@Sarahgd60 

Hi,
Thank you for your case report. 
From your problem description, please go to the Tapo app>Camera Settings>Detection&Alerts to check if the Motion Detection feature is turned on and check if the Person Detection is turned on.
On the Motion Detection page, what's the Motion Sensitivity? Is the Activity Zone full-screen?

You can try to set a higher Motion Sensitivity and then check if all the movement within the activity zone will be detected.

Generally, if your configuration is correct, all the detected events will be recorded and uploaded to the cloud server, and you can watch the recordings on the Tapo app>camera's Live View>Cloud Videos page.

Best Regards

  @Polly-Maria57 

Hi,
Usually, you don't need to reboot the camera after updates to make it work again, and it will continue to work after updating firmware.

About the missed recordings issue, please help confirm the following information about the Tapo C420.
1. Please go to the Tapo app>Camera Settings>Detection&Alerts to check if the Motion Detection and the AI Detection(Person, Pet, Vehicle) are turned on.
On the Motion Detection page, is the Activity Zone full-screen? Have you set the Motion Sensitivity to high? 
Please note that increased sensitivity results in fewer missed recordings.

2. What Wake-up Sensitivity you used? Please note that higher sensitivity results in longer detection distance, easier wake-up, and more recordings, but will reduce the battery quicker.

3. Can you share a video recorded on the camera's live view page manually with us that shows a motion event happening in front of the camera but no recording created automatically? You can send me a link to download the video via private message.

Best Regards