A:Answer Hello Otto, thank you for your question. No, a Blink Outdoor 4 does not require a subscription for basic functions like live view and motion alerts, but you do need a Blink Sync Module 2 to save recorded clips locally to a USB drive instead of using cloud storage. While you can use the camera without a subscription, you'll have limited access to advanced features such as cloud video recording, person detection, and extended cloud storage, which require a paid subscription. I hope that helps, have a great day!