

Uh oh, you need to look into that right away. Most of the camera brands we’re talking about CAN be run local, by which we mean you can sever their internet connection with firewall rules and they’ll still operate. You have to do that though. They’ll almost all connect to the internet if allowed to.

Initial setup with Reolink is hit or miss. You’re right that those settings are off by default, which sucks. The better cameras host their own WebUI with which you can login and make changes with no app required, but the cheaper ones cut that corner and need the app. With that said, yes it is an initial hoop you might have to jump through, but once done and isolated you’ll never have to deal with it again. It’s a worthy trade off for the affordability and featureset IMO, but of course it could always be better.