How to Download Videos from Tapo Devices

With a Tapo camera or doorbell, you can store the recordings on the cloud (Tapo Care subscription needed) or locally on a Micro SD card, and watch the video conveniently from the Tapo app.

If you are interested in exporting recorded video from your Tapo Camera(s) to another storage device, such as a computer, this article will guide you through how to download and export camera recordings from the Tapo app.

Manually Recorded Videos

Within the Tapo app, you can manually record the live view or playback footage of your camera.

Step 1: Navigate to the live view or playback page and click the video recording button to start the recording of the current footage.

Step 2: The recorded video clips will be saved in "Playback & Download" and your mobile phone's gallery. You can further review them within the Tapo app.

Step 3: On the Tapo app's Download page, you can view and manage the manually recorded clips. Using the buttons at the bottom, you can quickly share the video or save it to your mobile phone's gallery.

Cloud Video

Cloud video storage time is limited based on your Tapo Care plan. Expired cloud videos cannot be retrieved. Please export the videos to local storage promptly if there are any important clips you wish to retain.

Follow the steps below to export cloud videos.

Step 1: Go to the Cloud Video page:

Method one: Open app → Me → Playback & Download → Choose a camera → Select Cloud Video

Method two: APP → Click to view the Camera → Playback & Download →  Select Cloud Video

Step 2: Download Video to the Tapo app

1. Choose the cloud video you want to download.
2. Tap the Download icon under the Live View menu, or click the More symbol → Download in the video list to start downloading.

SD card recordings

1. Export all videos

Remove the SD card from the camera and use a Micro SD card reader to export the videos on a computer.

Note: If you encounter difficulty with this step, please refer to: What can I do if the video recordings from the SD card cannot be played on a computer?

2. Download Detection Events

1. Connect your phone to the same Wi-Fi network as the camera.
2. Launch the Tapo app → Me → Playback & Download → Playback → Switch to SD card videos section.
3. Locate the detection video you want to download → Download.

NOTE: The availability of this feature may vary depending on the specific model, hardware, and firmware version. Please refer to your device's details to verify whether this feature is supported.

3. Clip and Download Video

This feature enables users to cut and download desired video segments from continuous recording or motion-detection videos.

1. Connect your phone to the same Wi-Fi network as the camera.
2. Launch the Tapo app → Me → Playback & Download → Playback → Switch to SD card videos section.
3. Tap on the screen and select the scissors icon. 

• Drag the timeline in the blank area horizontally to select the time where the video will be trimmed.
• Move the arrows of the target video section to select the video duration you want to download → Clip & Download

NOTE:

• Supported Video Length using this clipping method is 1-10 minutes.
• The availability of this feature may vary depending on the specific model, hardware, and firmware version. Please refer to your device's details to check if it is supported.
• The downloaded videos will be temporarily saved in the app, at which point you can already watch them locally without an Internet connection. If you want to export the videos to your phone’s memory and share it with someone else, refer to the instructions below.

How to export videos to the phone

1. Go to Playback & Download → Download

2. Select and download the videos or pictures that you want to download. The files will be saved to phone’s gallery/album.

NOTE:

• Storage permission for the Tapo app is required.
• Clearing Tapo app cache will cause all files downloaded to the app to be deleted. Please exercise caution, especially when an expired cloud video has been downloaded to the app but not to the phone’s storage.