Reolink Reviews

EDIT: Trial and error finally got it initialized; unlike the desktop app it insisted on a password - nice image and replay works. But now the desktop app will no longer access the camera - gives “ User name or password error”. Adding the IPad password did not help. Great camera but using the apps is more frustrating than using FORTRAN. If I could give it zero stars, I would. END EDIT

The camera is great; works well over home WiFi with desktop app (after a couple days trial and error setup - instructions were mostly inscrutable). However, nighttime illuminator attracted so many Arizona bugs that nighttime storage was filled with bug movies. Had to cover illuminator and depend on yard lights - a remote illuminator would be useful. In spite of that it has been very useful for several years.
Unfortunately this IPad app senses the camera through the WiFi but returns failure to initialize messages and no hints for a solution making it useless - an instruction manual might be helpful. I gave it an unearned extra star because it has been so good with the desktop app.

Despite having an excellent Wi-Fi signal Reolink routinely fails to load the cameras. It can take five minutes before you can actually get a picture. It seems to be at random times… But more often than not it’s when you really want to see what’s going on right now. Alerts are hit or miss. I run a Netgear Orbi mesh Wi-Fi system and have no problem getting a signal to live broadcast twice the distance from where the cameras are to my routers. I just think the software and hardware are lackluster. The software also has some stupid design flaws… For example when you’re viewing a camera and you want to back out of it if it gets a motion detection it puts a bar across the top to notify you of that motion but you can’t exit out of the current camera you’re viewing because the bar is blocking the close button. Not a very smart design. It also constantly pesters you to switch between Wi-Fi and using your mobile data which also prevents you from being able to exit out of your current camera your viewing. This has been a problem for at least a year.

I first bought a POE camera with SD card storage and that worked ok but the alerts were constant so I saw they came out with a battery operated camera with a PIR sensor which detects real motion and not just changes in pixels like the POE cameras. It set up fine and when my month of free cloud service expired and I got an email to renew my free subscription, the login info will not work so I can not use the cameras because they will not connect. When I first contacted customer support, I was told they were having an issue that was resolved so to try my login info again. It worked for almost a full day and then it happened again. So I contact support and tell them the exact same thing is happening again. The response is now it’s my camera and I’m obviously over the 30 day money back now so while my battery powered camera is having all sorts of problems, the POE camera was working. I thought maybe if I delete Reolink and redone load it I could get the issue fixed but now I can not view anything at all. Expect a long wait between email responses and no phone number that is US based to call.

App update installed and I still cannot connect unless I’m at home on the same wifi as the camera. Another issue, though it’s unrelated to Reolink , is the battery life of the camera itself. Could the manufacturers have chosen a more expensive non-standard battery size? I seem to be going through batteries every couple of months, and at $20 a pop, it’s ridiculous. There are better options.

Apr5: So, check out the developers answer below. There reply is a very courteous “we’re sorry to hear you’re having an issue, please contact customer service so they can remedy this for you” canned answer. Well, I did that. They’re answered me promptly, but their solution was as useless as Reolink has become. They informed me that I was outside the 30 day window for a return/refund/replacement (which was an automatic as I’d ordered the initial camera off their Indiegogo campaign and I was outside that 30 day window they day it arrived ...4 mos after I payed for it). Instead they offered me 10% off their new $130 solar version (with which I had to purchase the solar panel separately at >$20 as well). I fail to see how the solution to my $90 mistake is spending an additional $140 on their “better” version.

Ok so here are few problems that I have discovered so far with my cams. I will list the pros and cons.
CONS
1) Cloud storage only records up to 8 second video clips only. There are no options to change that yet. I hope this app reads this and pushes an update to fix this to at least 1 minuet of cloud recording that would be an amazing.
2)Recording that gets stored on ur memory card only records up to 30 seconds. I hope this app also reads this and pushes an update where we have an option to record up to 2 or 3 minutes after a event is triggered. 95% of the time camera won’t record for several seconds after its 30 seconds of recording. When u go back to view the recorded footage u will see camera is missing a lot of the event that happened.
3) Cameras motion sensors only activate when an object comes from the side but, if u walk straight towards the camera with high motion setting on the camera will not active until ur almost standing directly underneath it. This defeats the purpose of having cameras, and when it finally decides to record u don’t get to the persons face. Hope this app can fix this somehow.
PROS
1) Excellent price
2) Great video quality
3) Good WiFi range
4) Loud and clear 2 way speaker.
5) Super easy to setup
6) Good battery life depending on how much activity is happening in front of the cam.
7) Easy to use app

