, those cameras’ firmware was back down to 1.15. Something, somewhere, must be hard coded in some way to 1.15, or else 1.15 is taking false precedence over any newer updates. Please check your update code, fix it, and then for good measure pull the screwy 1.15 firmware off your update server.

1.1K Messages

@PhilliesPhans​ holy crap ypu are right, I just checked and all mine are back to 1.15 wth is that about.

(edited)

22 Messages

It’s just crazy they refuse to comment on why cameras are rolling back to 1.15. FWIW with 1.15, vs. 1.16, I no longer have battery life problems, so clearly 1.16 was bad, and maybe 1.18.

The least they could do is update us.

I’d be fired from my IT support job, if I ignored my users like they do.

(edited)

6 Messages

To provide context, since summer, we have had to remove, reset, and re-add each of our 5 cameras every time the battery is removed for charging, due to them always becoming unresponsive with a blinking blue light on power up (that issue is discussed in another forum thread). That’s the reason we’re anxious to get updated firmware. One of them was out of commission for over a month because we couldn’t re-add it to our wi-fi (red blink) but today at least that part was resolved when we discovered the cause (it was being blocked by our firewall). As we were finally re-adding it today, it downloaded a firmware update to 1.15 even though we think it was already on that version. That would lend credence to the idea that they are serving 1.15 again with an updated timestamp (the last part is speculation). To the engineers: we have never seen the cameras’ light turn yellow, even when installing a firmware update. Whether that is because the update is interrupted by detecting motion when we’re looking at it is an open question, but something to check on and potentially add to your issue tracker.

104 Messages

2 years ago

So a couple of days ago my 2 outdoor camera updated to that newer .18 update and last night reverses back to .15 update?!?!

What is going on???

22 Messages

@eamail2001​ They refuse to communicate.

20 Messages

2 years ago

So I checked my system this morning and I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of my cameras was up to version 1.18XXX...........ok this is good.  

But my pleasantly surprised mood was quickly brought back down..........I looked on my keypad which noted an update was available so I went ahead and updated.  After doing this I checked my cameras again and the one camera was back to version 1.15XXX.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING SIMPLISAFE!!!!!!  Clearly the 'system update' is causing the outdoor cameras to be set back to version 1.15?!?!?!  Seriously!?  

Ian C.

3 Messages

I can also confirm my cameras reverted back to 1.15 after successfully updating on its own to 1.18

35 Messages

My guess is that stability from .16 to .18 was so bad they pulled it. My camera was rock solid until somewhere around .16-.17.

for me .15 works and is stable.

6 Messages

1.16 was the first firmware version to add support for the new indoor camera, and it looks like every version since (including that one) may have gotten pulled from the outdoor camera. Have seen no evidence that 1.17, if it existed, was ever even released. Wondering if there is any correlation.

(edited)

22 Messages

@jtjordan​ Yes now that I am back to 1.15 my battery life has improved 100%. Mine were running out in days.  I was on 1.16.

20 Messages

@PhilliesPhans​ if they pulled any version then they should do what all other software companies do and note that the software was pulled and/or replaced with a newer version.  If they feel that the latest version potentially has issues - ensure the employees and customers know there are issues and they are being looked into.  

Either simplisafe has had a series of bad firmware and pulled it with out proper documentation OR the 'update system' is also garbage and does not work correctly...............or both.

No matter how this is sliced SimpleSafe has problems related to these cameras and problems with communication with their customers.

11 Messages

2 years ago

My 3 are still at .15. I deleted and re-added one of them to see if that would prompt an update; aside from being a bit labor intensive, it did no good. I'm OK with .15; however, my original question was about battery life (time between recharges) which sucks (literally). Still no answer for that. I appreciate the replies from Emily (thanks Emily), but there really should be some info from the dev team about this request, and is it on their radar, or not? To be honest, our previous system with ADT was much easier, except it was all hard-wired in the house and more expensive. Do we get what we pay for?   

1.1K Messages

2 years ago

Still no word as to what happened with the update? We need to know something 

1.1K Messages

2 years ago

Anyone going to let us know what happened to the 1.18 update for the outdoor cameras? They all went back to 1.15, is anyone going to let us know what's going on.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Outdoor camera update

70 Messages

1 year ago

One of my outdoor camera's firmware rolled back from 1.18 to 1.15. My two other outdoor cameras are on 1.15. Is the update getting rolled back? 

11 Messages

Makes me want to buy 2 !!  What I need is older firmware, slow response, etc..

1.1K Messages

@dlpsr​ your lucky lol all mine have been on 1.15 forever and never received a 1.16 until they did 1.18 then right back to 1.15 smh. No response as to what happened or what they are doing and I think that's sad to not inform us. Anything like we found a bug in the new update and we are working on a fix then we will roll them back out but nnoo nothing 

20 Messages

1 year ago

UPDATE 10/24/23:

Please note Emily_s (from simplisafe?) has posted an update (post #3) that 1.18 was rolled out but the developers found performance issues and rolled back to 1.15.

Hopefully we will continue to get updates but we'll see I guess.

Ian

(edited)

4 Messages

1 year ago

My outdoor camera kept recording movement when there was none. I needed a Simplisafe update. I went to both keypads and downloaded the update. Also one keypad had disconnected from my internet. I reconnected it. Outside camera seems to be working properly now.

20 Messages

1 year ago

Just wanted to post an update........

Sometime in December I noticed my outdoor camera's were both at firmware version 1.18.XXXXX.  I do not know specifically when they updated.

The issue I was having where there would be an event in the timeline but no video was available - this has improved greatly.  I'm not sure if it is due to the firmware update (improved connection?) or if it is just happenstance.

As noted in other thread(s) - I would like to have more control over how long the recording (& spotlight) goes when motion is detected.  Depending on the camera to 'detect motion' and keep recording is horrible.  

Ian

11 Messages

1 year ago

Well, 2 of our cams are now at 1.18 and 1 cam is at 1.20! So updates happened. I'm hoping this improves battery charge retention. Thanks SimpliSafe. 

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