Apple HomeKit Secure Video

[Edron]

Apple announced a new service called Homekit Secure Video...they announced three companies that will start implementing it but unfortunately arlo was not amongst them...I hope arlo announces and enables this service in addition to the promised by not yet seen Homekit integration.

[illuminous]

@Jamesk811 

For me the issue wasn't once I was in the app. The issue was from the point of motion to receiving a notification to having a live stream in the app was usually about 5-10 seconds for Arlo.. if not more.

With Eufy, this is near instantaneous. I can actually have a two way audio conversation with a delivery person now. With Arlo they were halfway down the street before it linked to the camera. 

[dpl]

It also takes a lot of time here.

My connection is 1 Gbps and I have Arlo Pro 3. The only "bad thing" I see is it's in the basement, but the again the camera in the basement isn't any faster. And maybe the other one is every video's stored locally on an HDD, I'm not paying for a Smart Plan, all I want is HomeKit Secure Video.

I'll try to use a USB key during xmas vacations and see if it's any faster than the HDD. I cannot do anything more than this.

At this point I can only hope for Arlo to gift us HKSV as a Christmas 2020 gift 🙂

[DaveM8686]

Well I finally did it. After 12 months the retailer let me return my terrible Arlo Ultra 3 pack and solar panels for a full refund. 

Moving to Eufy and Netatmo. HKSV, local processing for fast and reliable notifications, no subscription for features like person detection and motion zones. 

[Troydavid]

Wondering if Arlo ever plans to support HomeKit secure video. I don’t very much like the idea of having my video sent off to arlos servers or paying for a subscription when Apple offers it for free. If there is no plan to support HomeKit secure video unfortunately I think I will be returning my Arlo pro 3 system.

[Banjobeno]

+ 1 for returning kit , iv contact Arlo support yesterday , and was all but fobbed off , I bought the kit because it’s stated it’s supported on apples website , this needs to be implemented or I will return my kit 

all the automation will not work until HomeKit has full access to the cameras , you can’t even assign zones in HomeKit so it triggers all the time , doing my head in 

[CrutchTheClutch]

Any news on this? Considering trying to return my Arlo (Or at least try to sell it secondhand) in order to get cameras that support HomeKit Secure Video

[illuminous]

Dump Arlo, they have confirmed time and time again they won’t do HSV.

Get EufyCam, which support it. I did this a few months ago and even without HSV, Eufy is so much better than Arlo.

[Troydavid]

I returned my Arlo cameras and got the eufy 2 cameras and home hub. It supports HKSV and works great. Highly recommend for anyone else looking for a suitable replacement. 

[phillip_u]

From what I’ve read in trade publications and blogs, Arlo has nominal margin (mid-teens) on the hardware products and requires a high margin (~50%) recurring services revenue stream if they hope to achieve profitability. 

HomeKit Secure Video would bypass enough of the Arlo Smart core features that it just doesn’t make sense for them to do it. 

[DaveM8686]

@phillip_u sorry but I blatantly refuse to believe that, given how much they charge for the cameras themselves.  The hardware isn't even anything special.  I found that the motion sensor was substantially worse than my Eufy 2Cs, which are a third the price.  The Arlo Ultras would miss 40% of events, and take anywhere up to 40 seconds to send the alert.  The Eufys are almost instant and hit 90% of alerts.  I have a Netatmo Presence now that hits 100% instantly, and it was the same cost as buying one single add-on Arlo Ultra, not including the required base station or (let's be honest) required solar panels to cater for their terrible battery life.

I will totally accept that they won't bring in HKSV because it will render Arlo Smart unnecessary though, but given Netatmo, Eufy, and I'm sure others provide the same features for free that Arlo Smart charges for, and have more affordable hardware, this is almost definitely just a cash grab.  Arlo must be hemorrhaging business as more and more people move away from them, given how many sales and ads I'm now seeing.