Arlo Baby firmware update and connectivity issues

[UAWoody]

Ever since the latest firmware update to work with Apple HomeKit, this camera is continually giving me issues. I have reset the camera twice now in 3 days and once again I open the app and it either says "Buffering" or "Camera Not Connected". The other 4 cameras on my system connect and stream fine. 

I spent 2 hours the other night on suport chat and recreated profiles in order to get the camera to show.

Please somebody listen to all the comments and work on updated code or allow users to roll back firmware on the device. This painful and babies' saftey is depending on this product to work.

[JamesC]

RichR,

Thanks for the update, someone will be reaching out to you shortly via PM to collect more information on this topic. Please keep an eye out for a private message.

JamesC

[Tamulou]

After getting the firmware update on the 28th it worked for the first two nights. Earlier today I got the "camera disconnected" screen which required a reboot to fix.. Tonight it just sat at "buffering" (for 10 min)which required a reboot to fix.

I am not using a traditional WiFi extender, rather the netgear orbi that creates a mesh network..

[timbearden]

I had about 3 days of it going good and then it stopped working again.  I did notice if I turned off my wifi on my phone and turn it back on that it would reconnect.  I am using a mesh network as well.  I was having problems getting a strong enough signal for my connection.  So I invested in a mesh network.  We will see if it works tonight.

[Rollin20]

I have been giving JamesC from Netgear continuous feedback with our baby Arlo. Since the update, I feel the behavior has not changed too much, we have 3 Android devices and a PC, they would drop connections like Domino's with some devices sometimes maintaining video feed but unable to retrieve temperatures or control anything on the Arlo like light, music or even remote restart. Then requires us to physically switch it off and on from the base of the unit. Just running one Android devices on the main account only as suggested to try narrow the cause. Been ok so far but that is because I haven't been in and out of Arlo app as the Android phones main purpose is being a monitor. Baby Arlo is on our main routers 5Ghz network with 100 signal strength, no define on 2.4Ghz network, no extenders in the house now.

[Ivann]

Stop the victory lap guys... my camera went from unusable (Wednesday), to ok (Thursday), to crappy with long buffing and lag times (Friday), to useable again, failed to connect (Saturday AM). I don’t understand how we are still on the hook as beta testers.... my Arlo Pros load reliably. Fix this or refund or recall my camera!

[Tamulou]

Mine went offline again last night (second time since the firmware update). I am using an android phone and a fire tablet (android based os) to connect to the device.

Has anyone been completely problem free since the update?

[TwinCitiesJHawk]

Since the latest update, everytime motion is detected on the camera, the feed goes very grainy.  I have to restart the camera fully.  

And Yes, Netgear, I am 2 feet away from the router/modem and running 300mbps download, 20mbps upload

[deedom]

Hi - I've got to say I'm really disappointed regarding the Arlo Baby thus far, and will most likely return it for something simpler that actually works.

In the last week of trying to use this, we've run into issues where randomly my wife or my (or our PC) will no longer be 'connected' to the baby arlo and not be able to reconnect - The only way to solve this was to unplug the arlo baby and plug it back in (note: no lights were on indicating it was not connected to wifi, and one of the devices was sometimes even still able to be connected at this point).

Once that was 'resolved', the next issue we ran into is the app disconnecting from arlo during the night..  We've tried both with just the 'background audio' option on + phone locked and phone unlocked and video display on - At some point during the night or when we wake up in the morning we would notice that it's not connected.

Note: We have changed the battery optimization settings to give the Arlo app an exception, I thought this would be the solution but the problems are still happening. (We both have Galaxy S8 phones).

What is the point of a baby monitor you can't trust to stay on?  It actually makes the nights more stressful.

If it gets disconnected from the network (app or arlo).. why doesn't it try to reconnect or at least warn you rather than silently fail?  I've seen several other similar threads to this in the past that are marked 'solved' from firmware or software updates, but we have the latest of everything and are still dealing with these issues. 

[deputydawg1998]

Still having lots of issues with keeping the camera connected although I can turn it on/off from my device and can turn the music on but cannot get a live feed for the last 18 hours.  Any updates on the firmware beta testing and any updates on when we can expect a functioning system again?

[JamesC]

For those who are still experiencing issues with their Arlo Baby cameras, please provide the following information:

1. Device used to stream Arlo Baby. (please provide model and OS version) example: Samsung Galaxy S7, Android v7.0

2. Issue that you are experiencing. (Camera drops offline, buffering during live stream, etc. please be as descriptive as possible including any error messages you see.)

