* Optional Accessory
**Requires Hardwiring Cable and installation (professional installation recommended)
***THINKWARE CLOUD uses your smartphone’s or mobile hotspot device's internet connection to send and receive notifications. Carrier charges may apply.

Yes! There are two ways that you can connect to your Thinkware with your smartphone: direct WiFi connection (FA200, M1, F800 Pro, Q800 Pro, U1000) or via Thinkware Cloud (F800 Pro, Q800 Pro & U1000 - requires separate WiFi hotspot in/near the vehicle).

The default password to connect to any Thinkware dash cam is simply: 123456789. It's a good idea to change the default password so no one else can access your dash cam videos or change your settings.

For the F800/F800PRO/Q800PRO Dash Cams: Press and hold the MIC button and the Middle Manual record button together until you hear the unit beep and say, ‘System will now restart”.

For the FA200 Dash Cams: Press and hold the WiFi and record button together until you hear the unit beep and say, ‘System will now restart”.

For the F70 Dash Cams: This can be adjusted in the settings inside of the PC Viewer.

If you don't have the PC Viewer application for PC or Mac, you can download it here: For Mac For PC

There are two ways to install a Thinkware dashcam in a personal or fleet vehicle. The first and easiest way is to mount your dashcam using the adhesive pads and then simply run the cigarette lighter power cord to your dashcam. The second is installing your Thinkware dashcam using the hardwiring kit. It's a bit more complicated, but it allows you to use parking mode and is the preferred method.

Check out our How to Hardwire a Thinkware Dashcam article that details this process!

In order to register your F800 Pro, Q800 Pro, or U1000 dash cam for use with Thinkware's Cloud service, follow these simple steps:

• Create a Thinkware Cloud Account
• Download the free Thinkware Cloud App for IOS or Android
• On the Home Screen click the '...' on the bottom right of the screen
• Click 'Sign In' and then click 'Sign Up'
• Follow the prompts to finish setting up your account
• Sign In with your newly created Thinkware Account
• Make sure all 'Push Notification' settings are on
• Connect to the dash cam via WiFi signal
• Once the device is connected, it will automatically be registered

If you're still not registered after following these steps and need assistance, please contact us.

Not to worry! All the Thinkware memory cards shipped with cameras are empty, this is normal. The first time the Thinkware dashcam is powered on, it initializes the memory card. This will occur after reformatting the card, or inserting a brand new card into the Thinkware.

Yes, you can!

The F70 and the FA200 Dash Cams share these 4 quick and easy steps to format your SD card.

• Step 1: Power your dash cam using the 12V DC vehicle power socket (skip this step if using the hardwiring kit).
• Step 2: Turn the ignition key to ACC or start the engine.
• Step 3: Wait until the device powers up and notifies you that “Continuous recording will now start”.
• Step 4: Press and hold the REC button for 5 seconds to initiate a memory card format.
  * You will hear a voice notification that the memory card will be formatted.

The X700 Dash Cam memory card is formatted using the LCD touchscreen by following these 3 simple steps.

• Step 1: On the Live view screen, tap the Home button > Settings > System Settings, and then tap the button next to Format Memory.
• Step 2: Tap the confirmation button to proceed with memory formatting. All the data stored on the memory will be erased after the formatting. Tap the back button to cancel memory formatting.
* Do not disconnect power or remove the memory card from the product while formatting. Doing so may cause serious damage to the data stored in the memory card.
• Step 3: A confirmation window will appear when memory formatting is complete. Tap the confirmation button to close the window. (The window will disappear after 5 seconds without a user input.)
* You will hear a voice notification that the memory card will be formatted.

The F800 Pro, Q800 Pro, and the U1000 Dash Cams share these 2 quick and easy ways to format your SD card.

Using the FORMAT button

• Step 1: Power your dash cam using the 12V DC vehicle power socket (skip this step if using the hardwiring kit).
• Step 2: Turn the ignition key to ACC or start the engine.
• Step 3: Wait until the device powers up and notifies you that “Continuous recording will now start”.
• Step 4: Press and hold the FORMAT button for 5 seconds to initiate a memory card format.
  * You will hear a voice notification that the memory card will be formatted.

Using the Thinkware Mobile App

• Step 1: From the mobile viewer, tap Dash Cam Settings > Memory Card Settings and tap the Format button under Formatting Memory Card.
• Step 2: From Formatting Memory Card, tap OK to proceed with memory formatting. All the data stored on the memory card will be erased after the formatting. Tap Cancel to cancel memory formatting.

