Troubleshooting Motion Notifications

Learn how to troubleshoot motion notifications

Try these troubleshooting steps if your motion notifications are delayed, you're not receiving them when you expect them to appear, or if you're getting too many.

Test motion in front of your camera

While troubleshooting, test your settings to ensure you're getting the desired result. To perform a simple test, arm your system and then make a significant motion in front of your camera. Note: slow network speeds can delay your notifications.

Check if your camera or system is set up correctly

  1. Is your system Armed?
  2. Is the camera's Motion Detection setting on or off?
    • If this is off, your device will not detect motion, and motion notifications will not be sent to your mobile device.
    • On your camera's thumbnail, tap More. This menu displays whether Motion Detection is on or off.
    • If Motion Detection is off, tap the Motion Detection button to turn it on.
    • You can also check your camera's Device Settings > Motion Settings to see if Motion Detection is turned on .
  3. Is Notification Snooze on or off?
    • If this is on, the Notification Snooze icon appears in the corner of your camera's thumbnail next to More and Motion Detection. While Snooze is active, all notifications for motion events will be temporarily paused. 
      • Motion event clips will continue to be recorded and saved to their storage location while Snooze is on.
    • Learn more about Notification Snooze.
  4. Sign out of the Blink app, then sign back in. This may reset some of your app settings.
    • After you sign in, go back to Step 1 to make sure the Blink system is armed and your camera has Motion Detection set to on.
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Early Notification

When Early Notification is enabled, the camera sends the alert when motion is first detected.

When Early Notification is not enabled, Motion Alerts are sent after the Motion Clip is saved.

The amount of time 'earlier' you receive an Early Notification depends upon your Clip Length settings and other factors like network speeds.

The Early Notification option is only available for the following Blink devices:

  • Blink Outdoor and Indoor (3rd Gen)
  • Mini
  • XT2

Early Notification is enabled by default and can't be turned off on the Blink Outdoor 4, Wired Floodlight and Video Doorbell.

Why would I use Early Notification?

A real advantage of Early Notification is being able to enter Live View if you tap the Motion Alert notification, when you're within the time frame of that clip length, or five seconds after. In this way, you can be interacting with visitors using two-way voice, or viewing whatever triggered the motion alert, within a few seconds of receiving your notification.

Note: If you pass the five second time frame after the clip has ended, you will be automatically taken to the clip list screen with no clip selected.

Can I save the Live View session?

If you have an active Blink Subscription Plan‍ and your camera supports recording the Live View session, a "Save / Discard " toggle appears in the live view. When the toggle is set to "Save", the current session records until the timeout, or when you stop the Live View by tapping "Close".

How do I use Early Notification?

To enable Early Notification, go to the camera settings screen and select Motion Settings. Then switch on Early Notification.

Early Notification is off by default for Blink cameras, as shown in the image.

Early Notification toggle



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Retrigger Time

This article describes how to adjust the retrigger time for your Blink camera. 

Retrigger time is the amount of time between the end a motion capture and beginning of a new motion event. During the retrigger time, your camera does not record motion events. 

By default, the system will capture a five second clip, and wait for the retrigger time of 30 seconds. If motion continues, the camera will capture another five second clip. Retrigger time can be adjusted under Device Settings.

Note: Each camera in your system has an individual retrigger time setting.


Adjusting the Retrigger Time

  1. From the Home screen, tap the More  button and then select Device Settings.
  2. From the Device Settings screen, tap Motion Settings.
  3. In Motion Settings, you can adjust the Retrigger time value from 10 to 60 seconds. To increase the retrigger time, move the slider to the right and to decrease the delay move the slider to the left.
    • The longer the retrigger time is set, your camera allows more time between notifying you of the next motion event it detects. This is useful if your camera views an area where motion occurs often or if you are getting false triggers.
  4. When you have this setting where you want it, tap Save.

Test your settings

After you have set your desired retrigger time, Arm your Blink system and then walk through the field of view of your adjusted camera. You will receive a motion alert on your screen. Continue to walk through the field of view of this camera for the length of your delay. You will receive a second motion alert when your system has captured another clip. If the retrigger time was too short or too long between captured clips, return to camera settings to fine tune.


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Sensitivity

Your Blink camera captures motion based on heat moving across the camera's field. The total size of heat objects and amount of motion together cause a motion event. Your camera's Sensitivity setting adjusts how much input it takes to send you a notification.

Low sensitivity is less responsive, so a larger amount of heat and motion are needed to cause a notification. The highest setting may cause alerts from blowing leaves or even shadows.

If you are receiving too many notifications with nothing interesting, try reducing the Sensitivity down two levels. If that is effective, test by arming the system, and walking in the field of view when Motion Detection is on, to make sure a human sized object will trigger a notification.

Be careful if you tap the notification and enter Live View with your microphone or speakers on, significantly loud feedback may occur. Tap mute speaker in the upper right corner of the Live View.

Each camera has an individual sensitivity setting. You can find this in the Camera Settings for each camera in your system.


