Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Logitech Circle View Apple HomeKit- enabled Wired Doorbell with Logitech TrueView Video, Face Recognition, Color Night Vision, and Head-to-toe HD Video

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2023

Just installed the Logitech Doorbell today and after a lot of difficulty adding to Apple Home, I finally got it working.

For those in the Apple Home ecosystem know how difficult it can be adding devices. Here is how I solved the issue. After numerous attempts, I finally went to the Wifi settings and turned off the Private Wifi feature and Limit IP Address tracking. This did not work. I then reset the doorbell and hard rebooted my iphone 13 pro. This also did not work. I removed the Linksys Mesh router from the Apple Home app and rebooted. Also did not work. Finally, I turned off the Apple Private Relay functionality, reset everything and was finally able to successfully connect the doorbell.

The install was straightforward and followed the directions on the logitech site. After removing the Netatmo Doorbell (beta), which never really worked and for the last year has been just a basic doorbell with no connectivity, installing the new doorbell and then connecting the chime to my analog chime was pretty easy. I used the angled mount for the doorbell.

To be fair, the Netatmo doorbell was beta hardware. I am assuming there have been improvements to the hardware, so my experience may not be with the current device.

Once set up, I added an automation to turn on the lights at night. Realized I wasn’t getting notifications, which I then turned on in the Apple Home app. So far, the doorbell has been working well and notifications are flowing in.

Will wait to see if anything changes and how the summer fairs with the reported overheating issues.

7 people found this helpful

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Bert

Works great, installation hardware lacking…

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2021

Style: DoorbellVerified Purchase

*Update - I’m up updating my review since there are serious overheating and disconnecting issue. The camera is no longer working as expected and actually lightly burned my sons finder when ringing the doorbell. This doorbell is not safe especially when used why children. I will be removing it prior to Halloween.

Absolutely perfect device for HomeKit users! However, a completa lack of thought went into the engineering of hardware design for installation instructions. Clearly these two departments do not speak with each other at Logitech and it shows. If you can get over the installation hump I recommend the doorbell.

Once installed however the device works marvelously with the Apple HomeKit software. Fast video loads, Apple TV clips when someone is at the door (my favorite) easy to subscribe on any apple device to iCloud service (only required for video recording, doorbell still works without subscription but streaming can only be done from home). I am actually excited to see what if anything Apple upgrade to HomeKit going forward now.

Let me start explaining my disappointment in the installation process by saying I am a DIYer homeowner and have worked in the construction field for a few years when attending college (years ago) and I have installed 6 nest doorbells, 4 rings & 10 normal doorbell installations. As for the installation for this Logitech doorbell I am very disappointed in the engineering/design department at Logitech for 2 major flaws (this explains the poor reviews).

First, Logitech decided to add 8 cables inside the ringer in addition to a small white box where other companies where able to accomplish the same with 3 cables and a small round disk that is about 1/4 of the size in volume. Is that the best Logitech engineering department could muster? The wiring instructions aren’t terrible (although it needs better visuals one can follow) but in order to follow along the steps it requires opening pop-ups. This would be fine if there wasn’t 4 steps then 4 more steps within the pop-ups and every time you close a pop-up it takes you back and you need to find your place on the website again for the step you were on. If that was hard to read it’s even harder to follow when working with so many unnecessary wires (8).

My second complaint looks like Logitech’s attempt at engendering that failed most likely do to cost savings on Logitech’s part. Of which I mean the cheep plastics black base that is wired to the home and is screwed to the wall. It took me 45 minutes after the install was supposedly complete to realize that when attaching the camera to the base one needs to install it from the bottom first then push the top in to hear a click. If this is not done properly (for example what I initially did was install the top then pushed the bottom in until it clicked)the cheep plastic base will warp slightly and prevent the power connectors in the back from fully engaging. Again this step was included in the instructions via a pop-up (very easy to miss and overlook for something so important based on the design of the base). This could easily be fixed by spending a few more cents on reinforcing the bracket, making it out of a thicker plastic or do what others have and make it out of aluminum! Or make the instructing bold and not in a pop-up where it can be easily missed!

Anyways I digress now that I have a working doorbell and am very happy with how it is working now. I will update after a few months of using it.

56 people found this helpful

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Danner

Picked this over Aqara G4 Doorbell - 2023

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2023

Style: DoorbellVerified Purchase

I decided to pick up this Logitech Circleview Doorbell for Homekit for one main reason: I wanted to get off the Ring Doorbell platform.

