Arlo Pro EOL WTF?

[simonjf]

I have just received an email about the End Of Life policy. If this is actually what is going to happen then I need to follow up with all my friends and family, social media connections to advocate against Arlo, and search for an alternative company and service, likely starting my own online storage service for them with appropriate security cameras.

Additionally, contacts at Arlo seem to be designed to prevent actual communication - which has the stink of a company that hates its customers.

[JamesC]

New, updated information is now available regarding the EoL policy that is very relevant to much of the discussion taking place here in this community thread. These changes will allow Arlo legacy users who currently have 7-day storage service to continue receiving that service, uninterrupted.

I encourage you all to visit https://downloads.arlo.com/images/PDFs/EOL_Policy/arlo-end-of-life-policy-021023.pdf and read up on these changes.

Thank you,

JamesC

[JamesC]

Hello Arlo Community,

With the recently announced Arlo end-of-life policy, we understand many of you are seeking more clarity and a path forward after your device becomes end-of-life. In the coming days we will be reaching out to impacted users via email with special offers. Keep an eye out for those emails as they will contain more details about these offers and instructions on how to take advantage of them.

For those who may not have read this new policy or have questions about how this may impact you, I encourage you to take a look here: https://downloads.arlo.com/images/PDFs/EOL_Policy/arlo-end-of-life-policy-021023.pdf?cid=a&cid=a

If you've not received a discount offer via email, visit https://www.arlo.com/en-us/eol-offer-form.html and enter your email address, if your account is eligible you will then receive the discount offer via email.

Thank you,

JamesC

[Alvid99]

It is disappointing as I have a pretty good system going with my older Arlos  - 7 day storage was enough for me to keep track of incidents around our property .  I do have to pay attention to The rechargeable batteries we bought on the 3030 model for charge cycles.
That said we have an Arlo video doorbell we bought and installed in 2022 an it is on a secure plan.   
I had been thinking about trying the Arlo VMC 2030 at one or 2 spots with a solar charger on 2 of the camera positions .

[Nashdan]

This is totally unacceptable! Especially with little to no advance notification. I am also not aware that this was a possibility when I initially purchased my Arlo system.

Rest assured I will not be purchasing any Arlo products in the future and I will be spending the entire day writing reviews on Amazon and other merchant websites advising people of this wholly unacceptable policy.

[Doug_Phoenix]

Hi there,

I understand how you feel. Perhaps you are correct, it could be that Arlo’s strategy is to ‘fire non-subscription customers.’

However, it seems to me that it’s more likely that management made an assumption that most customers will cave-in and subscribe. Not me.

There have been cases where companies have seen an uproar from customers and changed policies or reverted to what their existing customers want. It’s easier to get new business from existing customers than to recruit new ones. 
Just my thoughts, though. 
If there is to be a major class-action, I might consider joining it. But I’d much prefer that Arlo rolls back this outrageous policy.

Cheers -

[DaveWoj]

I added an Arlo Site Article link to your google docs.

https://kb.arlo.com/1108731/How-many-cameras-does-Arlo-support-if-I-don-t-have-an-Arlo--subscription

But this is important. I would take that link and save/print as a PDF for proof of the policy before they delete it from their site.

[Mark85]

After letting this idea settle in a little more, I think what pisses me more off about this EOL policy isn't simply that the product is old and obsolete, which makes sense to stop providing bug fixes, new features, or updates.... but removing the free 7 day cloud storage is arbitrary.

They are continuing to support cloud storage, but ONLY if you pay extra now. This is a business policy change. 

[hkbob]

Might want to keep this link handy….

[Nashdan]

If there was a modest monthly or annual subscription fee for ongoing service, Including cloud storage, I might be inclined to purchase that.  

But if they are going to discontinue firmware and/or security updates, that is a deal breaker for me.  I really like the Arlo system in general, especially the ability to receive notifications on my smartphone and monitor events as they happen.

I'm going to reach out to a consumer protection attorney I know and get his input on the matter.

[scirdan]

It sounds like lots of people are not happy about this, but venting on their community board will do nothing, they probably don't even look at these complaints..

Arlo has made it very hard for non-subscription customers to even talk to a support person to even share feedback or complain.. this did that on purpose no doubt..

This is what I did and I suggest everyone do the same:

they don't let you chat with a support person or call support, and most emails are not replyable....   One way to get in touch with support is to go onto their chat as a "i am interested in product information", this will go right to a person..  at that point you can request a call back form support about their EOL policy, and they did call me back, where I complained, they recorded the feedback, and I asked for another callback from a supervisor to share my anger with. I hope to hear from them again, though  its not 100% going to happen.  Either way, I have a support case open regarding this unacceptable  policy change , perhaps if many customers do the same it will at least makes it visible.

[NorthernVa]

I hope someone pursues a class action against them. I get no longer offering firmware updates, but 7-day rolling cloud storage with no end date was included with the system when I bought it. That's the main reason why I spent more on the Arlo system than I could have bought the subscription alternative for. I can understand certain aspects of “no longer supported” such as enhancements and updates, but to actually stop working products from working is a disastrous business model.

