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.

[Bobbys1967]

It says on Apples website that the Arlo Pro, Arlo Pro 2 and Arlo Baby are compatible with HomeKit Secure Video.

[DaveM8686]

Any response on this from Arlo?  I'm not loving the long silences lately.

[jimmykl]

@Bobbys1967 

It kind of looks like it on https://www.apple.com/ios/home/accessories/#section-camera but only the bulleted • cameras support Secure Video – none of the Arlo ones. Hopefully it can be added I'd definitely use this feature with my Pro cameras.

[walcycarroll]

I agree having Arlo integrate into Apple Secure Video would be a nicely added feature.

Arlo any updates for the community?

[dpl]

Upvote! We really need this.

HomeKit is awesome, and thanks for implementing that, but now Arlo needs to level up and implement HomeKit Secure Video like EufyCam does. Thanks.

[MrHomekit]

+1 for HomeKit Secure Video support for Arlo Pro 2

Currently your HomeKit support is useless, because you cannot even turn on an off the cameras. You do everything to make people using your cloud-service. Privacy is a major concern in 2020, please get that!

[Bobbys1967]

@jimmykl I see that now.  Thanks for clarifying that, it was a little misleading. 

[DaveM8686]

@MrHomekit you can't even turn the security light on or off for the Ultras.  It's literally just watch the camera and speak through the speaker.  I'm still waiting for them to add the ability to turn the inbuilt music player on the Baby on/off through HomeKit.  I have a scene set up that gets everything ready to put my baby to bed, including turning on the nightlight and dimming other lights in the room, but I still have to then go to the Arlo app to turn on the music player for white noise.  So stupid.

[Sdca7718]

Homekit secure video needs to be added or a lot of customers are going to buy from the competition. Stop trying to be greedy, I liked Arlo because they had free recording, that is now gone. Limiting features to make more money, is a disrespectful business practice. 

[illuminous]

I just had the opportunity to see HomeKit Secure Video in action with a Logitech Circle 2 camera. First off I’ll say that the Arlo hardware is definitely superior to the Circle 2 in my opinion. 

Beyond that, HomeKit Secure Video and managing the camera through the Home app blows away Arlo! 

The ridiculous lag that exists on every Arlo product, which gets even worse when using Arlo Smart, is non-existent with HomeKit Secure Video. It took about about 1.5 seconds on average to receive a Person/Animal/Vehicle notification and video stream was able to start so much quicker. My Arlo Pro 2, from the point of actual trigger to getting the notification to starting the video stream is usually about 15 seconds, if not more. Until Arlo accepts that processing of video needs to be done locally on a Home Hub, it will never be able to compete. My family laughs at me all the time when I run outside to catch the mailman when he is detected on Arlo, only to find when I get outside he is halfway down the street. 

What was also so amazing was how you could integrate the smart devices with the HomeKit Secure Video device. So in the same notification screen for motion, my friend was able to toggle his August Smart Lock immediately to unlock the front door. This is obviously in addition to the more automated things like toggling on/off lights etc that you can do. So you can receive an alert and have a subsequent action completed in seconds, which would probably take me 30 seconds or more with Arlo. He also mentioned HomeKit Secure Video will soon support Facial Recognition, so it will know who is being detected. 

I’ve seen that a number of other camera providers will shortly release new products supporting HomeKit Secure Video. As soon as my Arlo Smart subscription runs out, I’m making the switch rather than upgrading to Arlo Ultra/Pro 3. I’d encourage other Apple/HomeKit users to take a look.