topic Camera shows this device is inactive. a paid subscription is required in Arlo Pro

Arlo says I need a paid subscription

Retired_Member — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 21:35:24 GMT

I have had Arlo cameras for years and never paid for a subscription. I have four cameras that were free and I bought the doorbell camera and pay for a subscription for that only. I was grandfathered in for the other four cameras that I have and now they have been disabled from Arlo says I need a paid subscription. I’d like to know why this happened?

Re: Subscription

StephenB — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 23:31:37 GMT

@Retired_Member wrote:

I have had Arlo cameras for years and never paid for a subscription. I have four cameras that were free and I bought the doorbell camera and pay for a subscription for that only. I was grandfathered in for the other four cameras that I have and now they have been disabled from Arlo says I need a paid subscription. I’d like to know why this happened?

Try removing one of the old cameras from your account, and then add it back. Some users have reported that "add device" is non-responsive. If that happens to you, you can use the manual push-button sync.

Re: Pro2 This Device is Inactive

Jgrimald — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 01:40:46 GMT

The same message about the camera is inactive and requires a paid subscription. Started today. Will try removing and adding them back. This happen to three of the five cameras. Pro-2 cameras.

Arlo Pro 2

Sharon-c — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 22:19:01 GMT

I have an Arlo pro 2 four camera system with no subscription. It has worked great for several years; however, today it says three of my cameras are inactive and require a subscription. Has something changed?

Re: Why does camera suddenly require a paid subscription?

Jcooks82 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 09:26:31 GMT

I'm having similar issues with my Arlo cameras as well. I have been using my Arlo cameras for 3+ years & now all of a sudden the app prompts you to purchase a subscription (No Live Feed or any options available). I have never had to purchase a subscription & I don't care to use any of the extra features. Question: "How do I get my Arlo cameras to Operate Normal like before?" Consumers should Not be forced or tricked into purchasing a subscription. I have no use for a paid subscription. Can I Please get some HELP

Subscription

Michie — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:05:31 GMT

I have had 4 cameras for 2 years now. Within the past hour I got a message saying subscription required and they are not working

Re: Subscription

StephenB — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:16:07 GMT

@Michie wrote:

I have had 4 cameras for 2 years now. Within the past hour I got a message saying subscription required and they are not working

What cameras do you have?

Did you have a subscription before?

What’s going on?

Pepeita1 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:54:17 GMT

I’ve had my cameras for about 4 yrs working perfectly fine… footage is saved for 7 days if there something important then I’ll download it, I tried the subscription and it SUCKS I was paying for 30 days and that is the only difference… it was a waste of money so I cancelled… last month, I noticed they automatically gave me a “trial” which I didn’t request now the trial is over all of my cameras stopped working and they are forcing me to get a subscription which I WILL NEVER… its not worth a penny, I want my cameras back to the way it was before they started this free trial games!

Re: Subscription

Michie — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:58:51 GMT

I have 4 arlo pro's. I have never had a subscription before

Re: What’s going on?

StephenB — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:01:21 GMT

@Pepeita1 wrote:

I’ve had my cameras for about 4 yrs working perfectly fine… footage is saved for 7 days

You posted in the Pro 4 area. The 7-day cloud storage was never sold with the Pro 4 - Arlo stopped offering it on new camera models back in 2018. So you must have a different camera model - likely a Pro 2. If you want to check, try opening the camera, and remove the battery. There is a label inside. It is best to post in the correct forum area, as you will often get incorrect advice if people think you have a different camera model.

Your issue is caused by a bug in the Arlo cloud that affects some legacy camera users.

I am tagging the mods - @BrookeN , @ShayneS , @JamesC . They can do a back-end sync for you that should resolve the problem. One of them will reply here after they've done that.

If you don't want to wait, you can try removing one camera from the account, and then adding it back. That should trigger the same back-end sync. If "add device" is non-reponsive, you can use the manual push-button sync method to add the camera back.

Re: Subscription

StephenB — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:05:03 GMT

@Michie wrote:

I have 4 arlo pro's. I have never had a subscription before

Thx.

There is a bug in the Arlo Cloud that has affected some users.

The mods - @BrookeN , @ShayneS , @JamesC - can do a back-end sync that should resolve it. One of them will reply here after they've done that for you.

If you don't want to wait, you can try removing one camera from the account, and then add it back. That should trigger the same sync (and should resolve it for all your cameras). If "add device" doesn't respond (another bug some folks have run into), you can use the push-button sync method to add the camera back.

Re: Subscription

Michie — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:56:53 GMT

Thank you so much! I will await their response. Thank you!

Re: Arlo Pro 2

jguerdat — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:13:59 GMT

Do you have anything activated in your account, such as activity zones, that require a subscription? If so, remove those settings to see if that helps.

Re: Arlo Pro 2

Sharon-c — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:00:44 GMT

No, I don’t

Why the subscription mandate?

AZconfused — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:18:42 GMT

I have had Arlo Pro cameras for about 10 years that operated perfectly on my local storage hub. A week or so ago, Arlo started a trial feature showing vehicles, people or animals, and that it would terminate in a certain number of days. I was not interested in the service trial and did not subscribe to the service knowing it would end in a few days. However, at the end of the trial, my cameras became inactive and to activate them again they are requiring me to subscribe to their online service. The reason I purchased Arlo in the first place was because it had no subscription and storage was on my local hub. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Re: Why the subscription mandate?

StephenB — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 16:50:15 GMT

Arlo is still providing the free 7-day cloud storage for the camera models that were sold with that feature.

Try removing one camera from the account, and then add it back. See if that resolves the issue.

Camera shut down by Arlo

RWF76 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 18:23:39 GMT

Why does my camera say need a subscription to activate when it’s been working for years without one

Re: Why does camera suddenly require a paid subscription?

salthomas — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 21:05:04 GMT

just spent an hour on chat with this problem after which I was told it was "a known issue"

Camera shows this device is inactive. a paid subscription is required

stv_ack — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 22:59:19 GMT

why am i not able to see my cameras after six years? Now my camera all flash the same error message in the subject field. They were working just fine then all of a sudden, I get the error message. Anyone else getting the same thing?

Re: Why the subscription mandate?

AZconfused — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:07:39 GMT

I deleted 1 Pro2 then reinstalled it back on my vmb4000 and I could see it on the feed. So I just re-sync my other 3 cameras and they all show on my feed. I'm still working on the dashboard because I only see one camera. Thanks for the help.

Arlo needs to review their policies, especially the way they treat their long time loyal clients and consider the value of customer loyalty / retention.