Yep! A dashcam of this caliber is a pretty high-tech piece of equipment. When you think about it from an engineering perspective, capturing high quality full HD or 4K video takes a large amount of computer processing power. Until a few years ago, any camcorder recording in full HD at 30 frames per second would have been at least 5 times the size of these cameras. Add in all of the other bells and whistles (WiFi, GPS tracking, G-sensors, and more), and put them in a tiny package, and heat is the by-product of all that data processing that is going on. But not to worry, this is normal, and your Thinkware is operating as designed.

The Thinkware published temperature range is -10° C − 60° C (14° F − 140° F). This is operating temperatures, so most likely the camera will be fine even above and below that range when turned off (such as overnight or parked during the day).

There are several reasons this may happen:

• Ensure the Thinkware WiFi signal has been turned on (press the WiFi button on your Thinkware dashcam), and that the WiFi light has changed from blinking to solid.
• One common problem is that your phone/tablet/laptop is already connected to another WiFi network, such as your home or work hotspot. You may need to have your device temporarily disconnect or "forget" your known network in order to then connect to the Thinkware dashcam WiFi. It may also help to connect to the Thinkware WiFi signal directly from your device's WiFi settings menu, then returning to the Thinkware app and proceeding as usual.
• Another common problem is trying to connect to the WiFi signal after the Thinkware App has been opened. In most cases, simply close out the application, connect to the Thinkware WiFi signal, and then reopen the app.
• In rare cases the app still won't connect, we've had customers who uninstalled the app, and then download the latest version from the Play or App store in order to restore their ability to connect with their Thinkware.
• It may also help to power cycle (reboot) the Thinkware prior to attempting to connect via WiFi.

This is normal. The frame rate output over WiFi is reduced somewhat from the full HD for several reasons. For one, this is done in order to work with a variety of phone types, not all of which are able to render HD video at full frame rate. Another reason is that while the Thinkware is streaming the stored video to your phone, it's also still recording video at the same time. Rather than compromise the recording quality of the current video by the demands of also transmitting/displaying full HD video, the transmitted video is just sent out at slightly lower quality. Full resolution is always still available of course by copying the video to your computer.

We've found it can take anywhere from 12-24 hours for the GPS time signal and time zone settings to sync up after changing the time zone setting. Just make sure your time zone is set correctly, then drive like usual and it should eventually display correctly on the live view and recorded videos.

First of all, don't do anything except concentrate on driving! As long as you take action relatively soon (within an hour or two to be safe), your video will be safe from being overwritten while you find a safe place to pull over, or until you reach your destination. Then, when you are safely off the road, you have two options: 1) use the smartphone app to copy the video to your cell phone, or 2) take the microSD card to a computer where the video can be copied over directly.

If you want to use the app to copy the video to your phone for backup purposes, connect to the Thinkware via WiFi, then simply locate the video in the list, and press the '...' related to the video you want to copy. A menu will pop up and then simply press 'Download'. The video is now saved on your iPhone/Android!

If you are using a Thinkware Hardwiring Kit when your vehicle is parked (a.k.a. "Parking Mode"), we recommend reducing the "Motion Detection" setting. Do this by clicking on "Record Settings" and then set Motion to Low. It's also a good idea to enable "Battery Protection" and setting the voltage cutoff to your desired threshold.

Under "System Settings" set the "Time Zone" to correct GMT time zone according to location.

Under "System Settings" set "Speed Unit" to MPH.

Under "Road Safety Settings" (if available on your model) you can choose what functions you would like the camera to alert the driver to, such as: "Safety Cameras" and "Forward Collision Warning" (our recommendations).

Here's what you need to do to set the Thinkware memory card up so that it's readable by your Mac computer. Please bear in mind this procedure involves formatting the memory card (you will lose any recordings currently on the card), so be sure to download anything important via the smartphone app (or Windows computer) if need be, prior to following these steps:

1. On your Mac, connect the SD card
2. Open Mac HD on your desktop (Finder > Preferences > Sidebar > check Hard disks)
3. Open Applications
4. Open Utilities
5. Open Disk Utility
6. On the left you should see the SD card listed. It should show the card size with a second indented line beneath it that shows the volume of the drive.
7. Click "Erase" at the top of the screen.
8. Select MS DOS(FAT) File System for the volume format option.
9. Change the name of the drive if desired, Thinkware etc.
10. Click "Erase" at the bottom of the screen. You will get a warning and will need to click "Erase" again. The drive will be formatted as FAT32 when completed.

Now you can put the card back in the Thinkware, it will re-initialize and start recording like usual. From this point on, when you put the Thinkware memory card back in your Mac, it will be recognized and you can view the recordings or run the Thinkware viewer software without issue.

Yes, please see our Thinkware, BlackVue, Garmin, and other brands of dash cam user manuals in PDF format here: dash cam user manuals (click here).