Showing just viewed a camera but I havent

[Donnaram]

Last few weeks when I open Arlo app it shows that some of my cameras have just been viewed or viewed minutes ago but I haven’t viewed them! It’s freaking me out as never use to do this. It’s like someone else is viewing them, but I’m not sharing with anyone else. I’ve changed my password but still doing it. 

[BrookeN]

This feature has now been disabled, so you should no longer see the behavior you were seeing. The dev team is working on improving and releasing a new version of the feature in the future.

[Donnaram]

mine was showing viewed on cameras not armed. Strangely enough more recently that has stopped happening.  I have lost confidence sadly in the system.  

[BrookeN]

I have reached out to our development team to look into this. I will update you as soon as possible. 

[Eileennd]

It’s very distressing that this issue was raised over two months ago, has had many customers repeat the same issue and concern and it’s not resolved or at least understood by Arlo.  It just happened again to me .  Please advise or I will have to buy a new system from NEST as my confidence is not very high and do not feel safe with Arlo unfortunately.

[ralfyguy1]

Same here again just now as well. This whole system has gone down the toilet recently, it's not even funny. That and this update to the system a few months ago is beyond ridiculous and I still want to know what idiot came up with that and what idiot signed off on this.

[lainy5]

I have had the same issue.  It started some time last year.  

When i first bought system a couple of years ago, the stamp only updated if i looked at it livestream.

I now find that the batteries run low very quickly wven tjough I have all the settings low and tjis has only just occured last year.

I too will be replacing the arlo system!!

[lainy5]

Not happy with this at all!! 

Will be removing system very soon if thus doesnt change back to the way i purchased it!

[Jeff28210]

I have a mixture of Arlo Pro 3, Pro 4 and Pro 4 Ultra (I think with the larger batteries).  Regardless of the camera, when I launch the Arlo app on my Samsung S23+, ALL cameras automatically take a pic, and the Dashboard and Devices screens are updated with the pic just taken and a "Just now" timeframe.  However, there is nothing on the Feed.  This is very concerning for security and privacy reasons.  To be clear, the cameras were enabled but not Active.  Meaning, they weren't actively checking for motion or audio.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[jguerdat]

That is likely the recent update implemented when the cameras' thumbnail hasn't been updated for at least 8 hours, as I recall. There have been a number of complaints about this.

[Jeff28210]

Do you know what version it started? Level 2 support is looking at this. It surprises me that they aren't aware of that "feature". It's been 3 days now and I've sent then logs and screen recordings.  What's also concerning is that it doesn't show up in Feeds. Clearly, the pic is going from the camera into the cloud and then displaying on the app. It doesn't seem to happen on iOS because my wife's phone doesn't do it. It begs the question, can they take pictures at will without our knowledge or consent?

[StephenB]

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@Jeff28210 wrote:

Do you know what version it started? 

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Not sure of the version, but posters were posting this issue in Nov 2025.  So a couple of months anyway.

[Jeff28210]

I think it's a violation of Federal law (FCC). Essentially they are taking electronic surveillance of someone's private residence without their knowledge or consent.  What if one of my children is running around the house naked and they automatically take a pic and upload it to the cloud. Now you're into potential child pornography. Even the FBI needs a Warrant to bug a house.  What will happen to their stock price (Ticker: ARLO) when this gets out?  Someone from Dev or Support needs to escalate this ASAP and remove this "feature" which is a clear violation of our privacy rights. I can see a Class Action lawsuit coming. This is very serious. 

[Eileennd]

So this keeps happening and I’m very surprised and disappointed that there is no Arlo support here providing answers.  Very unfortunate and will result in lost customers.  

[RandallE]

I've talked with Support about this issue. It has been frustrating since they don't even understand the problem or that a change has happened.

Don't forget the other take-it-or-leave-it change regarding Modes about 2 years ago. They didn't seem to care then and after several months of this thread they don't care about this one, either.

