I like the Qolsys IQ Panel 4 well enough, and the IQ Remote. But I want to disable the camera and microphone on both devices, and not in a software setting, but through physical disconnection. I’ve seen only one other person concerned about this in an old support thread from 2018. They were able to disconnect the microphone from the board on the IQ Panel 2 but had to figure it out on their own. The IQ Panel 4 has some accessible headers through the back but the IQ Remote looks a bit trickier to work apart.
As someone with a background in software security I would never trust a device like this, especially running an old version of Android, especially especially being always-online, with a microphone and a camera in my house, triple especially in my master bedroom or wherever private spaces people might choose to mount a remote or a panel. At least with the camera we can put a piece of tape over it, but the microphone is a bigger problem.
The product management behind the IQ Panel 4 thought of a lot of things and did a lot of clever stuff, but I wish they had provided a physical electrical disconnect switch for these features.
I understand I’ll lose certain features like taking pictures of disarms or two-way audio but I’m fine without those. Has anyone disconnected the microphone on these devices?