How do i change the default retention from 30 days to say 7 so i am not "using up too much space"

[k-strider]

Hi Arlo, I had an email about the fair usage because the weather has been nice here in the UK the last 6 ish weeks... a miracle in itself, but what that has meant is washing has been drying on the patio constantly kicking off motion recordings to the cloud

so i am not prepared to pay CVR for cameras that only i really want to record motion in the back  yard.  I want to do a few things to try and bring it back down...

1. I don't need to look back at 30days of footage - Arlo how do i change this retention period down to just 5 or 7 i would know in this length of time if i needed to save something off?

2. i have changed the smart notifications and turned off motion and on the back yard vehicles but i'm not sure that it stops them being Saved to the cloud - Arlo how do i stop anything other than person or animal detection triggering a save to cloud?

3. We have started to used the disarm if we know we are going to be out in the back yard all day and im OK with doing this but is there a way to do this for a set period of time say 2, 4 or 6 hours? i am worried one day we will forget to rearm them and it will be the day something happens?

Many thanks Gordon.

[jguerdat]

You can't change the retention period since that's a function of the plan. It's possible that Arlo could add that to save cloud storage but I don't know of the chances.

Disabling motion detection in your modes and rules disarms the camera so no recording is made. DIsabling/changing notifications has no effect on recordings.

I';m not aware of a timed "off" setting.

[k-strider]

Thank you for that reply, it suggests to me that the three things i wanted to do that would help me comply with this new fair usage policy is not possible at all then? it would be nice if an Arlo Rep could please respond and help me out?.... i didn't mention in the original post that its not just washing on the clothes horses but also bushes blowing in the wind that trigger the motion... We will continue to disarm the cameras when we put washing out and we are in or if we are out in the backyard but I am worried that there will still be too may motion detections triggering recordings...

[jguerdat]

For those false triggers, it's likely due to the moving clothes, etc. are reflecting the sun's IR. Try turning down the motion sensitivity in the camera's settings under Default Mode Settings until the false triggers are minimized. Be sure to test to ensure you can still get the coverage you need at that setting.

@JamesC , @ShayneS , @BrookeN can you make any suggestions?

[StephenB]

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@k-strider wrote:

 it suggests to me that the three things i wanted to do that would help me comply with this new fair usage policy is not possible at all then?

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FWIW, I think Arlo needs to provide better tools for folks who are stuck with the "fair use" policy.  CVR is almost never the answer, since most cameras are on battery power.

[k-strider]

thanks i have done that for the worst camera today from 80 to 56% seems to have reduced the motion down to just a few a day hopefully that will help

[k-strider]

I agree about CVR mine are on their batteries and solar panels that even during the winter we manage to get through with out me bringing them down for charging... I i don't care that my data has to be in the EU if its stored in the states and it means we are not affected by this fair use policy I'm happy with that.... they seem to emphasis its only certain regions.  Also i am in the UK so not in the EU but i guess that's where they store our data.

thank you everyone who has replied

[StephenB]

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@k-strider wrote:

 I i don't care that my data has to be in the EU if its stored in the states   Also i am in the UK so not in the EU but i guess that's where they store our data.

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GPDR remains the law in the UK.  The data is stored in European servers.

But I don't see any obvious connection between the GPDR and the fair use policy.  That said, the fair use policy is part of the Arlo Europe Terms of Service, and does in force anywhere else.  Personally I don't think the policy is well thought out, as Arlo doesn't give you any tools to keep your usage under the cap.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

The fair use policy is very vague. I've raised that with Verisure Europe CEO office after Arlo Care Team here in the UK provided me with a vague answer but not had a response yet.

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

The fair use policy is very vague. I've raised that with Verisure Europe CEO office after Arlo Care Team here in the UK provided me with a vague answer but not had a response yet.

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The policy I see is here:

• https://www.arlo.com/en_gb/about-us/fair-use-policy

What is missing is whether the cap applies to

1. the peak amount of storage used over the calendar month
2. the amount of bytes written to the cloud over the calendar month. 

If the first, then regularly deleting recordings can keep you in compliance.

Is there something else that you think is vague or unclear?

[k-strider]

Dear Gordon,

As outlined in our Fair Use Policy (read the policy in full here) we will be cancelling any Arlo subscriptions that do not comply with the usage allowance.

As a high cloud storage user, this means your Arlo plan will be cancelled at the end of next month.

If you want to keep your subscription you must:

Shift onto a Continuous Video Recording plan or
Reduce your cloud usage following our guidance here.

We strongly suggest that you contact Arlo Customer Care by calling us or emailing us at fup@arlo-europe.com and we will happily answer any concerns that you may have and help you with the options above.

If you do not complete these steps before the end of next month your subscription will be deactivated.

From,

The Arlo Team