August upgrades all Doorbell Cam owners with 24 hours of free video recording

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
August on Thursday announced that all versions of the iPhone-connected Doorbell Cam, including the current Doorbell Cam Pro, will automatically get free video recordings of activity detected in the last 24 hours.




The perk falls under a new Basic August Video Recording plan, August said. Previously people without a paid subscription could only watch a live feed, or see snapshots of detected motion, whether in iOS/Apple Watch notifications or the mobile app's activity history.

Doorbell Cam Pro owners have the advantage of a floodlight, and HindSight, which saves the few seconds before an activity alert to ensure complete events are captured.

Free recordings have not yet rolled out to all owners. Paid plans are still available, costing $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for a 30-day video history.

The Doorbell Cam Pro comes in black or silver for $199 -- shoppers should check house compatibility before buying. Future Apple HomeKit compatibility is likely, but not yet announced.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    That sounds pretty good. One of the biggest turn offs I've seen is having to pay for the product, potentially pay for its installation, and then pay a monthly fee for service. 24 hours should be good enough for people to test the product realistically and then decide if a longer history is worth the extra cost.
    airnerd
  • Reply 2 of 10
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,959member
    I’ve been shy about a doorbell cam because our bell is mounted on side wall next to the door, not the same wall as the door. All the examples of photos and videos I’ve seen seem to come from straight on. Not sure how effective a profile shot would be—also it won’t show approach and departure. Can’t retire because door wall is all window. 
  • Reply 3 of 10
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    robin huber said:
    I’ve been shy about a doorbell cam because our bell is mounted on side wall next to the door, not the same wall as the door. All the examples of photos and videos I’ve seen seem to come from straight on. Not sure how effective a profile shot would be—also it won’t show approach and departure. Can’t retire because door wall is all window. 
    Why not remove that side-mounted bell and just add a camera-bell in the appropriate place. Or you can just leave the other doorbell if you get one that is motion activated, which I think is most of them.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,311member
    Soli said:
    robin huber said:
    I’ve been shy about a doorbell cam because our bell is mounted on side wall next to the door, not the same wall as the door. All the examples of photos and videos I’ve seen seem to come from straight on. Not sure how effective a profile shot would be—also it won’t show approach and departure. Can’t retire because door wall is all window. 
    Why not remove that side-mounted bell and just add a camera-bell in the appropriate place. Or you can just leave the other doorbell if you get one that is motion activated, which I think is most of them.


    Of get real Camera's!!! Camera's that plug into a DVR that you can access from anywhere. You can then mount the Camera's anywhere you want. Maybe one up high pointed to the door, and another near the door up high pointed away from the door. You can then see a person coming and going. Many of these will alert you of motion. You could then view. You put camera's around your place recording 27/7 of everything and some signs up. No one is going to mess with your house. They'll go someplace else. You can just about put the DVR Box anywhere out of the way. You can install into a LOCK BOX if you're really paranoid. Have it plugged into a UPS so it's recording even if power is cut. If your Internet is cut, it's still recording internally.

    Forget these toy systems.

    lolliver
  • Reply 5 of 10
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Does anyone know if any of these companies who make these things, allow you to direct the device where to store the video. most of these companies want to keep charging you ever month to store information. I have my own NAS so why can i just store it to that verses their servers.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    rivertriprivertrip Posts: 143member
    maestro64 said:
    Does anyone know if any of these companies who make these things, allow you to direct the device where to store the video. most of these companies want to keep charging you ever month to store information. I have my own NAS so why can i just store it to that verses their servers.
    The Netatmo Presence allows storage on Dropbox or an FTP server in addition to a micro SD Card. I use Hazel to move files automatically from Dropbox to another server.

    It replaces a porch light instead of a doorbell. LiveView is enabled in Homekit.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    maestro64 said:
    Does anyone know if any of these companies who make these things, allow you to direct the device where to store the video. most of these companies want to keep charging you ever month to store information. I have my own NAS so why can i just store it to that verses their servers.
    My NAS offers a surveillance system option which uses VMS (Video Management System) to allow IP camera feeds to monitor, notify, and record as I see fit. That said, I don't use it so I couldn't say whether this is worthwhile over one of these all inclusive systems that are all the rage right now.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    Soli said:
    That sounds pretty good. One of the biggest turn offs I've seen is having to pay for the product, potentially pay for its installation, and then pay a monthly fee for service. 24 hours should be good enough for people to test the product realistically and then decide if a longer history is worth the extra cost.
    Agree.  I pay for Ring cloud service, but even just 12 hours would be enough for me.  Typically if I'm not expecting motion I'll check within the hour to see what happened.  I don't need to store for 30 days or anything like that.  

    I hope this gets everyone else in the smartcam market to offer better choices.  
  • Reply 9 of 10
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    robin huber said:
    I’ve been shy about a doorbell cam because our bell is mounted on side wall next to the door, not the same wall as the door. All the examples of photos and videos I’ve seen seem to come from straight on. Not sure how effective a profile shot would be—also it won’t show approach and departure. Can’t retire because door wall is all window. 
    Ours is the same way.  The doorbell is to the right of the door on the adjacent wall.  I installed the Pro and it worked well with it's fish-eye type lens.  Then I bought a 15-degree wedge that bumps the camera out enough that I can see everything.  If I could figure out how to capture and post a photo I will. 

  • Reply 10 of 10
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    jbdragon said:
    Soli said:
    robin huber said:
    I’ve been shy about a doorbell cam because our bell is mounted on side wall next to the door, not the same wall as the door. All the examples of photos and videos I’ve seen seem to come from straight on. Not sure how effective a profile shot would be—also it won’t show approach and departure. Can’t retire because door wall is all window. 
    Why not remove that side-mounted bell and just add a camera-bell in the appropriate place. Or you can just leave the other doorbell if you get one that is motion activated, which I think is most of them.


    Of get real Camera's!!! Camera's that plug into a DVR that you can access from anywhere. You can then mount the Camera's anywhere you want. Maybe one up high pointed to the door, and another near the door up high pointed away from the door. You can then see a person coming and going. Many of these will alert you of motion. You could then view. You put camera's around your place recording 27/7 of everything and some signs up. No one is going to mess with your house. They'll go someplace else. You can just about put the DVR Box anywhere out of the way. You can install into a LOCK BOX if you're really paranoid. Have it plugged into a UPS so it's recording even if power is cut. If your Internet is cut, it's still recording internally.

    Forget these toy systems.

    That's good for some.  I explored that and decided that it was worth my time and money to get the Ring product.  Drilled two holes, connected two low voltage wires, plugged some little box into my indoor chime, and done.  Took less than 30 minutes and I was up and running.  no additional costs, no hassles, someone else maintains the video and feeds.  I'm pretty tech savvy and have an engineer background, but I also enjoy things that "just work".  It's why I'm an apple Customer.  Plus, my wife can use the app where as explaining how to run all that other stuff is a nonstarter.  :)
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