VMC 2020 - Essential we added does not seem to record.

[LDZJ]

We have Arlo Pro 2, these record motion and plays it back on our phone without any subscriptions.
The Essential we added does not seem to record. Is it equipped and supposed to without purchasing a subscription?

[dcfox1]

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@LDZJ wrote:
We have Arlo Pro 2, these record motion and plays it back on our phone without any subscriptions.
The Essential we added does not seem to record. Is it equipped and supposed to without purchasing a subscription?

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No. All newer models since 2018 require a subscription for cloud storage. Pro2 still has the 7 day. 

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@LDZJ wrote:
We have Arlo Pro 2, these record motion and plays it back on our phone without any subscriptions.
The Essential we added does not seem to record. Is it equipped and supposed to without purchasing a subscription?

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The essential - like all the newer cameras - requires a subscription to get cloud storage.  

[LDZJ]

Thank you, Steven. I’m not interested in storage per say I just want to know does this camera record or not without a subscription? Does storage = record?
No directions, zero helps, very confusing. The box says ‘easily view and share recordings’ and that’s not listed under the Arlo smart trial options.

[StephenB]

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@LDZJ wrote:
Thank you, Steven. I’m not interested in storage per say I just want to know does this camera record or not without a subscription? Does storage = record?

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Recording requires storage, and it should be recording if you activated the trial subscription.  And you'll need to keep that subscription after the trial ends.  If you didn't activate the trial (or cancelled it), then you won't see cloud recordings in the library.

If you have local storage in a base/smarthub, then you can record to that storage w/o a subscription.  Though most essential owners don't have a base or smarthub.