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

[Ruby110]

Absolutely agree. I understand the EOL for updates but to take away something we paid for is simply wrong and bad business.

Arlo, you should really reconsider the removal of the 7 day cloud storage.

[MistakeArlo12]

First Arlo retired Vuezone cameras making that base station and cameras obsolete.  Now the End Of Life E-mail says support is ending for my Arlo cameras from 2014 and 2016 by April f 2023.  What a terrible company. They just want you to constantly buy new cameras so they make the old ones obsolete.  I will NEVER buy another Arlo camera again. after some time the night vision quits working and any cameras outside constantly keep going offline. I have Blink cameras outside that never have gone offline in two years. There's no way I will remain a customer of this company.  I hope they go out of business.

[RSINLANC]

Not much more to say that hasn't already been said.  Just add me to the list off disgruntled customers that will spread the word to never buy from this company.

[iwishmystupidne]

Who are the proper authorities to notify?  BBB?  FTC?  State AG?

[k4]

Well said, and Ditto!!  I had a combination of Arlo Pro and a couple of ring cameras, and now scoping the Ring cameras as these will now replace my Arlo Pros...  Also great job Arlo sending the email letting everyone know just after the holidays, when all the sale prices have ended... All of it is ridiculous. 

[carvermon]

The disingenuous wording of the email mentions only the older cameras being affected, which implies that a newer one would not. This does not seem to be the case. Looking into purchasing one of their newer models I found wording that indicated there is NO video storage available without a paid subscription. I REALLY wish they would be honest about what they are doing and why. Bad business practices.

[Acborges]

Totally agree. This was the only reason I purchase Arlo so many years ago and made the investments on the platform. This bait and switch is shameful to the company and the brand as they are saying you can continue to have it but now you just have to pay. Why not extend it to the former customers that invested on the brand when it was new? No let's come up with an excuse to get another subscription. At least just say that clearly like Adobe did instead of hiding under the EOL policy and technology thing. 

[BobKinNJ]

Remember that Arlo is a Netgear Company. The original website for Arlo was arlo.netgear.com

We may have better luck trying to contact Netgear.

[carvermon]

Right? Dude is very confused about what hate is, and who is actually fomenting it.

[Machew777]

Totally Agree!  I have a VBM 4000r3 Base Station and four (4) VMC4030 cameras.  Even though Arlo was spendy, I went with them because of the 7 day free cloud storage.  The End of Life email I received is BS and smacks of corporate greed.  I tried to reach somebody in support to see what this policy change means and if my Base station allows me to store video clips.  Apparently, if you you don't have a subscription you can't get ANY type of support!  The chat was a BOT and was unable to give me any information.  No phone support, no email support... NO SUPPORT PERIOD.  Given Arlo provides zero support and information regarding the EOL email, I don't think that I will upgrade or use Arlo after April of 2023.   I have Google Nest doorbell and will be contacting them to discuss upgrading to their wireless cameras. 

Hello Arlo, are you listening to your PISSED OFF customers???  Do you Care??? This policy change SUCKS!!!!

[ArloWontCharge]

Netgear spun off Arlo in 2018. Arlo is now an independent publicly traded company.

[dentach]

Agree with all of the above - they have lost me and many others over this marketing decision

[Thebrightestday]

Thanks @StephenB
It's 4 CR123 batteries, so it is the VMC3030 camera.

[BN123]

Not maintaining the status quo. I have a legacy plan that allows for 7 days of recordings and cellular backup. Both of these are going away.

[DReeder]

I have 15 cameras on several different accounts with an active subscription on one account. About half of my cameras will be rendered useless by this policy. 
I was planning to add at least 2 more new cameras within the next month. 

This policy changes that plan. 
Also, I have recommended Arlo to quite a few friends and family. No more. 
I now plan to switch to an alternative platform and move away from Arlo. 
I don’t have confidence in the future of this company. This was a stupid move. 

[mfe2467]

This is just a scam to get you to buy new equipment which is expensive. Same here if i would have know this policy i would have never purchased Arlo equipment. Once there done i will look else where for security cameras and Arlo will go in the trash

[LeeTXJD]

I am incredibly angry at the EOL policy for my Arlo Pro.

There are plenty of ways to locally store video - Arlo introduce a direct access API for our cameras that WE OWN.

I have been slowly testing (WYZE b/c its cheap) cameras with RSTP capability with "Frigate" home security camera software and "MotionEYE" as well.   Give us a firmware so we can use our cameras. 

I guarantee that I will NOT purchase new Arlo cameras.

[UmarMuhammad]

Same here. I don’t know who made this decision at Arlo.

[Notcool]

Just read the notification that Arlo is EOLing the system I invested in a few years ago.  The entire reason we chose Arlo was for the free 7day recording.  Our system has been finicky at best with a couple failed cameras in a 3 year span, but we hung in there because of the recording.  There have always been more cost effective systems, so we assumed the high cost of the system factored in the recording.

I plan to move to our home security vendor cameras since I have to pay for a monitoring plan with them already.

Heck, I would replace the whole system at this point out of principle.  Cutting a primary benefit in an effort to drive monthly recurring revenue for cameras that record lower resolution video makes zero sense unless you are trying to churn your customer base!

Add to this, they are only including 7 days in the free acct, so that is a known cost not an unlimited cost.  Major fail for the Arlo brand, shame on the product marketing team for making this call.

[Tammy1975]

Not to mention how costly it was to buy the initial system setup. We all paid good money for something now considered useless.
There is mention of a class action on Facebook for deceptive business practices. I for one will be contacting the ACCC in Australia to make a complaint. 

[SurfHawk]

This is an outrage, I have add many friends and family get an Arlo because of my recommnedation and telling them about the 7 days of cloud storage. There will be a lawsuit filed about this for sure I will enjoy joining the class action. This is a stain on Arlo and all of Netgear.

[SurfHawk]

This is garbage Arlo and I will happily join the class action lawsuit to get the 7 days cloud I paid for with my product.

[EX-arlocustomer]

Have posted Amazon review of Arlo cameras purchased advising others not to purchase arlo due to 1/1/23 email from arlo breaching their prepaid Lifetime free 7 day video storage agreement.   System still operational but arlo says they will make my prior investment of hundreds of dollars worthless as of 4/1/23.   You can bet I will never purchase anything from arlo or recommend their products to others if they go ahead with this!

[GDR1]

What am I reading about end of life? I have spent money on 10 cameras and  have paid well over 1000.00. I also have paid subscription. Does this  mean my cameras will not work? If so why don't you replace our existing cameras at a heavily discounted rate? If not  Arlo are a bunch of criminals. I will post videos on YouTube against buying your products because you can't be trusted to not  withdraw support after a few years. Arlo products are too much money to take a gamble  on buying your products for you to withdraw support a couple of years later.

[Kevinintx]

Doug wrote:

Others have commented on this previously. My understanding is that it's difficult to integrate with network-attached-storage (NAT) and that the video format is also an issue.

If you have a USB backup drive, formatted as FAT32, then you could store videos locally. But these would be inconvenient to access. I've read that resolution may be reduced (but have not verified as such).

Storing recordings on network attached storage dev... - Arlo Community

How do I set up local storage backups on a USB device using my Arlo base station?

I just set mine up today with a USB stick drive and it is recording but I do not see a way on either the Desktop or the Phone App to view these.  All I can do is safely eject the drive and plug it into the Desktop to view.

Stored - Yes

Easy to View - ??? to No