Choosing High or Low Sensitivity

The sensitivity setting on your camera not only depends on what is making the movement, but how long the movement is occurring. 

  • High sensitivity means less motion over a shorter period of time will create a notification.
  • Low sensitivity means more movement over a longer period of time will create a notification. 

The motion can be a big or small object, or a lot of small objects. Motion detection depends on where the object is in relation to the camera lens. For example, a bird flying close to the camera can be perceived as bigger than the person walking on the sidewalk in the distance. A person walking directly toward the camera will produce less motion than a dog walking left to right across the camera's field of view. It's about the amount of motion that's occurring within the detection zone of the camera and not necessarily how large the object is.


Testing sensitivity for your home camera

  1. Tap More  on your camera's thumbnail and select Device Settings .
  2. Select Motion Settings.
  3. On Motion Sensitivity, move the slider two or three increments to the left for a lower numeric setting. Tap Save to save this setting and walk out of the frame of view of this camera.
  4. From the main screen of the Blink app, set your system to Armed to enable Motion Detection.
  5. Test the camera sensitivity by introducing movement.
  6. If the sensitivity is not successful, reduce the slider more, save, and try again.
  7. If you have adjusted the sensitivity to your liking, proceed to test with a larger moving object, such as yourself. Walk in front of your camera and check to see if the setting gives the desired motion alert.
  8. If the lowest sensitivity continues to cause an unwanted Motion notification, you may need to create an Activity Zone instead. Learn more about setting Activity Zones.


Learn more


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Check your mobile device settings

Is your phone on Mute or Silent?

Is Do Not Disturb enabled?

Check for app conflicts

Check your device's notification settings

Delete the Blink app from your mobile device

  • Delete the Blink app, then re-download it from the Google Play Store, iOS App Store, or Amazon Fire Store.
    • Your onboarded cameras and systems you have created are not affected when you delete the Blink app.
  • Open the Blink app and sign in to your account.
    • You may have to update your app store to find the latest version of the Blink app.

Turn your mobile device off and on

  • Turn your mobile device off, and then back on.
  • Open the Blink app, and sign in.
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Check if your mobile device's OS needs to be updated

In order to run the latest version of the Blink app, it's important your mobile device meets the minimum system requirements.

How to auto update your mobile devices

The easiest way to keep the app version of your mobile device current is to turn on the Automatic Update option in your device settings:

How to manually update your mobile devices

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Note

We recommend that you always backup your data prior to updating your mobile device.


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My camera is sending me notifications when there isn't any motion.

If your camera is sending motion notifications to your mobile device, but when you go to Live View or look at the clip, no movement occurs, you may need to adjust the camera or its settings. Consider these factors for optimal motion notifications.

  • Thermal detection. The motion sensor detects changes in temperature in the camera's field of view. Big sources of heat or cold could cause false triggers. Try moving the camera to a different location. This will isolate any environmental factors that may be triggering the motion sensor.
  • Retrigger time. Increase the Retrigger Time to 15 seconds. Learn more about Retrigger Time.
  • Location. Is your camera located where it will get the view you want?
    • If your camera is placed outdoors, it will be more prone to false motion alerts. When it is outside, the changing temperatures or moving objects (at slightly different temperatures) can trip the motion sensor.
    • Angle the camera to avoid viewing random motions, bright spots from reflections, blowing trees or high traffic areas.
    • Learn more about how to properly place your cameras for motion detection.
  • Sensitivity. Each camera has a setting to control how responsive it is to motion.
    • Low Sensitivity means the camera is less responsive to motion, so it takes more motion to trigger an event.
    • High Sensitivity will respond to just about any motion like blowing leaves or rain.
    • Set the sensitivity so that your movement is detected, then use Activity Zones to block out areas of random motion or reflections.
    • Learn more about adjusting sensitivity for your Blink camera.
  • High motion areas. Is there a regular source of motion in the camera view?
    • Active roads, moving shadows, flocks of birds, and neighborhood pets can all cause a motion event.
    • Activity Zones can be set to block out motion in a certain area. Learn more about Activity Zones.
  • Network. If the camera has a weak connection to your wireless router, it may cause the camera to record false motion clips. Increasing the Retrigger Time should resolve this issue. You can also move the camera closer to your wireless router.  
  • Power cycle. Power cycling the camera may also resolve this issue. Try removing and then reinserting the batteries or the USB cable connection.

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Why is my Alexa device not announcing a doorbell press?

When you setup a Blink Video Doorbell for Alexa, you have to turn on Announcements for Doorbell Press and Motion Detection in the Alexa app.

Click to learn more about Using Alexa devices with the Blink Video Doorbell.

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Rename your mobile device

In some cases, renaming your mobile devices enables motion detection alerts to be sent to your phone. Use the following steps to change the name of your mobile device.

  • Change the name of your iOS device.
  • Change the name of your Android device.
    • Navigate to your phone's Settings > About Phone > Edit and then type in what you'd like your device to be named.
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If none of the above resolves the issue, please contact Technical Support.


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