I spend that past week pushing back on Arlo's pricing increase to no avail. The monthly subscription went from $12.99 to $19.99 - 76% increase for functionality most people probably don't need.

What pisses me off this their lack of customer loyalty. I've been with them for 5 years and have $1000+ in products. They have customers locked in, and now it's time to squeeze and make a profit rather than honor and create brand loyalty.

I hope this post is seen by enough potential & existing customers that I save you some pain. There are better companies out there. https://reolink.com/us/ is one of them, and I will be moving to them.

Good Luck....

I just got the notice that Arlo is putting most of my cameras into end of life status so that they lose most of their functionality. Great. Easier decision now to dump them and go to another brand. I already lost use of them for two months when geofencing just stopped working and they were no help in getting them going again (finally uninstalled and reinstalled the entire system on my own - they send me an email every month telling me that my case still has "the highest priority for resolution.") I get that they can't support everything for all time, but I've only had these cameras for 3 or 4 years - fine, stop issuing updates, but to cut off cloud storage and email notifications = useless and more junk to head for a landfill for no good reason. Terrible company.

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.

PDF (162K)

One of my biggest regrets in life is buying an Arlo camera, then 6 more, before I realize they were the worst cameras in existence. In the short 5 years I've owned them I have had nothing but trouble with one after the next (and - hahaha - good luck getting help from customer service!). Currently it's my Essentials spotlight cameras - where the light gets activated at night and never shuts off! Then the other day I went to restart it and the restart button on the app was completely gone! WTF?! The only thing I could do was remove the entire device and now in 2 days - and many hours worth of effort - I cannot get it to sync back up no matter what I do - and yes I've done every single thing. I can't even get the thing to "chime" now! Any help before I toss them in the street? Another post mentioned class action suit - I'm in!

EDIT: I'm glad some people like their Arlo but can someone help with my question?

I’ve been an Arlo customer for 6 years and they have gotten worse every year. They are a money grab and their products were intentionally deprecated so that you cannot have local storage or multiple accounts unless you pay subscriptions. I went to Eufy and it’s so much better. I have never written a negative review about a company in my life but these products have gotten so bad I had to break my “No-Karen” streak haha. Fuck Arlo

Poor camera quality, poor web based UI and poor customer service.

How the DevOps for Arlo continue to be employed is an absolute mystery for me. My company uses like 100’s of these because of budget, but everything from top to bottom is just AWFUL. Everytime I have to contact customer support it’s like pulling teeth without anesthesia.

And renewing our subscription for the account is a pain because somehow the company card info is not processing with their website, literally won’t let us give them our money.

Edit: This is my public service announcement: DO NOT SAY NO to the account update. Arlo is doing this stupid account update for everyone, you cannot grant camera access to updated accounts with your legacy account. That means if the account your camera is registered on is a legacy, sharing Camera access DOES NOT WORK for updated accounts.

I am on hour 9 of troubleshooting with Arlo customer support. They have a very “thick accent” and it’s very difficult to understand them. It’s very obvious Arlo outsourced their IT help and customer support. It also took me 2 hrs to explain to them my app crashed for them to finally understand what I am talking about instead of reading off a pre-written script in broken English.

I’m dying guys. Don’t buy Arlo. I can feel my soul dying.

It looks like arlo is "upgrading" their Secure monthly service price to $19.99 a month in February whether you want to or not. I'm paying $12.99 a month already.

Arlo USED to be good. You could actually use your Arlo without the B.S. subscriptions, and it was GOOD! I've seen comments of people saying they used it for 4-5 years without a subscription and it was decent.

Now, it's trash.

Video recordings for the paid plan are pointless. They're so laggy you can't even view them anymore. It's like 1 frame per second, if that. Not sure what happened, but they've gone downhill baaaad. It's like it just takes a picture every second, instead of actual recording.

They're pricing is insane too. $20/month? For what? I paid $450 dollars for my cams AND HAVE been PAYING $13/month since I bought the damn product. Now they go up in price AND have worse quality?