Have been using 7 this app Lumus cameras and an 8ch NVR for exactly a year now without any issues. 24/7 recording with motion detection as an aid is far better than just motion detection alone. Yes, the cameras do have false positives, it’s a PIR sensor. Motion detection accuracy can be greatly increased by setting up the time-based Motion Sensitivity and adjusting the Motion Zones. All of this works great, Reolink however can be a bit annoying. The main problem is recently whenever I get a motion alert, the camera that Reolink goes to is the wrong camera. Sometimes even Reolink gets confused and shows the wrong snapshot for the wrong camera, and sometimes it just gets it wrong altogether and clicking on “Front Yard” might take you to “Back Door” for no reason. If the people behind Reolink would put more effort into its functionality than constantly changing the design for no reason, we might be in good shape. Altogether, this is still one of the best apps that a “cheap” camera system has, and it doesn’t require internet to work, just to be on the local network, which you can’t say about pretty much any other camera app. Overall, Reolink does it job and doesn’t hurt my recommendation for this app cameras, but it needs to be sorted out.

I like the look of Reolink very well. It’s clean and crisp and the motion detection seems to work fairly well honestly. But sometimes there will be a spider to start crawling on it or wasp flying around it and my notifications will be blowing up. I wish there was a “mute notifications for 1 hour” or “drop sensitivity for one hour” or “rest of day”. I usually turn it off and forget to turn it back on later and it stays off for a week. Also a very big issue I do not like is when I click on the notification for my motion alert, it opens Reolink and shows me all of my cameras EXCEPT the one I tried to view. I have to back out of the window and start from scratch so it will fix the bug of hiding my notified window. I am confused

A not so big issue that would be cool though, would be to have the default open of Reolink show a 4 split window view of 4 of your main cameras instead of just one camera in the scroll. I’d like a quick view often of my cameras but I have to go through several steps to see what’s going on at home.

The video picture is distorted when viewing on the XS Max iPhone. It's stretched to fill the width of the screen. Please fix this issue and keep the video out of the rounded corners of the screen and keep it from displaying behind the speaker notch on the screen. Also, fix the playback stoppage that we experience when accessing Control Center while viewing video content.

In response to your response, I have 3 different this app cameras on my security system. The cameras aren't the problem. They all distort the same on my XS Max. Any screenshot pictures I send will not show the rounded corner or notch display problems on the XS Max. Everything looks good on my iPad and the other XS iPhone, just not the XS Max, because of the wider screen size.

Ok, now responding for the second time to your requests for pictures:

The cameras are FINE. They are not a problem. The ONLY problem is the stretched display on one of my devices while using your app. All you need to do to replicate this is to get an iPhone XS Max and run your this app app on it. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Next sequential response:

Ah! You DO understand me. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Your cameras and NVR are great. I'm a big fan of your products overall. This is just a minor app software issue. Still love you guys!

I have 2 of the this app go pts and I’ve had them for about a month. Before this I had ring cameras for about 4 years. There are a couple of features that these are really missing. Most of the time it only catches the back half of a car that drives by. I have the camera at eye level pointed directly down the driveway hoping to catch license plates of cars, however the motion trigger is too slow so it usually only catches the back half of the car. Either improve the motion trigger or record 1-2 seconds before the motion trigger so that way people can actually see what triggered the motion. In addition if I’m notified of motion it would be nice to see a snapshot of what caused the trigger without needing to go back and view the footage. If these 2 features were implemented I would recommend 5 stars and buy a couple more cameras.

We just installed 13 new 12MP cameras with an NVR and LOVE them and the image quality. They’re absolutely incredible. I’ve been taking the last 4-6 weeks since install to learn the system and settings. Here are a few things I would be grateful to see:

#1 - an Apple TV app. I would LOVE this to be able to use my multiple existing TVs with Apple TV’s to monitor our system.

#2 - the ability to switch users EASILY in Reolink . Specifically, I don’t stay logged into the admin user so settings can’t accidentally be changed. When I want to make changes, getting to the admin user is a nightmare on NVR. I normally view in a user that can’t make changes so me, my kid, wife, etc. can’t make accidental changes to important system configurations.

