Arlo is taking away security camera features you paid for

When I decided to buy my first home security camera, the Arlo Q was my first choice because it offered seven days of free cloud storage instead of a subscription, and it was the only camera I wanted. It was advertised on the package.

On January 1st, 2024, the company will be able to eliminate all cloud features for cameras that have not been manufactured for four years.

The news is delivered in the form of a new retroactive "End-Of-life Policy" which you can read in full below, but the short version is this.

There are no guarantees after April 1st, 2023 if you have an Arlo Gen 3 or Arlo Pro.

You can still live stream video, receive motion notifications, and store video clips locally with a compatible Arlo base station, according to an email from the company. It is unclear if that means the base station is required for live streaming or just for local storage.

I empathise with the idea that a company may not want to support its products forever, and EOL polices are not unusual, nor is cutting off support for a phone after 3-4 years. We install these products in our homes and expect to keep them there for a long time. 7-Day free cloud storage was advertised on the box.

I don't know if lawsuits are going to happen. Canary was sued over bait-and-switch tactics when it started charging for services that used to be free but the suit was voluntarily dismissed because of questions about Canary's ability to force its customers into binding arbitration. There's also a binding policy for Arlo.

Amazon gave away a replacement device and a year of service when it killed its Cloud cam. It is possible that the company will do something like that.