Arlo cameras are quite amazing, aren’t they? The HD smart home camera line is completely controllable through apps.
It features motion detection, audio detection, night vision, two-way talk, and weather resistance in case you’re using cameras that you have to place around your home perimeter for surveillance purposes.
How to tell if Arlo camera is recording is a commonplace query. You want to know the camera is working but at the same time, you don’t want intruders to detect and possibly disable these cameras as well.
How to Tell If Arlo Camera is Recording
Check the Arlo camera app in order to see if the camera is recording or not. You can also go to the cloud storage and download recorded footage in the cloud to confirm that your camera is working.
For some of these Arlo cameras, there’s no indication or indicator light on the device itself for the person looking at it to know if it’s turned on or off. You’re the one who’s aware of the camera’s status online through your Arlo app. For other cameras, you can check their indicator light for their status.
The exception is with night vision—when it’s turned on, the infra-red LEDs glow a faint red like with the IR bulb on your remote control. Also, if the camera should malfunction, run out of battery power, or otherwise not work at all (as in “bricked”), then the app shouldn’t be able to detect it and inform you of such.
You may also like: Arlo Home Security Cameras Review: Protect What You Love Most
How to Tell If Your Arlo Ultra, Ultra 2, Pro 3, or Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is Recording
Some Arlo cameras, particularly the ones used indoors but also some outdoor ones, have LEDs that indicate their status. For the Arlo Ultra, Ultra 2, Pro 3, and Pro 3 Floodlight Cameras:
- Slowly Blinking Blue: The device is attempting to pair with the SmartHub or base station.
- Quickly Blinking Blue: The device has successfully paired with the SmartHub or base station. This also means it’s recording and connected to your app.
- Slowly Blinking Amber: The device has a connection error, cannot be found, or is out of coverage area. It can also mean that the battery is low.
- Quickly Blinking Amber: Synchronization failure. The cam wasn’t able to sync with the SmartHub or base station.
- Alternating Amber and Blue Blinks: A reset or firmware update is in progress.
- No Light: The camera is off and isn’t recording. It also means that there’s 10 percent battery power remaining, so it requires recharging.
How to Tell If Your Arlo Pro, Arlo Pro 2, or Arlo Wire-Free Camera is Recording
In regards to how you can tell if an Arlo Pro, Pro 2, or Wire-Free camera is recording or turned on, here are the meanings behind its blinking LED indicator light. For the most part, they’re kind of the same as the Ultra and Pro 3 series.
- Slowly Blinking Blue: Base station or SmartHub and camera synchronization attempt.
- Quickly Blinking Blue: Base station or SmartHub and camera synchronization successful. You can now check the smart app to see if it’s recording properly.
- Slowly Blinking Amber: The battery power of the camera is low.
- Quickly Blinking Amber: The camera failed to sync with the base station or SmartHub.
- Alternating Amber and Blue Blinks: In-progress firmware update. Don’t turn off the camera while it’s updating.
- No Light: There’s less than 10 percent battery remaining or the camera is turned off.
How to Tell If Your Arlo Q or Q Plus Camera is Recording
Arlo Q and Q Plus have an extra purple LED color for its myriad of statuses.
- Steady Amber: The camera is in boot-up mode.
- Slowly Blinking Amber: The camera is turned on and ready for setup via a smart app.
- Quickly Blinking Amber: The camera isn’t connected to a Wi-Fi Internet connection.
- Steady blue: The camera is turned on and logged into Arlo servers. In other words, it’s recording.
- Slowly Blinking Blue: The camera is attempting to connect to your Wi-Fi.
- Quickly Blinking Blue: The camera is attempting to connect to Arlo serves.
- Solid Purple: The camera has successfully connected to a Wi-Fi network but can’t connect to the Internet.
- Blinking Purple: The camera is outside of your Wi-Fi router’s range.
- Alternating Amber and Blue Blinks: In-progress firmware update. Don’t turn off the camera while it’s updating.
- No Light: The camera is turned off.
How to Tell if the Arlo Go Camera is Recording
The Arlo Go has more meanings behind each light status and multiple blinking rates compared. It also has purple light like the Arlo Q series.
- Steady Amber:
- No SIM card was detected.
- The battery charge is low during synchronization.
- Motion is detected during the motion detection test.
- Slowly Blinking Amber: Low battery power level.
- Normal Blinking Amber: Unavailable mobile network.
- Double Blinking Amber: Critically low battery power level.
- Quickly Blinking Amber:
- Scan failed during the QR code scan.
- USB adapter or charging cable is incompatible.
- Cellular network connection established but cloud connection failed.
- Steady Blue:
- Fully charged battery.
- The camera has been connected and registered to a mobile network.
- Very Slowly Blinking Blue: The camera is in the process of turning on.
- Slowly Blinking Blue: The camera is ready to do a QR code scan.
- Quickly Blinking Blue:
- Cloud connection established, meaning it’s ready to record.
- It recognizes that the charger linked to it is compatible.
- Alternating Amber and Purple Blinks: Invalid SD card type.
- Alternating Amber and Blue Blinks: In-progress firmware update. Don’t turn off the camera while it’s updating.
- Alternating Blue and Purple Blinks: The camera is in the process of connecting to a mobile network and the cloud.
- No Light: There’s less than 10 percent battery remaining or the camera is turned off.
To Sum, it All Up
You can tell if an Arlo camera is turned on, recording, or synched with your SmartHub by the color of its LED indicator light. If there’s no indicator light present save for the IR light, you’ll have to check your smart app if it’s functioning or not. This applies to camera models Arlo Pro VMC4030, Arlo Pro 2 VMC4030P, Arlo Pro 3 VMC4040P, Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight FB1001, Arlo Ultra VMC5040, Arlo Wireless Security Camera VMC3030, Arlo Q VMC3040, Arlo Q Plus VMC3040S, and Arlo Go VML4030.
References:
- “How Do I Know If The Camera Is On?“, Arlo.com, October 25, 2018
- “What do the different LED behaviors on my Arlo camera mean?” Arlo.com, July 16, 2020
- “What is continuous video recording (CVR) and how do I use it?“, Arlo.com, May 1, 2020
