topic Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage. in Arlo Pro 2

Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Wed, 01 May 2019 18:43:34 GMT

The last couple of updates appear to have made Geofencing much worse. It does not appear to be able to keep track of our phones and so changes or fails to change between home and away. And the impact to battery consumption appears to have increased.

Arlo appear to have the least capable software development and support teams I have ever encountered.

Geofencing has been awful from day one. They have failed to fix a serious Geofencing defect I raised with them 12 months ago. And new updates are making it worse.

Take a step back. Regroup. Fix your support performance.

Beyond frustrated .......

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Wed, 01 May 2019 18:43:44 GMT

Please give us custom modes in IFTTT and we will implement a much better Geofencing solution ourselves in under 10 minutes.

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

Dannybear — Wed, 01 May 2019 18:43:53 GMT

I would not be surprised if the problem is in the base firmware.

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Wed, 01 May 2019 20:38:41 GMT

Possibly. The App is responsible for tracking your location and it is failing to do this. This is surprising as it is almost certainly the location updates that are causing the app to burn so much battery. Arlo need to pull in some programmers who know how to implement Geofencing well and without battery burn.

If Arlo would implement Custom Modes in IFTTT I would implement Geofencing by checking for my home WiFi connection. This burns very little battery at all and is very reliable. I have been using it for years for other applications.

The other problem I am seeing is that Arlo programmers have confused home/away and Disarm/Arm which has caused several logic problems. And 12 months later they have still not worked it out.

Arlo either have some of the least capable support engineers in the business or the leadership team have failed to appropriately prioritise product support.

There are many other systems on the market and eventually a more customer responsive competitor will take a large bite out of Arlo market share killing them off. They are expensive and unresponsive. A combination that makes them a perfect target for competition.

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Wed, 01 May 2019 21:13:32 GMT

I just checked my wife's phone and 70% of her battery drain is Arlo.

That is utterly ridiculous, unnecessary and unacceptable. That is a Design Defect.

Is there anyone in Arlo support that gives a Tucker's cuss about product quality and customer care or customer loyalty ????

Arlo leadership - get some resources focussed on solving these issues.

I can't accept 70% battery drain. I will try disabling Geofencing to see if that is the problem.

As Arlo never implemented a widget to activate Arlo I will need to go back to trawling through menus and waiting endlessly for servers to respond just to change modes. Again Arlo leadership - listen to your customers. Make turning Arlo on and off easier and faster.

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

Dannybear — Wed, 01 May 2019 21:44:23 GMT

@XJW

I recall IFTTT is already an option for geofencing by some users posts, have not tried it though.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/IFTTT-Better-integration-Alternative-to-Geo-fencing/idi-p/1345154

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Wed, 01 May 2019 23:37:33 GMT

It is but until Arlo implement Custom Modes for IFTTT it is not an option for many of us.

IFTTT only supports the Arm and Disarm modes and these are completely useless for the basic use case where you leave outdoor cameras on when you are at home.

This request has been open for years but ignored.

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

Dannybear — Wed, 01 May 2019 23:54:48 GMT

I see your point now, shame they can’t make disarm mode rules, then IFTTT could work. I guess that would make it work and that’s not the aim it would appear.
I still think it’s in the base station though.

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Fri, 03 May 2019 10:46:22 GMT

Re: Geofencing getting worse after last update. Unable to switch from home/away. More battery usage.

XJW — Fri, 03 May 2019 10:44:42 GMT

A separate Disarm is still needed.

For example when I am working in the front yard I need to completely disarm the system or it will burn out the batteries.

We need support for Custom Modes and keep Disarm.

Unfortunately there has been a defect with Geofencing for the past 12 months that causes the Home and Away settings to get corrupted if you activate the Disarm Mode.