ADT cameras stop recording all the time. It’s one of those things that catches people off guard because everything else seems fine. The live feed works. The camera shows up in your app. But when you go looking for recorded footage, there’s just nothing there.
Here’s what I know from fixing these cameras: most recording problems have simple causes. Your subscription might have lapsed. Storage could be full. Sometimes it’s just a setting that got switched off by mistake. This guide breaks down exactly why your ADT camera stopped recording and how to get it working again.
Why Your Camera Stops Recording
Think about how these cameras actually work. They’re constantly watching for motion. When something moves, the camera starts recording, processes that video, and sends it somewhere for storage. Usually that’s the cloud, sometimes it’s a local recorder. This whole thing happens fast, within seconds.
But here’s the thing. Each step in that process needs to work perfectly. Your internet connection has to be strong enough to upload video. The camera needs steady power. There has to be space in your storage. Your account settings need recording turned on. One piece fails, and recordings stop.
A lot of times, the camera itself is totally fine. It could be your subscription ran out. Maybe you hit your storage limit. Network problems can create gaps in footage even though the camera looks connected. Power issues can make a camera stay online but stop doing the heavier work of recording and uploading.
What makes this extra annoying is you usually don’t notice right away. You find out later when you actually need to check something. That’s why knowing what causes these problems helps you catch them faster.
ADT Camera Not Recording: Likely Causes
A few things cause most recording failures. Some are just settings that need adjusting. Others are hardware or network issues. Let’s look at what stops cameras from recording most often.
1. Expired or Inactive Subscription
ADT cameras need an active subscription for cloud recording. That’s just how they work. Your camera can be online and showing you live video, but recording to the cloud is a paid feature. If your subscription expired or never got activated properly, recording won’t happen.
This catches more people than you’d think. Credit cards expire. You switch banks and forget to update the payment. Sometimes there’s a glitch on ADT’s side that suspends your account.
Pull up your ADT app or website and check your account status. Look for warnings about billing or subscription problems. If your plan dropped or expired, you’ll need to renew before recordings start working again.
2. Storage Space Completely Full
Every cloud plan has a storage cap. Hit that cap, and your camera can’t save anything new until older stuff gets deleted or you buy more space. It’s like when your phone runs out of room for photos. Everything works except saving new things.
Most plans automatically delete the oldest recordings to make room. But sometimes that automatic cleanup breaks. A setting changes. Software glitches. Your storage fills up completely, and that’s it. No more recordings.
You might not even realize it happened until you go looking for footage. The camera was working the whole time, just couldn’t save anything. Check your storage usage in the app to see if you’re maxed out.
3. Motion Detection Settings Disabled
Cameras record when they detect motion. Turn off that feature, and the camera has no idea when to start recording. It stays online. Live view still works. But it’s not watching for movement anymore.
This happens a lot when people are messing with sensitivity settings. You’re trying to stop false alerts from trees or cars, so you turn the sensitivity way down. Too far down, and the camera stops detecting anything. Or you accidentally hit the wrong toggle and shut motion detection off completely.
App updates can reset things too. One day motion detection is on, next day it’s back to some default setting that might not include it.
4. Power Supply or Connection Issues
Cameras need solid, consistent power. A cable that’s not plugged in all the way, a dying power adapter, or flickering voltage can cause weird problems. Your camera might stay connected and show as online, but not have enough juice to actually process and upload recordings.
This happens more with cameras on extension cords or power strips. The connection is barely good enough to keep the camera running, but not strong enough for full operation. Heat and cold mess with power adapters too, making them deliver uneven power.
Battery-powered cameras have the same issue. As the battery drains, the camera cuts back on what it does. It’ll stay connected because that takes less power. But recording gets reduced or stopped to save energy. You need to recharge or replace those batteries way more often than you think.
5. Network Connectivity Problems
Uploading recordings to the cloud needs good internet upload speeds. Your camera might be on WiFi and even streaming live, but if your upload bandwidth is weak or keeps cutting out, recordings can’t get to cloud storage. Downloads are different from uploads. You can have fast internet for browsing but slow uploads that kill camera recording.
WiFi signal strength matters a ton here. A weak signal might handle live viewing but fail when the camera tries to upload a whole recording. Things that block WiFi signals make this worse. Thick walls. Metal objects. Distance from the router. Other devices competing for bandwidth.