Homekit Doorbells that are natively supported are few and far between. You have this one, one made by Wemo (belkin), and the new Aqara G4 Doorbell.

Look up a few reviews on any of these and you'll find the following as the main focuses for each:

Logitech - It overheats (supposedly this has been fixed from the latest firmware...I picked this up in March before the heat from summer so I'm not sure how this will reflect on my purchase...fingers crossed)

Wemo - Disconnects all the time (unreliable)

Aqara - Has connection issues as of launch, and people are upset regarding the orientation of the camera (Orientation was the big reason I didn't want this)

The Logitech was very easy to install, the only issue I had was the screws provided in the kit for mounting were very easy to strip. In their defense it's meant to be installed using the wall anchors, however since I had a previously installed smart doorbell I planned to simply screw back into the wood where the previous screw holes were made.

The door chime in my kit doesn't appear to make my actual chime go off...however I suspect that something is wrong with our chime and won't blame Logitech for this. I'm pretty sure the previous owners of this house that installed the Ring did it incorrectly and swapped the Transformer wire and the Front doorbell wire at our chime....I had to swap these in order for the Logitech to actually be powered correctly. Initially I would ring the bell and the doorbell would start flashing a white light on the LED and lost connection. After switching the wires on the Chime Kit that come from the wall, it worked flawlessly.

Initially the firmware wouldn't update on the camera after installing it, but it pushed the update overnight and it's now on the latest firmware. There was one disconnection and I'm assuming that disconnection was during the firmware update overnight. My wife did leave the house this morning and the doorbell didn't pick up on her leaving somehow...but we suspect this has to do with it not seeing her face and we have the specific motions setting turned on so it probably just didn't realize it was a person because of that.

Overall we're very happy with the responsiveness of the doorbell so far, and we likely won't run into overheating issues until the summer gets here (hopefully we don't have any issues though). The video Quality is better than what we had on the Ring Pro, and we love the fact it has a bright light for Color video at night. We have a milk delivery where the delivery guy shows up around 3am and our porch light isn't always on when they show up (have an automation for it to be on when they typically arrive) Now we can set up an automation to turn it on if it detects motion for the delivery person (or intruder for that mater as a deterrent) but even if that fails, at least the cameras light will turn on when it see's motion regardless.

I wasn't excited to drop $200 on this doorbell, but it's nice knowing that I won't have to drop $30 each year for basic functionality on the Ring, and I get better responsiveness and video quality now. Is this better than the Aqara G4 when it's $80 less? I think it is because of the overall video quality and the orientation of the physical camera....I don't regret my decision as of now, but if I run into issues I will surely come back and post my findings here.

106 people found this helpful

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ubermensch

Good camera, as long as your 2.4 GHz band WiFi is good

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2022

Style: CameraVerified Purchase

This is a great outdoor security camera. Many have complained about the difficulty with placing the camera outside while keeping the power supply protected from the weather. I installed two of the cameras and have small holes going from the outside of the house to the interior, and it works just fine. I wish the resolution was a bit better, because it is hard to identify a stranger's face with the cameras positioned about 12 feet above street level, especially at night.

A word of warning : one strange problem I had when I first bought these off of Amazon was with mounting the base of the camera to the mounting plate. I found that both of the cameras were not able to slide onto the plate the way it was shown in the included diagram. I assumed the notches on the plastic plate must have a slight design flaw and I just needed to press down harder or even file them down, but I didn't want to damage them. I asked the company, but they had not heard of this problem.

Eventually, I went to the Apple Store and bought two more cameras to see if they also had this problem --- and they were able to slide onto the plate without any issue! Comparing the two sets of cameras, there is a difference in the thickness of the little railing on the base of the cameras which the mounting plate is supposed to slide beneath. The Amazon-bought Circle Views were too thick. The Apple-bough Circle Views were just right.

I then returned the cameras I bought from Amazon. I emailed Logitech about this. For some reason, there are Circle View cameras for sale that do not fit on the mounting plate. Maybe it is only a problem for some of the ones in Amazon's warehouse, but I think it is worth knowing about.

Some minor connection hassles at first, which I notice happens with some other HomeKit accessories when you're installing them initially. But after that, the cameras have been great. I've had them for almost one month.