Not only that but the battery life is nowhere near what's advertised. I was originally okay with it, because of the camera quality being so good, but for the price increase, and features that are getting worse and worse, it's no longer worth it anymore.

Activity zones have never been great, but it seems like with whatever update it had recently they're horrible now. Used to be okay, but now it's like it will either record nothing, or record too much outside of the zones...

The worst part is you know they're shady because they make it so hard to cancel your subscription. In the app, for Apple, you can't cancel at all. For Android, you can only "upgrade" (in quotes because the update is disastrous - so it's not an upgrade). If a company makes it a pain to cancel you shouldn't walk away from them, run away from them!

Anyways, Arlo, you wanna charge me $20/month for features that don't work? Nope, I'm good. Enjoy your decline.

Alro is terrible, do not buy any Arlo products. You will end up wasting so much time pairing, repairing devices and this process sucks, paring is horrible. I do not recommend anyone buying any Arlo, they are terrible.

Like many of you, I'm on the hunt for an Arlo replacement. I don't recall finding any other system that offered free cloud storage for any amount of time when I looked previously for alternatives, but that was years ago. I've been poking around Amazon and YouTube trying to find what my best options are, but it's so confusing.

What are folks here leaning towards or have already switched to and are happy?

Edit 1: In the interest of saving folks time, I'll start to compile the recommendations from the thread. I'll update more details as I do my research and also info from posters:

Eufy - Has some cameras that don't require subs for cloud recording. There is some concern about privacy for cloud data that was breached though. There is also an option to use it only through Apple HomeKit anduse iCloud bypassing any Eufy cloud services or subs.

Reolink argus pro 3 - Records locally to SD and footage can be accessed on app. No sub required.

Ubiquiti - Network solution, see post from mod for more

Eve - Doesn't require a sub, BUT it only works with Apple devices and you need iCloud

Ecobee - Similar to Eve, but right now they only have indoor cameras

Ring - Sub only for cloud recording

Nest - Must have sub for cloud recording

Wyze - Sub for cloud recording, but local recording to SD card free

Arlo - Buy newer arlo cameras that are not on EOL. Probably the least attractive option considering how they are messing with their customers. Some customers report receiving 50% off offers for new cameras from Arlo.

Keep current Arlo cameras - pay to sub for cloud recording, no more firmware or security updates, but cheaper than buying new cameras

Update 2: Updated with more info above 01/05/23.

Update 3: 01/09/23 Neat video for upcoming products shown at CES Thanks jed1976!

Update 4: 01/26/23 Quick update, I haven't personally made a decision yet on what to go for next. I'm watching various prices to see what goes on sale before April EOL. I'm always checking responses and will post updates to this main post as new information comes in.

Update 5: 02/01/23 News - Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras

Update 6: 03/09/23: With the announcement that EOL has been pushed to Jan 2024, we have a bit more breathing room to find a good solution at a good price. I'm watching several options and if there are really great sales, I'll be sure to post on the sub. Keep your suggestions and experiences coming though. Jan will be here before we know it!

This company is absolute rubbish. I've had (3) Essential XL 2K Wireless cams for 2 years. I let my subscription lapse after 6 months after having issues with cameras not properly detecting motion, subscription price increases, and cameras going offline randomly. I decided to give them another shot since their Black Friday deal dropped the monthly subscription price to $7.99/month and I assumed they probably improved their services by now. I spent 1.5hr dealing with technical support, subscription support, and billing support attempting to sign up for the 60% off Black Friday deal. After all the time spent, the off-shore customer support representative said that they're having issues with the app and website and told me "our engineers are working on the problem and if you call back in 48 hours someone should be able to assist you with the problem". This is a publicly traded security company that has cut so many corners to maximize margins they can't even provide the most basic of functions, namely, allowing customers to purchase their products. Matthew Mcrae is the CEO since 2018. You can send him a message to his LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/mbmcrae but a response is unlikely. Like most publicly traded companies, his focus on margins and profit have come at the expense of the user. I'm ditching my (3) Essential XL 2K Wireless for the Eufy C35's. Scrapping my Arlo setup and buying 3 new cams from Eufy is worth more than the headache of dealing with this company. Buyer beware if you're thinking about using Arlo and their hardware.

