Arlo Doorbell Sensitivity

[tims0891]

The issue I am experiencing is the sensitivity of the doorbell motion sensor. I am noticing false alerts that occur frequently. My front door (Doorbell) is located about 30 feet from the main front street and I can only assume any type of car that passes, or person walking by on the sidewalk triggers the doorbell which then triggers the front camera to start recording. Would be great if Arlo could push an update that allows for the adjustment of the doorbell sensitivity, which would mimic the camera adjustment options. Anyone else having a similar issue?

[SteveArnold]

I'm also an old tech with nearly 50 years of hardware and software problem debugging and resolution.     Yes....I've jumped through some hoops to try to assist Arlo/Belkin on getting this doorbell working properly because I want to see it working in my house.     BUT....I've run out of patience with this.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's the doorbell that's causing the false alarms or if it's the base station.     Arlo replaced my doorbell once and the problem has not gone away.     My false alarms were occuring on almost the exact same minute of the hour.    The doorbell probably doesn't have any timers in it.     But....the base station must use timers in it's scheduling capabilities.      Maybe they need to replace my base station too???

Will someone from Arlo Support please reply to this and tell us what will be done to fix this issue?   and WHEN !!!!

[davidrayers]

I turned off motion on the doorbell as I was tired of the constant alarms. Also the speaker and mic quality and volume are terrible. Useless to be honest. My time is worth more then spending day after and hour after hour helping them fix THEIR problems. Solution for me is to never do business again with a company that puts out crap products.  I will be studying there competitors products and post a video of me destroying theirs with a sledge hammer. HA !  David A

[SteveArnold]

Will someone from Arlo Support please RESPOND as to WHEN this issue that affects so many of us will finally be fixed?    In my case I've been waiting for 5 months for this doorbell to work properly and I know others have been waiting much longer.    

When this issue first occured I told Arlo support that I had intended to return the doorbell to Amazon with feedback concerning the issue but I was asked by Arlo support to not return it and and that they would fix the issue.   I can no longer return this to Amazon so I'm stuck with an Arlo/Belkin device that doesn't work.

ARLO SUPPORT......Please tell us when and how these motion false alarms will be fixed!!!!!

[bowserb46]

SteveArnold, we're all in your boat.  One thing, though.  You refer to Arlo/Belkin.  I think that's unfair to Belkin, as I am 99% sure it should be Arlo/Netgear.  Netgear a while back recognized that they had a loser product line with Arlo and spun off the company in hopes the bad press would be firewalled at Arlo.  It is still Netgear engineering and design, though, so if you're being careful to avoid buying dud products, watch out for Arlo and Netgear.  Belkin is another unassociated company.  If I'm wrong please let me know.

Oh yes, my latest doorbell problem is also sensitivity.  Without motion detected, the doorbell button doesn't even work.  Problem is, the motion detector picks up a vehicle passing on the street but NOT someone at the door!

[Markdeb78]

I unfortunately have the same issue.

[bowserb46]

Steve, I posted a review to Amazon citing the problems I've had along with a 1-star rating.  Apparently, even though I have hundreds of reviews posted to Amazon, and this was not emotional or "hateful", it stated clear failings along with a suggestion to go to this site to learn more, and my review was rejected.  I now suspect there are editors screening for reviews that would hurt sales of products they're overstocked on.  I now understand why the overall rating for this product at Amazon is not lower.  The bad reviews with specifics just get rejected.  I've also stopped using Amazon reviews as a basis for product selection.  And I've declined a half dozen or so requests to try out and review a new product--explaining why to the companies requesting my help.  I don't know is Amazon is "too big to fail," but it has clearly gotten "too big for its britches!"

[SteveArnold]

I appologize for saying "Arlo/Belkin".    I incorrectly mentioned Belkin and should have said Arlo/Netgear.    My bad.      But....I'm not even sure if Arlo is part of Netgear anymore anyway.     

I no longer use or have my Arlo doorbell so I gave up and I'm done with it.

