Owl launched its LTE-connected dashboard camera back in 2018, giving users a raft of in-car security functions for $99 a year. Now — with very little warning — the company has bumped its yearly subscription fee to $215 a year. And according to Android Police’s Richard Gao, Owlcam owners trying to use their devices without LTE connectivity are finding their cameras completely disabled.
Gao reports that he received an email from Owl in May, notifying him that Owlcam has been bought out by GPS and IoT company CallPass. Nowhere in that email — nor in the six subsequent emails he received — was there any mention of the new, dramatically higher pricing, nor any indication that users would have their devices bricked should they not subscribe. In one email, the company says that CallPass will not support WiFi only mode, while in another it says, "If you don't subscribe on or before May 31st your camera will move to Wi-Fi only mode.”