3. Is the issue intermittent? How long are you able to stream before you see an issue?

JamesC

[jaydayclay]

1) iPhone X running 11.3, though the problem was the same with 11.2.6

2) Camera has completely restarted itself several times (3 or more) since the 1.8.4.5_18322 update. The video stream no longer hangs like it did before, but there's a ton of horizontal artifacts along the image. I'll try to capture a picture tonight when at home. The horizontal artifacting is nearly constant. I believe the artifacting flickers from top to bottom, and stretches across the width of the frame.

[deedom]

1. Samsung Galaxy S8 - Running Android 8.0.0

2. Camera drops offline / stuck buffering for X amount of time (minutes, hours) / wake up to see that the background audio is no longer enabled / Trouble connecting (unless i unplug and replug the arlo baby).

3. it happens every night, sometimes i have trouble connecting from the get-go, bust most of the time it takes between 1-6 hours to drop (not sure how I can tell).

I have 12 days to return this and get my money back, hopefully it's resolved before hand.. I purchased a different monitor in the meantime so that i can actually monitor the baby with peace of mind.

[ArloIoT]

1) Apple iPhone X, 11.3
2) Background audio does not enable after the icon is pressed
3) Issue is completely intermittent. To get it to work I have to try these options multiple times:
- Close the app, remove from switcher and re-launch
- In the app play a lullaby, then stop it

[Tamulou]

1. Amazon Fire HD 10 (Fire OS 5.5 which is a modified version of google’s os);

Samsung Galaxy S6 – Android v7.0

2) Camera drops offline and the only way to reconnect is a power cycle the arlo unit.

3) Issue is somewhat random. Since the latest firmware last week it has happened 3 times (all during the night). First time it ran for about 2 days without breaking, last two nights it has gone offline both times.

[Mavin]

As this firmware is allegedly the big stability fix, I thought we could centralize any issues.

Setup: Asus RT-86U, 2 cameras connected with full signal to 5 ghz band with no nearby 5 ghz interference. Using a mix of ios devices including iphones and ipads running the latest ios updates and latest arlo app. Devices and cameras are on the same network with home icon streaming. Overall with the latest firmware and switching to the 5ghz band my cameras are more reliable but not bulletproof as they need to be for a baby monitor. Ongoing issues/questions if they could each be individually responded to please:

1: I am still needing to occasionally hard re-start the cameras due to inability to connect. This is an infuriating problem. This has happened only once in 3 days so better but needs to be improved. Hard restarting always seems to fix the problem. I seem to be having better luck than a few other posters but its not perfect.

2. No audio in the app. I will often have to force close and re-open the app as the video stream has no audio.

3. Randomly the cameras stream will become very pixilated with poor image quality despite being in local streaming mode. Even when high quality local streaming is working. I get occasional video artifacts such as large lines of pixels occasionally showing flashing artifact.

4. Is P2P local streaming still in the development pipeline or did that die with the death of the Arlo Tablet?

5. Is there a way to add an icon or something to know if the live stream is actually working? Occasionally I have had the cameras freeze on a sleeping baby where it looks like they are just sleeping but the stream is hung on a static image. This is a huge safety issue.

Overall I like this solution better than the Samsung SmartCams I was using, but the issues above please need to be addressed. I want to love this product, help get me there.

[UAWoody]

James C- the firmware isn't confirmed to be the solution. People including myself are still reporting this as an issue. Just because you release a firware doesn't make it solved. I have replied via PM to a engineer as well as my original support ticket stating not 100% functionality. I still have to power cycle the camera every night in order for the Android application to see the feed. The iOS app seems to work.

[Chou]

1. tested on 5 devices : OnePlus 5 android 8.0 ; Honor View 10 android 8.0 ; PC windows 10 ; Lenovo yoga tab 1 ; Asus transformer T100 windows 10. Same issue

2. Camera drop offline (not connected) after buffering ~1 minute. Generally, the special features of the arlo baby (temperature, music, etc.) were disabled/inaccessible roughly 12 hours prior to the offline mode in the android apps. But it is not always the case. Sometimes, the cam goes offline and it works again, sometimes the buffering is very long (2 minutes) but it works, 

3. 24 to 48hours before every reset. The cam will lose specials feature after 6 to 24 hours, then it will not connect. The updated firmware increased the duration considerably (I had to do it every 3 to 4 hours before the update).

When the camera is not working proprely, you have to reset it, sync it will not work (no "blue connecting light" when pressing the sync button 2 seconds)

I tried :

- not sharing it between our 2 phones

- disabling the quickstream

- 480p or 720p

- 50Hz to 60Hz

- 110 or 100 Field of view 

- other wifis (other houses)

Configuration :  no detection of movement or sound ; do nothing if the alarm goes on. 60Hz ; UTC +1,00 (paris) ; light always on (no change, low luminosity), nocturn vision ; Wifi 75%. The app & phone are always on during the night (8pm to 7am). The delay seems to increase during the night. 

