360Eyes Not Recording on Motion Detection? Fix Alerts Not Saving Video

If your 360Eyes camera sends motion alerts but saves no video, the cause is almost always one of two things: recording is turned off even though alerts are on, or the TF (microSD) card has a problem. Alerts and recording are separate settings in the app — enabling motion detection alone does not guarantee anything gets written to the card. Work through the steps below in order; most people fix this at step 1 or 3.

Why 360Eyes alerts are not saving video

On most 360Eyes cameras, the app keeps three related but independent settings:

• Alert — controls motion detection and push notifications to your phone.
• TF card Recording Settings — controls whether (and how) video is written to the microSD card.
• Cloud Storage — a paid option that uploads event clips to Puwell's cloud servers.

A camera with Alert on but recording off will happily notify you about motion while saving nothing. This design surprises a lot of users, and it is the number one reason behind "360eyes not recording" complaints.

Step-by-step fix

1. Check TF card Recording Settings. Open the Devices list, select your camera, open its settings, and find TF card Recording Settings. Make sure recording is actually enabled. If the camera offers a choice between continuous (24/7) recording and event/motion-triggered recording, pick the mode you expect — event mode saves space but only captures short clips around detected motion.
2. Confirm the card is detected. In the same screen, the app should show the card's total and remaining capacity. If it shows nothing, zero, or an error, the camera is not reading the card. Power the camera off, reseat the card, and power it back on.
3. Format the card from inside the app. Cards formatted on a computer often use a filesystem the camera cannot write to. Use the format option in the app's TF card settings so the camera lays down its own structure. This erases all existing footage, so save anything important first.
4. Verify the card itself is healthy. Cheap or counterfeit microSD cards are a very common silent failure: they report a large capacity but corrupt data after a few gigabytes. Test the card in a phone or computer with a tool that writes and verifies data, or simply try a known-good card from a reputable brand (Class 10 / U1 or better is a safe choice). Most 360Eyes cameras support common card sizes, but very large cards may not be recognized on older models — if a big card fails, try a smaller one.
5. Raise motion sensitivity. In the Alert settings, sensitivity that is set too low can mean the camera only triggers on large, close movement — so small or distant motion produces neither an alert nor a clip. Raise it one level and test by walking in front of the camera.
6. Check the alert/recording schedule. If your camera supports scheduled alerts or scheduled recording, confirm the active hours cover the times you expect footage. A schedule that only arms at night will produce empty daytime timelines — and it is easy to set one accidentally and forget.
7. Check cloud vs TF priority. If you have an active Cloud Storage plan, on some setups event clips go to the cloud and you may not find them under the TF source in playback. In the playback screen, use the Cloud/TF toggle to check both sources before concluding nothing recorded. If your cloud trial or subscription expired, clips that used to appear in the cloud tab simply stop arriving — switch the camera back to TF card recording.

Test that the fix worked

After changing settings, do a controlled test:

1. Walk in front of the camera for 10–15 seconds.
2. Wait a minute, then open playback, pick today in the date picker, and select the TF source.
3. Scrub the timeline to the time of your test — you should see a recorded segment there.

If the test clip appears, you're done. If not, continue below.

Edge cases when 360Eyes motion detect is still not recording

• Card is full and overwrite is failing. Most cameras loop-record (oldest footage is overwritten automatically), but a failing card can get stuck at "full." Reformat in the app; if it fills and sticks again, replace the card.
• Recording stopped after a power cut or WiFi change. Some cameras come back up without resuming recording correctly. Power-cycle the camera; if that fails, a factory reset and re-pair usually restores normal recording — see the reset guide.
• Outdated app. Update to the current 360Eyes for iOS or 360Eyes Pro for Android. Old app versions sometimes fail to show recordings that are actually on the card.
• Clips record but won't play or show "decryption failed." That is a playback problem, not a recording problem — see the playback timeline guide.