topic Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS in Arlo Pro 2

Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 14:14:19 GMT

I saw that V2.7.0 was pushed to one poster's mobile device so I checked mine and it was not listed as available for update. Since I have seen this in the recent past, I went to the Apple App Store, searched for Arlo (which still showed no pending update) and clicked on the details of the app...at that point (as in the past) it showed the update and I downloaded it.

It took a few forced app closes, but after the 2nd or 3rd restart of the app, it came up correctly. One of my Pro 2 cameras reported that the camera was disconnected from power (which has been the case since day 1 for that camera) and motion zones have been disabled (which I believe is not supposed to be the case with Arlo Smart plans). So that's two odd behaviors.

Two good changes! ... first the alarm and 911 have moved from that awkward pull down to a red shield icon at the top right of the screed. Second, access to settings is not returned to a "gear" icon and a single click instead of the elipses and extra click we had on 2.6.x.

So Kudos for two useful changes. We will need to explore and experience the system for a few days to see how it functions overall.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 14:38:48 GMT

More on the slow startup. Now that my wife has been complaining for the past 10 minutes about Arlo software development...and she is not even a geek. A direct quote... "It's like they have a lot of impetuous 20 year olds writing their software". In defense of impetuous 20 year olds, I was one 40+ years ago and isn't a fault of the age group.

So, the app appears to lock up for about 25 seconds on startup. The "Devices" screen paints some information then stops then paints more and then stops. The screen us totally non-responsive during this wait. Eventually it seems to finish whatever it was doing and it responds to any touch screen commands we have tried while waiting all of a sudden.

I have 35 cameras and a doorbell displayed, so I could be an "acid case"...I don't know. I do know that after the status has been obtained, my right hand column of devices continues to shift over to the left side of the screen, which then shifts the middle and left columns of devices to the middle and right hand side of the screen respectively. The new "left' hand column of images is also still shifted down slightly from the top. I believe this shift is related to the large number of devices I have displayed on my screen,

Then when I click on the "Library" link, I see an Arlo advertisement for Arlo Smart subscriptions. It keeps showing up every time I start the app and go to library even though already have the Arlo Smart Elite subscription which should be no mystery to the application. (actually have two of these...one on each of two accounts that own my many cameras) My wife didn't know what this was....due to frustration with the app in general ... and thought it was an error message. I showed her the little X in the upper left corner which drew more explitatives from her about Arlo software development.

On to more exploring...

After

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 15:04:22 GMT

It takes a full 40 seconds for the screen to be usable on V2.7.0.

I recomend people avoid this update based on this issue until it is resolved. No one can wait 40 seconds to see what's going on after a motion notification is triggered.

And the advertisement for Arlo Smart shows up EVERY time I open the library after logging in. Once, l'm logged in, it stops spamming me, but everytime I login and check the library...there it is.

Guys...this took me just a few minutes to see all of this. Who is on your QA and beta testing teams?

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 15:51:51 GMT

On the Safari web interface, I had to go to Safari Preferences and remove the check mark from the "Enable Content Blockers" setting in order to login to the new version of the Arlo UI. I had not changed anything, so whatever Arlo did would appear to now conflict with this security setting. Who knows what the implications of that change might be. "Advertisements"?

On my iPad, I have experienced a number of crashes. This was extremely rare on V2.6.3.

My screen layout on Safari now shows only two columns of camera images. The 3rd column is completely blocked by the Doorbell which shows up at the very end of my Device Order, but for some reason consumes an entire column of my screen now. Removing the doorbell from my system eliminated the real estate problem caused by the doorbell. I still only get two columns, but the images are larger. I'd love to have some control over the column count here. Why only two?

Noteably the Safari version of the UI is dramatically faster than iOS Version 2.7.0 of the app. I'd say the Safari UI takes about 10 seconds to paint versus the nearly 40 seconds for the iOS app on my 11" iPad Pro running 12.1.1.

This prompted me to check out the Arlo app on my iPhone XS. The current version of iOS for the iPhone is 12.1.2, but my iPhone still had V2.6.3 of the Arlo app which loads tremendously faster than Version 2.7.0. I immediately disabled automatic app updates on my iPhone, until I see better performance on V2.7.x.

Argh!

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

ngl1604 — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 16:50:37 GMT

FWIW I've just checked my iPhone 8 and it had already updated but I'm not experiencing the issues you describe. Perhaps as I only have 4 cameras the screen refresh is quicker?

I don't see any advertisements either (I'm on a basic subscription)

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:04:00 GMT

@ngl1604 wrote:

FWIW I've just checked my iPhone 8 and it had already updated but I'm not experiencing the issues you describe. Perhaps as I only have 4 cameras the screen refresh is quicker?

