How do I view videos saved on a local storage USB device?

All Arlo video recordings can be stored to the cloud, but you can connect a USB device to your Arlo base station or SmartHub for a second location to store recordings locally.

Note: Only automatically triggered recordings are saved locally to the connected USB device. Manual recordings are only saved to the cloud.

If you need to set up local storage on your Arlo base station or SmartHub for the first time, visit How do I set up local storage backups on a USB device using my Arlo Pro base station or SmartHub?.

To view videos saved on a local storage USB device, you must remove the USB device from the base station. Cloud recording is still enabled, but if you do not want to interrupt USB recording while you view videos, set up a second USB device for USB recording.

To view videos saved on a local storage USB device:

  1. Launch the Arlo app or log in to your Arlo account at my.arlo.com.
  2. Select Settings > My Devices and tap or click on the Arlo base station or SmartHub to which your USB device is connected.
  3. Under Local Storage, tap or click storage settings.
  4. Tap or click on the USB device that has the videos that you want to view.
    Note: Connected USB devices are numbered in the order that they are inserted into the base station. If USB devices are not already named, the first device inserted is called USB Device 1 and the second one is called USB Device 2. These numbers do not necessarily match the port numbers on the base station.
  5. Tap or click Safely Eject USB Device.
  6. Wait for the Unmounting USB device progress message to close, then remove the USB device from your Arlo base station. 
    Note: If another USB device is still connected to your Arlo Pro base station and USB recording is turned on, recording is automatically enabled on that USB device.
  7. Insert the USB device into a USB port on your computer.
  8. Wait for the USB device to appear in the available drives on your computer, then open the drive folder to view the files on your USB device.
  9. Open the arlo folder.
    Recorded videos are saved in this folder in MP4 format. Video files are named according to this system: camera serial number_video number_date_video clip tag. Dates are in the format YYYYMMDD.
    Note: If you are unable to play MP4 files on your computer, update your media player software to the latest version and try again. You can also download a free universal multimedia player, such as VLC.