How Long are SkyBell Video Clips Available?

SkyBell video clips are available for 7 days on Total Connect 2.0 and indefinitely until the user reaches their clip limit on Alarm.com. A user will need to save a clip before it is deleted. Once a clip is deleted, it cannot be recovered. By saving a clip, a user can keep it forever.

Unlike most IP security cameras, you do not need video monitoring service to use a SkyBell device. But you can still integrate these devices with Total Connect 2.0 and Alarm.com. In particular, Alarm.com users may want to get true video monitoring service with a SkyBell. This is because it will allow them to store more clips. More information on this is explained later in this FAQ. Video monitoring service for TC2 Cameras and ADC Cameras is included with our Platinum Level Plans.

For Total Connect 2.0, SkyBell video clips are stored for seven (7) days. These clips are not stored on the AlarmNet360 Servers. Instead, they are stored on the SkyBell Servers. If you want to save a SkyBell clip for permanent use, you must download the clip before seven days have passed. You can download a clip from the Total Connect 2.0 Website or the Total Connect 2.0 Mobile App. You can only have a maximum of five (5) SkyBell devices per TC2 account. If you get an additional video-only monitoring account, then you will be able to add an additional five (5) SkyBell devices to TC2.

For Alarm.com, things are more complicated. If the user has access to the Alarm.com service without true video monitoring service (Platinum Plan), they can add a single SkyBell device to their account. The user will only be able to take 400 clips per month. If the user reaches this 400 clip limit, no new clips will be stored until the month ends. Even deleting old clips will not allow the user to increase the monthly limit. Once you reach 400 clips in a month, your camera will no longer store clips for that month. There is no way to increase this monthly limit.

Additionally, if you reach 400 stored clips total across any time period, the oldest clips will be deleted to make room for new ones. Without a Platinum Plan, you cannot have more than 400 clips stored on Alarm.com at any time. There is no way to increase this total limit of 400. However, you can "protect" stored clips. Any protected clip will be passed over when Alarm.com goes to delete old clips to make room for new ones. The oldest unprotected clip will be deleted when this time comes. If you have 400 protected clips on your Alarm.com account, no new clips will be saved. As long as you do not exceed the 400 clip limit, you can technically keep SkyBell video clips on the Alarm.com Servers indefinitely.

But if a user has a Platinum Level Plan with Alarm Grid, then these monthly clip limits and total clip storage limits increase substantially. Any Alarm Grid customer with access to Alarm.com and a Platinum Level Plan will receive 1,000 clips per month across their Alarm.com Cameras. Alarm Grid can increase this clip limit in increments of 5,000 monthly clips by special request. Additional fees may be required. Once a user has reached their monthly clip limit, no new clips will be stored until the month ends, even if clips are deleted. You can have up to four (4) ADC cameras on your ADC account. Alarm.com SkyBell Doorbell Cameras count towards this camera limit. Alarm Grid can increase this limit in increments of four (4) cameras. Each time you add four cameras to your ADC account, you will also get 5,000 more monthly clips. Again, increasing monthly clip limits and camera limits is a special request, and additional fees may be required.

In addition to monthly clip limits, there are also a total clip storage limits across any time period. These total clip storage limits are equal to the monthly clip limits. For example, if you monthly clip limit is 1,000 clips, then your total clip storage limit is also 1,000. In that example, if you reach 1,000 total stored clips from any time period, the oldest clips will be deleted to make room for new ones. But you can "protect" stored clips. Protected clips will be passed over, and the oldest unprotected clip will be deleted to make room for any new clip. If you have filled your maximum clip storage space entirely with protected clips, then no new clips will be saved. As long as you do not exceed your total clip storage limit, you can technically keep SkyBell video clips on the Alarm.com Servers indefinitely.

Note: Upon request, we can upgrade a customer's account to include advanced Video Analytics and increase their monthly and total clip storage limits from 1,000 clips to 3,000 clips. Doing this will also unlock all the great features of Alarm.com Video Analytics. This is only possible for users with true Alarm.com Video Monitoring Service. Extra fees may be required to do this. More information on Alarm.com Video Analytics can be found in this FAQ.