How to Reset a Tapo Camera (2026): C425 MagCam, C120, C225, C100, and D225 Doorbell

Quick Answer: Most Tapo cameras reset the same way: hold the Reset button for 5 seconds until the LED blinks red, per TP-Link’s own support documentation. The exception is the site’s top-rated Tapo C425 MagCam — the original V1 hardware resets in 5 seconds, but the newer V2 revision needs a full 10-second hold on the same pinhole button, a genuine version-specific difference TP-Link documents but doesn’t put on the box. One thing that doesn’t change across any Tapo model: a factory reset never touches your TapoCare subscription, since it’s tied to your TP-Link account rather than the camera itself.

Tapo is the 8th brand in our reset-guide series, joining Ring, Nest, Blink, Arlo, Wyze, eufy, and SimpliSafe. It’s also the only brand where the flagship model itself splits into two different reset procedures depending on which hardware revision you own.

Reset the Tapo C425 MagCam (V1 vs V2)

Covers the Tapo C425 MagCam, the site’s top overall Tapo pick.

1. Find the pinhole reset button on the camera body (check your model’s manual for exact placement — TP-Link doesn’t standardize this across hardware revisions).
2. Press the pin in and hold. If you have the original C425 V1, hold for 5 seconds until the LED blinks red. If you have the newer C425 V2, per TP-Link’s support documentation you need to hold for a full 10 seconds — the same 5-second hold that resets a V1 won’t complete a reset on a V2 unit.
3. Not sure which revision you have? Try 5 seconds first. If the LED doesn’t blink red and the camera doesn’t reboot, hold again for the full 10 seconds.
4. Set it up again in the Tapo app as a new device.

Setting up a reset camera for the first time, or adding a replacement? A free 30-day Amazon Prime trial gets a mount, extra microSD card, or a spare camera there in two days instead of standard shipping.

Reset the Tapo C120 (wired indoor/outdoor)

Covers the Tapo C120, the cheaper wired hybrid pick.

1. Open the small cover on the camera body to reveal the reset button — a circular, raised button set into the housing, per TP-Link’s support documentation.
2. Press and hold for 5 seconds, until the LED blinks red.
3. Close the cover and set the camera up again in the app.

Reset the Tapo C225 (pan/tilt, HomeKit)

Covers the Tapo C225, the only Tapo camera with Apple HomeKit support.

1. Tilt the lens upward first — pan/tilt Tapo models need the lens moved out of the way before the reset button underneath is reachable, per TP-Link’s documentation.
2. Press and hold the reset button for 5 seconds, until the LED blinks red.
3. Reconnect in the Tapo app (or Apple Home, if you had it paired there).

Reset the Tapo C100 (budget indoor)

Covers the Tapo C100, the cheapest current Tapo model.

1. Locate the exposed reset button on the back or base of the camera — no cover to remove on this plug-in indoor model.
2. Hold for 5 seconds until the LED blinks red, then set it up again.

Reset the Tapo D225 Doorbell

Covers the Tapo D225, the site’s Tapo doorbell pick.

1. Find the SYNC/RESET button on the bottom of the doorbell.
2. Press and hold for 5 seconds. Per TP-Link’s own support documentation, that’s the full reset — no separate soft-reset step and no screwdriver required, a notably simpler process than SimpliSafe’s Video Doorbell Pro, which has to be unscrewed from the wall first.
3. Resetting through the app instead (long-press the device card, tap the minus icon) also disconnects the doorbell from any linked Alexa or Google Home integration, per TP-Link — the physical button alone does not touch those connections.

Reset from the app instead of the button

Every current Tapo camera and doorbell can also be reset without touching a physical button:

1. Open the Tapo app and go to the home screen.
2. Long-press the device’s card, then tap the minus icon — or open Camera Settings and choose Remove Camera.
3. The device is removed from your TP-Link account and reset to factory defaults.

Per TP-Link’s support documentation, the camera has to be online for the app method to work. If it’s already offline or unresponsive, the physical button is the only path.

Does a reset touch your TapoCare subscription?

No — and this is the real differentiator versus a couple of other brands in this series. eufy can permanently erase local HomeBase footage on a factory reset, and SimpliSafe forces you to remove a camera from its app before the button will even work. Tapo does neither. TapoCare cloud storage is billed to your TP-Link account, not the camera hardware, so resetting a device doesn’t cancel or interrupt the subscription — per TP-Link’s own documentation, you just need to re-add the camera to its TapoCare plan afterward from Me > Tapo Care in the app. Combined with Tapo’s free microSD local recording (see our Tapo vs Wyze comparison for how the two no-subscription brands stack up), a reset here is close to the lowest-friction process in the whole series — apart from the C425’s revision-specific hold time.

It’s not just Tapo

Ring, Nest, Blink, Arlo, Wyze, eufy, and SimpliSafe each have their own reset quirks — eufy’s HomeBase can wipe local footage, SimpliSafe gates the reset behind app removal first, Blink’s Sync-Module cameras route through a hub instead of a per-camera button. Tapo is the first brand in the series where the split isn’t between models or account state — it’s between two hardware revisions of the exact same camera.

The bottom line

Resetting a Tapo camera is a 5-second button hold for almost every model — the C120, C225, C100, and D225 doorbell all follow that same pattern, per TP-Link’s own documentation. The one exception is the flagship C425 MagCam, where a V1 unit resets in 5 seconds but a V2 unit needs a full 10-second hold on the same button. Whichever model you’re resetting, your TapoCare subscription stays intact on your TP-Link account the whole time. If a reset doesn’t bring a camera back online, our best Tapo camera guide covers the current lineup if it’s time to replace rather than repair.