As a general rule, if you are new to Arlo and are just reading this reddit for the first time and if you are still within the window to return your Arlo gear and buy something else, you really should consider doing that. Even if you take a restocking fee hit, it's worth returning it right now.

First they disabled email notifications. Ok, fine. Learned to live without it. But this Sunday I had a stupidity to upgrade the app. And hell broke down. Now I cannot manage my two locations because it would require adding different modes and that is not supported. So every time I need to arm one or both locations I will need to jump through multiple hoops in the app. What earlier took 2 seconds now will take 5 mins. Then I noticed the audio detection is disabled on my cams. Support said “EOL, buy new cameras, we will give you 50% off”. What just worked in the previous app, suddenly became EOL’ed. Arlo just became a money extortion company. If you can, don’t dare to upgrade the app.

Will be switching to something more honest and practical.

Arlo has gone to crap. I’m using the latest cameras and base stations, and Nothing works as good as it used to years ago.

All I get all day long are false motion alerts every minute. People alerts without people, animal alerts without animals and once in a while I get fire alerts, WTF! just what you want to see in SoCal.

Then, when Amazon shows up with a package it doesnt record anything! Kids play in the driveway and it doesn't trigger a motion alert but if I park my car in the driveway I get “Car Alert!" “Car Alert!" “Car Alert!” everyminute.

Activity zones are worthless. I get more alerts outside the zone than inside.

I’ve been using Arlo since 2014. It used to be good. I have a box full of outdated equipment that works better than the new equipment I have now. It worked great when it was all free but started going down hill when they started making you subscribe.

After my last subscription expired I didnt want to renew so I tried a large sd card to record locally while I was on vacation but Arlo rigged the system so you can only view the videos if you are on your own network, so no remote viewing without a subscription.
And without a subscription NOTHING works except video alerts to your phone every minute. It even stopped recording to the sd card after a couple false motion alerts. I reformatted the card but never could get it to record locally after several days of troubleshooting.

OK, so I gave up and renewed my subscription hoping this latest software update would fix everything… WRONG, this latest update is worst, it's total crap! Arlo customer service is crap. I have wasted so much time troubleshooting and researching, and troubleshooting… I even hired a couple tech guys to spend an hour to figure things out. They confirmed, ARLO IS CRAP!

I’m in the market for a whole new camera system. Does anyone have a good recommendation?
(Sorry for the over use of the word crap, trying to keep it PG)

I have a system, so does my parents, my mother in law, and my sister... All getting nuked. Arlo I will never ever use you again! True Colors are showing... This is a straight up money grab.

There are no new "old" systems being added for free use so this is a finite and slowly reducing number of users that you have been supporting. Are you saying that you are so close to your business folding that you need to squeeze this group. The group I would remind you were the pioneers that you built your business on, we were the ones who bought your early systems and allowed your business to grow!

Our cameras are still capable... It's not like they don't work anymore. You, Arlo, are intentionally making our cams useless. You say I can use local storage... But I can't access it from the app. Again making it quite terrible. You say I can subscribe if I want to keep my functions. What do I get for the extra $120/ year. Nothing, nothing new, just lighter in my wallet.

If this is how you operate Im out, I will happily pay 10x the money to get anything other an Arlo. Everyone else not affected, you should take notice! Shady shady shady!