#3 - Easily move the camera order on an NVR system. I still haven’t figured out how to do it to this day on the iPhone/iPad app. Figured it out on Mac but use the iPhone/iPad more and the channels don’t make logical viewing sense.

Thank you! I’m sure I’ll amend this as time goes on. Overall, great system and great quality. I love the build quality of the cameras. I’ve had cheaper ones that I won’t and don’t miss.

After reading a bunch of the negative reviews I felt compelled to leave one of my own. I have had Reolink (and 5 cameras - 2 4MP bullet cams, 2 4MP domes, 1 C1 WiFi) installed for the last month. Reolink has met my expectations ever since install. It was very easy to connect my cameras to Reolink and I find it much easier to control their settings through Reolink then through the NVR. The video and audio quality is amazing but that is going to differ depending on your personal internet speeds. Video playback within Reolink is ok but could be better. Controlling the playback is the hardest part. If you want to specifically see a certain time it can be difficult fine tuning the playback to where you want because you have to use a finicky slider to get to the time you are looking for.
The only reason I gave it 4, instead of 5, stars is because of the motion sensing capability. This really is more of a this app issue though and not the apps fault. As other users have stated, if you turn motion notification on you will be getting messages all the time. Even when the sensitivity levels are decreased and you adjust the field of sensitivity. Overall though, I use this as a nice back up to my Abode alarm system and it gives me the ability to remotely check on any unexpected status changes or alarm activations. Love the system and plan on getting another C1 camera, in the future, to be used as a nursery camera.

Quick tip: Spray around your cameras with insecticide. I kept getting spider webs around my cameras because of the night vision LEDs attracting bugs. You may have to spray once every 6 months or so, but it has worked very well for me to maintain visibility

I love my this app cameras! I have ran CAT6 through my walls (took an entire day of walking up and down 3 flights of stairs, but worth it!) from my NVR to my 4 cameras. I am thrilled to have a camera system that will not stop recording if my router or modem decide to stop working. I’ve used other apps for security systems out there. I’m in IT and have helped businesses set up their security systems. I can say without a doubt that Reolink outdoes those by a long shot. The only app I’ve used that is better is Arlo’s app. The motion detection is terrible, however, so I’m considering moving to use Blue Iris to manage my recordings (AI detection of people/cars/animals). If this app could add full AI detection instead of the current pixel-based detection, I would be thrilled and would happily keep using their NVR and app.

I’m surprised to see such a low average rating for Reolink but after reading many of the negative reviews I realized most were complaining about their system and not Reolink . Most are having trouble with wifi cameras. This likely has nothing to do with Reolink .
I bought the this app PoE NVR with 5MB cameras so I don’t have any wifi issues. Setup was straightforward though the instructions were lacking. Superb system at that price point BTW.
After setup, I installed Reolink. Again, the instructions lacking but it was intuitive enough that I was up and running in minutes.
Very pleasantly impressed with the functionality, interface design, ease of use, and control over the whole system. While the system has 2 TB of storage, Reolink gives me the ability to take stills and snippets from individual cameras and store them locally on my iPhone as a photo or video. That is great for capturing something of interest and not needing to sort through 2 TB of data to find it later.
My one request for additional functionality at this point is for variable playback speed though that is probably a function of the NVR so sticking with 5 stars for Reolink.
Edit: I just noticed the drop down to control the playback speed. So, really the only negative is documentation/instructions are minimal. Reolink and the system are great.

Love the update! The home screen is much less confusing now! Also love the pinch function to view multiple cameras! I’ve used many different CCTV apps and this one is the best. I’ve been using another app for years but then they took away the ability to adjust alarms remotely which made it useless. Been going through dozens of apps to try to get that functionality back. Finally stumbled upon this app. Been almost a year with this and couldn’t be happier! The POE system is great - so much better than dealing with Coax, baluns and annoying ground loops that keep coming back. Video quality has been great. Have a mix of wired and wireless and everything runs so smooth. The only feature I wish Reolink had would be video scrubbing when playing back videos (like in the Ring app). Other than that everything is perfect for my needs. This company really pays great attention to detail. Thank you for all the hard work.

Update: New review: Looks like the past few updates fixed my problem. Reolink connects on WiFi and on LTE, and it works great. I changed my review from 2 stars to 5 stars. Love it! Thanks this app for listening and doing something about it.

