topic Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems. in Arlo Secure

Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 03:23:35 GMT

Hello, I've upgraded to the version of arlo and I regret it big time.

It's so complicated now...

Before I had geofencing and schedules setup so I had all cameras not armed when I was home and armed when i was away but then at night time say from 5pm to 7am the cameras would arm regardless of me being at home.. which seems simple right.... worked perfectly in the old app..

Now I've talked to technical support tried a few things and it's not working!!

I read the forums and seems a lot of people are having the same issue ? Is it a user issue or is it just not possible now ?

This new app is a big fail any help would be much appreciated.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

alex_loo — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 07:06:28 GMT

if you are "techie" enough to understand this, this is my high level note of what you need to do.

Forget about the way it used work 😉
You seem to have 3 scenarios. Let's give each a label:
1. "STANDBY" - 7am thru 5pm, when you are at home, and do NOT arm any camera
2. "HOME" - 5pm thru 7am, when you arm all the cameras anyhow (home or not)
3. "AWAY" - arm all the cameras, whenever you are not at home
Under Routines >> Modes,
1. click "arm away", and under "device rules", assign all of your cameras to it. If necessary, click each camera to enable motion/audio detection
2. click "arm home", and under "device rules", assign all of your cameras to it. If necessary, click each camera to enable motion/audio detection
3. click "standby", and under "device rules", leave it blank with no cameras there
(you are now sorted with these 3 modes. at this stage you can only MANUALLY change mode, using DASHBOARD) (and that's why let's move on to add in automations and schedules to switch them automatically)
Routines >> automation > "+" >> "Add schedule".
1. Name = "5pm switch to HOME"
2. When = 5pm
3. "add action" >> change mode >> ARM HOME
4. SAVE
Add similar routine for the switch to STANDBY, at 7am
(at this stage, it should auto switch at 5pm and then 7am)
(next is adding final routines for geofencing)
Routines >> automation >> "+" >> Add arrive/leave for all leaving home address then switch to ARM AWAY
Add the 2nd, and similiar geofencing rules
1. for arriving home address then switch to STANDBY (see ** below)
Routines >> Modes >> ARM AWAY. Under "automation" section, make sure you only enable the (arrive home) routine you created in step 10 above

And I think you should be sorted.

The only thing is that ... geofencing is actually not really working 😡 Needs fixing from ARLO.

** (assuming you are returnin home before 5pm. otherwise there is no way out, you have to manually switch to ARM HOME if you are returning home after 5pm)

Hope this is simple enough. Good luck.

Alex

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

jguerdat — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:08:54 GMT

You may also want to read this FAQ if you haven't already:

https://kb.arlo.com/000062777/About-Arlo-Routines-Modes-Rules-and-Automations

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 22:36:10 GMT

this is the setup I'm running currently that I came up with this morning unsure if it will actually work..

Because what I want is the cameras to be armed at night then when I go to work in the morning work off my location...

The geofencing works flawlessly with no schedule but it's the notifications that get annoying when I'm at home the only other way I can think of getting around it setting arm home to record and not notify.. but it seems silly because if something happens at night I want it to notify me.

This is complete BS tbh why ruin a good thing.... don't really want to pay for something that doesn't fit my needs especially when it worked flawlessly before.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

alex_loo — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 22:45:55 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

now we all have to be grumpy starting from this ARLO community .... since the pics you posted here need our busy admins to APPROVE, before they can be seen by others.

Alex

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 23:00:28 GMT

Oh true I didn't realize..

I just tested it and when I left the house it stayed on arm home.. it gave me a notification saying it's armed away but when I opened the app it said armed home active lol. This app has heaps of bugs it seems

It's like the logic is interfering with each other, and you can have both schedule and geofencing... like we used to..

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 23:28:53 GMT

I will also give this a try

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

alex_loo — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 00:03:08 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

I just tested it and when I left the house it stayed on arm home.. it gave me a notification saying it's armed away but when I opened the app it said armed home active lol. This app has heaps of bugs it seems

oh my app is always correctly showing the mode. Though sometimes it may take 2-3 seconds to refresh.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 00:13:10 GMT

Thanks for the help and the quick replies, I will implement the setup you have suggested and maybe try a few different things to get it too work.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

StephenB — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 13:34:31 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

Thanks for the help and the quick replies, I will implement the setup you have suggested and maybe try a few different things to get it too work.

I suggest eliminating all the enabling/disabling of the automations inside of other automations. Instead just disable the schedule automations in the Arm Away mode. One challenge is that the mode itself will automatically enable automations, and it's not clear what happens if a mode enables a notification that you also disable in the automation that changes to the mode. (It depends on the order in which the actions are processed).

Also check the available geofencing devices, and remove any duplicates. Sometimes there are duplicates created when you migrate to feed. After removing the duplicates (and tablets) you can switch to "everyone leaves" and "anyone arrives".

select the profile picture in the upper left
select privacy
select the account tab
select available geofencing devices

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 23:41:09 GMT

Okay I've managed to make it kind of work...

So I have

"Armaway" - record and notify all cameras

"Armhome" - record and notify all cameras

"standby" - no action all cameras

So I have a night time schedule which "armaway" from 8.30pm to 7.30am which records and notify.. with arm/leave disabled in the automation schedule.

Daytime schedule which "armhome" 7.30am to 8.30pm which records and notify.. with arrive/leave enabled

Then geofencing leave/arrive.

