Local recordings are missing basic application features

[robbyj]

First and foremost, I understand that Arlo as a company is trying to push for everyone to buy their subscription service Arlo Secure. I get it. With this in mind, I think there are some fair points to raise to Arlo as they still offer products that support offline, or local recording features. In December 2022 I purchased Three Pro 4 cameras, an Essential doorbell and most importantly an Arlo Pro Smart Hub. 

I went through the steps to set up the Arlo Pro Smart Hub for local recording, attaching an external hard drive, port forwarding my router, assigning a static IP to the Smart Hub and using a VPN for remote access. After finishing the process I waited for the 'Arlo Secure' trial that you are basically forced to enable when you buy a new camera to end. I knew things like 'activity zones' would be disabled and 'thumbnails' for recordings and 'motion alert types' would not work with local recordings, but what I did not expect was basic features of the application to simply be disabled for seemingly no other reason but to bother users into buying a subscription to Arlo Secure.

1. Only the account owner can see local recordings.

  I can't think of a logical reason for this besides purposely trying to inconvenience people who use local recordings. Arlo has a well defined user permission section in the application that allows you to add other 'Administrator' users, however there is no permission that would grant a user access to local recordings. 

2. Local recordings do not show up in your 'device section' like cloud recordings do. 

  No matter what you do, after you open the Arlo Secure app, select devices and click on a camera to see the most recent events, no local recordings will display.

3. Local recordings do not show up in the 'feed' like cloud recordings do.

  The 'feed' section of your application will always remain empty even in local recordings are perfectly operational. 

4. You can not access your local recordings from a web browser, only through the phone app. 

  Again, I can't think of a logical reason for this besides purposely trying to inconvenience people who use local recordings. 

5. The only way to access your local recordings is to be the account owner, open your Arlo Secure application, navigate to 'Smart Hub' from the devices section, select 'Storage settings' (why would recordings be under 'storage settings'?) And then from here you can see a list of most recent events. 

I would like to hear from Arlo on if and how they plan on addressing any of these items or if any are being worked on currently. Thank you

[skippy2]

Finally, I can view local recordings  Only to run into an annoying attribute of local recordings.

EVERY local recording shows up as a motion detected recording even if the original detection was something like package/person/animal.  Makes them pretty useless.

[StephenB]

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@skippy2 wrote:

EVERY local recording shows up as a motion detected recording even if the original detection was something like package/person/animal.  

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Smart notifications are a subscription feature, so if you are using local recordings instead of a subscription, you won't get them at all.

Also, local recordings are stored by the hub whenever the motion detection triggers.  Recordings that supressed by cloud (out-of-activity zone) are still stored locally.  As you found, classifications made by the Cloud aren't propagated back to the hub.

One reason for this - local recordings serve as a backup to the cloud storage.  Local recordings are still made when you lose internet service, or if the cloud goes down for some reason.  So the storage is designed to work independently of the cloud (though the app still does need the cloud to work).

[robbyj]

bumping thread as I haven't received any meaningful update or detailed information on any of my points above.

[StephenB]

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@robbyj wrote:

bumping thread as I haven't received any meaningful update or detailed information on any of my points above.

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Arlo generally doesn't pre-announce features (or changes to features), so I don't think they will reply.

[zoopy]

How did you guys get the new app update? I’m on iPhone as well but still have the old app interface. I don’t see the new update like what it shows on the App Store. I’m also curious of the local storage being available for authorised users to access. 

[StephenB]

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@zoopy wrote:

How did you guys get the new app update? I’m on iPhone as well but still have the old app interface. I don’t see the new update like what it shows on the App Store. 

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What app version are you running?

The current app supports both "Feed" and "Library" interfaces - is there a reason you want migrate to "Feed"?  Direct access to local storage is actually simpler with "Library".

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@zoopy wrote:

I’m also curious of the local storage being available for authorised users to access. 

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Only the primary account holder can access the local recordings, and even then they are only available in the app (not my.arlo.com).  That's true for both "Library" and "Feed".

[robbyj]

bumping thread as I haven't received any meaningful update or detailed information on any of my points above.

