Arlo just changed up its subscription plans — what you need to know

Arlo Pro 3
(Image credit: Arlo)

Arlo, developer of home security cameras and other smart home products, has just made a big change to how it's subscription services work. A change that the company promises to make the whole process even easier.

From today Arlo has rebranded its cloud subscription plans and launched Arlo Secure and Arlo Secure Plus. While the name and some of the features are changing, the actual prices aren’t.

Arlo Secure is the basic subscription plan now on offer, and costs $2.99 a month for a single camera, and $9.99 a month for unlimited cameras. Previously that money limited you to ten cameras, so this is a definite bonus.

Arlo Secure lets you store videos in up to 2K resolution for up to 30 days, and offers various other useful features like smart interactive notifications, activity zones, a ‘Call a Friend’ function, and more. Most importantly is the Ai that can distinguish between people, packages, vehicles, and animals. Subscribers also get 10% off future Arlo products purchases, which is nice.

Meanwhile the $14.99 a month Arlo Secure Plus plan offers much of the same. Like before, you are able to store video clips in 4K resolution — which is applicable to the Arlo Ultra and Arlo Ultra 2 cameras. 

However, Secure Plus offers the new Emergency Response feature, which will dispatch fire, police, and medical responders to your camera’s location at the touch of a button. Users can also provide Arlo’s Emergency Response Team with important information, such as gate codes, which can be passed onto responders if necessary.

Of course if you don’t want to pay, the cloud subscriptions are not mandatory. However anyone who forgoes an Arlo subscription plan will only have the bare minimum of features — specifically access to live video streams and motion detection.

Arlo said that all its hardware purchases will now come bundled with a three month free trial of Arlo Secure Plus. That way you get to test out the very best Arlo’s subscription has to offer, before you have to hand over your money.

Of course Arlo also sells a wide range of products, many of which are compatible with Apple HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, and other smart home systems. Among them are the Arlo Ultra and a bunch more of the best home security cameras you can buy right now.

So if you were thinking about adding some smarts to your home, Arlo has just given you a reason to check out all its stuff.

Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.