Old review: Reolink works great when I’m connected to the same WiFi in my house as the this app system. But once I leave the house, Reolink is useless. Connection failures are too common. And for the very rare times it does connect, the video is choppy, lags, and useless to even try to use. After reading these reviews of Reolink , I’m confident this app knows about this problem. It seems to be the most negative thing on here. Fix the connection issues and I’ll change the rating. I gave it 2 stars because it works great at home when connected to the same WiFi as the system. Otherwise, I’d give it 1 star. I use it on my iPhone X by the way.

Purchased E1 Pro for quick setup to allow remote monitoring for aging parents. Camera connections via iPad are usually quick and consistent. iPhone more finicky but seems to be conflicts with my VPN software. I have been able to adjust the motion detection and push alarms to work well enough. All cameras are inside and set for mostly auto function. Downloading clips remotely isn’t worth the time but access to the 64gb SS card is ok and allows me to check if my Alzheimer’s Dad has taken stuff out of the freezer and put in some drawer or other similar stuff during the night. Also let’s me help coach my mom on taking meds in the evening. I usually talk on a phone as the 2-way audio is a little weak but video is good enough to help her verify the right compartment in the weeks’ pill container.

There are various connection issues from time to time but overall has worked well and greatly reduced the number of times I’ve needed to run down for some mundane issue.

I have had Reolink and cameras for over two years and they haven’t failed me. So much so I upgraded and got the New 4K wired system. Wired or wireless cameras Reolink works great with. No problem with playback or any of the features Reolink has. I don’t really use the motion sensor notifications because anything can set that off if the wind is blowing. I use the motion capture on playback because you can select to just watch the videos that were made from motion capture. Reolink seems secure and easy to use and it doesn’t crash on me. I travel a lot for work to different countries and it’s nice being amble to long into my app and see that my home is still secure. As long as you have WiFi Reolink will work great and you can access your cameras. I also use Reolink to speak through the in home camera to my family if they are not hearing the phone. Great App!

I’d like to start by saying I’ve been an electrician and electrical engineer for 20 years and I have been installing CCTV and security cameras even longer and I will say hands down for the price this app is my recommendation to all my customers that don’t want or need more than 16 cameras. The picture quality is amazing, the reliability is better than that of Ring and Nest and the price is a fraction of the price. The night time adjustments to black and white at night is the best I have seen. I haven’t read the reviews but most of the issues and complaints usually have to do with the installer not understanding what exactly they’re doing. It takes me about 5 mins to add Reolink and cameras name the cameras bring the NVR online when applicable. Some are wireless without NVR and are just as easy to setup. I’m authorized dealer for a dozen brands and this app is what I have chosen for my own home and business.

I bought a 16 camera system earlier this year and only have 4 up so far and have no complaints. The picture quality is excellent for both live viewing and playback. I did have a problem with one camera after a few days use and after going back and forth with support with some diagnostics and troubleshooting steps, they finally determined the camera was bad and sent me a replacement. Other issues I had were resolved as quickly as possible. One had to do with Adobe Flash going away at the end of 2020 and they notified me when a new version of NVR firmware was available which settled that. One other issue dealt with a change to the iPhone app. They listened to my feedback and gave me a beta version to try which addresses my comment. Can’t wait for it to be available in Reolink Store.

It may take a day to get a response to an email to support and based on the time stamps of the return emails, they must be on the other side of the world from me but believe me, they will respond. No complaints on their following up to completely resolve any issue.

To people doing research based on these reviews, let me say that some of the negative comments are from long ago so it is likely they are no longer relevant.

I have had these cameras for 6+ months. I initially bought the first one unsure of the quality considering the low price. I had debated over several other cameras that are well known and higher priced. This one sold me on the price, sd card slot and free 30 day cloud storage. After installing and using the first, I was so impressed that I bought 2 more. I have the outdoor camera version with solar panel. I live in the country with poor internet quality and the camera and app work perfect. I have 3 cameras outside around the perimeter of my house and they all have use solar panel to recharge the battery. I agree with some of the other reviewers about sensitivity with bugs but if that is my only complaint, and it’s really not, then this is the perfect camera and solution for my needs. I have just now bought a 4th camera for my daughter’s house and I bought it because I was impressed with the quality, ease of use, and the initial features that I bought the first 3 for. I hope the development team of this company continues to be creative as I will be on the lookout for future new products.

