topic Re: Awful app in Arlo Pro 4

Awful app

rickw12 — Sat, 17 May 2025 02:48:26 GMT

Why do app developers do this? Are they bored and need to give expression to their wonderful skills at programming? The new app that i got in the last few days is ridiculously difficult to use. I can't see anything in this that is better. It adds nothing, it makes nothing easier or better.

The former scheduler was intuitive and not difficult to set up. I should not have to go to a company's website or to chat boards to get instructions on setting up a scheduler, which now I have to do.

I'm not going to bother with it. I'll just set it for home away or whichever choice it is when I want it on. And I am going to redouble my efforts at finding a security camera system that makes better sense than this one.

Re: Awful app

StephenB — Sat, 17 May 2025 11:59:20 GMT

@rickw12 wrote:

I'll just set it for home away or whichever choice it is when I want it on. And I am going to redouble my efforts at finding a security camera system that makes better sense than this one.

If all you want to do is arm/disarm all cameras, then the scheduling is not difficult.

Create a schedule automation to switch to "Standby" at the times you want to turn the cameras off. Then create a second one to switch to "Arm Home" when you want the cameras on.

Re: Awful app

rickw12 — Tue, 20 May 2025 01:49:05 GMT

I did. Arm Home at 7 pm, Standby at 7 am. The schedules are constantly, by themselves, becoming disabled. This afternoon, I checked and saw that Arm Home was enabled and ready to go this evening. I thought. When I checked awhile after 7 pm, it was disabled and the system was still in Standby. I enabled the Arm Home schedule and then clicked on it to open the dialog. I clicked the Test Automation link and went back to the dashboard, and the system was armed. The app constantly disables the schedules. I can't do this every day. It is totally unreliable.

In all the years of using smart phone apps, I've never known a business to totally screw up their app like Arlo has. The developers might have had fun, but they didn't have user friendliness in mind. They "over-complexified" the app. I am already looking for something else. Maybe they'll fix this before I find it. I'd like to get my money's worth out of the cameras I was forced to buy last year because of their upgrades.

Re: Awful app

StephenB — Tue, 20 May 2025 12:03:51 GMT

@rickw12 wrote:

The schedules are constantly, by themselves, becoming disabled.

This suggests that your enable lists are incorrect.

Can you post screenshots of your two automations?