[StephenB]

---

@SteveArnold wrote:

 But....I'm not even sure if Arlo is part of Netgear anymore anyway.     

---

It's not.  Netgear spun it off last year.

[TimWiebe]

I have the same problem. It triggering when cars go by. The road in front of my house is more like 40 to 50 feet away. I want to turn down the sensitivity on the motion but don't have the option.

[bowserb46]

Here's what I did.  I seems the motion detection is a narrow beam.  It reaches far but not wide.  A car passing on the street would trigger it but not someone standing in front of the door.  I remembered that Ring offers a kind of wedge base to turn their doorbell camera at an angle.  I got two small binder clips and removed the wire grips.  Then I loosened the doorbell base and wedged the two clips from the left side so as to push the doorbell at about 40 degrees to the right, then tightened the screws enough to hold the whole rig in place.  Now cars don't trigger the motion sensor and it works better with people at the door, or at least as they approach the door.

I've also discovered that the latest version of the iPhone app has re-enabled the "phone call" from the doorbell.  The mic and speaker volumes are still too low for that to be useful, but it is something anyway.  If they could only get comm through Amazon Echo devices, that would be a help too.  Now only one way, "Someone is at the front door."

I was hoping to replace the Arlo doorbell with a Ring unit on black Friday or cyber Monday, but Amazon didn't run the sale I was expecting, so I'm still waiting.  At least while I wait, the functionality is somewhat improved.

[StephenB]

There are a couple of things you could try

1. double-check the cross-triggering rule in the mode, and make sure the motion recording time is set properly
2. create a custom mode w/o the direct trigger for the camera, and see if the problem happens with only cross-triggering enabled.

[Awaytravelling]

Seems like motion sensitivity setting now available.
Click " when motion is detected " to get to motion sensitivity setting.
I had the same issue as many in this forum and just change the motion sensitivity settings and haven't had a false alert since I changed it this morning.

[ShayneS]

Hi @Awaytravelling

Do you happen to have a screenshot of this setting you adjusted? Thank you

[Greg722]

Same here. 

[Awaytravelling]

Sure here are some screen shots.

I also just noticed that the setting is available on my android phone but not my iPad.

[ShayneS]

Hi @Awaytravelling

The Arlo development team is currently investigating reports on this missing sensitivity option with iOS. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community.

[mistryam]

Any update on the missing sensitivity setting on iOS?

[ShayneS]

Hello Community,

Arlo Audio doorbell does not allow for motion sensitivity adjustments by design. The sensitivity adjustment settings for this that do appear for Android mobile app users is a bug and these settings are non-functional. The development team is exploring options to allow users more control over the sensitivity of their Audio Doorbells. Stay tuned for an update on this issue.

[IndianChieftain]

Has the sensitivity issue been resolved? I have Arlo cameras, and would like to purchase the doorbell, unless the distance motion is triggered cannot be reduced. I live on a busy street, and my doorbell would be recording 24/7. I was able to solve the issue on my camera by turning it upside down, and putting a "shield" that I made out of a half piece of pvc. Now the only issue with the camera is that it doesn't trigger when someone walks straight at it. I'm hoping that has been resolved with the latest doorbell?

[-Wes-]

I have my Arlo Pro camera hardwired on my front door, and I have the Audio Doorbell.

I want the doorbell to work like a doorbell. I just want it to do its job when someone actually pushes the doorbell button. I don't want it always sensing motion and lighting up.

For whatever reason, my Doorbell battery life is terrible. It lasts a few weeks and then I need to replace the alkaline AA batteries. Rechargeable batteries don't even work in the device for me. Regardless, what I want from Arlo is to allow me to disable the motion sensing. I have kids going in and out of the front door regularly, and so it is always sensing movement. I have no triggers associated with the motion, but I would like to just disable the motion sensing completely so that the battery isn't always working and hopefully will last much longer since few people are actually ringing the doorbell.

Please, can this be done??