August stops sales of newest smart doorbell camera, the August View
August is abruptly stopping sales of its newest doorbell camera, the August View, citing "performance challenges" and stating that the device needs "critical improvements," the company said. The first battery-powered doorbell camera for August, the August View will be pulled from shelves and the company's web site.
"When you purchase an August product, you trust us with the most important parts of your life: your home and your family," said the company in a statement Friday. "We value your trust greatly and it is our top priority. In order to fully evaluate the user feedback, implement critical improvements, run further testing, and keep our commitment to you, we are pausing shipping of the August View."
Anyone who has bought an August View, and not installed it, is invited to return it. However, August is also inviting customers who have already installed the August View to get a full refund while continuing to use it.
This refund offer — which will mean sharing details with August on how the product is working, and how it can improve its performance — is only open until 11:59 pm PT on May 3, 2019. Those who bought the August View through the company's web site will get a refund through their credit card. If they purchased the doorbell camera through other methods, they will get $229 sent to them via PayPal.
Problems with connectivity
August launched the August View in March, and as GearBrain had been testing the device we had run into a number of connectivity issues ourselves. We think the biggest challenge for all smart video doorbells is the wireless signal at the location you plan to install your smart home device. If you don't have a good signal, the video doorbell will not work, or performance could be spotty.
During our testing of the August View, we had a low Wi-Fi signal at the door where we installed the August View — and the smart doorbell camera did work. But when we tried to move the August Chime, which comes with the August View and controls the sounds when someone rings the bell, we ran into trouble. Moving the Chime closer to the door to get it work with the View, service started going in or out. When we finally found a spot where the doorbell worked properly — it was not on the door, and that it really where you want a smart doorbell camera to work.
Also, when we did connect August View, we found it took too long for the video to launch — at least a few minutes which is not optimum for a security device. Also, the video clips we pulled up were very spotty, with night vision video quite grainy depending on where lights were placed near the device.
August View's future
August View, like other August products, is designed to work with the rest of the company's line, including the August Smart Lock Pro using August Connect. View was also designed to work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as Nest and IFTTT applets.
August decided to end shipping as of today, based on user feedback, it said. The company said it plans to put the doorbell back on sale again at a future date.