[WestNE]

I just received a notification from Arlo that they are "implementing an EOL policy for its products and services, with the Generation 3 (VMC3030) and Pro (VMC4030) cameras being affected on April 1, 2023". Now, I realize that these are several years old and that the technology has advanced significantly since then, but they are still functional cameras that are being rendered useless. My complaint is not that they are discontinuing future updates (they almost never do updates anyway), but that they are removing these generation cameras from the 7-day cloud storage. Again, I wouldn't be concerned if the base that they sold bundled with the cameras (VMB3000) supported local storage, but it doesn't. The only option would be to sign up for Arlos Secure Subscription Service for $10 a month just to retain cloud storage ... not going to happen.
I would love to install new security cameras, but it's not feasible for me to do at this time. I added numerous Wyze cams over the last couple of years, which are significantly less expensive, but still decent quality. Plus, they have micro sd cards for local storage, in addition to Wyze 7 day free cloud storage. I guess I'll just continue to switch to Wyze, but I'm just irritated that I will have to chuck all of my Arlo equipment, as well as all of the accessories that I purchased to use with them. What a waste. Thanks for nothing Arlo!

[Doug_Phoenix]

Excellent suggestion! Will try that too. Thank you.

If there is enough momentum behind this, it’s likely that social media influencers will push out the bad news. That may also get Arlo’s attention. Maybe.

Yes, this forum is just a convenient place for us to ask questions or comments. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arlo put this site behind a paywall too!

[Calypsot5]

Amazon is still selling pro2 with captions 7 day free recording. Not thought through at all. 

[Llcolbrese]

I went with Arlo because they seemed different than the other companies but now they are the same and I am very disappointed. Why would they stop everything on the older model systems…..so you have to upgrade. This is very disappointing and I will not continue with this company unless someone knows that there are options. 

[Mixedupmo]

I agree, I have been a customer for 7 yrs.  Now you are doing this.  If we must purchase new cameras we should receive a credit.  I would also like to know the life of anything new that I purchased?

[mamarcac]

---

@Mark85 wrote:

After letting this idea settle in a little more, I think what pisses me more off about this EOL policy isn't simply that the product is old and obsolete, which makes sense to stop providing bug fixes, new features, or updates.... but removing the free 7 day cloud storage is arbitrary.

They are continuing to support cloud storage, but ONLY if you pay extra now. This is a business policy change. 

---

This is the real issue. Give us a way to access our files (remotely) without the 7-day free cloud storage that was promised and we'll be much less angry. As of now, they're holding us at ransom which is wrong on a lot of levels. They didn't EOL these devices -- a good example of EOL is Sonos last year where they truly EOL'd and bricked their hardware remotely. Didn't go so great for them, either.

[JimV0319]

There is an option to use a Flash Drive or other USB device on the base station...I am trying that now.  Here is the how-to link: 

https://kb.arlo.com/1146857

[JarloB52]

New buyers of Arlo beware.

Built in obsolescence in your Arlo.

[TNKay]

100% WRONG. I think it's time to look at a Class Action lawsuit! 

[TNKay]

Class Action lawsuit. Count me in!!

[JerzeyJohn]

@TNKay  Agreed! Unethical business practices and breaching previous purchase agreements! 

[Mark85]

I wonder how many others are in my position, but I have invested in 18 Arlo cameras (7x Pro1, and 11x Pro2) across 4 base stations & accounts for my home security system, so realistically jumping ship would be financially difficult. I'll likely just shift my cameras around for now, since i still have the free cloud storage on my Pro2s for about a year, but hate being forced to pay $120/year to keep same level of function.

From prior Arlo threads, it has been confirmed that you can have an unlimited number of base stations on a single account, which makes sense if the subscription supports an unlimited number of cameras (each base station is a wifi hub that  services a finite amount of cameras).

I have a robust home server with NAS, but deliberately chose Arlo despite being more costly per camera because I wanted 7 day FREE cloud access. When my house was built and I was deciding on a home video security system, I could've gone with a wired POE system, IP cameras, or cheaper system (e.g. Blink) with same or cheaper subscription plans, but over the lifetime of my product the apparent convenience and cost of Arlo seemed better. Didn't expect such a short lifetime.

[TNKay]

I'm in for a Class Action Lawsuit!

[Decibels]

Ya, this is the EOL of me recommending Arlo to people. This reminds me of Wink and how they did something similar, so Arlo will probably get away with it.

I setup Home Assistant several years ago and integrated all my Wink devices with it and got rid of the hub. Not sure if can integrate these with that, don't think they make it easy. But I do have a certain set of skills, so I will make use of a raspberry pi or zero and my 3D printer and make my own camera for Home Assistant.

Ya, just looked at the box, still have it. "Arlo Pro comes with 7 days of free cloud recordings without a contract or a monthly fee, notion and sound activated alerts that are sent straight to your smartphone, and a siren that can be controlled remotely. "

[Cbun1156]

I will not use any Arlo products anymore after end of 7 days free cloud in effective. This company ripped off a lot of people, they push us to pay for monthly subscription .

[Kevinintx]

So, I went to Amazon to look at the reviews and post one myself and got the following pop-up:

 ! Amazon has noticed unusual reviewing activity on this product.  Due to this activity, we have limited this product to verified reviews.

I wonder what may have caused that!!!

I did click "helpful" on most of the 800+ one star reviews.