This Is The Arlo Video Doorbell

After breaking the news that Arlo would release a full fledged video doorbell variant, I’m pleased to inform you that release is imminent… and obviously pictured above. As we said in June,

Arlo is poised to rectify this [audio-only doorbell] oversight with a real video doorbell […] with 2MP Full HD video quality, wide field-of-view and crystal-clear two-way audio, all-in-one unit for those that prefer a unified video and audio smart entry solution. For added ease and versatility, the new video doorbell can connect to existing digital and mechanical door chimes.

Some question remain, such as price and HomeKit integration. But, hot on the heals of the Arlo Pro 3 release, things are looking good for the company and its customers, despite full-fledged home monitoring and security system likely pushed to 2020.

7 thoughts on “This Is The Arlo Video Doorbell”

  1. I would consider getting an Arlo system for home based on a positive experience using one at work. However, access to the one at work is shared with several folks on my team and I don’t wish to give them access to my home system. If I create a separate Arlo account for the home system, then it would seem that I have to log out and log back in again to switch accounts.

    I already have this work/home account problem with the SYNC-up Drive vehicle tracker from T-Mobile and it’s a huge inconvenience. I can’t imagine only being able to receive security notifications for whichever system that I last logged into.

    Some (but not all) apps like Facebook and Instagram already let you manage different accounts so hopefully Arlo will do the same. Otherwise the incentive is to buy a different system (e.g. Ring) in order to have a different app to which you can stay logged in.

  2. @ Steve
    I don’t know if you’re an iPhone user. But if you are you can setup the cameras in Home Kit and then have Home Kit send you notifications. Maybe that will work for you.

  3. Cute. I wonder what it’s differentiating feature would be. Nest Hello has continuous recording. Ring Pro has Alexa integrations. Eufy Doorbell has 2K resolution and low fees. Maybe it can have all of those :)

  4. LastPass makes logging in and out pretty trivial on a phone or browser. I’m sure other password managers would help, too. If you don’t have a manager, I’d get one, for convenience and security.

  5. @Rick I love LastPass, but I don’t get notifications for the account I’m not logged into. So I can’t be signed into two SYNC-Up Drive device accounts nor into two Arlo accounts.

    That seems unacceptable for security system — as it’s highly unlikely anyone would want to share their home security system with everyone who has access to a corporate system (and vice versa), which means you’ll never get notifications for the system you’re logged out of.

    LastPass can’t help you get real time security notifications when you’re not signed in.

  6. Hmm, good point. Can you share the cameras from work to home? I don’t know what the limitations of sharing is. I’ve invited a couple people to try it out but no one ever accepts the invitation.

    Could you set up email or text notifications so you don’t rely on app notifications for one or both systems? Arlo’s support forum seems pretty basic, but I do find some ideas that help me work around some issues. I think I found out about texts when I wanted notifications when my phone is in Do Not Disturb mode.

  7. @Steve

    Can you have a work account that owns the work camera. A home account that owns your home stuff. Then, share access from the work account to the home account for all the work devices you care about. On your device, login to the home account and get notifications and library for everything.

    There’s a few things you cannot do from the account shared to, but they are probably things you don’t’ do that often.

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