13 people found this helpful

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CarmelDC

Works great but it can be very temperamental

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2023

Style: DoorbellVerified Purchase

We’ve had this for several months and while there are lots of likable and impressive aspects to it, there’s also quite a few buggy/wonky things about it. It’s like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. When it’s good, it’s great but when it misbehaves, it really can be horrid. First the good. This is a sharp-looking and very solidly built doorbell camera. The doorbell works great, the motion detection works well, the microphone and speaker work well, and the camera reliably and accurately identifies, people, packages, and animals. My favorite moment with the doorbell was having an Amazon delivery person ring the doorbell while I was at a doc appointment. I was able to tell them where to safely stash the package until I could get home. Pretty cool. It also interfaces well with Apple’s HomeKit. Everything functions as intended—except for the moments when they don’t. Now the bad. As I see it, the biggest problem with this doorbell camera is that because this is a partnership between Apple and Logitech, it’s no where near as plug and play as most Apple products are. There are so many unique variables associated with installing and monitoring the camera that there’s almost always something to tweak or troubleshoot. You might or might not have issues depending on the temperature highs and lows in your region, how exposed your doorbell is to sunlight, how your Wi-fi is configured and your router’s proximity to the doorbell. Then there’s the condition and type of doorbell you have (which might require you to upgrade your transformer). In my case, it took me almost an hour to figure out where my transformer is and which circuit to turn off. As others have stated, this product seems to be really heat sensitive. Turning off the night vision light resulted in the camera going offline far less and once the fall’s cooler weather set in, the camera goes offline far less frequently. I had one episode where the camera basically flatlined and I couldn’t get its LED to stop flashing pink. After, removing it and jump starting it a few times, it finally came back to life. Since then, it’s worked fairly reliably. Bottom line, if you’re someone who isn’t very tech savvy and you hate troubleshooting, this might not be the doorbell camera for you.

5 people found this helpful

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Michael Miller

Outstanding video doorbell

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2023

Style: DoorbellVerified Purchase

Great device, I wish I would have switched from Ring long ago!

Given the articles/reviews about Apple HomeKit Secure Video based video doorbells, I was hesitant to give the Logitech Circle View a try. In fact, before buying the Logitech I did buy and install another Ring video doorbell. The Ring Pro was awful with no better latency or performance than the Ring v1 unit that it was replacing. Yes, the video was HD but the long delay to connect was worse than with the v1 doorbell. It's not an issue with respect to WiFI or network speed as the speedtest upload results for WiFi from the front door are:
• 608.27 Mbps upload with 4ms of latency
• 510.07 Mbps download

The Logitech Circle View is a dramatic improvement over the Ring v1 and also over the Ring Pro.
• Connection to the camera following an alert or someone ringing the doorbell is nearly immediate. It is also consistently reliable.
• Motion detection with the Circle View is so much more reliable than with Ring. I've read the opposite with articles claiming that the video based motion detection is unreliable.
• Recordings all start -- as they should -- right before the motion! With Ring, we were constantly getting recordings that would start well after the initial motion (recordings of people walking away) often completely missing what was relevant and valuable
• User interface with HomeKit is awesome and such a welcome relief vs. the bloat and "buy more stuff" interface that got completely out of control following the acquisition of Ring
• Ease of access to and sharing of recordings is Apple simple and reliable

I don't miss paying the $10 a month for access to the Ring recordings.

6 people found this helpful

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D. K. Walser

They Shouldn't be Selling This Thing

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2023

Style: DoorbellVerified Purchase

I bought the Logitech Circle View after doing a lot, but obviously not enough, research online. I selected it because it was compatible with Apple HomeKit, Logitech's online compatibility checker said it would work with our existing door chime, and because its built-in light enables color video at night.

So, what are the problems? First, it's NOT compatible with our existing door chime. Our home was built in 1984 and uses 8v DC to power the doorbell. One of the good things about the Logitech product is that it works with a wide range of DC currents, from 5v up to 24v. However, after 2 hours installing the unit and double checking all connections, the chime would not ring. Technical support told me that, despite what their compatibility checker said, our existing door chime was not supported and I'd need to buy a new one. So, I bought and installed an Apple Homepod Mini. Now, pressing the button produces a sound inside our home.

Second, at a little after 7:00 this morning, I received an alert that the door camera had gone offline due to excessive heat. Our house faces East, so the doorbell is in direct sunlight until about 10 am when the porch roof blocks the sun. Logitech warns that direct sunlight may cause the unit to overheat, but that happens with less than 2 hours of early morning sunlight? Worse, looking for solutions to the problem, I learned that this door camera won't operate at temperatures above 104 degrees F. I live in Mesa, Arizona. This thing won't work if its mounted in the shade for most of June, July, August, and September! Worse, because the doorbell will only make a sound when its connected to my Homepod Mini, and because it disconnects with the Homepod whenever the camera is offline because of heat, pressing the doorbell produces no sound inside our home. (If our existing door chime had been compatible, it would still sound even when the camera is off due to excessive heat.)

