Do Google Home Cameras Have Offline Storage Options?

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Home security isn’t something to be taken lightly. Outfitting your residence with indoor and outdoor cameras and sensors can be a totally DIY process, and smart ecosystems like Google Home make it easy to monitor and control all your surveillance tech. Most cams even offer cloud storage for motion-triggered event recordings, including Google’s entire Nest lineup. Unfortunately, there’s a monthly subscription attached to cloud backup, and plans start at $10 per month (for Google Home Premium). Also, we hate to break the news, but there isn’t a single Nest-branded camera or video doorbell that supports offline storage.

When it comes to personal security, we’re all about investing in one specific brand for hardware and services. But sometimes when you try to keep things under a first-party umbrella, you wind up paying more and missing out on features that are important to you; and not having local storage can be a big miss for a family that doesn’t want to offload data to Big Tech, even if it is encrypted. Luckily, there are just as many third-party security cameras on the market that a.) do offer local storage — whether by way of a microSD slot or a network-attached storage hub — and b.) are compatible with Google Home.

There are other benefits to keeping things third-party, too; depending on the brand, you could end up paying a lower upfront cost for the actual cameras. You could also avoid losing out on features that another company might lock behind a membership paywall (e.g., intelligent alerts or 24/7 monitoring). It’s your money and security; you may as well get exactly what you want or need.

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There are several reliable manufacturers that produce Google Home-ready security devices. Brands like Eufy (Anker’s smart home sub-label) offer a number of cameras with local storage, such as the Eufy Security 4K Indoor Camera E30. You can purchase a single cam for $70, or a combo for $130, and both SKUs support two offline storage options: microSD or local transfers to a HomeBase S380 (sold separately). The latter is particularly appealing, as Eufy’s in-house NAS offers up to 16 TB of storage; that’s potentially enough data for both cams to continuously record for up to three to four months.

We’d also like to recommend the Reolink E1 Pro, another motion-tracking cam that includes a microSD slot (supports up to 512 GB). The E1 Pro can also be interfaced with the Reolink NVR, Home Hub or Home Hub Pro, and FTP or NAS transfers. After setting up both the Eufy and Reolink systems, you’ll be able to add them to Google Home, too. Do keep in mind that as far as prompts go, you’ll need to use a smart speaker or the Google Home app to issue voice commands (camera microphones are only used for two-way audio).

Offline storage can make a DIY surveillance project feel all the more DIY; no one’s got their mitts on your footage, and you and yours alone (and whomever else you grant access to) are the only individuals who can see it. Keeping things close is the way to go, and local storage is the way to do it.