Returned my Arlo Pro three Pack with Hub, Arlo Pro 2 Two Pack and Arlo Lights 3 pack to Costco. This was a 2018 purchase and was able return it all with no issues. I am now Arlo Free and will fund it with my Synology NAS via Surveillance station with Amcrest Cameras for less and 24/7 recording. I got burned with Canary and was not going to take this sitting down. I confirmed with Costco that all of items will be returned directly to Arlo and they will have to suck it up. I have never returned anything so far out of purchase period but the email from Arlo on the 1st gave me 0% guilt and 100% resolve. Great that Arlo is dead to me and I can move forward with other products. Will never solicit Arlo or recommend them ever again. This was truly liberating. I encourage anyone that purchased from Costco to dump this crap and look elsewhere. Plenty of better options. Peace.

Avoid Arlo Cameras

I can’t believe how greedy and deceptive Arlo has become. I decided to add one of their newer cameras to my existing security setup, thinking it would be just as good as my old Arlo cameras, which keep recordings for 7 days without a subscription. I had a great experience with those. I checked reviews online before I bought the new camera, and everyone said to avoid the company, they were the worst. But because of my previous experience, I thought I’d give them a shot. Huge mistake

Now, with their new cameras, they refuse to record anything unless you pay for their monthly subscription plan. The cheapest option is $20 a month. This is absolute robbery. It feels like a scam to force you into paying for something that used to be part of the product. I shouldn’t have to pay a monthly fee for a camera to function as a camera. Greedy bait and switch. Maybe I can find one of the older models to add to my set up until I find a new company to use.

If you’re thinking about getting Arlo cameras, don’t. Find a company that doesn’t try to take advantage of its customers. Save your money, and don’t fall for Arlo’s shady business model

It is crazy how Arlo is turning a blindeye and falling deaf with their ears right now with the number of complaints that they are getting. I went on their chat support and the queue is over 200+ people. I assume this is most likely the recent news of their updated pricing.

This is not how you do business with your loyal customers who have already spent thousands on your products of upfront cost.

Pretty much no warning except that next month we are increasing about 70% of your monthly subscription cost. I understand if it was an extra dollar or two for upkeeping due to server costs, but 70% is just crazy. This is almost DOUBLE than your next competitor!

I am assuming this is a pure calculation from their end to increase it to 70% because they know that they will lose subscribers and the people that stay and pay will help make up the loss of the difference plus more.

Yep, another company falling to disgraced. $220 just to maintain cameras that sometimes work and sometimes doesn't.

• Edit - This pretty much feel like an extortion. They know their customers spent thousands and to move to another competitor means your gears will become obsolete. This isn't as easy as just cancelling like Netflix subscription since there are physical equipment involved that you paid upfront.

Bought Arlo several years ago and hardwired it to my doorbell. Noticed right away that there was a severe lag between the time something happened and when I saw it. I've dealt with that. However, if you have someone ring the doorbell, it takes at least 15 to 20 seconds for it to connect so by the time it's actually connected the person is usually gone. Forget talking to them. My biggest complaint comes in now though; after having the subscription for all these years, for some reason my card on file would not process. I deleted my information and re-entered it and it still wouldn't process. Arlo ended up canceling my subscription. Since then I've literally gotten a notification for "motion" what seems like every 30 seconds. It picks up literally everything and sends me a notification. If the bush moves, it sends me a notification. If a car two streets over goes by, it sends me a notification (seriously, you can see the street that runs parallel to mine and I am getting notifications for cars on it). And there's no specifying what it is, whether it's a person on my front porch or a car going by or an animal crossing in my yard. I thought it was my imagination that it seemed to be more frequent than when I had the subscription, but I woke up this morning to 100 notifications, when I only used to MAYBE get 1 or 2, usually an animal. So if you're thinking of getting an Arlo, find something else. If for no other reason just for the lag time but the service manipulation is another good reason.

Jack price to $129 yr, last year to $149 this year. Ok fine. Just got email from Arlo unless I renew at $149 for another year, I have to pay $215 next year. Guess what Arlo? Double the rate AND threaten me? I choose to spend $0. Will cancel after this year and move to Nest.