There are many things to love about this door bell, if only it would work reliably. It won't work reliably in much of the desert Southwest. In the US, even more temperate climes often have a few days each year of temperatures above 100 degrees. If you can live with a few days in which your door camera doesn't work, this unit might be a good choice. However, I consider a video door bell to be an important security component for our home. A few days of unreliability would be unacceptable.

Bottom line: Logitech shouldn't be selling this camera until they address this heat issue. For those of us in the desert Southwest, it's acceptable for interior use only.

10 people found this helpful

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Ryan B

Disappointing - I hope feedback is taken and this product is improved, I want to like it.

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2023

Style: DoorbellVerified Purchase

Summary: It isn't all bad. However, after using it for 5 months, I can confidently say I'm disappointed with this doorbell and sincerely hope they improve it. I previously owned a Nest Doorbell, but I wanted a HomeKit compatible device, so I thought I'd buy this Logictech Circle View Doorbell instead this time - but it currently fails to compete with the Nest.

The device: is not nearly as slick and compact as the Nest. I was bummed, but it's not the end of the world. The video isn't bad - but it seemed the Nest video was better. At night, there's a little light that comes on to illuminate people... again, it isn't a deal breaker, but I really dislike the look of this light bar - I wish I could turn it off.

The use/software: is also disappointing. It doesn't have its own app, instead it relies completely on HomeKit...so I don't know if I should be upset with Logitech or with Apple? I actually think it is a plus that you don't need to download another app - I think having it all in HomeKit is awesome. However, the current layout is pretty horrible. When I first set it up, I thought it was nice. Now that I have used it for months, I'm frustrated when I need to try and scroll through past recordings. There is only one small bar at the bottom. This is fine as one option - but they need to give you the option to switch to another screen that is more of a log of activities, so that you can more easily scroll and navigate through your history. The face recognition is also poor. We don't get a lot of visitors to our house, so maybe it is different if you receive more visitors. The thumbnail image is so bad that sometimes I can't tell who the image is. It also seems hard to correct it. 90% of the time it says that I'm the person at the door, even when it is not me. I don't know how to correct this and help it learn? When it thinks it's a new person, you can help teach it who it is. But when it confidently thinks it is you, I don't know how to correct it and tell it that it is not me. (There is also a way to connect the face recognition to your photos library, but at this point I have not tried that feature... perhaps that could help?)

Recording: I'm also a disappointed in the recording options - it only records when it senses activity - so if you want to see what happened 20 seconds before an activity appeared, you can't see it. Multiple times I'll see a car pull into the driveway... but then I'm curious when it left, and shockingly, it seems people can get back in and drive away without being detected... so I'll have zero history of it. With Nest, it would highlight an activity, but also allow you to scroll through the video and see anytime during the day. I miss that. (Not that I needed it, but it was also fun to make a time lapse of the day with the Nest camera... that's not an option on the Logitech Circle View.)

Support/Troubleshooting: The last straw was that the inside chime in our house stopped making noise. Luckily I would get a notification on my phone when the doorbell was pushed - but if I didn't have my phone on me, I wouldn't realize that the inside chime wasn't working. Outside, the doorbell would make a chime noise, so the visitors would think all was working and would patiently wait, when we wouldn't know anyone was at the door. I tested all the wires, transformer, etc... everything worked fine, but still no chime inside when the button was pressed. I finally reset the Logitech Circle View doorbell... and suddenly the inside chime started working again. However, to reset the device you have to remove it from HomeKit and then set it back up again - removing all your previous settings. There should be a much easier way to reconnect the doorbell without needing to start all over again. I did reach out for support to see if there was a better way - I again was disappointed in the level of support from Logitech.

Please improve this product - at least the software side of the product. I really want to be able to recommend it to others and I really want to have a HomeKit compatible device. But until improvements are made, I just can't recommend this product as it is now.

44 people found this helpful

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J. Hannah

Probably the ONLY choice for Apple HomeKit users

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2023

Style: CameraVerified Purchase

If you're an Apple HomeKit user and want to use HomeKit Secure Video there aren't many cams to choose from. This is a good choice as far as the available options are concerned but its tech is getting stale when compared to other cameras. It operates solely on 2.4Ghz and its resolution is good but not great. The picture looks fine but details are missing and when you zoom in it pixilates and loses all detail and clarity. The resolution is a limitation of HomeKit. Video quality is limited to 1080p. This wasn’t such a big deal when Apple first rolled HSV out, but 2K and 4K cameras are common now. Even if your chosen camera supports a higher resolution, your video will be limited to 1080p if you use it with HSV. When you are squinting to recognize someone with a hat on or pick out a number plate, the extra resolution helps. On the other hand, you need a lot of internet bandwidth if you want to upload and stream 4K videos.

