Arlo VMC3030 (and base station VMB3010) End Of Life Policy

[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

[Raddude40]

I think that arlos decision to end the life of my camera system is going to make me change to a different company 

[hcurtis]

Read the EOL policy.  Just being honest here, it's going to mean I will be looking elsewhere for security cameras.  Just can't afford to buy new equipment every 4 years or less in order to not lose services.

Also disappointed there's no credit, discount or trade-in for existing customers. Many will be forced to upgrade if they want to keep their existing services.

Really disappointed. I hope there's someone in the company that cares enough to take this post to heart.

[Jhallman]

Yes, it is important to get the facts straight.  I'm equally concerned about the loss of push notifications making my cameras useless as security devices, that in combination with no cloud storage means.....  not sure where you got the Jan 2024 date for end of cloud storage it's pretty clear in the linked doc.....

Upon the EOL Effective Date, the following may occur for the EOL’d Arlo Product:
o No support
o No firmware upgrades
o No security updates
o No bug fixes
o No maintenance releases
o No workarounds or patches
o No spare parts
o No replacement devices
o Bundled services or features may be reduced or eliminated
o Services and cloud functionality may be reduced or unavailable (including without limitation the
uploading, downloading, and storing of cloud recordings)
o Future services or features may be unavailable
o Automatic email alerts and push notifications may be reduced or eliminated
o Offers, discounts, and coupons to purchase newer Arlo products may be given
o For an Arlo Product that is a service, Arlo customers may be migrated to the closest equivalent
service or given an offer to change their service plan

[DanAus]

Absolutely shocking decision. The products they are ending are not that old in many cases! 

Arlo, please look at Microsoft and other similar companies for products that have long lifetimes. A few years then support dropped is NOT ok. 

I talked my father into a system and it will be DOA come April 1st (interesting choice of date by the way). I now have to get him a new system or pay the monthly cloud service. Guess what? New system. His arlo is going in the bin.
As for us we have 1 more year as 1 of our 4 cameras is a Pro2 so we have until Jan 1 2024. Then... same thing.

Won't buy or recommend arlo again. Bye.

[DanAus]

It depends on the model, Pro and below stop 1 April, Pro 2 stops jan 2024. Pretty terrible for both given their age

[Wooshka]

Arlo has abandoned the very customers that gave them a foothold in the Australian market. The early adopters. Do they seriously expect customers to  repeat buy a product that will not be functional within 6 years????

The only way to deal with the invisible Arlo is to take their pathetic mandate to socials. Someone better than me to start up a very public social page disclosing their message and acting as a petition. Imagine the offers we, would receive from Arlo’s competitors. Capturing Arlo’s early adopter market would be soooooo attractive to another brand. 
so, who out there in the community can set up a twitter, Insta or some other social page - I’d be a happy petitioner and make Arlo think a bit harder.

[DanAus]

No security updates...... given their purpose I think this alone makes them DOA. Regardless of whether you can pay for cloud saving

[DanAus]

agree it is confusing. If you pay for storage then they will continue to work but.... no more firmware updates doesn't just mean no new feature it means security updates against vulnerabilities and hacks won't be released. Given the camera's purpose then it's a bin job for me

[Smxcan]

Although the EOL Policy (PDF) doesn't specifically state that 7-day cloud storage will stop working on the EOL date (Apr 1, 2023 or Jan 1, 2024), the email they sent all of us did specifically mention that "certain features will become unavailable, INCLUDING 7-DAY CLOUD STORAGE." 

Here's a copy of the email:

From: Arlo <no_reply@e.arlo.com>
Date: Sun 1/1/2023  1:01 PM ET
Subject: Arlo End-of-Life Policy

Hi <First Name>,

As part of Arlo’s commitment to delivering high performance products and to protect our customers’ privacy and data, we continually review the ability of our products and services to meet the ever-evolving technology and cybersecurity standards of the market. Based on this analysis, we determine when our products and services need to be updated or retired and moved into their end of life (EOL) stage.

