topic Re: Arlo Pro 2 - App suggestion for engineers to help homeowners and their safety in Arlo Pro 2

Arlo Pro 2 - App suggestion for engineers to help homeowners and their safety

LoveMySecurity — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 16:53:31 GMT

I have two Arlo cameras. About 6 months ago someone hacked into my account and changed my password so I was logged out and unable to have the ability to view my cameras from my phone. So, I changed my password.

I would like to suggest a feature on the app that would be really helpful. This would be the ability to see if the mode of our devices were changed, say from armed to disarmed at any point in the day. I will explain why.

Sometimes my cameras aren't working all the time and i blame this on my wifi possibly going down for a minute or however long. Although my wifi is usually on and working. For example, I went for a walk and left my house and I was recorded. And when I return I notice later on that I never "returned" because the camera never saw me. So, I blamed this on my wifi. Or was it?

Last night I heard someone turn the key in the door and open and close the front door. I figured it was my boyfriend coming home late so I did not worry. It was not him, and I have no idea who it was because I did not give anyone else my key. But my family and I are all okay. Here's the thing. My camera went off around 1am. I could not see any person or anything move. It went off once. Was this when the person came in? I am not sure because I don't have a clock in my bedroom. I strongly suggest and wonder if someone is changing the mode on my cameras to disarmed allowing them to be unnoticed by my cameras. Someone hacked into the account once why would they not do this again?

I am suggesting that you have a spot on the app that allows owners to see if the camera was disarmed or if the setting was changed, and also say when this happened in the day. We need to be able to outsmart these crooked, plotting people who are not our friends. Like I said, maybe my Wifi was off. Or maybe it was not. Maybe someone changed my camera setting. Scary stuff.

If you do this, please let me know because I will be using this feature everyday.

Thanks!

Re: Arlo Pro 2 - App suggestion for engineers to help homeowners and their safety

StephenB — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 13:10:09 GMT

@LoveMySecurity wrote:

Someone hacked into the account once why would they not do this again?

FWIW, I would also like to see more logging.

If you think someone might have hacked your account again, then I suggest changing the password again. You want a strong password - there are several resources out there on how to choose one (just google it).

@LoveMySecurity wrote:

Like I said, maybe my Wifi was off. Or maybe it was not.

The Pro 2 cameras don't use your WiFi. They do use your internet connection (over the ethernet connecting the base to your router). The base station provides a closed WiFi system that the cameras connect to.

If your base has a USB or MicroSD slot, then perhaps connect a USB thumb drive or a MicroSD card - that might capture recordings that don't make it to the cloud for some reason. https://kb.arlo.com/1146857/How-do-I-set-up-local-storage-backups-on-a-USB-device-using-my-Arlo-base-station

@LoveMySecurity wrote:

Here's the thing. My camera went off around 1am. I could not see any person or anything move. It went off once.

You might want to use the motion detection test, to make sure that your camera will reliably detect someone entering your house. https://kb.arlo.com/1114344/How-do-I-use-the-motion-detection-test-for-my-Arlo-device

Also, the cameras are designed to detect side-to-side motion. So you might look at the camera positioning tips here: https://kb.arlo.com/000051462/How-do-I-position-my-Arlo-Pro-2-camera

If you have activity zones set up, you might also try disabling them for a while. That will give you more recordings (which can be a nuisance), but it should also ensure that all the motion detection recordings end up stored in the cloud.

Re: Arlo Pro 2 - App suggestion for engineers to help homeowners and their safety

JamesC — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 16:52:04 GMT

LoveMySecurity,

If you have any reason to believe someone is accessing your account without your permission, we strongly suggest you change your password and or email address associated with your account: How do I change my Arlo password

Additionally, we encourage you to set up two-step verification on your mobile device, for more information on 2FA, take a look here: What is two-step verification and how do I set it up?

JamesC

Re: Arlo Pro 2 - App suggestion for engineers to help homeowners and their safety

jastang95 — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 18:55:18 GMT

I would also like to see some type of notification when the Arlo base station goes offline.