The new EufyCam S3 Pro promises impressive night vision

The newest security camera from Eufy — Anker’s smart home company — can see clearly in the dark, uses radar motion sensing for fewer false alerts, and records 24/7 when wired. As with other Eufy cams, the new S3 Pro has free facial recognition, package, vehicle, and pet detection, plus locally stored recorded video with no monthly fees.

Unlike most other Eufy cameras, the S3 Pro will work with Apple Home and is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video service.

The EufyCam S3 Pro launches this week as a two-camera bundle with one HomeBase S380 for $549.99. The HomeBase 3 enables smart alerts and local storage (16GB onboard storage, expandable up to 16 TB). It also connects the S3 Pro to Apple Home, making it the first Eufy camera to work with Apple’s smart home platform since the EufyCam 2 series from 2019.

Eufy spokesperson Brett White confirmed to The Verge that the S3 Pro will be compatible with HomeKit Secure Video. Apple’s end-to-end encrypted video storage service. “The plan is for all future devices to have Apple Home compatibility, and we’re looking into grandfathering older devices, too,” said White.

The S3 Pro has a new color night vision feature called MaxColor Vision that promises “daylike footage even in pitch-dark conditions, without the need for a spotlight.” I saw a demo of this technology at the IFA tech show in Berlin this month, and it was impressive.

A camera was positioned inside a completely dark room, sending video to a monitor outside, on which I could see everything in the room as if it were daytime. Eufy says a 1/1.8-inch CMOS sensor, F1.0 aperture, and an AI-powered image signal processor power the tech.

While the color night vision doesn’t use a spotlight, the S3 Pro does include a motion-activated spotlight that Eufy says can adapt based on real-time lighting to give you the best image. The light can also be manually adjusted using the app while viewing a live stream.

New dual motion detection uses radar sensing technology combined with passive infrared (PIR) technology. This should identify people more accurately and not send alerts that there’s a person in the yard when it’s a tree blowing in the wind. Eufy says it reduces false alerts by up to 99 percent. 

The S3 Pro is battery-powered with a 13,000 mAh battery that provides up to a quoted 365 days of power. A built-in solar panel can power the camera power for longer. In my testing of the EufyCam S3, which also has a built-in solar panel, I’ve not had to recharge it in over a year.

The S3 Pro’s solar panel is 50 percent larger than the S3’s, and Eufy claims it can keep the camera fully charged with just an hour of sunlight a day. Eufy also includes an external solar panel with the camera, so you can install the camera under an eave and still get power.

Eufy says the S3 Pro records up to 4K resolution and is powered by a USB-C cable. When wired, it can record 24/7 — the first consumer-level battery-powered camera from Eufy with this capability.

• Full-duplex two-way audio
• Dual-mic array that can record human voices up to 26 feet away
• A 100dB siren and motion-activated voice warnings
• A 24/7 snapshot feature that can take a photo every minute
• Activity and privacy zones
• Integration with Google Home and Amazon Alexa
• IP67 weatherproofing
• 8x digital zoom

Following some serious security and privacy incidents in 2022, Eufy has published a new list of privacy commitments on its website. The company also worked with cybersecurity expert Ralph Echemendia following the issues, and last year, he completed an assessment that, the company claims, shows it has “met all proactive and reactive security benchmarks.”