Starting January 1, 2023, Arlo is implementing an EOL policy for its products and services, with the Generation 3 (VMC3030) and Pro (VMC4030) cameras being affected on April 1, 2023. These cameras were released in 2014 and 2016, respectively. The EOL of the Generation 3 (VMC3030) and Pro (VMC4030) cameras means that certain features of, and support for, these cameras will become unavailable, INCLUDING 7-DAY CLOUD STORAGE, firmware updates, and email notifications. To find your product model number go to the Arlo Secure App > Settings > Support Center > click on your specific camera and then scroll down to the details section to view the product model number.

These cameras may continue to be operated after April 1, 2023 by all existing Arlo owners to live stream video, receive motion notifications, and store video clips locally with a compatible Arlo base station. These cameras also can utilize Arlo’s new cloud storage, which is available with the Arlo Secure subscription service, though the EOL’d cameras themselves may lose some functionality over time, as they will not be provided with further firmware upgrades.

More information on Arlo’s EOL policy can be found here.

Thank you for being part of the Arlo community.

-The Arlo Team

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https://www.instagram.com/arlosmarthome/
https://twitter.com/ArloSmartHome/
https://www.youtube.com/user/ArloSmartHome

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[Ozbob13]

Agree.  Appalling stuff Arlo.

Looking for  a new system now, NOT ARLO.

[MichaelRo]

Company is on life support and prob can’t afford the AWS storage fees. Should have guessed when they have a CEO with just a bachelors degree. 

besides all the actions described in other posts, at this point I’m just hoping to see the company go under.  Hopefully executives are being paid in stock options which will be valueless.

Going to look into a short position on ARLO.  Silver lining would be to pay for a new system with the profits from the ashes

of their company. 

[Sharonbc]

Add me to the list of very unhappy customers. Arlo pro 2 here.  I am also camera shopping now. Not sure what we are going to do, as we have poor internet. I looked into the subscriptions, but expensive. I don't need a month's worth of recordings, either.

[stevedixon312]

Hi all, 

I spent $1070 on a 3 camera system in July 2015, and more recently $100+ on new rechargeable battery sets. The system has never given any problems and it continues to work fine.

 As a retired comms engineer I have been a loyal supporter of Netgear since it first appeared in 1996, but the sudden announcement os EOL for many cameras is making me rethink!

If you have read the fine print, the EOL policy will apply to the Arlo  Q and Q+ as from 1 Jan 2024, so there is another $100+ that is wasted! Interestingly Arlo and its retail partners are still selling Arlo Qs

Like many others on this forum I mainly rely on my 3030s for internal recording, my main intruder detection is outside with an Eufy (with internal storage standard and no ongoing subscription) and an Arlo Q, which I may need to replace with another Eufy in 12 months.

Meanwhile I will consider the $179Au for a VMB4540 which will allow me to store recordings from my VMC3030s off-line. The documentation is silent about VMB4540 being compatible with my Arlo Q (which operates without a base station) so is anyone has any ideas about off line (or "Direct Storage" to use Arlo's term) for the Arlo Q, that would be useful to many?

Thanks to the community from a really disappointed Arlo user. 

[jpottaway]

Australians lodge complaint with ACCC or your states office of fair tranding.  We have very strong consumer protection laws surrounding false advertising and fairness.   I included pics of original packaging stating "free cloud storage", invoice from Arpil 2020 etc. Their "last manufacture" dates are also disingenuous, they sold for long after that, at least in Australia.

https://www.accc.gov.au/contact-us/contact-the-accc/report-a-consumer-issue

One point to make very clear in any complaint is that this is not a pure technical EOL as they are offering to keep the cloud service available for these devices under a PAID subscription. That flies directly in the face of the original marketing.

[Lissi1313]

Not happy about you EOL Policy Arlo!  I purchased your cameras because of the promise of Lifetime 7 day cloud storage. Very disappointing and I won’t be buying new ones and paying your subscription fees.  I’ll move to another brand instead.

