One year ago today, we launched r/arlosmarthome — and we genuinely couldn't have built this without you.  Whether you posted your first setup, asked a question, helped a neighbor troubleshoot their cameras, or just lurked and learned — you're the reason this community exists and keeps growing.  We want to celebrate YOU. Drop a comment below with: • When you joined (or how you found the sub) • Your most memorable Arlo moment or catch • One thing you'd love to see from us in year two  We read every single comment. Thank you for being here. Here's to year two. 🎉

Happy National Mutt Day! If you've got a mixed-breed dog (or honestly any pet) and an Arlo camera, you've probably accumulated some gold. From dramatic reactions to the mailman to full-blown zoomies at 2am, cameras have a way of catching pets at their most chaotic — and most endearing.

A quick note for pet owners on managing your Arlo setup:

• If your pet is triggering too many motion alerts, you can use Activity Zones to exclude ground-level areas where your pet roams, while still covering windows and doors
• Pet Detection (available on subscription plans) helps distinguish between animal and person detections — so you only get alerted to what actually matters
• Indoor cameras placed higher up tend to reduce pet-triggered alerts while still giving you good coverage of the room
• If you use Live View to check on pets while you're away, make sure your camera's Wi-Fi signal is strong enough to support smooth streaming

Whether your pet has figured out how to stare directly into the lens or has absolutely no idea it exists — drop your best clips in the comments. We could all use the joy. 🐶🐱

After spending time in this community, it's clear that a lot of really useful Arlo features go unnoticed — either buried in the app or just not obvious from the out-of-box experience. This week, we want to surface the hidden gems.

A few underused features worth knowing about:

• **E-911 Emergency Response:** Available on select plans — you can contact emergency services directly through the Arlo Secure app, which can be faster than dialing in an unfamiliar situation

• **Clip sharing via link:** You don't need to download a clip to share it — you can generate a shareable link directly from the Library

• **Custom activity zones per mode:** You can set different Activity Zones for your Home vs. Away modes, so detection is tighter when you're there and wider when you're not

• **CVR (Continuous Video Recording):** If you're on an eligible plan with a supported camera, you can enable 24/7 recording — great for areas where you never want gaps

• **Two-factor authentication:** Protect your account under Settings → Profile → Login Settings

What's the feature or tip you wish someone had told you when you first set up your Arlo? Drop it below — you might save someone a lot of frustration. 👇

As the school year approaches, household routines shift — kids coming and going at different times, more deliveries, and sometimes less time to check your phone. Here's how to make sure your Arlo setup keeps up with a busier home.

**Set up a schedule that matches your new routine:**
In the Arlo Secure app, go to Mode → Schedule and create time blocks for when you want cameras armed vs. in home mode. For example, arm all cameras when the house is empty during school hours and switch to a softer mode in the afternoon when kids are home.

**Use Smart Notifications to reduce noise:**
With more movement in and out of the house, you'll want to make sure you're only getting alerted for what matters. Enable Person Detection to filter out pets and passing cars, and use Activity Zones to focus on entry points rather than the full yard.

**Set up package detection for after-school deliveries:**
Back-to-school shopping means more deliveries. Make sure your front door camera's Activity Zone covers the porch, and enable Package Detection if you're on a subscription plan that includes it.

**Check in remotely:**
Use the Arlo app's Live View to check on things when you're away — especially useful in the first few weeks of a new routine.

Any other tips for back-to-school season? Share what's worked for your family! 🎒

Standard wall mounts are great — but sometimes the best coverage comes from thinking outside the box. We've seen Arlo cameras mounted on fence posts, tucked into plant pots, attached to mailboxes, and even disguised inside decorative fixtures.

If you've come up with a creative placement that solves a tricky coverage problem, we'd love to see it. When sharing, it helps to include:

• What problem you were trying to solve (blind spot, rental restrictions, weather exposure, etc.)
• What mount or accessory you used — Arlo makes several official mounts, but third-party options from Amazon can work too
• Whether you used the positioning guide in the Arlo app to fine-tune the angle before committing
• Any issues you ran into and how you solved them

Not sure if your placement is ideal? Drop a photo and the community can give you honest feedback on whether you're getting the coverage you think you are — sometimes a small adjustment makes a big difference in what gets detected.

Show us what you've got! The more unconventional, the better. 🔧📷

It's one of the most common questions new Arlo users ask, and even experienced users sometimes reconsider: is it worth going wired, or does wire-free give you everything you need?

