If you install a camera to monitor around your house, but you are worried that you might get in trouble with your neighbor over privacy issues. How could this risk be avoided? Drawing a privacy mask area will help.

Applies to: All Reolink cameras.

This article will introduce you to the following three parts:

  1. How to Set up Privacy Mask
  2. Dynamic Privacy Mask (Beta feature)
  3. Notes of Using Privacy Mask

1. How to Set up Privacy Mask

  • Reolink App

    Step 1. Go to Device Settings > Display, and you will see Privacy Mask on the bottom part of the screen.

    Display_option.pngPrivacy_mask_option.png

    Step 2. Draw rectangles on the areas you want to exclude from surveillance.

    Draw_a_mask.png

    Step 3. After setting up privacy mask(s), please remember to tap Save to save the settings. 

    When returning to the live view interface, you will see the privacy mask(s) you have set.

    Live_view_page_with_a_mask.png

  • Reolink Client

    Step 1. Login to your device and then go to Device Settings > Camera > Display page and Click Privacy Mask Button.

    privacy_mask_set_up.png

    Step 2. Drag the mouse to configure the mask area, then click on Save to save the setting.

    privacy_mask.png

    Step 3. If you want to delete one of the privacy masks, click the privacy mask first, then click the rubbish bin, if you want to delete all privacy masks, click Delete All.

    delete_privacy_mask.png

    This is how live view looks like after setting up the privacy mask:

    privacy_mask_after.png

  • Reolink Web browser

    Step 1. Log in to your camera on a web browser. Click the Device Settings gear icon at the upper right corner.

    1._click_device_settings_icon.png

    Step 2. Go to Camera > Display. Click Set Up under Privacy Mask.

    2._click_set_up.png

    Step 3. Locate your cursor at the place you want to block out. Left-click the mouse and drag to draw a black rectangle over the wanted area. For example, the two black rectangles covering the tree and the floor in the picture below:

    3._Draw_privacy_masks.png

    • Select one rectangle and click the Trash Can icon to delete it.
    • Click Delete All to remove all the drawn privacy masks at once.
    • Click Save if you have finished setting up the privacy mask.

    Done! You can turn back to the previewing page to see if there are privacy masks on the live-view image.

    4._finfish.png

  • Reolink NVR (New UI)

    Step 1. Log in to your camera on the NVR monitor and enter the Live View page. Then go to Settings > Camera > Display.

    1._camera_settings.png

    2._privacy_mask_settings.png

    Step 2. Click Privacy Mask Settings. Press down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to draw a rectangle over the area you want to cover. Click Apply to save the settings.

    3._draw_privacy_masks.png

    Note: Click the Delete All icon if you want to redraw privacy masks.

    Now you can see the black privacy mask you've just set on the camera's live-view image.

    4._finished.png

  • Reolink NVR (Old UI)

    Step 1. Log in to the camera on your NVR monitor and enter the Live-view page. Go to Menu > Display. Tick Mask and then click Area Settings.

    1._area_settings.png

    Step 2. Press down the left mouse button and drag to draw a black rectangle as a privacy mask.

    Put your cursor on one privacy mask and right-click your mouse. Click "Delete Area" to delete this privacy mask. Click "Delete All" to delete all the drawn areas. If you have finished drawing privacy masks, click "Save" to save the settings. If you don't want to set up privacy masks, just click "Cancel" to exit. 

    2._draw_privacy_masks.png

    Now, you can go to the camera's live-view page to check out if there are black privacy masks on the image.

    3.finished.png

 

2. Dynamic Privacy Mask (Beta feature)

1. Introduction: During PTZ operations, the mask adjusts with the scene to continuously cover privacy areas, preventing unauthorized regions from being captured, enhancing user privacy awareness and security.

2. Camera and Software support: This function is currently only available in RLC-823S1 and RLC-823S2. Also, Dynamic Privacy Mask is supported only on the Reolink App and web interfaces. To achieve dynamic privacy masking, configuration must be done through the Reolink App or web interface. If set on a Reolink NVR or Reolink Client-side, privacy zones remain static and will offset with PTZ movements in the scene.

 

3. Notes of Using Privacy Mask

1. Once set, the masked area will be shown in the live view and recordings.

2. Different camera models support a varying number of privacy zones, with the maximum number displayed in the software under privacy settings being the reference for each device.

3. You can only draw a black rectangle on the screen, and it's not supported to draw other shapes randomly except for the rectangle.