[DannyBearAgain]

@stevedixon312 ,

FYI,

https://kb.arlo.com/000062284/Arlo-SmartHub-and-Base-Station-Compatibility 

[redsoxfan44]

What a deal!  Factory reconditioned Arlos at Woot according to today article on cnet

Edit: oh, they are not legacies.  but interesting tactic nonetheless!

[JerzeyJohn]

Not sure how many of you actually started leaving comments/feedback on Arlo’s social media pages, but I left a few comments on their Instagram… most have been deleted (as have other comments left by others over the past few days).

This tells me they are concerned and trying to minimize the anger and the negative reviews… I urge everyone to KEEP submitting negative reviews and posts. Like other forum users have suggested, we do NOT want this to die down over time. Keep posting as that is the easiest way for our “voices” to be heard and for us to alert other unsuspecting customers of these unethical policies. 

[JerzeyJohn]

Not sure how many of you actually started leaving comments/feedback on Arlo’s social media pages, but I left a few comments on their Instagram… most have been deleted (as have other comments left by others over the past few days).

This tells me they are concerned and trying to minimize the anger and the negative reviews… I urge everyone to KEEP submitting negative reviews and posts. Like other forum users have suggested, we do NOT want this to die down over time. Keep posting as that is the easiest way for our “voices” to be heard and for us to alert other unsuspecting customers of these unethical policies. 

[JerzeyJohn]

Not sure how many of you actually started leaving comments/feedback on Arlo’s social media pages, but I left a few comments on their Instagram… most have been deleted (as have other comments left by others over the past few days).

Albeit trying to silence their paying customers, This tells me they are concerned and trying to minimize the anger and the negative reviews… I urge everyone to KEEP submitting negative reviews and posts. Like other forum users have suggested, we do NOT want this to die down over time. Keep posting as that is the easiest way for our “voices” to be heard and for us to alert other unsuspecting customers of these unethical policies.

[JerzeyJohn]

Not sure how many of you actually started leaving comments/feedback on Arlo’s social media pages, but I left a few comments on their Instagram… most have been deleted (as have other comments left by others over the past few days).

Albeit trying to silence their paying customers, This tells me they are concerned and trying to minimize the anger and the negative reviews… I urge everyone to KEEP submitting negative reviews and posts. Like other forum users have suggested, we do NOT want this to die down over time. Keep posting as that is the easiest way for our “voices” to be heard and for us to alert other unsuspecting customers of these unethical policies.

[Fowler]

Apparently, the Cloud Subscription price is also going up starting next month:

https://www.androidpolice.com/arlo-secure-safe-subscriptions-price-hike-february-2023/

[Security35]

I keep coming back to this topic to get relevant info on how folks plan to proceed regarding one of the worst company decisions I have seen. Anyone else get the satisfaction popup asking you how your liking the arlo community and the arlo products? I have filled out a couple of them already essentially imploring them to rethink the ridiculous EOL policy. I know a few people with the systems and all are fuming. We've all had our share of trials keeping cameras working correctly, but have stuck with the company. Now they just pull the rug out from underneath us. Fantastic way to build company loyalty.....

[Retired_Member]

It's good to know that I am not the only Arlo customer that was extremely put off by the email I received today. I purchased 2 Pro base stations, the 2 battery charger unit, and replaced a battery out of warranty when one failed.  While all of this was costly, I thought I was receiving a fair value for the products, live streaming, and  7-day cloud storage Arlo committed to provide me.

Looking at Arlo's publicly disclosed financials, I now understand the predicament the firm is in and appreciate why they are doing what failing firms must often do to try to survive. I only wish I had not gone with Arlo!

[Scotty52]

I am going to leave Arlo . I bought my Arlis at Costco. I have put in a complaint to Costco and am going

tondo a long review so as anyone looking to buy knows how badly they treat customers