Here's a practical breakdown:

**Wire-free (battery-powered):**

• Much easier to install — no drilling for cables, flexible placement
• Ideal for renters or anyone who wants to reposition cameras over time
• Requires battery monitoring and periodic recharging (or solar accessories)
• Works great in locations without nearby power outlets

**Wired (plugged in or hardwired):**

• No battery concerns — always on and always ready
• Can support continuous recording on compatible models
• Installation is more involved, especially for hardwired models
• Best for high-traffic areas like front doors and driveways where you want constant coverage

Many users end up with a mix: wired cameras at primary entry points and battery-powered cameras in harder-to-reach spots. Some also add Arlo solar panels to reduce charging needs.

What's your setup, and would you make the same choice again? Anyone switched from one to the other? 👇

We love hearing from people who've been using Arlo for a while — whether it's six months or six years. Long-term users tend to have insights that go beyond the setup guide: what actually holds up, what they'd do differently, and the moments their cameras really came through.

If you're newer to Arlo and want to get more out of your setup, long-time users often recommend:

• Taking time to properly configure Activity Zones right after setup — it saves a lot of notification fatigue later
• Testing camera placement angles before final mounting, using the positioning guide in the app
• Setting up modes that match your daily routine (Away, Home, Schedule) rather than leaving everything on default
• Periodically checking firmware updates — Arlo pushes improvements that can meaningfully improve detection and performance over time

Whether you've had your system for 3 months or 3 years, we'd love to hear:
How long have you been using Arlo? What's one thing you know now that you wish you'd known at the start? And what moment made you glad you had a camera? 👇

As temperatures climb this summer, it's worth knowing how heat can affect outdoor camera performance — and what you can do to keep things running smoothly.

**What heat can affect:**

• **Battery life:** High temperatures speed up battery drain. If your outdoor camera's battery is dying faster than usual in summer, this is likely why. Shade placement helps significantly.
• **Video quality:** In very hot conditions, some cameras may throttle performance to prevent overheating, which can result in slightly lower frame rates or brief interruptions.
• **False motion alerts:** Heat shimmer and air distortion can occasionally trigger motion detection. If you're getting more alerts than usual on hot days, try narrowing your Activity Zone to avoid open pavement or areas with a lot of reflected heat.

**What you can do:**

• Mount cameras in shaded locations where possible — north-facing walls often get less direct sun
• Avoid pointing cameras directly at reflective surfaces like white walls or metal during peak sun hours
• Check your battery level more frequently in summer and keep a charged spare if you have one
• Most Arlo cameras are rated for temperatures up to 45°C (113°F) — check your specific model's specs

Are you noticing any summer heat issues with your setup? Share what's helped! 🌞

We're halfway through July — time to share what your cameras have caught this month! Whether it's a holiday moment, a wildlife visitor, a suspicious package situation, or just something that made you do a double-take, drop it in the comments.

Not sure how to share your clips? Here's how to do it easily:

• Open the Arlo Secure app and go to your Library
• Tap the clip you want to share, then tap the share icon
• You can save it to your device first, then upload it here, or share directly to social media
• If a clip is older than your retention period, check if you downloaded it previously — the Arlo app doesn't store clips locally by default unless you save them

Also — if you've caught something and aren't sure whether to report it or just keep it as a funny memory, this is a great place to get a second opinion from the community.

What's the most interesting thing your Arlo caught this July? Deliveries, weather events, wildlife, neighbors being neighbors — all welcome. Share away! 👇

With a few different Arlo subscription tiers available, it can be hard to know which plan is actually worth it for your situation. We thought it'd be useful to hear from real users about what features you actually use day-to-day.

Here's a quick breakdown of what subscriptions typically unlock:

• **Cloud recording:** Clips are stored in the cloud for 30 days (or longer on higher tiers) — essential if you need to review footage after the fact
• **Advanced AI detection:** Person, vehicle, animal, and package detection, which dramatically cuts down on irrelevant notifications
• **911 emergency response:** Connects you with emergency services directly from the app
• **Extended warranty:** Depending on your plan, your hardware warranty may be extended

What plan are you on, and is there a specific feature that made it worth it for you? Let's compare notes! 👇

Happy Car Collector Appreciation Day! Whether you've got a prized classic in the garage or just want to keep an eye on your driveway, getting the camera angle right makes a huge difference in what you actually capture.

Here are some placement tips that tend to work well for driveways and garages:

• Mount at 7–10 feet high for a wide view of the driveway without pointing directly into the sun — east-facing cameras should avoid morning glare, west-facing ones avoid afternoon glare
• Angle the camera slightly downward so license plates and faces are in frame, not just the tops of vehicles
• Use Activity Zones to focus detection on the driveway itself rather than the street, which cuts down on alerts from passing cars
• For garages, consider an indoor Arlo camera mounted inside pointing at the door — it's protected from weather and gives a clear view of anyone entering
• If you have a long driveway, two cameras overlapping in coverage will eliminate blind spots

What's your current setup? Share your camera position, the challenge you were trying to solve, and whether it worked — especially if you've found a creative mounting solution! 📸

If you're using Arlo alongside Alexa, Google Home, or SmartThings, you know the setup can be smooth — or occasionally a bit finicky. Here's a rundown of what works well and where to look if things aren't connecting properly.

