August has announced that it will begin offering a free basic tier to the video recording service for its August Doorbell Cam, allowing all users to access the past 24 hours of videos recorded by the camera without the need to pay a subscription fee. For users who want to store all their camera videos for longer, August’s paid subscription plan remains available for $5/month or $50/year, and stores 30 days of video history, however the free plan allows recorded videos to be downloaded and shared, so users can choose to save important videos indefinitely without any additional subscription fees.
August first introduced video recording in late 2016, although it was released as a paid subscription service with a free 30-day trial, limiting the capabilities August’s relatively expensive doorbell camera — without a subscription, only live video was supported, meaning users weren’t even able to review somebody who had walked away from their door even only seconds in the past. August’s CEO Jason Johnson acknowledged in today’s announcement that basic video recording should be a core feature of the device, noting, “We believe video recording is such an important feature for video doorbells that we are now including 24 hours of video recording for free with both of our Doorbell Cams. Now if you miss a motion notification or experience a porch pirate walking off with a package from your doorstep, you can access and review the stored video from the August app.”
The basic video recording feature is available to users of both August’s original Doorbell Cam and the newer Doorbell Cam Pro, regardless of when the device was originally purchased, although the feature doesn’t add any new recording capabilities beyond storage, so for example users who want to take advantage of the newer lighting and HindSight features of the Doorbell Cam Pro to improve their video recordings will need to purchase the newer model.