Arlo essential no longer get recordings

[Jeff__h]

Just today I no longer get recordings from my essential to my local USB.  I don’t even have a manual record button showing.  I get notifications and it looks like it is trying to record but nothing.

I have rebooted the base several times…still nothing..all other pro2 cameras are recording.

this just happened.  I was recording to the cloud but canceled and set my base to record locally 5 days ago.  Today my subscription ended and just this one camera stopped recording locally.  

[Jeff__h]

The camera is a H6 device Arlo Essential Spotlight with the latest firmware.  My USB is a Sandisk Ultra USB 3.0 64GB.

Base station - VMB4500r2 with latest firmware.

All other cameras are model H6.  These all record to the USB.

Appears that all the essential recordings were going to the cloud and not local.  Now that my subscription ended today it still tries to go to the cloud and not the local USB...I can see the recording status light go yellow but nothing goes locally.

[StephenB]

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@Jeff__h wrote:

The camera is a H6 device Arlo Essential Spotlight with the latest firmware.

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Just to clarify - is the Essential Spotlight connected to your base (and not your home wifi)?

[Jeff__h]

All cameras are connected to the base station.

[Jeff__h]

In the mobile app on my iPhone and iPad there is no symbol for manual recording.  I logged in on my iMac and there is a button to start a recording.  I did a recording and again, nothing went to the USB.

[StephenB]

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@Jeff__h wrote:

In the mobile app on my iPhone and iPad there is no symbol for manual recording. 

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On mine, there is a solid white circle with a ring around it - that shows up immediately below the play/stop icon in the center of the camera view.  It disappears after a couple of seconds, but will reappear if you touch the image.

Touch that circle, and it turns red - and starts the recording.  

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@Jeff__h wrote:

 I did a recording and again, nothing went to the USB.

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This is with the VMB4500 base?  If so, you would need to eject the USB drive and connect it to the Mac to see the local recordings.

[Jeff__h]

OK...I can see the recordings on my iMac.  Is there a reason why they can't be viewed on the iPhone or iPad in the library section?  If I'm recording to the cloud they can be viewed.  All the other recording from my other devices can be viewed in the library section.

This makes no sense to have to remove the USB and use a stand alone computer to view.  I travel a lot and when an alarm goes off I need to review the recording.   If this is the case, then this Essential camera was a waste of money and it completely disenfranchises me with Arlo.

I bought knowing I could record locally or to the cloud.  I've been using the cloud as the price was reasonable at $5 a month.  Now I MUST PAY $10 A MONTH!  So the value add wasn't there so I dropped.  Now I find out YOU CANT RECORD LOCALLY!!!!!!

Very misleading and kind of a bait and switch situation.

[Jeff__h]

Stephen, appreciate your assistance with this weird problem.

On both my iPhone/iPad the only icons that appear are the speaker, microphone and spotlight.  No white record icon like the other cameras.  If I use my iMac there is a record icon.  I'm running IOS 15.4.1.

[StephenB]

The Mac will only show you Cloud recordings.  

The App will let you see either Cloud recordings or Local recordings saved on a VMB4540 or VMB5000 base that has direct access to storage enabled.  Local recordings on other bases (VMB4500 and older) can only be seen by ejecting the storage and attaching it to a PC (Windows or Mac).

In your case, you seem to be seeing Essential recordings on the Mac, but not on the App.  The fact that you can see them on the Mac suggests that you still do have a subscription in effect. 

Why you don't also see the same recordings on the app is a bit of a mystery.  Are you using the same account credentials?  Or are you using a "friend" account with the app?

[Jeff__h]

Thanks again Stephen for working with me.  Here are the details:

confirmed no subscription is active

Triggered a recording on the camera

Mobile app showed it was writing it as the record icon turns yellow

Mobile app tells me there is a recording by placing a number on the library icon…however..this number fades away before even going into the library.   Very odd behavior.

Checked in mobile App Library and the recording wasn’t shown

Ejected USB

Inserted USB into IMac.  Using finder saw the recording.  Double clicked on file and I could view the recording.

Cannot get into the app on my iMac until I have a subscription.  So can’t determine if the same problem exist using the iMac.  When you try to view cameras it just takes you to a screen saying you don’t have a subscription which I find rather troubling.

Today I will remove the camera and then set it up again in the app.  This is my last option and I don’t have any confidence that the problem will go away.

I refuse to pay $10 a month to view recordings.  If this fails, the camera hits the trash bin and I will research other camera providers for a solution.  This makes no sense that 4 Pro2 cameras I can view recordings  but can’t view the essential even though it is a Pro2 as well with just a spotlight and longer battery life.

any ideas are greatly appreciated.  Thanks again.

[StephenB]

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@Jeff__h wrote:

confirmed no subscription is active

Triggered a recording on the camera

Checked in mobile App Library and the recording wasn’t shown

Ejected USB

Inserted USB into IMac.  Using finder saw the recording.  Double clicked on file and I could view the recording.

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This is normal if you have a VMB4500 base (or earlier model).

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@Jeff__h wrote:

I refuse to pay $10 a month to view recordings.  

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Then the only option to see it in the app is to purchase a VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthub.  Then you can set up direct access to local storage.  https://kb.arlo.com/000062337/What-is-Direct-Storage-Access-and-how-do-I-use-it

There are some caveats:

• recordings only available in the app (not the browser)
• recordings only available to the primary account (not friend accounts)
• no manual recordings are possible
• no thumbnails
• remote access to the recordings requires changes to your router settings (which some find difficult).

Just to be clear - I don't work for Arlo, I am just another user.

[Jeff__h]

Very education yet confusing.

The Essential is basically a Pro2 like my other cameras.  Do you know what makes the recordings so different from the other Pro2s that they wouldn't be identified in the library?  I can understanding maybe moving to a newer base station if I was also upgrading cameras to Pro3 or higher but all of the cameras are basically Pro2.

IMO very sneaky way to force users to buy a recording subscription or new equipment.  Can't even talk to live support without paying for a subscription.  If only I knew this before purchasing..smh!

Guess I'm sol....unless I shell out more $...the camera goes into the trash...I will just use the other 4 Pro2s.  The essential never worked right anyways..the spotlight always got stuck in the on position after a random recording and would drain the battery..so I turned the spot off and just used it like the other Pro2s.

Very disappointed in this outcome but it now puts me in a position to find a more robust and reliable replacement.

Really appreciate your insights..too bad this wasn't documented by Arlo in the users guide as I would have returned it immediately.  Hidden things like this really impact the reputation of the company.  I don't appreciate deceit or forced into paying for subscriptions.

[StephenB]

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@Jeff__h wrote:

Do you know what makes the recordings so different from the other Pro2s that they wouldn't be identified in the library?  

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Your Pro 2s came with 7-day cloud recording.  Arlo stopped offering that in 2018 when they introduced the Ultra.  All the new cameras (including the Essential) require a subscription to get any cloud storage.

So you also aren't seeing local recordings for your Pro 2s in the app or browser either.  Just the 7-day Cloud storage.

Of course there were plenty of complaints when the free cloud storage was dropped.  Arlo implemented direct access to local storage in response, but only in the new smarthubs (VMB4540 anc VMB5000).