Having a home security system can make your home feel safer.
Today, most camera systems are even WiFi-enabled, allowing you to check them from anywhere.
However, having an internet-connected camera like an Arlo might also make you worry that your camera could be hacked or watched without your knowledge.
You can tell if someone is watching on an Arlo live camera feed if three red lights turn on around the camera’s lens. However, these lights also turn on when movement is sensed, so they don’t always indicate the camera feed is being watched. Yet, some Arlo users have noticed this secondary meaning.
If you have or want an Arlo, but you want to know how secure it is, keep reading.
I’ll tell you if there are ways you can tell if someone is watching your live feed or recorded videos, if your Arlo can be hacked, and what your camera’s different lights mean.
Can You Tell if Someone Is Watching Your Arlo’s Live Feeds?
One of the best features of the Arlo camera is its ability to be watched live.
This is great if you want a security camera that you can check while away from home for whatever reason, whether to keep an eye out for home invaders or check on your pets.
However, since you can give other people access to your Arlo’s feed, it can be daunting to realize someone can be watching you.
There’s no official way you can tell if someone is watching your Arlo’s live feeds. However, when the Arlo detects motion, three red lights will turn on, and its administrators are notified.
Someone with access to the Arlo may begin watching if they’re notified of movement.
While there’s no programmed feature to tell if the Arlo’s live stream is being watched, some users have noticed that the motion sensor lights will turn on when the feed is being looked at, even when there’s no motion detected.
Can You Tell if an Arlo Is On?
To conserve battery, you might decide not to have your Arlo on all the time. If this is the case, you might wonder if there’s a way you or someone else can tell when you decide to turn the camera on.
After all, if your camera is off, you shouldn’t have to worry about someone watching its feed.
You can tell if the Arlo is on, but only when it detects motion in a lit room.
Unfortunately, the motion detector lights are small and easy to miss.
In the dark, the camera’s infrared lights glow, which are more noticeable, yet this only happens if your camera has night vision.
What an Arlo Camera’s Lights Mean
The Arlo camera has multiple lights and patterns that indicate various things, all of which you should be aware of. Here are a just a few stand-outs:
- Three red lights: As mentioned above, these turn on if the camera detects motion and can also indicate someone is watching the camera’s stream.
- Blinking blue light: This means it’s connecting to a hub station.
- Blinking orange light: In this case, it could mean the battery is low, it couldn’t connect with the hub station, or there was a connection problem.
- Flashing blue and orange: The camera is resetting or updating.
If one of these lights is on during a time when it shouldn’t be, it could mean your camera is broken or corrupted.
Can an Arlo Camera Be Hacked?
The first security cameras to come on the market were functionally not much different than typical video cameras.
They recorded surveillance on cassette tapes that could then be watched or re-recorded.
Now surveillance cameras are designed to store video elsewhere, either on a cloud server or to a secondary location.
To do this, they have to be connected to the internet, which makes them vulnerable to hacking.
An Arlo camera can be hacked if it’s connected to a WiFi network. This is especially true when the WiFi network isn’t password-protected. Your Arlo can also be hacked if someone is able to guess your Arlo account’s access information.
To help reduce your Arlo’s risk of being hacked, use a strong password for your Arlo account and only share access with a few people you trust.
You should also make sure your WiFi is password protected.
If possible, you can even set up a mobile connection for your camera and add extra verification steps when someone tries to sign in.
Does the Arlo Camera Record Continuously?
Since the Arlo camera has motion sensors, you might think that, when not activated, the camera might default to a “hibernation” mode and not record. However, this isn’t necessarily the case.
The Arlo camera will record continuously if it has continuous video recording enabled.
If you don’t allow this feature in your camera’s settings, it only records when something activates its motion detectors.
Keep in mind, however, if your camera is set to always record, its battery will drain faster, so you’ll need to charge it regularly.
Is the Arlo Always Streaming?
Since you can set the Arlo to continuously record, you might wonder if that same option is possible for its live streaming feature.
The Arlo isn’t always streaming, as it can only live stream for 30 consecutive minutes at a time to ensure the app doesn’t malfunction.
The app will automatically turn off the stream after 30 minutes.
However, you can start a new stream within a few moments of the previous one ending.
While it’s technically impossible for the Arlo to continuously stream video, as long as the battery hasn’t died, an administrator could watch multiple consecutive streams.
Can You Tell if Someone Has Watched Your Arlo’s Stored Videos?
Your Arlo stores its recorded videos for a minimum of seven days, so you can go back and look at them. These videos will take the form of video files in cloud storage.
This can make it difficult to distinguish between them, particularly if you can’t tell which videos have been viewed, either by you or anyone else.
There’s currently no way to tell if anyone has watched your Arlo’s stored videos.
Unfortunately, Arlo doesn’t have an available setting to mark a stored video as viewed or unviewed, and if someone else has access to your account, they could watch your recordings without notifying you.
Conclusion
Arlo cameras are some of the most popular home security cameras on the market.
However, they aren’t without their flaws, as there’s no guaranteed way to tell if someone is watching your Arlo camera.
Nonetheless, you can take measures to limit your chances of being hacked and help ease any anxiety.