Forgot Your Yoosee Password? Work Out Which One First
There are two separate passwords in play, and almost every failed recovery attempt starts with confusing them. The account password is what signs you into the app; it belongs to you and lives on the service. The device password is stored on the camera itself and controls who can open that camera's video stream, even from an account that is already signed in.
They are recovered in completely different ways. The account password can be reset through the app, because the service knows your registered email address or phone number. The device password cannot — nothing outside the camera holds a copy of it, which is why the last step for a forgotten device password is a physical reset of the hardware.
Work out which one is blocking you before you touch anything.
Two passwords, one confusing error message
The clearest signal is where you get stuck.
It is the account password if…
- You cannot get past the login screen at all.
- The app says the account or password is incorrect before you see any cameras.
- You have just installed the app on a new phone and it is asking you to sign in.
It is the device password if…
- You signed in successfully and can see your camera in the list.
- Tapping the camera shows a password prompt, an "incorrect password" message, or the tile stays black while everything else in the app works.
- Someone else's phone connects to the same camera fine, but yours does not.
It may be neither if…
- The camera shows as offline, or the tile never loads regardless of what you type. A camera that has lost its connection can produce errors that look like a password problem. Rule that out first with the offline camera checklist before assuming you have forgotten anything.
Recovering the account password
This is the straightforward one. On the login screen there is a forgot-password link, and it sends a verification code to the contact details registered on the account. Enter the code, set a new password, done.
The catch is that the code goes to whatever you registered with, not to whatever you use today.
If you registered with an email address
Enter that exact address. Check the spam and promotions folders, because automated verification mail lands there routinely. If you have several addresses and cannot remember which one you used, try each in turn — the recovery screen will tell you when an address is not associated with an account.
If you registered with a phone number
Enter the number in the same format you used at sign-up, including the country code if you added one. If you have changed SIM since then and no longer receive messages on that number, self-service recovery will not work: the code is going to a phone you cannot read. Your route is customer support or the seller you bought from, and you should expect to prove ownership.
If the code never arrives
- Wait a couple of minutes before requesting another. Repeatedly hammering the resend button often triggers a temporary cooldown, which makes it look like nothing is being sent at all.
- Check your phone is not filtering unknown senders. Both phone platforms have a setting that quietly diverts messages from unknown numbers into a separate list.
- Try the other channel. If both an email and a phone number are on the account, one may work when the other does not.
- Try on mobile data instead of Wi-Fi. A restrictive network can block the app from reaching the service, which reads on screen as a failed request rather than a network error.
Once you are back in, remember that changing the account password does not change any device password, and it does not disconnect the camera from your Wi-Fi. Cameras stay where they are.
Recovering the device password
Here it gets harder, because the camera holds the only copy. There are three realistic situations.
Another phone is still connected
This is the best case. If a family member's phone, or an old phone of yours, still opens that camera, the password is stored in that app. Go into the camera's settings on the working phone and change the device password to something new. You will not be shown the old one — you do not need it, because a phone that is already connected is allowed to set a new one.
Write the new password down before you leave the screen. Then re-enter it on the phone that was locked out.
The camera is new or you still have the box
Many cameras ship with a default device password printed in the manual, on a label on the body, or on the packaging — and what it is varies between models and production batches, so there is no universal value worth guessing. Look at your own manual, and if the paperwork is gone, ask whoever sold you the camera about that specific model. Guessing at common combinations mostly succeeds in locking you out for a while, since repeated failures often trigger a delay.
If your camera is still on its default, change it. A device password that came printed on the box is not a secret.
The camera came from someone else
A second-hand camera, or one inherited with a shop or an apartment, is the hardest case. The previous owner may have changed the device password, and the camera may still be registered to their account — in which case adding it to yours will fail regardless of what password you type.
The clean solution is for the previous owner to remove the camera from their account and tell you the device password. If they are unreachable, a factory reset is the only remaining option. The same applies if you are handing a camera on to someone else: unbind it and reset it first, then let the new owner run through adding the camera to their own app from scratch.
When "wrong password" is not really a password problem
Before resetting anything, rule out these three:
The app has cached an old password. If somebody changed the device password on another phone, your phone keeps trying the previous one and reports a failure without prompting you. Removing the camera from your phone's list and adding it again forces a fresh prompt — you are not deleting the camera, only your phone's saved entry.
You are on a shared account rather than your own. If someone shared the camera to you, your permissions were set by them and can be withdrawn or reduced at any time. What looks like an authentication failure can simply be access that has been revoked. How sharing works, and what each level allows is worth reading if several people use the same cameras.
The camera is not actually online. A camera that dropped off the network cannot verify anything you type. If the tile has been unreachable since a power cut or a router change, fix the connection first.
The last resort: a factory reset
A factory reset returns the camera to the state it left the factory in. It clears the device password, and it also clears the Wi-Fi credentials and settings, so afterwards you set the camera up again as though it were new.
Two things to understand before you press the button:
- Treat everything stored in the camera's settings as lost. Whether recordings on the memory card survive a reset varies, so if there is footage you need, copy it off before you reset — not after.
- A reset does not remove a registration held by another account. If the camera is bound to someone else, you may still need them to release it. Check your model's manual for how binding is handled on your camera.
The reset procedure itself — where the button is, how long to hold it, and what the light or voice prompt should do — is covered step by step in how to reset a Yoosee camera. Read it before you start, because a half-pressed reset that only reboots the camera wastes a trip up the ladder.
Two habits worth adopting afterwards
Keep the two passwords different, and store them somewhere real. A password manager, or a note in a locked place. The device password in particular is one you will need exactly once, months from now, in a hurry.
Share access instead of handing out the account. When a partner or an employee needs to see the cameras, give them their own shared access rather than your login. You can withdraw it without changing anything, and you never have to reset a device password because a former employee still has it. If you are not sure what your camera is capable of in this respect, the overview of what a Yoosee camera does is a reasonable starting point, and your manual is the authority for your specific model.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the account password and the device password?
The account password signs you into the app and is held by the service, so it can be reset by email or SMS. The device password is stored on the camera and controls access to its video stream, so it can only be changed from a phone that is already connected, or cleared by a factory reset.
What is the default Yoosee device password?
There is no single default that applies to every camera — it varies by model and batch, and it is normally printed in the manual, on the packaging, or on a label on the camera body. Check your own paperwork, or ask the seller about your exact model rather than trying values found online.
I changed my phone number and cannot receive the verification code. What now?
Self-service recovery will not work, because the code is being sent to a number you can no longer read. Contact customer support or the seller you bought from, and be ready to prove ownership of the account or the camera. This is also the reason to keep a second recovery contact on the account while you still have access.
Does resetting the account password affect my cameras?
No. Changing the account password does not change any device password, does not remove cameras from your account, and does not affect the camera's Wi-Fi connection. You may be signed out on other devices and have to sign in again with the new password.
I bought a used camera and nothing I type works. Can I recover it?
Ask the previous owner to remove it from their account and tell you the device password. If that is not possible, a factory reset clears the device password and lets you set the camera up as new, though a registration held by another account may still need to be released by them.
Managing cameras across several sites?
Shops, installers and property managers hit password problems more often than households, simply because more people touch the equipment. If you install, sell or distribute cameras and want to talk about supply or support, the partner information is on the Yoosee business page.