You can review camera footage in the Home app on your iPhone, but HSV cameras can’t record video continuously. They only record motion events based on your chosen triggers and activity zones. You can scroll back through the timeline, and events are marked with icons, such as a person or package, but there’s no easy way to search or filter the recorded clips. All your videos are uploaded to iCloud, and there’s no option to keep local copies on a memory card or hard drive.

Apple is falling far behind the competition on the home security front but on the other hand they aren't charging huge fees for the service. You will have to step up your iCloud storage subscription to at least 200Gb if you have more than 5 cameras.

One thing to note: I had one camera come in with the most recent firmware preinstalled and the other two had older firmware. Upon initial installation to HomeKit the ones with the old firmware immediately started to update. You don't get any real indication that the update is happening so be prepared to let them finish. It only took a few minutes to complete. I returned one camera to Amazon for replacement because I wasn't aware that it was in the middle of an update and I unplugged it to move it to it's new location. Basically I bricked the camera because it didn't finish the update process and therefore would not boot up properly when powered on. The LED blinks a certain way to let you know what it's doing but being new to these cameras I didn't know what to look for. Just add it to HomeKit and leave it on for 30 minutes just to be sure. The latest firmware is 8.2.64 and that can be found by opening the camera view in HomeKit, tapping the gear icon on upper left and then scroll down to the bottom. You can also setup the camera's options from this page as well.

6 people found this helpful

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NKA

I was able to make it work very stable

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2022

Style: CameraVerified Purchase

When I bought the camera I was facing almost all issues described in the negative reviews.

Apple homekit cameras are not smart. All the brain is in the Apple Homekit hub. When the camera detects a motion, which can be a car, tree branch, or any object that is moving, it sends a video stream to the homekit hub for analysis. If the hub decides that the objects in the video match what you have set to be recorded it asks the camera to continue with the stream. So depending on where your camera is mounted and on the time of the day your camera can be constantly streaming video clips to the hub for analysis.
So homekit cameras need an excellent wifi network. And here comes the problem, the camera can only use 2.4Ghz band. And there is no good 2.4 Ghz network in this day and age. You can get around this only if the camera is within 10-15 feet away from the router.

The reason I am taking two stars is because 1) Logitech did not make it 5ghz and 2) Apple did not require in their specs to be 5ghz.

So my recommendation to make this thing work is:

In case the camera will be more than 15 feet away from router:
- Use a network extender that supports extending 5ghz network to 2.4ghz one. In other words you attach the extender to your home 5ghz network and tell it to create a new 2.4ghz network that you attach the camera too. You phone needs to be connected to the same network only during the camera setup process. You can tell the phone to forget the extended network after that. Place the extender as close to the camera as possible. I used a tplink extender.

- Use apple TV for homekit hub. The experience of many people is that iPad and homepods are not reliable for this. Most likely because they are wifi too. It would be best if the apple TV is connected on 5ghz wifi or with network cable.

And finally if you are bit tech savvy:

>ping <your_comera_ip> -n 20 -l 1024

If you have 0% packet loss and average round trip of below 15 ms.. the camera will work very well for you.

Update after 1 year or so of ownership:

I have two cameras now. They are still working. One of the cameras, however experiences the issue that is described in many other reviews. It will go offline and back online several times a day. The camera does not loose connectivity to the network, just appears offline. Another reviewer has successfully resolved that by talking to Logitech support and asking for a firmware update. My approach to resolve the issue was to use some smart plugs that I had free (you can do that with not so smart plugs that just have a timer) and schedule a restart every day. This took care of it. Did that for the second camera too just in case.

So, as you can guess my experience with the cameras was not that great. I mean this is a $150 product that requires me to use a network extender to convert 5Ghz to 2.4Ghz (see initial review for more details) and a timer to reset it. That is about another $50. On top of that it appears that the manufacturer has a firmware update for that issue, but will not release it.

I was wondering if I should take 1 star off, but that is one of the 2-3 other homekit native solutions and I think that homekit can be very solid if cameras improve and the more people use them the better the chance for Logitech and others to do something.

53 people found this helpful

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