Leave - "armaway"

Arrive - "standby"

It all seems to be working except this morning is Saturday and I didn't go to work so once it was 7.30am it changed to "armhome" even though i was at home should have come off armaway to standby..

then once I went out geofencing was enabled it armed "armaway" then once I came back it arm "standby"

What a headache. So it seems the geofencing logic isn't functioning correctly as stated by you guys before..

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

StephenB — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:42:19 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

It all seems to be working except this morning is Saturday and I didn't go to work so once it was 7.30am it changed to "armhome" even though i was at home should have come off armaway to standby..

Can you post current screenshots of your automations?

Scheduling should work correctly, it's the geofencing arive automation that is the problem.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

alex_loo — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 01:31:42 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:
Okay I've managed to make it kind of work...

So I have
"Armaway" - record and notify all cameras
"Armhome" - record and notify all cameras
"standby" - no action all cameras

So I have a night time schedule which "armaway" from 8.30pm to 7.30am which records and notify.. with arm/leave disabled in the automation schedule.

Daytime schedule which "armhome" 7.30am to 8.30pm which records and notify.. with arrive/leave enabled

Then geofencing leave/arrive.
Leave - "armaway"
Arrive - "standby"

It all seems to be working except this morning is Saturday and I didn't go to work so once it was 7.30am it changed to "armhome" even though i was at home should have come off armaway to standby..

then once I went out geofencing was enabled it armed "armaway" then once I came back it arm "standby"

What a headache. So it seems the geofencing logic isn't functioning correctly as stated by you guys before..

You can consider having 2 daytime schedules:

"Daytime workdays": same as your existing daytime schedule, but with "create custom schedule" setting for your work days only
"Daytime off days" similar to your existing daytime schedule, but with mode change to STANDBY instead of ARM HOME. And then create custom schedule" setting for your non-working days only

And then make sure ARM AWAY mode has both schedules enabled.

Hope this helps.

Alex

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

StephenB — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 12:41:17 GMT

@alex_loo wrote:>
And then make sure ARM AWAY mode has both schedules enabled.

Huh?

@DimensionNO5354 - if you are using ARM AWAY when you are away from home, then the ARM AWAY mode should have all the schedule automations disabled. Those automations should only be changing the mode between ARM HOME and STANDBY.

Leave and Arrive Notifications can be enabled in all modes, though if you like, you can disable Leave notifications in ARM AWAY and disable Arrive notifications in ARM HOME and STANDBY.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, there is no need to have any actions to enable/disable other automations in your automations. There might be some use cases where that functionality is useful, but not for scheduling or geofencing.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

alex_loo — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 13:27:30 GMT

@StephenB wrote:
@alex_loo wrote:>
And then make sure ARM AWAY mode has both schedules enabled.
Huh?

@DimensionNO5354 - if you are using ARM AWAY when you are away from home, then the ARM AWAY mode should have all the schedule automations disabled. Those automations should only be changing the mode between ARM HOME and STANDBY.

good to see you are asking this question 😉

Now my question for you: given "armaway" is also there from 8.30pm to 7.30am (see your first message), what will happen to it, when it comes to 730am?

From the beginning, I guessed you should rethink you modes. But I hope my previous reply at least helpful in another aspect.

Alex

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

StephenB — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 14:38:16 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

So I have a night time schedule which "armaway" from 8.30pm to 7.30am which records and notify.. with arm/leave disabled in the automation schedule.

Daytime schedule which "armhome" 7.30am to 8.30pm which records and notify.. with arrive/leave enabled

I am very confused on this part. The cameras are recording 24x7 with this setup. There is no reason to change to "Arm Away" at 8:30 pm, and no point to geofencing since the cameras are always running the same way.

I am wondering if you meant to disarm the cameras during the day. If that is the situation, then you want to switch to Arm Home at 8:30 PM, and switch to Standby at 7:30 am.

Alternatively, maybe you meant to disable notifications but not recording in the schedule? In that situation, you need to modify standby to record but not notify. You'd still set up the schedule to switch between "Arm Home" and "Standby".

Again, if you want to use geofencing, you need to dedicate a mode for exclusive use when you are away. "Arm Away" is best, as it has the appropriate name. You never schedule a change to "Arm Away" "Leave" does that, nothing else.

Posting the screen shots of the automations is I think the most efficient way for us to help you figure out what is going on.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 20:18:34 GMT

Yes you are correct there is an issue with the arrive geofencing, schedules work fine.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 20:21:06 GMT

Yes this is a good idea I changed it and it suits much better for when I'm at home on the weekends. It would be interesting to see if I was away for the whole weekend though would geofencing take priority or would I be away and in "standby"

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

DimensionNO5354 — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 20:24:18 GMT

I did try this and it makes sense but it didn't seem to work how I thought it would ? So I just have all automations activated in all modes. I've been testing few different things since my original post.

Re: Schedules and geofencing. New app problems.

StephenB — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 20:43:42 GMT

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

I did try this and it makes sense but it didn't seem to work how I thought it would ? So I just have all automations activated in all modes. I've been testing few different things since my original post.

If the two schedule events are enabled in Arm Away, then the schedule will remain active when you are away. There's not much value in geofencing if you set it up that way.

If you want the cameras to remain in Arm Away no matter how long you are away, then you need to disable the two schedule automations in Arm Away.

You can keep Arrive and Leave enabled in all modes.