topic Re: Notifications and errors! in Arlo Ultra

Notifications and errors!

Jebbi4 — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 21:23:12 GMT

Ok, I purchased the best model I could and I'm continually having these issues which I can't resolve, and hoping you can help.

1. I have notifications turned off for everything except humans. I don't want notifications for movement, cars, or animals - all those are turned off. But I continually still get notifications for motion, which is always an animal or flapping towel on a balcony. Why is it still giving me notifications, when it's turned off?

2. Two of my cameras are showing warnings that 'The power has been unplugged' (which I don't understand) and the only way to get rid of the error message (via the help boards) is to delete the activity zones. How do I still have an activity zone without getting these error messages?

3. This one is driving me crazy. We have a big house, I would like to be notified of an intruder. It sounds simple to me; My phone would set off an alarm, wake me up and I could deal with the issue. But try as I might, there is only one notification sound (default) to select from and it's the same as other notifications.
How do I get my phone to set off an alarm when detecting a person (assuming I can fix 1.) with an alarm tone that you would use to be woken up.

I purchased the Arlo because the best, but these issues haven't made a fan.

Re: Notifications and errors!

Jebbi4 — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:07:52 GMT

Hello Arlo? Anyone willing to help?

Re: Notifications and errors!

LandJS — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 03:45:30 GMT

You shouldn't be getting notifications for anything other than people if that is all you have toggled on. There has been a issue with people getting notifications for things toggled off, the only answer I've been able to get from support is that they are working on it. I would open a case with support just to get them to see how many are. As for notification sounds, that is a function of your phone. I have a S10+ and choose from a list of sounds for notifications but it also offers to let me choose a custom sound just for a particular app. That of course will depend on your phone.

Re: Notifications and errors!

StephenB — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 20:00:06 GMT

@Jebbi4 wrote:

2. Two of my cameras are showing warnings that 'The power has been unplugged' (which I don't understand) and the only way to get rid of the error message (via the help boards) is to delete the activity zones. How do I still have an activity zone without getting these error messages?

There are two types of activity zones - local and cloud.

Local Activity Zones process the video in the camera all the time. That requires AC power - the battery would drain too quickly otherwise.

Cloud Activity Zones will work on battery power, but require a subscription. With Cloud activity zones, all detected motion is streamed to the Cloud, and the Cloud then figures out if the motion is in the zone or not.

If you see the AC power warning message, then it generally means that camera is on battery power and does not have a subscription. So if you are on the elite or premier plan, then check to see that the camera is managed.

@Jebbi4 wrote:

1. I have notifications turned off for everything except humans. I don't want notifications for movement, cars, or animals - all those are turned off. But I continually still get notifications for motion, which is always an animal or flapping towel on a balcony. Why is it still giving me notifications, when it's turned off?

That's another hint that the camera might not be on a subscription plan anymore.

If the camera is listed under the plan, then try removing the camera from the account and re-add it. It might take a while for the back end servers to figure out that the camera is on the plan after that, so give it some time.

@Jebbi4 wrote:

3. This one is driving me crazy. We have a big house, I would like to be notified of an intruder. It sounds simple to me; My phone would set off an alarm, wake me up and I could deal with the issue. But try as I might, there is only one notification sound (default) to select from and it's the same as other notifications.

Unfortunately they don't support custom notification sounds at the moment. It's been requested frequently.

Re: Notifications and errors!

Jebbi4 — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 21:01:03 GMT

I really appreciate your time.

When I purchased it it came with 1 year of free membership. It's only 3 weeks old. I guess it disconnected somehow, but you have me on the right track and that explains my issues. I'll disconnect them and re-connect.

And yes, I have seen the notification is a big one and been requested a lot. Plenty of other apps are able to select their own notifications sounds, so not sure what the hold up is here.

Re: Notifications and errors!

Jebbi4 — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 21:06:37 GMT

Just wanted to say thanks again. I re-added the cameras and it's fine now.
It seems every time I recharge them I need to re-add them.

Just the ringtone issue now.