Updating thumbnails when there is no movement makes them unreliable and useless.

I've lost complete confidence that they understand how we really use these cameras. I agree with other posters that it's time to change cameras. I'll be asking my friends to see their apps and functionality.

[BrookeN]

Our team is currently investigating this behavior you are seeing.  A fix for the thumbnails is in the works and I will update the community as soon as it is deployed. 

[Now]

Now now now now now dashboard pictures at daytime are night now now now now dashboard pictures at night are daytime now now now now batteries going dead sooner now now now now IQ though the roof now now now now 

[BrookeN]

This feature has now been disabled, so you should no longer see the behavior you were seeing. The dev team is working on improving and releasing a new version of the feature in the future.

[EricHaney]

Wonderful!  I just checked and mine now seem to be operating as expected (no "just now" refreshes).  

Brooke, I want to say that I really appreciate you carrying our concerns forward to the development team.  It's really nice to feel heard and to have our concerns acknowledged and acted upon.

I know your job can be tough and that people's frustrations are sometimes taken out on you.  

I just want you to know that I really appreciate your help.

[lainy5]

Thank you BrookN for fixing this problem for all of us.

Much appreciated.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

That's great @BrookeN . Thank you for confirming. It was indeed a feature that didn't work very well, causing unnecessary alarm that someone had gained unauthorised access.

[Jeff28210]

When was this change made? Date/time?  Just because we don't SEE the snapshots on the thumbnails doesn't mean they're not still being taken and sent to the cloud.  Why is my "Just now" from 2 days ago now showing "17 days".  It looks like you just replaced a pic with an older one.

The reason I ask for the date/time is because yesterday at exactly 10am, I heard both cameras in my room click (which is the sound when a pic is taken).  I had NOT even launched the Arlo app on my phone or logged in through the web.  I have no actions scheduled and they were not monitoring for motion/audio.  So why did they take a snapshot?

I waited an hour and then went into the app to see if I saw a thumbnail with "1 hour ago".  I didn't go in right away because I didn't want the known "feature" of automatically taking a pic every 8 hours to display a "Just now".  I wanted to see if it displayed the pic from 10am.  The result was that there were no updated thumbnails as of 10am.  So, why did my cameras take a pic?  And where is it?  Just because we don't see an updated thumbnail doesn't mean the pic isn't being taken.

Can you confirm that no pics are being taken without our consent, regardless of whether they are being displayed?

By the way, while this issue with the thumbnails and "Just now" every 8 hour refresh was showing up on my Android, my wife never saw it on her Apple phone.  So she was never seeing the "just now" pics that were being taken - which is deceptive at best.

[BrookeN]

We are not taking snapshots and storing them, we take your privacy very seriously. If you are seeing the same behavior where it is taking a snapshot for the NOW feature please let me know. 

[BrookeN]

@EricHaney and @lainy5 thank you for the kind words. I am glad you are happy with the outcome. If you have any further questions, please let me know. 

[Jeff28210]

Again, this morning 1/22/26 at exactly 10am eastern, my cameras "came alive" and snapped a picture. There was an audible click and the 2 red lights at the upper left and right lit up. I never went into the app on any device. Why is this happening? I will record a video and send it to support. 

[Jeff28210]

You said you are "not taking snapshots and storing them." Are you taking snapshots at all?

[Slolearner]

How would one know?

The app used to reflect on the Device page/screen, an image. For this discussion, I'll call it "LastImage" because it was previously an image that was from either a motion triggered video, a user triggered Live view, or user triggered snapshot. Each of these actions would change what the viewable "LastImage" was. However, the User Triggered snap Shot image and motion triggered videos were always stored separate, or at least they were viewable in the Library/Feed . 

After this recent modification, the "LastImage" could now be when the APP checked-in. But that check-in image was not stored/viewable elsewhere. e.g. Feed

So, how would one know if the camera ever took snapshots and didn't put in the feed or place as "LastImage"?