ADT Camera Not Recording: How to Fix
Getting recordings working again usually takes just a few basic steps. Most fixes are quick. You don’t need tools or tech skills. Let’s go through what actually works.
1. Verify Your Subscription Status
First thing, check if your subscription is active and includes recording. Open the ADT Control app or log into their website. Find your plan details and look at the status.
See an expired subscription or payment problem? Update your billing info and reactivate the plan. Recording should come back within a few minutes. Sometimes it takes a couple hours for the system to process everything, so be patient.
After you renew, double-check your camera settings. Make sure recording is actually included in your plan tier. Some plans have different levels, and you want to confirm yours covers cloud recording. Everything look good but still no recordings? Call ADT support. There might be an account issue blocking the feature that they need to fix on their end.
2. Clear Storage Space
Look up how much storage your plan gives you and how much you’re using right now. You’ll find this in account settings, usually under storage or plan details. If you’re at the limit or close to it, you need to free up space.
Delete old recordings you don’t need anymore. Most apps let you select a bunch at once, which speeds things up. Get rid of long recordings or stuff from dates you know you won’t need. Just be careful not to delete anything important for security or insurance.
Always running out of storage? Upgrade your plan. More storage means you can keep recordings longer without these interruptions. Or change your recording settings to capture shorter clips. Lower the video quality a bit. These tweaks help you stay within your current limits.
3. Check and Enable Motion Detection
Go into your camera settings in the ADT app. Find motion detection and make sure it’s on. Check the sensitivity too. Set it too low, and your camera misses movements and doesn’t record.
Test it by walking in front of the camera. You should get a motion alert and see a new recording pop up in your timeline. Nothing happens? Bump up the sensitivity and try again. Different spots need different sensitivity based on how much stuff moves in the background.
Some cameras have motion zones. These tell the camera which parts of the picture to watch for movement. Make sure your zones are set up right and cover the areas you care about. Zones that are too small will miss things.
4. Restart Your Camera and Router
Restarting fixes a surprising number of problems. Unplug your camera from power, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in. This clears out temporary glitches and gives the camera a fresh start.
Do the same with your router. Unplug it, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in. This refreshes your network connection and can fix issues stopping your camera from uploading recordings. Let both devices fully restart before checking anything.
Give your camera a few minutes after restarting to reconnect and sync with ADT’s servers. Check the app to confirm it shows online. Then walk in front of it to trigger motion and see if recording starts again.
5. Check Your Internet Connection
Run a speed test on your network. Check your upload speed specifically. ADT cameras typically need at least 2 Mbps upload per camera for reliable recording. Lower than that, and recordings might not make it to the cloud even though live viewing works fine.
Look at where your camera is compared to your router. Far away or blocked by walls? The WiFi signal might be too weak for consistent recording. Move the router closer. Relocate the camera. Or get a WiFi extender to boost the signal in that area.
Other devices using your internet can hurt camera performance too. Someone uploading big files or streaming video while your camera records? There might not be enough bandwidth for everything. If you’ve got multiple cameras or heavy internet use, consider upgrading your internet plan.
6. Update Your Camera Firmware
Old firmware causes recording failures sometimes. Check your ADT app for updates. The app usually tells you when updates are ready, but you can manually check in camera settings too.
Install any updates that are waiting and let the camera restart. Firmware updates fix bugs that cause recording issues. The update takes a few minutes. Your camera will be offline during that time.
After updating, check that all your settings stayed the same. Updates sometimes reset things to defaults. Make sure motion detection is still on and your recording schedule is set how you want it.
7. Contact ADT Technical Support
Tried everything and still no recordings? There could be a hardware problem or account issue you can’t fix yourself. ADT’s support team can run diagnostics on your camera from their end and spot problems you can’t see.
They can also tell you if there’s an outage in your area or if your camera model has known problems that need replacement. Have your account info and camera serial number ready when you call. Makes the whole thing go faster.
Wrap-Up
Most ADT camera recording problems boil down to a handful of common issues. Subscription problems. Full storage. Motion detection turned off. Bad connections. You’ve now got what you need to figure out which one is stopping your camera.
Start simple. Check your subscription. Make sure motion detection is on. Restart everything. These quick fixes solve most recording issues. Still stuck? Get ADT support involved so they can get your camera protecting your place properly again.