Abstract
The complaint is real and severe: reviewers say recent updates made security basics slower, buggier, more cluttered, and less trustworthy. But a solo builder cannot realistically replace the official app for proprietary cameras, HomeBase devices, doorbells, vacuums, baby products, and cloud/auth flows. The only realistic wedge is a narrow companion app for faster viewing, notification triage, and diagnostics where users can access feeds or exported clips.
Background
Anker eufy is the free all-in-one app for eufy Security, eufy Clean, eufy Baby, eufy Life, and eufy Pet. The Play listing still shows a 4.5★ lifetime rating, and the install snapshots provided run from 8,878,431 on 2026-08-06 to 9,454,585 on 2026-10-20.
What it does
Controls cameras, doorbells, HomeBase devices, robot vacuums, baby gear, pet products, scales, sharing, alerts, playback, and device settings.
What changed
Reviewers repeatedly tie the downturn to recent updates and the move toward a unified Anker eufy app that mixes security, cleaning, baby, pet, and shopping surfaces.
Why it is soft
Users like the hardware but no longer trust the app experience. That creates demand, but the hardware ecosystem is also the moat that makes a true replacement hard.
Strengths
This is not a weak product with no loyalty. Multiple negative reviews still praise the cameras, and positive reviews mention good robot-vacuum scheduling, family sharing, responsive support, and improving performance after fixes. The installed base and daily security habit are powerful advantages a new entrant would not have.
Hardware pull
Several frustrated users say the cameras are good, but the app makes them useless when live view, playback, or notifications fail.
Ecosystem lock-in
The app is tied to many device categories and models, plus HomeBase behavior, sharing, firmware, encryption, and assistant integrations.
Still improving for some
A few later reviews say performance improved or support credited them, so the incumbent may patch the worst breakage before a new app gains trust.
Market gap
The clearest gap is not price — the app is free — but reliability after recent updates. Complaints cluster around security workflows that must work instantly, not eventually.
Live view, playback, decryption
The most common complaint is slow or failed camera access: spinning live feeds, events that will not load, choppy playback, decryption delays, crashes, and missed moments.
Update regressions and bloat
Reviewers describe the old security-focused app as better and the unified app as cluttered with ads, shopping, extra categories, extra taps, and changed layouts.
Notifications and automations
Delayed alerts, repeated alerts, geofencing failures, indistinguishable low-battery versus motion sounds, and limited per-user notification controls come up repeatedly.
Non-security device fallout
Robot-vacuum users complain about lost maps, missing skip-clean behavior, broken multi-map support, and the new all-in-one app being worse than the original eufy Clean app.
today's update just messed the App completely, bad notification bad loading: 1-Indoor Cams continuous freezing or not connecting to wifi. 2-Very slow playback loading, freezes, especially when forwarding during video. 3-Not user friendly.4-Bugs using it on the Fold, the big screen/ landscape, it's like reopening it from start, 5-Activity zone for a camera is different between the small and big screen. 6-Too many steps to find the battery power for each Cam & it's different location for each one
After most recent update in mid August I couldn't live stream or play back events. Opened a ticket and they were no help. Just told me to do what I already told them I did. Finally I went to APKMirror and loaded a prior version. Now everything is back to normal. Also turned off auto update in Google Play so they don't keep forcing new updates down my throat. Every update slows things down. I wish they just had a security app and didn't combine baby, vacuum, pet and whatever else.
I have been using the original eufy app for almost 2 years with zero issues for my mop/vacuum robots and I received a notification on the original app stating I needed to download this app. That app might work for other eufy products but it is not designed for the robot vacuums. you can't do anything for the robots. We can't map the house, so therefore I can't pick the rooms I want to clean. it's just awful and I will be using the original app until this issue is fixed. I'm. ZERO STARS
- Do not build a full eufy replacement. The market wants one, but a solo builder cannot safely support every camera, HomeBase, vacuum, doorbell, firmware path, and encrypted event flow.
- Start with a security-only companion. The wedge is fast camera viewing, event organization, and status diagnostics for users who can access feeds or exported clips, not device ownership transfer.
- Win on calm notification control. Per-camera sounds, quiet low-battery alerts, family-member filtering, and clear failure warnings are small enough to ship and map directly to the complaints.
Build complexity
Estimated, not derived: one part-time developer, no funding, no team, and no paid acquisition. This estimate is for a narrow eufy camera companion, not a full controller for the whole Anker eufy ecosystem.
| Workstream | Weeks |
|---|---|
| Device-access research and scope limits | 2.0 |
| Android app shell, onboarding, privacy copy | 2.0 |
| Local/feed viewer and clip import workflow | 3.0 |
| Notification rules, quiet hours, per-camera labels | 2.0 |
| Diagnostics, failure states, security hardening | 2.5 |
| Play listing, billing, support docs | 1.5 |
| Buffer for model differences and testing | 1.0 |
| Total | 14.0 |
Expected revenue
Estimated, not derived: assume a freemium Android app with a $2.99/month power-user plan for saved rules, multi-camera dashboards, and diagnostics. Revenue stays modest because this is a companion to hardware users already expected to control their devices for free.
| Month 12, monthly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Installs | 4,000 | Organic search and Reddit/forum discovery |
| Activated | 1,400 | Successfully connect or import clips |
| Retained | 700 | Still using after setup friction |
| Paid | 500 | $2.99/month |
| Revenue | $1,500 | Rounded MRR |
Biggest challenges
The hard part is not making a prettier timeline; it is earning trust around security devices while working around a proprietary ecosystem whose official app controls setup, encryption, HomeBase behavior, firmware, sharing, and many device categories.
No clean replacement path
Users want the old security app back, but a third party cannot simply become the official HomeBase, firmware, account, and cloud layer.
Trust and liability
A security-camera app with zero reviews has to convince users it will not mishandle footage, credentials, alerts, or emergency moments.
Support surface
Reviews mention many products and model-specific failures; even a narrow companion app will attract support tickets for problems caused by eufy firmware or network state.
AI angle
There is no strong AI wedge for a solo competitor here. Reviewers complain about latency, playback, updates, notifications, map loss, app bloat, and device connectivity. AI can help label clips or summarize alerts after footage is available, but it does not solve the core access, encryption, HomeBase, and firmware-control problems.
Useful but secondary
A model could classify imported clips, group repeated alerts, or explain likely setup problems from logs and screenshots.
Not the moat-breaker
It cannot make the official app faster, restore removed vacuum features, or bypass missing device access in a safe, store-compliant way.
Conclusion
Skip a full competitor. The pain is obvious, but the moat is the hardware ecosystem. Build only if you accept a smaller companion-app business focused on faster camera viewing, notification calm, and diagnostics for the subset of users whose feeds or clips you can access cleanly.
Time to v1
Freemium power-user plan
Month-12 revenue
Deciding constraint