Troubleshooting Blink Camera Not Detecting Motion [2024]

blink camera not detecting motion

Have issues with your Blink camera not detecting motion? You’re not alone. A malfunctioning motion detector can be frustrating, especially if you rely on the alerts to keep your home secure.

Not to worry though, many motion detection issues have simple solutions.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the most common reasons why Blink cameras fail to pick up movement, along with actionable tips to get your device working properly again.

Whether the motion settings need adjusting or it’s a matter of repositioning the camera, we have you covered.

From sensitivity levels to understanding the camera’s range limitations, we break things down in easy-to-understand language so you can get your Blink detector back on duty.

Blink Camera Not Detecting Motion: Causes & Fixes

There are several reasons why your Blink camera is not detecting motion. Reasons can range from low sensitivity settings, wrong IR, activity zones turned on, etc.

In this section we’ll discuss in detail all the common reasons and provide you with easy fixes you can try to get your motion detecting camera detecting again.

1. Motion Detector Turned Off

If your Blink camera is not detecting motion the first thing you should check is the motion detector. If the motion detector is turned off then the camera won’t detect motion.

The good thing about this problem is, it’s one of the easiest to fix. To fix this problem all you have to do is turn on the motion detector.

Solution: To turn on your motion detector, follow these steps:

  • Navigate to the Camera Settings.
  • Then head over to Motion Detection.
  • Next, toggle the toggle bar next to it to enable it.

Your Blink camera should now be able to accurately detect motion.

2. Ensure that Blink Camera is Armed

The default state of all newly purchased Blink cameras is disarmed. If you newly purchased yours and it’s not detecting motion even after turning on the motion detector, then it’s because your camera is currently disarmed.

But what does that mean? Armed, disarmed, what does that have to do with the motion detection? Well, your Blink camera needs to be armed for it to detect motion events and start recording motion.

So, when it’s disarmed, even if motion detection is turned on, it still won’t detect and record motion.

Arming your camera is easy and you can do it in a few steps.

Solution:  To arm your camera, do the following:

  • Open your Blink app.
  • Navigate to the Camera view.
  • At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a disarmed toggle button, toggle it to arm it.

Additionally, you can also tap on the running man icon to turn it blue. Doing that sets the motion detection on for the “Garage” camera.

Note: If the running man is grey in color, it means that motion detection is off for that view.

3. Misconfigured Activity Zones

Blink cameras come with the feature of being able to mask off zones where you don’t want to detect motion.

This is a very handy feature that helps you turn off detection in areas where there’s constant movement to prevent false detection.

For example, if there’s a tree branch or bush that moves often, turning it on for those areas prevents false detection.

So, if your camera is not detecting motion in a certain area, check if there are incorrect activity zone settings for that area. You can do it using your Blink Home Monitor App.

If you think this could be the reason behind your Blink camera not detecting motion, then you can reset the zones to see if it’ll fix the problem.

Solution: To reset your zones using the Blink Home Monitor app, do the following:

  • On the app, navigate to Settings.
  • Next, head over to activity zones.
  • Finally, tap on Reset Zones.

And that’s it! It’s that simple. Now check to see if the motion detection problem is fixed.

4. Misconfigured Privacy Zones

Just like activity zones, privacy zones are zones or areas in or around your home that you don’t want your Blink camera viewing and recording.

For example, this could be your bedroom door or even your neighbor’s door. As the name implies – privacy zones – you may not want to view and record those areas due to privacy reasons.

So if the privacy zone is turned on for a particular area, the Blink camera won’t detect motion in that area.

This is the reason why it’s also an important reason to check if the privacy zone is turned on for that area or not.

Solution: To reset privacy zones, follow the steps outlined below:

  • First, navigate to Settings.
  • Then head over to Privacy Zones.
  • Finally, tap on the Reset Privacy Zones button.

That should do it. Now check if motion is being detected in all zones. If it is, then you have fixed the motion detection problem, and you can now properly reconfigure your preferred privacy zones.

Note: The Privacy Zones feature is not available on all Blink camera models. It’s only available on Blink Video Doorbell, Indoor (gen 2), and Outdoor cameras.

Finally, you can easily identify privacy areas on your camera (i.e., if the feature is available in your model) because they are masked with a grey color.

So if you properly carry out the reset, there’ll be no grey areas on your camera.

5. WiFi Issues

Does your Blink camera footage tend to stutter or freeze unexpectedly? Do motion alerts seem hit-or-miss with random gaps in coverage? The likely culprit here is an everyday nuisance—inconsistent WiFi signals.

