Why Your Netatmo Camera Doesn't Have 24/7 Recording
If you've just set up a new Netatmo Smart Security Camera, you might be looking for the option to enable 24/7 continuous recording and be surprised to find it doesn't exist. This is not a fault or a missing feature; it's a fundamental part of Netatmo's design philosophy, which centres on privacy, efficiency, and relevance.
Unlike some security camera brands that continuously stream and store footage to the cloud, Netatmo uses an event-based recording system. This guide explains how that system works, the significant benefits it offers, and what your storage options are.
## Event-Based Recording vs. 24/7 Continuous Recording
Understanding the difference is key to getting the most out of your Netatmo camera.
- 24/7 Continuous Recording: This method captures everything, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The camera is always recording, and the footage is typically stored on a cloud server or a local hard drive. The main drawback is that it requires huge amounts of storage and can make finding a specific moment—like a parcel delivery—feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.
- Netatmo's Event-Based Recording: Your Netatmo camera's video is in a constant buffer, but it only saves a recording when its smart detection algorithm is triggered. You can configure it to record when it detects motion in general, or more specifically, when it identifies a person, a car, or an animal. When a designated event occurs, the camera saves the clip to its local storage.
## The Benefits of Netatmo's Approach
While it might seem like a limitation at first, Netatmo's recording method offers several major advantages.
- No Subscription Fees: This is the biggest benefit. Because Netatmo isn't storing terabytes of your data on their servers, they can offer their full suite of features without a mandatory monthly subscription fee.
- Enhanced Privacy and Security: All your recorded video events are stored by default on the microSD card located directly inside the camera. The footage never touches Netatmo's servers unless you choose to back it up. You own your data.
- Relevant Notifications: You only get alerted when something you care about happens. Instead of getting a generic "motion detected" alert for a swaying tree, you can set it to only notify you when a person enters your garden.
- Quickly Find What Matters: Your video history is a clean timeline of specific events, not a daunting 24-hour block of footage. Finding the moment a delivery driver arrived takes seconds, as it's clearly labelled in the app.
- Lower Bandwidth and Storage Use: By not constantly uploading video, the camera uses far less of your internet bandwidth and doesn't require a massive local hard drive or expensive cloud storage plan.
## Your Storage Options: Local and Cloud Backup
You have full control over where your video clips are stored.
- Local Storage (Default): Every Netatmo camera comes with an included microSD card. All events are recorded here. When the card is full, the oldest recordings are automatically overwritten.
- Personal Cloud Backup (Optional and Free): For added security, you can configure the camera to automatically send copies of your recordings to a personal cloud storage location. You have two main options:
- Dropbox: Link your personal Dropbox account, and the camera will create a folder where it saves all video events.
- FTP Server: For more advanced users, you can point the camera to your own private FTP server (for example, on a Network Attached Storage - NAS device).
This hybrid approach gives you the best of both worlds: the speed and privacy of local storage, with the secure, off-site backup of the cloud, all without any extra cost. So while your Netatmo camera doesn't record 24/7, it provides a smarter, more private, and more cost-effective way to monitor your home.