EZVIZ EP4: one-minute review
Fitting a video doorbell or security camera is often a non-starter if you rent or live in an apartment where drilling into the walls isn’t allowed. That’s where the EZVIZ EP4 Wire-Free Peephole Door Viewer comes in — by fitting through your front door’s existing peephole, it brings almost everything you’d get from a full video doorbell, without any damage that could upset your landlord.
The physical setup is incredibly easy and took me just 10 minutes to complete. After you’ve unscrewed the old peephole, the EP4 securely clamps onto the door without a power tool in sight.
Once it’s running, the footage captured is very clear, giving you a detailed look at anyone outside. The companion app is simple to use and intuitively designed, making it effortless to check live feeds, use the two-way talk feature, or adjust security settings.
When it comes to saving video footage, EZVIZ doesn’t lock you into a subscription plan like some rivals. While the company includes a free trial of its cloud subscription service, you aren’t forced to pay for it afterwards. If you want to skip the recurring fees, you can opt to install a local microSD card (up to 512GB) to store clips locally.
However, the EP4’s AI facial recognition has a notable quirk. Although it's smart enough to identify who is at your door, there’s currently no way to stop the app from sending you notifications when it spots someone you know — including you. Because you can’t tell the camera to ignore certain individuals, you’ll be alerted every time you walk through your own front door.
EZVIZ EP4: price and availability
- List price £229.99 (about $300 / AU$440)
- Available in the UK, but not the US or Australia
- No subscription necessary if you use a microSD card
The EZVIZ EP4 Wire-Free Peephole Door Viewer is available in the UK for £229.99 (about $300 / AU$440), but I’ve seen it discounted to as little as £159.99 during sales events. It’s not yet available in the US and Australia at the time of writing, but older models are, so hopefully the EP4 will launch more widely soon.
If you want to store your videos at home subscription-free, you’ll also need a microSD card (up to 512GB), so factor this into the cost. If you’d prefer to store footage in the cloud, you’ll want an EZVIZ CloudPlay subscription. After a 30-day free trial, there are three plans to choose from:
Plan Type | Cameras supported | Unlimited cloud storage | 7-day event-based video history | 30-day event-based video history |
Individual plan | 1 | Yes | Monthly: $3.99 (about £3, AU$6) Yearly: $39.99 (about £30, AU$58) | Monthly: $6.99 (about £5.30, AU$10) Yearly: $69.99 (about £53, AU$100) |
Home plan | 4 | Yes | Monthly: $5.99 (about £4.60, AU$8.70) Yearly: $59.99 (about £46, AU$87) | Monthly: $10.99 (about £8.40, AU$16) Yearly: $109.99 (about £84, AU$160) |
Business plan | 10 | Yes | Monthly: $12.99 (about £9.90, AU$19) Yearly: $129.99 (about £99, AU$190) | Monthly: $27.99 (about £21, AU$41) Yearly: $279.99 (about £210, AU$410) |
- Value score: 4.5/5
EZVIZ EP4: design
- Discreet external camera
- Very simple to fit without damaging door
- Internal screen projects an inch into the room
- Visitors might not spot the doorbell button
The EP4 has two main parts: the camera, which has a cable that threads through the peephole in your door, and a screen that sits on the inside. The camera has a doorbell button below the lens (though visitors might not notice it because it's at an unusual level), a motion sensor at the top, and a speaker and microphone on the side.
It’s compatible with doors between 1.4 x 4.1 inches / 35 x 105mm thick, with a peephole diameter between 0.6 inches and 2 inches / 14mm and 50mm. That’s a wide range, and should be fine for the vast majority of internal and external doors, but it’s worth measuring yours first just to be sure. You can remove the peephole from your door by simply unscrewing it, though if it’s particularly tight, you might need to use a pair of pliers to get it started.
To fit the EP4, start by measuring the thickness of your door using the card template provided, and choose the appropriate pair of screws, indicated by the instruction manual. These will be used to clamp the EP4 onto your door. Peel the paper off the 3M tape on the back of the camera unit, position it on the outside of your door (I recommend using a spirit level to get it straight), thread the screws and data cable through the peephole (you can roll a piece of paper around them to avoid snagging), and press down to secure it.
Then tighten the screws a little, slide the mounting plate for the screen into place, tighten the screws the rest of the way, plug in the data cable, and slide the screen into place. The whole process takes no longer than 10 minutes, and when you want to remove it, there’ll be no damage to your door.
It’s a clever design, and the exterior camera is discreet (it comes with stickers to put on your door if you want to warn visitors they are being recorded), but it’s worth being aware that the interior screen stands about an inch proud of the door, so you’ll need to be very careful if it opens opposite a wall.
You can detach the screen unit to charge it via a microUSB cable (supplied with the EP4) and insert a memory card. It’s a shame there’s no hot-swappable battery — you can’t use the camera and doorbell while the unit is charging — but battery life is quite respectable. EZVIZ suggests up to 120 days, though this will depend on how many times the camera is triggered and how often you use the internal screen to see what’s happening outside.