While browsing social media or streaming movies can tolerate a lower-quality wireless connection, your Blink security camera is far more demanding.

Maintaining crisp high-definition footage, swift motion detection, and reliable mobile alerts requires more robust, uninterrupted WiFi to operate optimally.

Specifically, your Blink camera needs to “see” at least 3 solid bars of WiFi strength at all times.

Any weaker signals can mean pixelated video, false alarms from trees blowing, or worse – security breaches slipping through the cracks unnoticed.

Luckily, optimizing your home’s WiFi network to eliminate dead zones is easy with the right gear.

Solution:

Start by repositioning your existing router to a central, elevated location away from thick walls and electronics that cause interference.

Adjust the antennas to fan out wide or upgrade to more powerful ones with better range.

Switching broadcasting channels can help minimize congestion from overlapping nearby WiFi networks.

Or consider investing in the latest high-performance router boasting extended coverage from advanced wireless standards and technologies.

Strategically placed range extender devices also amplify signals to fill WiFi voids in extra-large homes.

Just remember Blink cameras only operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency band when installing network boosting equipment.

6. Infrared (IR) Issues

All Blink cameras require a technology known as Passive Infrared (PIR) to detect motion.

This technology is a type of motion sensor that measures the infrared (IR) light radiating from people or objects in its field of view.

They work by detecting the changes in the amount of IR radiation reflected or emitted by objects moving in front of the sensor.

In addition to its motion-sensing abilities, PIR sensors are also cheap. But like every other thing, it does come with its own flaws.

One flaw is that if your Blink camera is placed behind a glass, it’ll only be able to detect motion inside the glass – motion outside the glass will not be detected.

Solution: To fix infrared-related issues, try the following tips:

  • Do not place your Blink indoor or Blink mini camera inside your home and point it outside (possibly through the window). Doing that can make your camera produce output in black and white.
  • The black-and-white output appears because the Blink camera uses infrared (IR) light to capture images in low-light or dark conditions. So when the camera is pointed outside, it’ll be unable to receive enough visible light to enable it to switch to normal color mode.
  • Purchase a Blink outdoor camera and place it outside to detect motion outdoors instead of trying to use the indoor motion detector for outdoor detection.
  • Do not point the camera directly at the sun. Rather than doing that, tilt the camera’s angle so that it only detects the surroundings of your home. This is important because too much sunlight can hamper the camera’s motion detection abilities.
  • PIR-based cameras detect motion sideways better than straight motion. This simply means that if you need to detect motion in front of the camera, then you should mount the camera where it can view that from its side. If it’s the front door, for example, you can mount it at the side of the door.

Also, make sure not to mount the camera above the door as it could result in poor motion detection.

And remember to peel off the sticker on the sensor’s top before mounting the camera so that its motion-sensing ability will not be affected.

7. Night Detection Issues

Has your trusty Blink security camera been missing suspicious activity that happens under the cover of darkness? As frustrating as motion detection gaps can be, don’t despair.

The likely culprit here is an easy fix—just some fine-tuning needed with your camera’s infrared night vision capabilities.

Blink cameras have a cool built-in night vision mode that relies on infrared light beams to illuminate and capture movement once the sun goes down.

It’s stealthy surveillance with that signature black-and-white footage. But for it to work properly, you first need to make sure this IR night vision setting is actually activated in your camera’s settings menu.

Solution:

Navigate to your Blink device’s Settings to confirm the Night Vision parameter is switched ON or set to Auto mode. Having it enabled allows the infrared tech to kick in automatically at sundown.

Toggling the IR intensity level to High can also help more distant motion stand out.

If you’ve confirmed night vision is active in your camera yet it still can’t “see” clearly in low light, consider adding a supplemental IR flood light.

Mounting this infrared illumination beam nearby casts an invisible spotlight over the whole area, so your Blink camera can detect movement no matter how dark it gets.

8. Sensitivity Setting

Blink cameras come with a motion sensitivity setting which when configured prevents false alarms from pets walking into the field of the camera.

The sensitivity setting on Blink cameras can range from the lowest value of 1 to the highest value of 9.

So if your camera no longer detects motion, it’s important for you to check if the sensitivity is set too low since that can prevent the alarm from getting on when there’s motion.

Solution: To tweak the sensitivity level of your camera, do the following:

  • Open your Blink app.
  • Navigate to Camera Settings.
  • Under settings, head over to motion settings.
  • Now you can move the slider from sensitivity settings of 1 to 9.