I will try to disable the special features (humidity, air quality, temperature), reduce the image quality, and post update if it work. 

The other cameras (arlo Q and Q plus) work just fine. 

In the meantime, would it be possible to have a special option that would transform the arlo baby into a regular camera/babyphone (like a arlo Q for example), up until the issue is resolved? Or to chose a previous build that did not cause any particular issue? If I remember correctly, the arlo Baby was working up until 1 to 2 months ago.

It is frustrating to have to enter the baby's room and wake her up to reactivate the camera when she is sleeping so peacefully...

I choose my whole security system because of the arlo baby, and I begin to regret it. The extra features are nice when it is working (though there is some slight variation betwen semi-professionnal equipements and the cam), but if the issue continue, I will have to buy another babyphone (can't send it back because I have it since June and imported it from amazon-US to my country). Considering the price (and the import), I could have had any high-end products instead.     

Nevertheless, I have to salute the team's effort to pinpoint the issue and try to resolve it. Keep up the good work, I hope you will find a way to resolve the issue...

[Chou]

Small update : the changes did not do anything. I have a Camera that can't be used after working less than 24h. 

A new issue was observed though : I can connect to the camera, but the screen is black, there is no sound, and the only video/audio option is the quickstream. 

Is there anything that would make it work properly? Like I said, I am past the point where I care about optionnal features. 

[timbearden]

1. ZTE A2017U, Huawei 8, and Macbook Pro w/ Touchpad

2. I have almost every issue mentioned at some poiont.  Camera drops offline during the night when it does work, it buffers and can't connect most of the time.  At times it will say the camera isn't even connected.  It hasn't even worked at all for the last 3 days.  I had about a week of it working interemitently but now it doesn't work at all.  

3. At this point, it dosn't even work.

Is there a way that I can ask for my money back?  I really need the money to get another device.  I can't put my time and effort in a brick that will never be fixed.  Someone's child is going to get hurt.

[timbearden]

So I finally got in touch with someone in chat.  I've tried berore and was unable to get ahold of someone.  I mentioned in the chat that my app is buffering.  This is the response I got:

"I see. Can you please verify what do you mean buffering?"

I'm sorry I had to call this person out, but if you don't know what I mean by the app say it's buffering, then maybe you are not the person I should be talking to.  I've been in chat for over an hour, and have come to no conclusion.  I am pleading with someone in this company to refund my money.  I also urge everyone else with the same problem to request the same thing or at least a product that works.  This is our children.  I am already looking at other alternatives as I keep waking up to a crying baby and I'm not sure how long he has been crying at times.  This is way too dangerous.  I invested hundreds into a camera in hoping it would give me piece of mind.  However the opposite has occured.  

I demand a refund.  It's been nearly a month (maybe more as I stopped counting) and nothing has been fixed.  Netgear, please stand by your products and admit there is a problem.  There should be a recall on this for defective devices.

[Rollin20]

Iv been on the latest version of the android app and firmware when they were released and had many issues, however it wasn't for the last week and it has been flawless, every single feature would work as expected. I don't know what had changed as I have not done anything the last 3 weeks, especially the last week, I'm guessing something in the Netgear backend has changed and not notified us users. I wish I could tell everyone else here what the fix is but I don't have one. So no more base resets the last week or so, 4 android devices and pc without issues. We have been close to buying another product too if it wasn't for this last weeks good run

[JamesC]

Mavin, Chou, timbearden

I will reach out to you in a private message to further investigate these issues.

JamesC

[Tamulou]

Any updates on a new firmware - i am still dropping the connection every night or every other night?

[Chou]

Update : I tried everything with the android apps, and nothing really worked. But windows 10 seems good. 

The last few days, I used exclusively a windows 10 asus T100 with the latest mozilla and flash plugin (did not try to launch the andorid apps on any device), and it worked nearly perfectly (some issues when I had to relaunch mozilla or my asus, but nothing like reset/reinitializing/sync the arlo baby). 

I know that this is not the perfect solution, but having a working cam is great ! I am sleeping again, knowing that my baby is safe.  

[UAWoody]

I'm still having connection issues and being forced to power-cycle the camera every night. This has become a large PIA, we are well past the hiccup.

What are the next steps in getting some traction to an answer? Have you been able to recreate it in testing? There are plenty of use cases, customers and devices that are showing connection errors, the majority of which are Android devices. To me it seems the issue lies in the Android application, not the camera's firmware.

I was recently out for travel and my wife was left to reset the camera and now I'm hearing more questions daily on why the camera isn't working yet. Can we please drive toward a solution at some point this month?! Let me know if I need to test something, put me on the beta testing but please let's do something!!!!