Suddenly being prompted to buy subscription following bringing Pro 2 cam back online

[Ceej]

One of the Arlo Pro 2 cameras in my account went offline randomly as it does every couple of months. After going through the normal process of deleting it and readding it, I was suddenly greeted with a ( ! ) icon and a message telling me I now needed to buy a subscription. That's not the case for the Pro 2 and has not been this whole time. All other cameras are online and recording for 7 days without a subscription.

I have tried deleting and readding and ensuring all rules are also deleted. Nothing has worked. From what I understand, Arlo may need to resync manually on their side.

To make matters worse, I can't even speak to live chat without a subscription any longer, so if this can't be resolved through this thread, I'm SOL. Please update the EOL policy for the Pro 2 cams if something has changed.

[jguerdat]

Some legacy users have gotten a trial subscription automatically, triggering that message. Don't worry, when the trial is over you revert to the free plan as before. You can check Settings, Subscriptions (or similar) to verify this.

[Ceej]

Well, it's been 7 days and nothing has changed. Camera remains unusable with a permanent prompt to sign up for a paid subscription. It doesn't appear that I ever was signed up for any free trial either - my account shows no plan at all and I'm not even prompted to sign up for any trial.

It certainly appears that either Arlo has quietly changed its EOL policy on Arlo Pro 2 devices without notice or this is a bug of some sort. All my other Arlo Pro 2 devices remain operational with 7-day cloud footage. It's clear to me that once the other cameras go offline due to a technical issue, that'll be it for them too.

[jguerdat]

If Arlo changed their EOL policy, it would be documented. See:

https://kb.arlo.com/000063018/End-of-Life-for-Arlo-Legacy-Cameras-and-Arlo-Services

How many total cameras do you have and which version(s)?

[BrookeN]

The Pro 2 cameras should still be working as expected.  Can you try logging out of the account and then logging back in? You can also try resetting one of the Pro 2 and then adding it back to the account. 

[Ceej]

It's not. I have deleted and readded this Pro 2 camera at least 8 times at this point. Each time, when it pairs to the base station, I am presented with only 2 options - select a subscription or "maybe later". Regardless of which I select, there is no option for a free trial nor is there an option for the legacy 7-day Pro 2 subscription.

Up until this camera experienced a technical issue where it lost its connectivity to the base station, it was working fine in this account. On it, there are two base stations - the first one has 3 Pro 2 cameras and the second base station had (prior to this camera experiencing the technical issue) 4 Pro 2 cameras. If someone is going to chime in here and say that that's too many cameras for the legacy Pro 2 subscription, then please advise why this setup was working just fine up until this camera experienced a technical issue. Otherwise, please advise on what exact steps need to be taken in the app to get this camera back online.

[BrookeN]

Are you still seeing this same behavior?

[Ceej]

I sure am. The camera remains inactive with the only option being to pay for a subscription.

[BrookeN]

What happens when you click no when onboarding? Does it move forward or does it stay on the same screen?

[Ceej]

Neither - it returns to devices where it shows a red (!) icon over a greyed out BG for the camera. From there, my only option is to subscribe to a paid plan.

[BrookeN]

Can you please send me screenshots of what you are seeing?

[Ceej]

 

 

 

I have been trying to delete and reconnect this Arlo Pro 2 camera using different orders of operation and I always get this result no matter what. There is never an option for a free trial. The app is treating this camera like any other newer model camera. Device has now been unusable without a paid subscription for close to 2 months.

[StephenB]

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@Ceej wrote:

One of the Arlo Pro 2 cameras in my account went offline randomly as it does every couple of months. After going through the normal process of deleting it and readding it, I was suddenly greeted with a ( ! ) icon and a message telling me I now needed to buy a subscription. 

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How many cameras are in the account?  Free cloud storage is limited to accounts with 5 or fewer unsubscribe cameras.  (That isn't a new limitation btw).

[Ceej]

There are two base stations. This is and how it has been working out for years now:

Base Station 1:

- 1 Wireless Video Doorbell (not recording clips; expected)

- 4  Pro 2 Cameras (all four working & recording clips)

- 1  Pro 4 Camera (not recording clips; expected)

Base Station 2:

- 4 Pro 2 Cameras (three of the four working & recording clips - one no longer doing either following a technical issue that brought down its connectivity)

My question to you is this, based on the claim that there are too many cameras associated with the account:

Why were all 8 Pro 2 cameras working just fine up until a few months ago? Even now, if the limit is 5, why do I still at this moment have 7 online and operational? Something isn't adding up here.

[StephenB]

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@Ceej wrote:

My question to you is this, based on the claim that there are too many cameras associated with the account:

Why were all 8 Pro 2 cameras working just fine up until a few months ago?

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You shouldn't be getting any cloud recordings with 10 unsubscribed cameras in the account. So the mystery here is why you were getting recordings before.

Is it possible that each base is in it's own account (sharing cameras to get full access)?