- Design score: 4.5/5
EZVIZ EP4: performance
The EP4 is an ingenious home security device that provides many of the advantages of a video doorbell or home security camera without needing to make permanent changes to your property. It’s a great pick for an apartment, with excellent picture quality and smart notifications, though it’s worth being aware of a few drawbacks — particularly when it comes to person recognition.
The resolution of the internal screen is fine, and you’ll immediately benefit from a field of view that’s much wider than your original peephole, but it doesn’t do justice to the EP4’s 4K camera. To see footage in its full 4K glory, you’ll need to use the Ezvizlife app, which also gives you access to all the EP4’s settings, as well as event history, saved recordings, call logs, two-way talk, and static photos.
Footage in the Ezvizlife app is incredibly sharp, and there’s very little lag between events happening outside and the camera starting to record. You’ll notice a delay when using two-way talk, but it’s only a couple of seconds, and no worse than some much higher-end video doorbells we’ve tested here at TechRadar.
When a visitor uses the doorbell, you'll receive an incoming-call-style notification that you can choose to reject or answer to start two-way talk. It's also possible to start two-way talk at any time through the app if you can see someone at the door.
Want to keep your identity private? The app gives you two options: ‘Uncle Tone’, which deepens your voice, and ‘Clown Tone’, which makes it high and squeaky, both of which work well and will effectively disguise your voice if you don’t want to be recognized. Personally, I would prefer an option that doesn’t sound quite so cartoonish, but they’re a welcome feature nonetheless.
I found the fisheye-correction option particularly useful during my testing, along with the AI person-shape recognition, which correctly identifies subjects even when they’re wheeling a bike or carrying a large object that might obscure their body shape.
When a person is detected, the camera will send a notification to the EZVIZ app, and start recording a 10-second video clip, which will be saved on an SD card or in the cloud, depending on which storage option you’ve chosen. You can also choose to watch through the camera live at any time, trigger a recording, or capture a still image.
You can also export videos from your logs at any time, which is very useful if you're unfortunate enough to need them as evidence for the police.
EZVIZ is a Chinese company, and although the app has been localized quite well, some parts are still confusing. For example, if you attempt to toggle a feature that’s still in beta, you will see a notification reading: “The current status of this detection is closed. Please enable the corresponding algorithm in the intelligent detection before enabling this function”.
For me, the biggest drawback — and the one that holds the EP4 back from a better score — is the implementation of facial recognition. In an ideal world, you wouldn’t receive a notification when your own face is detected, and you could disable alerts for other members of your household as well, so you’re only alerted when a stranger arrives. Unfortunately, that’s not an option with the EP4, which notified me that “Cat appeared” each time I arrived home from work.
Facial recognition works very well, and even identifies a person wearing a cycle helmet and sunglasses, but at the moment, the implementation seems back-to-front. In fairness, though, the feature is still in beta, so perhaps the developers at EZVIZ will make that change before its full launch. For now, it's a real problem.
- Performance score: 3.5/5
Should you buy the EZVIZ EP4?
Attribute | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
Value | Very reasonably priced, particularly during sales, though you'll need an SD card too. | 4.5/5 |
Design | Ingenious design that's great for renters, though screen projects quite far into the room and isn't very high-res. | 4/5 |
Performance | Key functions are great, but you'll receive notifications whenever it detects your own face. | 3.5/5 |
Buy it if
You rent your home
There’s no need to drill or make any permanent changes to your door, which will keep your landlord happy. When it’s time to move, the EP4 comes right off, and you can screw the old peephole back into place.
You’re on a budget
The EP4 is a great value doorbell and camera combo, and is frequently discounted on Amazon.
Security is a real concern
The 4K footage will make it easy to identify anyone who’s up to no good, if you’re unfortunate enough to need it as evidence.
Don't buy it if
You particularly want to watch for packages
Although the EP4 has a good horizontal field of view, it doesn’t cover your doorstep, so you won’t be able to see parcels left there.
You have notification fatigue
At the moment, there’s no way to avoid receiving a message when you approach your own front door.
EZVIZ EP4: also consider
If you're not sure whether the EZVIZ EP4 is the right security camera/doorbell for your home, here are two other wireless alternatives to consider.
Philips 7000 Series Video Doorbell
This excellent subscription-free doorbell earned our seal of approval due to its sharp 2K recordings, ease of use, and great battery life.
Read our full Philips 7000 Series Video Doorbell review
Eufy Video Doorbell Dual
Another solid subscription-free option, with dual cameras so you can keep an eye out for deliveries.
Read our full Eufy Video Doorbell Dual review
How I tested the EZVIZ EP4
I installed the EZVIZ EP4 on the door to my apartment, having first unscrewed the original peephole. I used it for two weeks, adding myself and my husband as 'familiar faces' halfway through. I used the two-way talk function to speak to him when I received a notification that he had arrived, and we used the doorbell function to speak to one another. I kept recordings on a microSD card once the seven-day cloud storage trial expired, and used the app to review recordings, export videos, and capture still images.
At the end of the test period, I removed the EP4 and replaced my door's original peephole. For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products at TechRadar.
First reviewed July 2026.
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