topic Arlo Essential in Arlo Essential Wire-Free Cameras

Arlo Essential

Kozlik — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:47:07 GMT

I have three cameras. Two are Arlo Pro 2 and One Essential. The Pro 2 cameras are grandfathered into free plan where I get some triggers saved on the cloud and I can later review. The essential was recent ad. Apparently it is not eligible for free option. As such, I would like to subscribe for only one cam, but without loosing the other 2 grandfathering. How can I know for sure that if I pay and stop paying, the other cams won't stop recording?

Re: Arlo Essential

StephenB — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 19:41:37 GMT

@Kozlik wrote:

I have three cameras. Two are Arlo Pro 2 and One Essential. The Pro 2 cameras are grandfathered into free plan where I get some triggers saved on the cloud and I can later review. The essential was recent ad. Apparently it is not eligible for free option. As such, I would like to subscribe for only one cam, but without loosing the other 2 grandfathering. How can I know for sure that if I pay and stop paying, the other cams won't stop recording?

A single camera subscription for the Essential is all you need. You'll still get free cloud recording for the Pro 2 cameras.

Re: Arlo Essential

Kozlik — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:28:51 GMT

What if I will later decide to cancel, will I lose free perks for my other cameras, and will I lose all the recordings made for the classic?

Re: Arlo Essential

StephenB — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:35:44 GMT

@Kozlik wrote:

What if I will later decide to cancel, will I lose free perks for my other cameras, and will I lose all the recordings made for the classic?

You will still get free recordings from the legacy cameras.

If you add more unsubscribed cameras (more than 5 total), then you would lose the free storage for the Pro 2s. But not an issue with 3 cameras.

Re: Arlo Essential

Kozlik — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:42:22 GMT

Thank you. I am a little confused. You mention 5 unsubscribed. But for some reason the essential is not recording. Is it supposed to, since you mention up to five?

Re: Arlo Essential

BrookeN — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 17:58:40 GMT

The Essential has to have a subscription.

Re: Arlo Essential

StephenB — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 18:35:20 GMT

@Kozlik wrote:

Thank you. I am a little confused. You mention 5 unsubscribed. But for some reason the essential is not recording. Is it supposed to, since you mention up to five?

As @BrookeN says, the Essential needs to have a subscription to get cloud recordings.

The 5 camera limit applies to your Pro 2s. If you had 6 unsubscribed cameras in the account, you would lose the 7-day cloud storage on the Pro 2 cameras.

Re: Arlo Essential

Kozlik — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 19:38:10 GMT

So if I buy another Pro 2 and sell essential I can have another one recording free?

Re: Arlo Essential

StephenB — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 22:44:30 GMT

@Kozlik wrote:

So if I buy another Pro 2 and sell essential I can have another one recording free?

Yes. But you'd need to buy it used.

Re: Arlo Essential

Kozlik — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 19:03:44 GMT

Why used?

Re: Arlo Essential

StephenB — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:40:07 GMT

@Kozlik wrote:

Why used?

Because they stopped making them back in 2019.

https://downloads.arlo.com/images/PDFs/EOL_Policy/Arlo-End-of-Life-Policy_06_01_2023_Final.pdf

Re: Arlo Essential

Kozlik — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:16:06 GMT

Thank you. Does that mean that they may be vulnerable to attacks and takeover? Does Arlo update its software on bases at least?

Re: Arlo Essential

StephenB — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:25:47 GMT

@Kozlik wrote:

Thank you. Does that mean that they may be vulnerable to attacks and takeover? Does Arlo update its software on bases at least?

At the moment the bases are not on the EoL list.

Per the policy, the Pro 2 cameras will receive security updates until 1 Jan 2026.

Re: Arlo Essential

Tippi — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 06:33:26 GMT

Good luck, I bought mine with the promise of two weeks free recording. low and behold, they changed the contract, and I never got free anything. Buy another company, PLEASE!

Re: Arlo Essential

jguerdat — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:57:04 GMT

I see @Tippi is whining on a bunch of threads without even trying to understand the issues. EVERY Arlo camera since 2018, starting with the Ultras, require a subscription for cloud recordings. Only the Pro 2 and older legacy cameras ever had the free 7 day plan.