Geo-fencing home/away mode needed
The main feature missing from Tapo cameras and the Tapo app is geofencing. Geofencing allows the system to automatically set home and away modes whenever your smartphone leaves the premises or returns. To me, this is what defines a smart camera system, so that the homeowner does not need to pull out their phone, open the app and tap a button every time. Coming from Arlo cameras, this is an expected function. The same with Eufy cameras that factor all smartphones registered to the app in a household. This is based on GPS built into smartphones, not the camera, so can be easily added to the Tapo app. Sadly, the Tapo app even prevents iPhone Shortcuts and IFTTT from creating our own geofencing actions. This seems like a major drawback for such a promising camera system.
UPDATE 10/9/24: As noted by @Deefy, download Tapo app v3.7.106 or newer.
Go to Tapo Lab under your user name. Turn Geofencing on. Go to Smart Actions + Automation. Create a new Automation using Arrive/Leave as a trigger with your phone. Create a condition for your camera, based on privacy on or privacy off.