Arlo Ultra / Activity Zone

[rchrugg]

Can someone confirm:  My subscription just expired and the activity zone area is now gone.  Seems that Arlo / Netflix have done it again.  I can understand the subscription for Cloud recording, but taking away other features is just sleazy.  I don't often regret purchases, but this is one I wish I had a mulligan on.  10 bucks a month to regain features that don't cost arlo anything is robbery

[dcfox1]

Without a sub you need AC power to the cam for Activity zones so the camera can do it locally and would drains the battery.  Without AC  with the sub the cloud servers process it. 

What are activity zones and how do I create them? (arlo.com)

What options will I have when the Arlo Smart 3-month trial plan ends?

[Firecap]

After reading about the non-subscribed Ultra 2 camera features I'm still confused. What controls in the My Arlo pc app change with no subscription? What camera features alter, even with the camera going from battery to ac power, without a subscription? What function does the My Arlo pc app even serve without a subscription? I assume this would mirror the phone's Arlo app too. Sorry to beat a dead horse but please explain.

[StephenB]

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@Firecap wrote:

What function does the My Arlo pc app even serve without a subscription? I assume this would mirror the phone's Arlo app too. 

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The app (and my.arlo.com) continue to be the control point for the system.

As the KB article posted above explains:

Without a service plan, your Arlo camera will continue to have the following features:

• Remote and local live streaming
• Push notifications
• Auto Zoom and Tracking*
• Two-way audio
• Local storage recording*

There are other camera features that continue - including

• nightvision
• hdr
• scheduling
• geofencing

These are all managed through the app (and my.arlo.com). 

What you lose is

• smart notifications
• cloud storage
• activity zones when on battery power.
• manual recordings (which aren't supported for local storage).

[Floydbloke]

Wait what??

So these have just removed this feature because they want regular monthly payments from me when I have already forked out  significant money for this kit.

They can get knotted.  I will never buy any Netgear kit ever again.  Eufy here I come.

[dcfox1]

@Floydbloke You posted about subscriptions back in Jan 2020 so not sure why you act like you just found out. 

[Floydbloke]

Because they have taken away a feature that was previously available to non-subscribers.

It's a real shame.  The hardware is really nice and works pretty well, but the moneygrabbing attitude of the vendor makes it a product that doesn't deliver value for money.