[StephenB]

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@robbyj wrote:

bumping thread as I haven't received any meaningful update or detailed information on any of my points above.

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I agree with your view that the local recording feature is crippled.

I don't think Arlo will respond.  They don't pre-announce any enhancements, and the limitations are by design.

[jguerdat]

To be clear, Arlo has always stated that local recordings are a backup feature. They have never intended it to be a fully-featured replacement for cloud recordings.

[Jonjanosko]

Stephen, did you ever get a solid answer why  one camera is recording and other three are not. Same thing happened to me In February also…..only one of mine is saving motion. Other three just stopped in their own. 
let me know

jonjanosko@hotmail.com

thanks Man

jon

[StephenB]

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@Jonjanosko wrote:

only one of mine is saving motion. Other three just stopped in their own. 

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Do you have a subscription for these cameras?

[robbyj]

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@jguerdat wrote:

They have never intended it to be a fully-featured replacement for cloud recordings.

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Not sure what qualifies you to be an expert in determining arlo's intent. Please read any of the various knowledge base articles that Arlo publishes encouraging the use of local recordings through a smart hub. No where in these articles are the limitations I raise mentioned. 

https://kb.arlo.com/000062124/How-do-I-record-4K-videos-to-a-local-storage-device

"Direct Storage Access is a great solution if you are looking for a convenient way to access videos stored locally on your Arlo SmartHub." - Arlo

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[jguerdat]

Guess you are the expert but note the language all through this article:

https://kb.arlo.com/1146857/How-do-I-set-up-local-storage-backups-using-my-Arlo-Base-Station-or-Smar...

[StephenB]

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@robbyj wrote:
No where in these articles are the limitations I raise mentioned. 

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FWIW, I agree that they should be listed.  Every time someone asks here, I end up reposting my list of limitations (which is similar to yours).

As far as "intent" goes, there was a huge backlash when the Ultra was launched without the free 7-day cloud storage that the legacy cameras have.  Arlo's response was to promise the direct access to local storage feature before the 1-year trial sub for the Ultra ran out  - which they did. (Trial subs are of course shorter now). 

So although local storage was originally positioned as purely for backup, direct access was clearly developed in response to folks who didn't want to purchase a sub.

Whatever the intent, the experience isn't great if you don't have a subscription.  They haven't improved it since they launched it at the end of 2019.  If anything, they made the recordings a bit harder to access in the new "Feed" interface.  While it'd be nice if they improved it, I think it is unlikely.

Personally, I think this is short-sighted - Arlo obviously wants/needs subscriptions, but crippling the local storage feature results in their losing a lot of camera sales.

[Jonjanosko]

But my main question was why do I have one camera still recording motion fine without the subscription and the other 3 just stopped.?. 

[StephenB]

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@Jonjanosko wrote:

But my main question was why do I have one camera still recording motion fine without the subscription and the other 3 just stopped.?. 

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1. Are you using direct access to local storage?
2. What are the models of the various cameras (note the "H" number is not the model, it is a hardware revision code).

[gbly]

I am using ios and you need to select cloud or hub from pull down menu at the top of the library, mine works fine I am using VMB5000r6

[Robel67]

I have the vmb 4540 base station with 2 pro 4 cameras, all fine until the 3 month subscription expired, I know the files are being recorded onto usb cos I can put it into my PC, however the app doesn’t have ‘view recordings’ under ‘local storage settings’

no response from arlo yet, I’ve spent £400 on a system that is useless to me, I believe Arlo are in violations of the ASA rules 3.3 and also the consumer rights act. 

i will be taking this further

[Dgraugh]

I have always found that I can watch locally stored video on my IPhone but never on my iPad.

[StephenB]

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@Dgraugh wrote:

I have always found that I can watch locally stored video on my IPhone but never on my iPad.

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Odd, as the app is the same.

[jguerdat]

When using the iPad, are you using the same credentials as with the phone or did you grant access to a different email address so the phone wouldn't get logged out? Right now granted access accounts can't see local recordings.

[sabfree]

Thanks for saying out loud what others think about Arlo products