I have four cameras and three of them went out do to water in the connections. Clips were green inside. Tried WD40 then coke, then baking soda and tooth brush. One went up for about a month then down again. Will hire someone to replace clips. Gets expensive and a lot of down time. Not made well for outside service. Mine are under the eves too however blowing rain one day got them.
Had another problem with poor service at night. My son added big square infrared systems and that helped a lot. Ugly as hell though and now a lot of wires. Mine were fours as they fives were on back order for weeks. Ordered a couple of fives but then I am out the cost of the others. Distance needing coverage on two is about 100 feet and not so well light. My RING on front door does well though.

Also if you forget Reolink password you have to delete it and start over. Mine has been having issues recording audio. I alhavr tonkeep tapping the sound icon eveb thonits set to record audionin live mode i have tibtaonitvtIbhave to keep oressing the sound icThis cam has great resolution. Reolink works well but sometimes struggles to connect to wifi and the date would not update before but it does now occasionally it struggles to connect to wifi but for me is working nhear or it is muted. I I have problems with jerks breakinh in and they tamoer with the caks too noike take battery out Unplug them. So i wisj theyd make one with a lock feature on the battery or some way nonone can mess with tge micro sim card sonit stops recordnh. Tgese have been probleme fornme.

Really too bad. The cameras are real good quality for a very good price but Reolink is useless if you want to look at live views remotely. There are a number of complaints in previous reviews and the response is always canned. This issue
has prevented me from buying any more of these cameras and I’m sending the one I purchased back. Such a shame.

Heard back from the support team and was instructed to update the camera firmware to a test version that is available on the firmware download site. Since the upgrade I have connected over cellular network over 10 times with no issues. Have yet to see a connection failure since the upgrade. Thanks this app fo fixing this issue. Very happy with this camera and plan on purchasing at least 6 more over the next few months.

My app was working fine until the last update. I have this app POE cameras. Never had any issues with connecting until now. Everyone it says failed connection of I'm using LTE instead of my home WiFi. I have full LTE bars and my Ring doorbell and Arlo cameras connect done with LTE. I will never buy any more this app cameras!

Updated to change my rating from one star to 4. I decided to turn off my NVR for about 5 minutes to see if that will help asks after turning it back on it works fine on LTE now!

The one main consistent issue I have is the horrible software they have. Trying to figure out how to rewind it is terrible. They could make it so much simpler but it's yet to happen.

After reading some of the negative reviews, I decided to write one, myself. Some of those negative comments have to do with the camera and not Reolink thus unfairly lowering the rating average.
I can honestly say I’m very happy with my camera and Reolink . Reolink is simple and user friendly. My octogenarian mother uses it daily on her iPad with zero issues. It’s easy to shut off the alerts from Reolink which I do when I’m working in the driveway under the camera. I shut the alert off for two reasons-the constant notifications drive me crazy and it saves the battery. When I’m finished I open Reolink and toggle to on.
I have no complaints about Reolink or the hardware. I highly recommend!

Have this app Argus 2 with solar charger. Connecting the device with Reolink was straight forward with no problems. At this time only suggestion would be the ability to turn off the pop-up warning that says the quality of the network does not support the clear resolution please select fluent resolution. I disregard the pop-up and leave it in clear (works fine). Other than this no problems with app or camera very clear pictures and video. One other thing I would like would be an audible alarm on iPhone loud enough (adjustable) to wake you up so you could get advance notice if someone is approaching your front door. Developers can you help with this??

We love our camera’s, we have had then one year and they have impressed us very much! They were purchased, to replace the ADT ones we paid for monthly! No more monthly payments, for better service “our selves”. ... lol
We purchased 5 with solar panels, let me tell you we had major snow storms and -64 degree temperatures, and did I say major snow, and these little cameras kept working without any hiccups!
Color is fantastic, day and night. And the alarm works great, if any comes near the house my phone alerts me. It’s awesome when you are away from your home, out of state and know who is accessing your property all the time. Make us feel very secure we have quality equipment to protect our home 24/7.
I would recommend and buy more!
Can say the only negative is the reaction time to speak through the cameras feature, it’s a delayed reaction, and some times if someone is running it captures them but tends to be in slow motion and can’t tell face recognition to well.
Hopefully they fix this issue and it is even more perfect.
Thank you For quality products!