Arlo Essential Indoor Camera (2nd Gen, 2K) review: Privacy is nonnegotiable

Despite being a tech journalist who usually has at least two security cameras running at a time, I’ve long been trepidatious about putting a lens inside my home. Security weaknesses suddenly weigh a little more when it’s my family being recorded indoors, and not just bunnies sitting on my driveway — plus, I really prefer not to be reminded of what I look like when sitting on my couch, eating sushi, and watching The House of the Dragon.

Sure, there are plentiful workarounds to bring more peace of mind when lounging in your indoor security camera’s eyesight. You can turn the lens around, scoot the cam behind a picture frame, drop an opaque cup over the device, or just unplug it. But it’s nice when a brand acknowledges that we don’t always want a camera’s unblinking gaze fixated on us and adjusts its design accordingly, and that’s exactly what Arlo did with the 2nd-Gen Essential Indoor Camera.

With great hardware, an excellent companion app, and an uncommon privacy feature that I loved so much, I wrote an article about it. This is the ideal indoor camera for people on the fence regarding indoor cameras.

Price, availability, and specs

Like most of Arlo’s products, the Essential Indoor Camera (2nd Gen, 2K) sits on virtual shelves at many popular electronics retailers. This includes Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. Arlo itself also has the camera in stock. In most places, the 2K version runs $80, which is in the upper midrange for indoor cameras. If you need to shave some of the price off, consider the 1080p HD version, which instead costs $40.

What’s good about the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera (2nd Gen, 2K)?

Automated privacy and crisp-clear night vision

Like most of their products, Arlo’s 2nd-gen Essential Indoor Cam has an impressive built-to-last quality. Installing the camera, especially when using the tabletop stand, couldn’t be easier. Simply plug the device in, then follow the instructions on the Arlo mobile app for connecting the camera to your Arlo account. The process took less than two minutes for me; I already had the Arlo app installed.

I don’t have a huge living room space, but the camera still covers about 25 to 30 feet from its stance to the opposite wall, which is also where my front door is located. Through its remarkably clear 2K video and 12x digital zoom, I could easily view the faces of people entering my front door on live and recorded video. That was in broad daylight, anyway; at night, I didn’t get that sort of detail until faces were more like 5 to 10 feet away from the lens. But the night vision still kept the image legible enough to identify the face of an intruder quite well should one end up in your home overnight.

The bulk of the Essential Indoor Camera’s appeal is its automatic privacy shutter. This plastic disc snaps shut over the camera lens whenever the device is disarmed, and will open when the camera is armed. Privacy shutters are generally nowhere near as popular as they should be on indoor cameras. However, most competitors that offer such designs only offer manually operated shutters. (Such is the case with Ring’s 2nd Gen Indoor Cam, a close competitor that edges out the Arlo cam in many ways, including color night vision and a wider field of view, but misses out through several others, including Google Home integration and 2K video.)

Maybe someday, an indoor camera will emerge that combines automatic and manual shutters for maximum privacy control. Until then, though, I definitely prefer the Arlo’s automatic shutter. I am the kind of person who will need to double- and triple-check that ovens are off, garage doors are closed, and doors are locked before leaving the house. Because of this persistent forgetfulness, I appreciate the Essential Indoor Cam taking the reins on opening and closing the privacy shield.

Every core security camera feature on the Essential Indoor Cam works as it should: the two-way audio is consistently clear and legible; the siren is loud enough to startle uninvited guests and can be remotely activated; the polished and user-friendly companion app acts as the hub of all camera activity and video storage. That storage, among many other capabilities, including smart motion discernment between people and animals, arm/disarm capabilities, and many others, is locked behind a subscription paywall. It’s not the cheapest security subscription out there, but still reasonably priced, with the basic, single-camera plan costing $8 per month.

What’s bad about the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera (2nd Gen, 2K)?

Local storage, please

I have very little to complain about with the 2nd generation of Arlo’s Essential Indoor Camera. While the automatic shutter is nice, I wish the Arlo Essential Indoor Cam (2nd Gen) added another layer of security with a manually operated privacy shield, but this is so easily replicated with a cup or towel that it’s an easily overlooked complaint.

The lack of local storage options is this camera’s biggest downfall. I’m not terribly inclined to hold on to most indoor camera footage (even though watching my cats tear around the house will never get old), but if I were, Arlo’s paid, cloud-based storage isn’t ideal. With indoor cameras in particular, a local video archive option, whether through a microSD slot or a compatible base station, would certainly boost customer trust. Arlo has quite a few competitors in this regard, like the Wyze Cam v4, which offers an onboard SD slot for local storage.

Should you buy it?

For some shoppers, indoor cameras will simply never be a necessity. If you’ve made it this far into my review, though, you probably see some value in a pet cam, baby monitor, or surveillance while you’re away. There are cheaper indoor camera options out there, but despite a few caveats, the 2nd Gen Essential Indoor Camera is an easy recommendation to make for those seeking quality hardware from a reputable brand.