topic Re: Cameras became inactive in Arlo Smart

Cameras became inactive

Ebo787 — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 04:45:12 GMT

I’ve been using my Arlo system for quite some time now.
2x Arlo Pro 2s
4x Arlo Ultra
1x Arlo baby cam
1x Video doorbell

I am in a region where Arlo subscriptions are not available. Previously this meant that some of my cameras cannot record video on the cloud but I could always view them live on the app. A few days ago 2 randomly dropped off and I got this message “this device is inactive... a paid Arlo subscription is required to activate this device.”
The two devices that went offline are:
1x Arlo pro2
1x Arlo Ultra

Pls help I’ve invested so much into this system and now it’s giving up on me.

Re: Cameras became inactive

JamesC — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 21:31:56 GMT

Ebo787,

Without a subscription plan, the maximum number of active cameras on your account is 5. If you have more than 5, those cameras will display the error message that you've described here.

JamesC

Re: Cameras became inactive

Ebo787 — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 04:33:04 GMT

I understand that. But all cameras were working just fine for quite some time. Why would they randomly go down now?

Re: Cameras became inactive

StephenB — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 13:11:21 GMT

@JamesC wrote:

Without a subscription plan, the maximum number of active cameras on your account is 5. If you have more than 5, those cameras will display the error message that you've described here.

There is a workaround, which is to create a second account, and shift some cameras over to it. You'd then grant access to cameras across both accounts.

Of course you also need to use direct access to local storage on the ultras - which I think means that you should use the account that the ultras are on to access the videos.

Re: Cameras became inactive

Ebo787 — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 12:09:25 GMT

This is a great idea! Thank you!

Re: Cameras became inactive

GettingEffed — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 22:51:59 GMT

Sounds like extortion. Show you all of your cameras for a while then take some of them away and tell you if you want them back you have to fork over some cash. Happened to me too. Invested in ten cameras and now I can only see five of them unless I want to add them to my already expensive plan. I’ll be replacing my Arlo system to something cheaper and more transparent.