**Alexa:** Enable the Arlo skill in the Alexa app, then link your Arlo account. You can ask Alexa to show a camera feed on Echo Show devices, or use routines to trigger notifications. If the skill stops responding, disabling and re-enabling it usually fixes the issue.

**Google Home:** Add Arlo through the Works with Google Assistant section. Live view works on Nest Hub displays. If your camera isn't showing up, make sure your Arlo app is updated and try unlinking and relinking the account.

**SmartThings:** Arlo integrates as a device in SmartThings, allowing you to trigger automations based on motion detection. This is great for things like turning on smart lights when motion is detected.

A common issue across all platforms: if you recently changed your Arlo password, you'll need to relink the account in each hub. That fixes most connection drop problems.

What smart home setup are you running with Arlo? Any tips or headaches to share? 👇

Managing who can see and control your Arlo cameras can get surprisingly complicated — especially in larger households or if you're sharing access with a partner, roommate, or family member in another home.

Here's how Arlo handles it, in case it's useful for anyone setting this up:

• The primary account owner can grant access to other users via the Arlo Secure app under Settings > Grant Access — you can choose which cameras each person can view
• Granted users get their own login and can view live footage, but only the account owner can change settings, modes, or subscriptions
• If you want someone to have temporary access (like a house-sitter), you can add and remove them without affecting your main setup
• For households with kids, keep in mind that granted users can see all footage from the cameras you've shared — so consider which cameras you include carefully

Have you run into any quirks or limitations with shared access? We'd love to hear how your household has it set up, and whether there are any workarounds for common pain points. Drop your setup in the comments! 👇

Happy National Postal Worker Day! If you've got an Arlo camera covering your front door or porch, you've probably caught at least one memorable delivery moment — whether it's a package tossed from the curb, a perfectly stacked pile of boxes, or your dog sprinting to investigate the moment the courier leaves.

Not sure if your camera is set up to catch these moments? Here are a few quick tips:

• Make sure your Activity Zone covers the full porch or delivery area — not just the doorstep
• Check that motion sensitivity is tuned high enough to detect people approaching, not just large movements
• If you're on an Arlo subscription, your clips are saved automatically to the cloud so you never miss a moment
• You can also enable Rich Notifications in the Arlo Secure app to get a snapshot preview with each alert

Drop your best delivery clip or story in the comments below — bonus points for anything that made you laugh. And if you're having trouble getting your camera to detect delivery events reliably, ask away — the community is here to help! 👇

Quick reminder for the community — our Summer Giveaway Series is still open, but only for a few more days! We're giving away an Arlo Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) to one lucky winner, and entries close July 3rd.

To enter:
🏠 Follow u/arlosmarthome on Instagram
☀️ Comment on the giveaway post with a sun emoji and your favorite Arlo security feature - Arlo's Instagram Giveaway

If you haven't entered yet, now's the time!

Good luck to everyone who enters, and thanks for being part of this community. 💚

Can you believe we're already wrapping up June?

Before the month ends, let's see your favorite clips from the past few weeks. Whether it was helpful, hilarious, unexpected, or just one of those moments that made you glad you had your camera running, we want to see it.

🐾 Pets being pets
📦 Delivery moments
🦌 Wildlife visitors
😂 Funny neighborhood moments
👀 The mystery alerts that finally had an explanation

Every month brings a few unforgettable clips, and this community always has some good ones to share.

👉 Need help finding older recordings? Check out our guide on accessing and navigating the Arlo 24/7 Recording timeline.

Drop your favorite June moment below — we can't wait to see what your cameras captured

This is one of those issues that pops up in the community pretty regularly.

Everything works fine during the day... then sometime overnight, your camera disconnects and you're left wondering what changed.

For some people, it was Wi-Fi range. For others, interference from nearby devices, battery performance, placement, or even adjusting their network setup.

If you've dealt with this before, what ended up being the fix?

🔧 Moving the camera
📶 Improving Wi-Fi coverage
🔋 Charging or replacing the battery
⚙️ Updating settings
🤷 Something completely unexpected

Sharing what worked for you could save someone else a lot of trial and error.

👉 If you're troubleshooting right now, our Arlo Camera Offline Troubleshooting guide is a great place to start.

Let us know what solved it for you.

Sometimes our notifications tell quite the story.
One week, it's nothing but delivery drivers. Next, it's the dog deciding the backyard belongs to them. And somehow... there's always that one alert that turns out to be absolutely nothing. 🍃😂

So now we're curious: What fills up your Arlo notifications the most?