I don't see any advertisements either (I'm on a basic subscription)

I wonder if 12.1.2 is a better match for this version and since the iPad still runs 12.1.1 that might be the problem.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

ngl1604 — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:06:08 GMT

I'm on 12.1.3

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:18:08 GMT

Got it. I assume that is a Beta version.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

ngl1604 — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:11:04 GMT

Yes. I'll give it a try with a couple of other devices (non beta) and report back.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

ngl1604 — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:17:52 GMT

Tried with 12.1.2 on an iPhone SE and 12.1 on an XR and all seem to be working as hoped...

Need to try and update my wife's SE later to see if it resolves the lack of notifications she's experiencing (different thread!)

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

Retired_Member — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 18:08:20 GMT

AncientGeek, thanks for the review. I took your advice and did not update. When viewing library videos are there still gray bars on top and bottom of the video clip?

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 18:15:34 GMT

@Retired_Member wrote:

AncientGeek, thanks for the review. I took your advice and did not update. When viewing library videos are there still gray bars on top and bottom of the video clip?

On my 11" iPad Pro there are gray bars top and bottom, but the video fills the screen left to right. The bars are clearly a difference in aspect ratio between the camera and my iPad screen. On my MacBook Pro, there are gray bars containing the camera name at the top and video progress bar at the bottom, but they both disapear after a few seconds.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

ngl1604 — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 18:21:43 GMT

All seems to be good in that respect (but as @AncientGeek suggests it could be down to aspect ratio).

Library View

Live view (full screen) loses the Alarm Bar at the top after a couple of seconds too...

Now you see it...Now you don't!

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 14:40:08 GMT

I continue experiencing tremendous difficulties with our devices and I see others are starting to post about this as well. iPhone X and XS and 11" iPad Pro & iPad Air 2.

It takes 40 seconds to 2 minutes for the initial screen to populate and allow scrolling on our iPads. It is a bit faster on the iPhones, but still problematic. On the Air 2, my wife can no longer see the images in the Library. They all show up as frames with a swirling circle in the middle. I can touch them and see the video, but the thumbnails don't show up. Eventually the app crashes. The app crashes. Did I say, the app crashes?

Arlo, you have shot us and yourself in the foot again. You were just starting to recover from the October 20th fiasco and now this!

Good job. You made it to CES with your new products and managed to cripple your existing customers in the process.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

malibuman67 — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 20:15:03 GMT

This app constantly crashes on my iPad. It was working fine in the previous version, but in this version, the video plays for about 15 seconds and then the app crashes. I am on iOS 12.1.1 on an iPad Air. This performance makes tha app completely unusable. Please fix ASAP!!

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

AncientGeek — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 20:46:58 GMT

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

Retired_Member — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 21:36:59 GMT

@AncientGeek wrote:

@Retired_Member wrote:

AncientGeek, thanks for the review. I took your advice and did not update. When viewing library videos are there still gray bars on top and bottom of the video clip?

On my 11" iPad Pro there are gray bars top and bottom, but the video fills the screen left to right. The bars are clearly a difference in aspect ratio between the camera and my iPad screen. On my MacBook Pro, there are gray bars containing the camera name at the top and video progress bar at the bottom, but they both disapear after a few seconds.

On my ipad pro 12.9” in landscape view the gray bars in my video library are permanently there.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

Retired_Member — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 21:37:39 GMT

@AncientGeek wrote:

I continue experiencing tremendous difficulties with our devices and I see others are starting to post about this as well. iPhone X and XS and 11" iPad Pro & iPad Air 2.

It takes 40 seconds to 2 minutes for the initial screen to populate and allow scrolling on our iPads. It is a bit faster on the iPhones, but still problematic. On the Air 2, my wife can no longer see the images in the Library. They all show up as frames with a swirling circle in the middle. I can touch them and see the video, but the thumbnails don't show up. Eventually the app crashes. The app crashes. Did I say, the app crashes?

Arlo, you have shot us and yourself in the foot again. You were just starting to recover from the October 20th fiasco and now this!

Good job. You made it to CES with your new products and managed to cripple your existing customers in the process.

This is why from now on I will not upgrade the app until I read the reviews first.

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

jimmarshall87 — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 14:10:39 GMT

Same behaviour for me as the others above - really slow to startup - screen freezes whilst there is some background network activity going on. Each arlo app release seems to be making the app worse in terms of usability and UI design. Super lame!

Re: Arlo app Version 2.7.0 for iOS

RChobby — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 14:36:57 GMT

Arlo=FAIL