Should you see a video image when someone rings the bell and the device calls your phone?

[DeputyDog95]

As it stands now, the phone rings with an option to answer or not answer.

However, you don't see a video image.  Seems kind of weird..

Is there a way to have it show video, or even a still image or who's standing there so you can decided if you want to speak with them?

[brh]

@DeputyDog95

be sure to link the doorbell to one or more cameras and make sure that the camera is active, (slider switch in the ON position) and you are in the Armed mode. The camera should record just like it normally does. Just installed my doorbell last night and tested it this morning and I got the videos of me playing with it.

Brian

[DeputyDog95]

Hey Brian

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I have it linked to a camera.

However, when someone presses the doorbell, the phone rings and gives me two options.  Accept or Decline.  Something like tha anyway.  No image though.

However, if I click Accept or Answer (whatever it is) it then loads the video at that point.

Should I be seeing an image or video when the phone is ringing and the app is asking me if I want to accept or deline?

[brh]

@DeputyDog95

I don't think so.

Brian

[DeputyDog95]

Seems odd that it calls your phone, activates the camera, but doesn't display an image of who's there during the call?

How are you supposed to know if it's someone you want to deal with or not?

[brh]

@DeputyDog95

I am not sure if I understood your question and answered it correctly. While the phone is ringing, there is no video, but once you accept the call it does take the camera to live view. But you do make an interesting point - there is no way to see who is there without accepting the call. But if you accept the call, I think you do not need to answer it. A lot of thieves ring the doorbells to see if anyone is home, so it is probably good to answer the call.

Brian

[pbarham]

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@DeputyDog95 wrote:

Seems odd that it calls your phone, activates the camera, but doesn't display an image of who's there during the call?
How are you supposed to know if it's someone you want to deal with or not?

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I think that you can accept the call 'Muted' and there is no way for the visitor to tell.  As I understand it, at this point you *should* have video and audio (doesn't always work for me), and be able to send the prerecorded audio messages.  

In my experience, when I answer a call I normally just have audio.  There is a video camera icon next to the 'mute' button, and when I press it I get asked to unlock my phone (via fingerprint) log into the Arlo app (via fingerprint) and a few seconds later I  get a feed from the camera.  When the camera is running the aiudio seems to be very laggy, and I have not been able to have an interactive conversation.  I have also lost the 'send a message' buttons at this point.

This is all probably user error... but I have a PhD in Computer Science and after 3 weeks I am still tryting to work out how to use a doorbell! 😉