Geofencing stopped working

[er-minio]

I'm not sure if this is really a camera problem or and app/system issue.

Goefencing for my Arlo Go camera stopped working recently.

I tried resetting the geofencing zone, changing sizes, to no avail.

The phone has location sharing, background refresh, etc. etc.

There is another user, same, all settings are good on the other phone.

Geofencing has been working for years at this location, no big changes done apart from switching the SIM in the Arlo Go Camera at the beginning of August (V-SIM shut down) and Geofencing worked ok after that.

I have to manually arm/disarm the camera and, a couple of days ago, even disarming the camera wouldn't do anything as I would get movement notification (and movie recordings) despite the camera being set as "disarmed".

Is there some software issue? Update needed?

[BrookeN]

I do apologize for the frustration regarding Geofencing. Our development team is currently still investigating this. As soon as there is an update I will reach out to the community. 

[BrookeN]

Are you still seeing this same behavior?

[er-minio]

As of yesterday, yes.

I can check again later today.

[PickMonsterX]

Still doesnt work for me and I have 3 location, which I pay for all of them.  I need a solution as this is a pain the the butt.

[er-minio]

Tested. Still not working.

Please fix this, it's been forever.

[BrookeN]

@er-minio can you let me know what you are still seeing regarding Geofencing.

[er-minio]

Thanks.

I’m away at the moment, but still wasn’t working until end of April.

[er-minio]

Still not working as of today, thanks.

[alex_loo]

my geofencing has NEVER been working properly, since I owned these 3x ultra 2 cameras + VMB5000 hub.

And that was since May-2024.  Yes, it's been more than a year now.

And when I say not working properly, I refer to to the following config:

• 2 devices: 1x android + 1x iPhone.  Both logged into same master account
• FEED interface
• sometimes the geofencing routines DO get triggered, but the trouble is --- trigger or not, it's quite random

And I have been reporting this for at least 9 months.  ARLO sometimes acknowledges it while ignore me most of the time.  Most importantly, ZERO fix has been done.

Alex

[jguerdat]

It's generally, but not always, working for me on Android - I'd say ~80% working.

[alex_loo]

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@jguerdat wrote:

It's generally, but not always, working for me on Android - I'd say ~80% working.

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forgot this but are you having at least 2 devices that may arrive/leave individually?

what's the pattern with those 20%?

Alex

[jguerdat]

Yes, 2 phones are used for GF. The ~20% of not working is due to one phone or the other not being detected as away. There's no way for us to tell this so that info has come from an L3 I've provided logs to.

[alex_loo]

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@jguerdat wrote:

Yes, 2 phones are used for GF. The ~20% of not working is due to one phone or the other not being detected as away. There's no way for us to tell this so that info has come from an L3 I've provided logs to.

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I am suspecting my situation is similar, but worse.  End up I have less than 50% working.  Simply unreliable.

I have also sent logs (some 1-2 months ago), but then I hear nothing.

Again this is what I am suspecting --- leaving is exactly the scenario when mobile is losing connection from home wifi and trying to switch to mobile data.  If mobile data coverage is not satisfactory (my case), geofencing logic really depends on how good the app is handling temporary bad network connectivity, when it is trying to send the "leave" status to cloud.  Say if the sending fails temporarily, will it continue sending some time later?  If it doesn't, then the whole geofencing logic will fail.

What I can say is that for the same phones, Google Home Automation is doing geofencing nicely, without issue.  I have even been using GHA geofencing to trigger ARLO routines, rather than relying on ARLO geofencing to do so.

Therefore, I am sure it's the way ARLO is implementing its geofencing badly, making itself a rubbish.

Alex

[jguerdat]

It's still possible that the phones' location services are at fault to some degree. I certainly don't pretend to know what the interaction between that service and the app is but I do see issues on my Android phone that makes me think it's somehow related to the newer Android releases (15 and 16). I also have a Lux Geo Internet-enabled thermostat that most times when using the app tells me to enable GF even though I did years ago and it's still working. My August smart lock is a guessing game as to whether it will unlock for me when I return home. 

I suspect there's enough blame to be spread around between companies...

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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I am sure it's the way ARLO is implementing its geofencing badly

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FWIW, I agree with you.  Something in the app has to be broken.

Another factor:  it doesn't work properly in both Android or iOS.

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

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I am sure it's the way ARLO is implementing its geofencing badly

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FWIW, I agree with you.  Something in the app has to be broken.

Another factor:  it doesn't work properly in both Android or iOS.

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I don't quite understand what you are trying say, behind this "factor".

But I see the app not working properly, both in Andriod and iOS --- to be an expected result, if they are following the same ARLO app design logic.  It's just such "ARLO design logic" not right in the first hand.

Alex

[alex_loo]

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@jguerdat wrote:

It's still possible that the phones' location services are at fault to some degree.

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I would definitely disagree about this point.

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I certainly don't pretend to know what the interaction between that service and the app is but I do see issues on my Android phone that makes me think it's somehow related to the newer Android releases (15 and 16). I also have a Lux Geo Internet-enabled thermostat that most times when using the app tells me to enable GF even though I did years ago and it's still working. My August smart lock is a guessing game as to whether it will unlock for me when I return home. 

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Android 16 here and except for ARLO app, other geofencing apps like Google Home Automation, Life360 are all running perfectly, they are peace of mind I can rely on their geofencing features.

But the ARLO app on the same device?  no way.  So none of the phone hardware, OS and location service are to be blamed.  It can only be the ARLO app, designed and written so badly.

convince me if you see otherwise.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

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I am sure it's the way ARLO is implementing its geofencing badly

---

FWIW, I agree with you.  Something in the app has to be broken.

Another factor:  it doesn't work properly in both Android or iOS.

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I don't quite understand what you are trying say, behind this "factor".

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That also suggests to me that the problem is in the app+cloud design.  The converse isn't true (app bugs certainly do show up only in the iOS app or only in the Android app).  But I think something that fails in both is almost certainly on Arlo.