Arlo Pro 3 getting local storage to work

[Mouser99]

My trial subscription ran out and I was suddenly unable to view any recorded videos, rendering my cameras useless. I had no idea that Arlo was a paid service when I purchased the cameras. Their documentation says I can store recordings locally, so I plugged in a usb drive and changed the settings to store locally. So far, so good. But there are a few major problems. First, the "devices" tab no longer indicates whether any recordings have been made. With cloud storage, a number appeared at each device showing how many recordings had been made. That number is now replaced with a generic "menu" icon, so now I'm required to open the window for EACH camera just to see if any events were recorded. And if there are recordings, it no longer previews them. I have to download every single one just to see what triggered the recording. This is a major inconvenience. In addition, I can no longer access recordings at all unless I am at home on the same network as the hub. The whole point of having the cameras is so I can view with them when I'm not at home. If I'm home I can just look out a window.

The app tells me I can enable a VPN or port forwarding to view recordings from a different network. I'm afraid this is beyond my technical abilities. Is there any way to make this system work as well as it did before my trial subscription ran out, for someone like me who doesn't have a lot of technical knowledge about how networks operate? Thanks in advance if anyone can help me.

[jguerdat]

My suggestion would be to have someone local step you through this. It's not hard but if you've never done it before it's a bit daunting. Use of the port forwarding method is easier but not as secure as use of a VPN. Have the person help you set a static IP address for your hub so it will continue to work if something gets rebooted. The app will tell you the IP address and ports to use for port forwarding.

Again, it sounds like a problem but it really isn't bad. Plus, you only have to do it once. And if you can live with only viewing the videos when you're at home you don't have to set anything up.

[Mouser99]

Thanks for responding. Would the port forwarding option endanger the security of ALL the data on my home wifi network, or just the security of the camera images? I'm not too concerned if a third party is able to view images of my yard, but I would be very concerned if someone were able to see credit card numbers etc.

[jguerdat]

That's a tough question. Generally, it would give access to your hub but someone clever enough and with the proper motivation could potentially use that access to reach other devices in your network. Use of port forwarding would generally be described as "security by obscurity" - there's a hole but someone would need to find it and then try to manipulate it. It all depends on your level of paranoia...