What is the Wake-up Sensitivity Feature on my Battery-Operated Tapo Camera/Doorbell?

What is Wake-up Sensitivity？

Generally, Wake-up Sensitivity refers to the sensitivity of the camera’s PIR sensor, and how often it should be triggered. Higher sensitivity results in greater detection distance, more aggressive wake-up, and more recordings, which will reduce battery life.

PIR sensor refers to the camera’s passive infrared sensor. The term ‘passive’ refers to the fact that PIR devices do not radiate energy by themselves; they work by detecting infrared radiation emitted by or reflected from objects.

You can adjust the sensitivity to suit your specific needs and home monitoring scenarios in the Tapo App under Camera Settings → Detection → Wake-up Sensitivity.

How does Wake-Up Sensitivity Work on my Battery-Operated Tapo Camera/Doorbell?

For the sake of conserving power, the Camera of your Battery-Operated Tapo Camera or Doorbell is typically in a sleep state (low power consumption). In this state, the device will maintain network connectivity and other basic functions. The camera can be woken by specific actions, such as opening the camera’s live view via the Tapo App, or if a detection event occurs via its PIR sensor.

Within the camera there are two sensors. When a person or animal moves through the camera’s detection zone, the sensors can detect the infrared radiation changes, thus waking up the camera. Frequent heat source movements can also cause the camera to be awakened more often. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the PIR sensor may be affected by the installation environment. Due to the mechanisms utilized by these sensors, they may not detect objects moving directly towards the camera in some cases.

Note: Activity Zones or Privacy Zones won’t affect the PIR sensor, thus these settings will not reduce the frequency of wake-up events.

For more suggestions on how to extend the battery life of your battery-operated Tapo Camera or Doorbell, please refer to the FAQ below.

How do I extend the battery life of my Tapo Camera/Doorbell?