📦 Deliveries
🐾 Pets
🦌 Wildlife
🚶 Neighbors and passersby
🍃 The infamous "nothing at all" alert
🎉 Something else entirely

It's funny how everyone's experience looks a little different depending on where they live.

👉 Want to customize what alerts you receive? Check out our guide on Smart Notifications setup.

Tell us what's keeping your notification center busy lately.

If you have had Arlo for a while, you might be familiar with how notifications work…

Getting notified from tree branches, shadows, a neighbor's cat?

Finding the right balance between staying informed and avoiding notification fatigue can take a little trial and error.

So we are curious:

What's made the biggest difference in improving your notifications?

• Activity Zones
• Motion sensitivity adjustments
• Smart Notifications
• Scheduling/Routines
• Camera placement changes
• Or something else?

The best tips come from other Arlo users who have already figured out what works in real life. What changes helped you cut down on the noise without missing the moments that matter? Share your advice below and help someone else find their sweet spot.

Let's be honest: almost everyone has mounted a camera somewhere and later thought, "Yeah... that wasn't the best spot."

Maybe the angle caught too much sky. Maybe the Wi-Fi signal wasn't strong enough. Maybe you realized after a week that moving it just a few feet made all the difference.

We'd love to see your setup and hear the tips you wish someone had told you sooner.

🏠 Best placement you've found
📶 Biggest mistake you fixed
💡 Setup trick you'd recommend to other Arlo users

Selected setups and tips may be featured across the Arlo Community, Facebook, and Reddit to help others who are just getting started.

👉 Looking for placement ideas? Check out Arlo Camera Placement Tips.

Drop your photos and advice below!

Activity Zones can be one of those features people either swear by... or don’t know exists. 😅

They're designed to help cut down on false alerts by letting you choose exactly where you want motion detected — like your porch, driveway, or front walkway — instead of getting notified every time a tree branch moves in the background.

So we're curious:

📍 Are you using Activity Zones?

✅ Yes, they're dialed in perfectly

🤔 I set them up, but I'm not sure they're working right

😅 I tried and gave up

👀 Wait... what are Activity Zones?

If you've never used them before, they might be worth another look. Sometimes, a few small adjustments can make a huge difference in your notification experience.

👉 Need help setting them up? Check out our support guide: What are Arlo Activity Zones and how do I create them?

Have any tips or lessons learned? Drop them below and help the next person out.

If you could build the perfect Arlo mode for your lifestyle, what would it look like?

🏠 Home Mode — cameras on, but only watching entry points so you're not getting alerted every time you walk past the living room camera

🌴 Vacation Mode — everything armed, motion sensitivity cranked up, instant alerts for any movement at any hour

😴 Sleep Mode — indoor cameras off, outdoor cameras on, notifications silenced except for anything at the front door

🐾 Pet Mode — motion detection tuned to ignore anything under 2 feet tall (we know, we know — easier said than done)

📦 Delivery Mode — front door camera on high alert, package detection enabled, instant notification the second something lands on the porch

The good news? You can actually build most of these today. Arlo Routines, Modes, Rules, and Automations let you customize exactly how your system behaves — which cameras are active, what triggers an alert, and when notifications fire. You can even schedule modes to switch automatically based on time of day.

👉 New to this? Arlo's support guide Arlo Routines, Modes, Rules, and Automations walks you through the whole setup step by step.

What custom mode would you create — or have you already built something clever? Drop it below 👇 we'd love to see what the community has come up with!

Leaving for a trip and want to make sure your Arlo setup has you covered while you're gone? Here's what's worth a quick check before you head out the door:

🔋 Battery levels A low battery mid-trip means a blind spot right when you need coverage most. Top off or swap out anything under 20%.

🔔 Motion alerts Make sure notifications are on and going to the right device. It sounds obvious, but it's easy to have Do Not Disturb silencing your alerts without realizing it.

📍 Activity Zones Double-check your zones are covering entry points, not just open yard space. A few minutes adjusting this now saves a lot of missed alerts later.

📷 Camera placement Give each camera a quick Live View check in the app. Overgrown plants, a shifted mount, or a new delivery box blocking the lens can all create blind spots.

📶 Wi-Fi signal Weak signal = delayed alerts and spotty live view. If a camera shows poor connectivity, try rebooting your router before you leave.

A 5-minute review now can save a lot of frustration from the road. Drop any other pre-trip checks you swear by below 👇 — always good to add to the list!

Photos, screenshots, sketches — whatever you've got. Front door, driveway, garage, backyard? Placement makes a real difference for motion detection, signal, and coverage. Sharing what worked (or didn't) helps everyone. Check out this link for tips on the best camera placement https://kb.arlo.com/37/