Now choosing the right camera sensitivity level can be hard sometimes.

We understand that; here are some things that’ll help you choose the right setting:

  • If you want to detect larger objects like cars, set the sensitivity in the lower half of the spectrum (2 – 4).
  • If you want to detect smaller entities like humans and pets, dial the sensitivity above the median mark (5 – 8).
  • If you want to reduce false triggers from small animals, insects, or dust, set the sensitivity below the median mark (3 – 5).
  • If you want to increase the detection range of your camera, set the sensitivity above the median mark (6 – 9).

9. Range of the Blink Camera

Maximum range is also another factor to consider when you want to fix a Blink camera that’s not detecting motion.

It could be that the motion you want detected is outside the maximum range of your Blink Camera.

Blink Cameras have a maximum range of 20 feet and above that, they won’t be able to detect motion.

Solution:

The best range for motion detection for Blink cameras lies between 5 and 20 feet. So, what it means is that if the motion is too close or too far, it may not be able to register the motion.

10. Expired Subscription

Now sometimes, the Blink camera can detect motion but fail to record them. If that’s the problem, you are dealing with then it means that you have a storage issue.

All Blink cameras come with a 30-day free trial of their Blink subscription plus plan which allows benefactors to store images and videos from your camera on amazon cloud.

While that’s a nice freebie, once your 30-day free subscription is over, you would be able to store photos or videos anymore.

Solution:

In this case, you’ll have to either subscribe to a Blink subscription to continue enjoying their packages or connect a USB flash drive (local storage) to your sync module.

Note: You can only use the USB flash drive option in sync module 2. This means that you won’t be able to use that option in the original sync mode.

11. Other Troubleshooting Tips

Sometimes determining what’s the reason behind the Blink camera not detecting motion can be really difficult unless you are an expert in motion cameras. But sadly most people aren’t.

So what do you do if you are not an expert but need your camera fixed either way, what do you do?

The best thing is resetting the camera. A simple reset can resolve most of the problems you’ll ever encounter while using your Blink camera.

In that light, some of the troubleshooting steps you should take include:

  • Try turning your WiFi router/modem off and then back on to see if resetting the wi-fi connection will fix the motion problem.
  • If your Blink camera makes use of batteries, check if your battery has become low. If it has, consider replacing it. Go for rechargeable lithium batteries but avoid using nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries because they do not do well in cold weather or last long.
  • Check for firmware updates. An outdated firmware can affect your camera’s motion detection abilities. Upgrading your firmware can help with fixing motion problems.
  • Try resetting the Blink camera and sync module.

Now let’s look at how to reset the Blink camera in more detail.

Note: Resetting your camera will, as the name implies, reset everything about it so you’ll have to start everything from scratch again.

To reset your Blink camera, do the following:

  • If your camera is the Blink Mini model, you should be able to find the reset button on the underside of the camera.
  • For Blink outdoor cameras, XT2, and XT, you’ll find the reset button at the backside of the camera.
  • Press the reset button on your camera for 5 seconds until the red and blue lights start flashing on the backside of your camera.

That’s the cue that lets you know that you have successfully reset your camera.

12. Contact Blink Support

Have you tried all 11 fixes on this guide, and nothing has worked yet? If that’s the case for you, then it’s high time you contact Blink Support.

Their support staff are very responsive, and you can reach them via your favorite mediums. For example, via phone, email, and live chat.

Their support team will be able to help you properly diagnose the problem and provide you with detailed step-by-step instructions to go about fixing it.

But don’t just go running off to them without having some necessary information ready. You should get the model of your Blink Camera, firmware version, and error messages you might have received before contacting them.

Armed with that information, their technicians will be able to help you resolve the problem.

Conclusion

We hope this guide has armed you with the key information needed to get your Blink camera detecting motion properly again.

As you now know, issues ranging from incorrectly configured settings to Wi-Fi connectivity problems can hamper motion detection. But don’t panic, most problems have relatively straightforward fixes.

If adjusting sensitivity levels, checking for firmware updates, and troubleshooting infrared sensors didn’t do the trick, a device reset often solves lingering issues.

And for particularly stubborn problems, Blink’s support team is ready to help diagnose and repair your camera.

With a functioning motion detector, you can breathe easy knowing your Blink camera will once again reliably monitor activity and send alerts when needed.

No more missed events or gaps in your home’s security! We wish you the very best as you reinstate your Blink camera’s motion eye and regain peace of mind.

And if any future motion detection problems pop up, you know where to find helpful troubleshooting tips.

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