Local video storage that’s anything but useful

A few years ago, Roku licensed Wyze’s budget home security tech to create a line of cheap security cameras. Roku’s decision could potentially bring some new magic to the Wyze formula or more of the same. It turns out that the Roku Indoor Camera SE is actually less than the same because local video storage isn’t accessible from the Roku Smart Home app.

If you don’t mind paying for a cloud plan to unlock its best features, the Roku Indoor Camera SE’s tech is a fairly solid option for $20. But obligatory subscriptions do not make for affordable cameras. Otherwise, consider skipping Roku cameras for a real budget contender from Tapo, Eufy, or Wyze.

Price, availability, and specs

The Roku Indoor Camera SE sells for $20 at Walmart and Amazon — making it cheaper than most other budget security cameras from Wyze, Tapo, Blink, and Eufy. It comes in white and includes a power adapter, USB cable, and mounting hardware.

While you can skip Roku’s cloud storage plan by inserting a good microSD card, I wouldn’t recommend it due to poor user experience. The camera shows a live video feed and sends basic notifications without a subscription. You can sign up for a Roku Camera Subscription for $4 per month to store video for up to two cameras or $10 a month for unlimited cameras.

What’s good about the Roku Indoor Camera SE?

Adequate video quality for a low price

There’s nothing groundbreaking about Roku Indoor Camera SE’s 1080p video quality. It yielded good results on my well-lit staircase any time of day, and its infrared night vision was powerful enough to capture most of my facial features and clothing details at night when I wasn’t moving.

While the level of detail is acceptable up to 15 feet away in all lighting environments, it’s more susceptible to reduced clarity on moving subjects in unlit rooms during the day and dark rooms at night. Although it lags behind Tapo and Eufy in this aspect, the Indoor Camera SE is more than adequate for most homes.

The built-in speaker produced excellent audio quality and was loud enough to hear anywhere in the room with little distortion; the camera’s siren is also very effective. One of my favorite features is the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm detection, which sends a notification to your phone if one of these alarms goes off in your home. It was also the only notification that consistently worked when testing the mobile app.

Controlling the camera using the Roku Smart Home app is mostly easy due to a clean user interface. Tapping on the camera from the home screen loads a live video feed where you can use two-way audio to speak with others and save footage manually to your phone. The gear icon in the top right corner opens the settings menu, where you can adjust recording options, smart motion detection, and notifications. I like that you can choose continuous recording of motion events, but motion events are more practical when reviewing footage later.

When used with two cameras, Roku’s entry-level cloud plan is more affordable than similar offerings from the competition. Its $10 plan is roughly equivalent to Wyze and Blink, but a better deal than Tapo and Eufy. The cloud plan includes 14 days of video history, smart motion detection, and no cooldown between recordings.

Installing the Roku Indoor Camera SE is as easy as finding an open wall outlet and plugging it in. You can place it on any shelf or magnetic surface if you don’t want to use the included mounting hardware. Still, installing the mounts with screws or adhesives is a painless process that takes only a few minutes to complete. I really enjoy the magnetic mount, which gave the camera a perfect vantage point from a railing overlooking my front door.

What’s bad about the Roku Indoor Camera SE?

Underwhelming local video storage and a buggy app

Even though the Roku Indoor Camera SE uses nearly the same tech as the Wyze Cam V3, it cuts corners with local storage to reduce the retail price and encourage customers to buy a cloud storage plan.

Read our review

Wyze Cam v3 review: The best $20 you’ll spend this year

The best deal in smart home hardware just got even better

On another budget security camera, local storage would be a reliable way to get around subscription fees. Roku negates this by not allowing you to view local video recordings in the app, a feature that every competitor has. Instead, you’ll need to remove the microSD card and connect it to a computer or smartphone each time you want to review footage.

But surely you can rely on the camera to send notifications when it detects motion or sound, thus reducing the need to pull out the card. Right? This wasn’t the case in my testing, where none of the video event notifications ever triggered on my phone except the smoke alarm option I mentioned earlier. Frustratingly, the camera even seemed to turn off the motion detection setting within minutes of me checking that it was on. Not receiving notifications dilutes the security benefits of this camera and makes it hard to recommend.

My other issue with the mobile app is that linking to Alexa and Google kicks you to a Roku Help Center article instead of triggering the process directly. Likewise, the app directs you to the online portal to activate smart home notifications on your Roku streaming box instead of setting them up in the app, which uses the same Roku account. While these are relatively minor gripes, they’d be easy enough to solve with an API to link the various services.

Should you buy it?

It’s not as practical as the competition

The Roku Indoor Camera SE is a handy home security camera when you pay for a subscription, and it’s a tall order to beat a $20 price tag. Its video quality isn’t bad, and I like that its cloud plans aren’t overly expensive. Plus, the magnetic mounting hardware is effortless to install. Still, the lack of useful local storage leaves a hole big enough for the similar prices and better performance of Tapo and Eufy to fill without much effort. Unreliable notifications are the final factor keeping Roku from being a serious contender among budget security cameras.

Roku Indoor Camera SE

$20 $27 Save $7

The Roku Indoor Camera SE may have good 1080p video quality, but it’s practically useless without a paid subscription despite its ability to save video to a microSD card. Look elsewhere for an affordable home security camera with great local video storage.

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