cannot view my new VMC2030 cameras on my iphone app.

[AKGRAM]

cannot view my new VMC2030 cameras on my iphone app.  downloads to a USB.  what can i do?  not what we bought this unit to do

[StephenB]

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@AKGRAM wrote:

cannot view my new VMC2030 cameras on my iphone app.  downloads to a USB.  what can i do?  not what we bought this unit to do

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Are you saying you can't livestream?  Or can't see the recordings?

Do you have a subscription for the cameras?  You need one to get cloud storage.

[AKGRAM]

to make sure i understand, the only way to see the library recordings for the 2030 cameras is to subscribe to the cloud?

Is there a newer base that would be compatible with my pro cameras and the 2030 that would accommodate without a subscription? We are on a fixed income and do not want a monthly fee.

[AKGRAM]

also. are pro 2, pro 3 or pro 4 cameras compatible with the VMB4000 base that we can use without a subscription?

[StephenB]

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@AKGRAM wrote:

to make sure i understand, the only way to see the library recordings for the 2030 cameras is to subscribe to the cloud?

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That is the only way to see the cloud recordings for the Essential Spotlight cameras.

The Pro / Pro 2 cameras came with free 7-day cloud storage, but Arlo stopped offering that on new models back in 2018.

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@AKGRAM wrote:

Is there a newer base that would be compatible with my pro cameras and the 2030 that would accommodate without a subscription? We are on a fixed income and do not want a monthly fee.

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A VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthub would let you see locally recorded videos in the app.  That also requires at least 16 GB of storage (USB stick for the VMB4540, a MicroSD card for the VMB5000).  The Pro cameras could be moved to that base, or you could just run both bases.

There are limitations:

• Recordings only available in the app (not the browser)
• Recordings only available from the primary account (not friend accounts)
• No manual recordings or snapshots
• No thumbnails (surprisingly annoying)
• Remote access requires router setting changes that some find difficult (and isn't possible with some network providers - starlink and tmobile broadband to name two).

You also lose activity zones with no subscription.

As far as the fee goes:  List price for the VMB4540 is $99, but I don't think you can find any for that price.  I am seeing some VMB4540s available on Amazon for $199 USD.  If you only have two VMC2030s, then the subscription would cost $6 per month, so it would take about 33 months to break even on the smarthub.  If you need the multicamera subscription, it would cost $10 per month, so about 20 months to break even.  Whether that's a good deal or not depends in part on whether you can live with the limitations.