Any time someone says an ultra cheap monitoring device is subscription free I just picture an odd man running a curio shop telling me his wares don't cost money
this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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The actual hardware cost of these devices is actually minimal. Basically any wifi capable microcontroller, a camera and depending on implementation some storage (or a micro sd-card holder). So that price is only cheap in comparison to existing products.
For reference, said microcontroller with basic camera can be had for like 3$ or something.
...and do they sell data, including video, to law enforcement and insurance?
Sincerely, A person who recently was in a fender bender and was not surprised at all when Progressive shared "incident footage" from a Ring camera across the street at a location completely unrelated to the fender bender
(They ARE selling your data, folks. NEVER trust big tech to act in your best interest)
I stopped my Ring subscription but kept the doorbell camera.
It wasn't until a year later when I was moving and the house was almost completely empty (still had internet/wifi setup) and I looked at the wifi app and saw that the ring doorbell still had significant data usage.
They were clearly still capturing my doorbell video.
It's a rebranded Tuya device, and they don't sell your data to any law enforcement or insurance.
They do however comply with Chinese laws and all your data is readily available for the Chinese government.
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From the listing:
Answer your door from anywhere in the world with this remote viewing Video Doorbell.
So I assume you're not expected to self-host this. Which means they have to run and maintain servers. And $16/person ain't covering the cost of this device + servers indefinitely.
It's a rebranded Tuya doorbell. So there aren't any subscriptions, though you will be giving them all your data.
Which means they have to run and maintain servers.
I'd bet money that it works just like similar devices from Reolink. Local recording to SD Card or NVR. If you want cloud recording then you're paying a monthly subscription.
This device from Aldi is at a very low pricepoint but it's specs are garbage. 480p recording? In 2025? C'mon...
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any chance this can be done through your router/modem, where your phone app connects to external ip of router and is the "server end point" for your doorbell?
I mean it's certainly possible, it's just a matter of whether the doorbell firmware/software will support it. And the answer is almost always no.
DDNS/P2P with local storage?
It may not require a subscription fee, but that's really only a minor concern.
Having my video surveillance be uploaded to a cloud service and having to use some proprietary app to use my device is the real problems.
If you want security cameras, look for boring Power over Ethernet cameras that have an RTSP output. They connect to your network and provide a video stream out a specific port. Then you can plug that into whatever FOSS network video recording system you're using (Zone Minder or Frigate) and then you can access it like you access any other thing on your local network.
Never goes to a cloud, never leaves your house.
If it has local storage then it doesn't get uploaded anywhere.
It also has BT so the offline mode could be simply "record to SD card and view videos using some app via Bluetooth".
Online mode with notifications and two-way talking has to require internet access so I definitely wouldn't trust it, with or without subscription.
It's a rebranded Tuya device, which can actually be used in a local only mode.
I wouldn't trust connecting it to the Tuya online services though that is for certain.
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I believe this is only for the European market though. Aldi has stores in the United States, but I don't believe it's available here.
Are these even legal in Europe (the part that is not the UK...)?
I think yes, as long as it only sees within your private property.
Front yards don’t have the expectation of privacy… that applies to backyards doesn’t it?
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I'm no expert, but I believe this is down to the individual member states.
In my country (the NL) it is technically not allowed to film the public street with an automated camera, which effectively makes Ring and equivalents illegal to install in most places
Practically this is not really enforced though, so you see them everywhere anyway.
It's indeed not enforced here, but on top of that the police would really like to know that you have cameras filming public space.
Not so they can do something about it, but so they know they can come to you to ask for footage if something happens.
Turn off the motion sensor and only use the push activation, that wouldn’t break the “auto” recording portion. There’s always exemptions, security and law professionals wouldn’t be left without a way to assist themselves.
Why wouldn't they be? Is it illegal to record people without their permission in the EU or something? Clueless American here.
Yes, with fix mounted cameras. You can walk around and record with your phone etc though.
You cannot permanently record public places and you may not publish recordings of people (as in them being the main content in the video) without their consent. A temporary recording or live stream should be pretty much a non-issue, especially if you don't do anything with it other than watching it.
By "permanently record" you mean "keep the footage forever"? Security camera systems usually record on a loop, I doubt this one will be any different. They don't want to manage all that storage anyway.
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Looked at my Florida Aldi, no luck.
Security researcher here. I'm assuming this to be some low cost chinese easily hacked thing.
The product page says it offers cloud storage. Though you maybe can use it offline by recording to an SD card.
So it may not require a subscription, but it still requires an online service... which kind of misses the point that people make about these things being privacy nightmares.
It wasn't the fee that people were worried about, it was the network video camera uploading to a cloud service which can be accessed by the secret police.
Yup, it's a rebranded Tuya device.
Do you have a recommendation for consumer-priced outdoor cameras/doorbells? Seems like a minefield.
I don't have input on cameras specifically, but I have gone pretty deep into trying to understand how to maximise security and interoperability in smart home stuff, through open source control.
A starting point for the you-in-control app to use for smart devices is Home assistant. I was surprised by how easy it was to set up self hosted smart home stuff, largely because there's loads of guides that build around home assistant. So whether a particular camera works with home assistant is a good starting search filter
Only cameras I recommend are not consumer priced :/ Axis. You do get full access, can run your own code and offline etc.
Reolink for the cameras and deny them internet access. You can tell them to record to internal SD Card and / or setup an NVR like Frigate. If you don't want "roll your own" headaches and have the money for it then use gear from Ubiquiti and UniFi Protect.
So exactly the same, but a lot cheaper?
Can't say anything about Ring unfortunately, haven't analyzed them myself :/
Nah, they make them in the stockroom out of leftover shipping boxes and old VCRs.
No subscription fee yet. Enshittification hits everything eventually.
It uses an SD card for data. But why read an article.
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