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Custom alert sounds for Android/iOS

Really need to customize the notification sound.  For instance, I want to be alerted to motion on some cameras while sleeping, but the notification sound is not enough to do that because it is too brief and I just sleep right through it.  Would be nice to select an mp3, or at least provide some more aggressive options for alerts.  Perhaps even per camera custom sounds, as one can do with ringtones for different contacts.

Comments
StephenB
Guru
@Pjondeck  wrote:

I didn't invent the link I used I got it from the Arlo web site. 


Can you post a link to the page where you found it?

 

@Pjondeck  wrote:

could you shed some light on where we really are on this issue


I don't know anything about this other than what we all know.  It's an oft-requested feature, and there are certainly strong use cases for it. 

 

One potential barrier is that the notification APIs in Android have been greatly improved over the years, with a lot of new features introduced in Android 8 and Android 9.  Arlo currently is supporting back to Android 5.  Implementing this particular feature might require them to drop support for the older versions of Android.  Note I'm not an Android developer, so I don't have direct experience on what is/isn't possible with older versions of Android.

TomMac
Guru

TMK, the android has choices for custom sounds as I use one... IOS doesn't have this feature yet and have not heard any thing on it recently

Pjondeck
Observer

Thank you Stephen and Tom for your interest. I personally am not interested in Android. I realise that there has been progress with Android but I am perhaps unfortunately in this instance a "rusted on" iPhone user.

regards

Peter

 

Pjondeck
Observer

Stephen

I'm not sure now how I got that link but I do know that I did not and would have no reason to tinker with a link. I'm not that good! Sorry I can't be more specific.

regards

Peter

mdh42
Aspirant

Just a note from the Apple developers website:

URL: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/system-capabilities/notifications/

 

Consider providing a sound to supplement your notifications. Sound is a great way to get someone's attention when they’re not looking at the screen. For example, a to-do list app might play an alert sound when it’s time to perform an important task. Your app can use a custom sound or a built-in alert sound for this. If you use a custom sound, make sure it’s short, distinctive, and professionally produced. (For developer guidance, see UNNotificationSound.) Keep in mind that people can turn off notification alert sounds, so don't rely on the sound to communicate important information. People can also enable a vibration that accompanies alert sounds; you can't enable such a vibration programmatically.

 

So yes, this can be done. Get off the pot developers, make this happen.

Chevyboy67
Tutor

so ive been using arlo for years and have done many things to try to make alerts work.  ive read this comment this am and figured let me try one more thing again.  so i used IFFT   they do have a spot for arlo but the issue is IFFT not having configurable alerts in the app.  its  just like trying to configure arlo  it just doesnt work.  now we can try to write to the builders of ifft to see if we can get a better reaction but i think its in the app programmer.  if you look at the majority of the apps made they are all generic with sounds   they most all leave out the configuration for sound  with the exception of a few like whats app.  come to think of it i think thats th eonly app i have with a different sound.  so this was my effort this am to see what i could do.  im at a loss and have switched in the past to android and was awesome for the arlo app with sounds but the phones just arent the same as iphone  its a shame that this has gone almost 6 years in the making of no customizable alerts

Chevyboy67
Tutor

hey name the apps on ios that have custom sounds that you guys have id like to know .  go into notifications and scroll through all the apps  i bet they say just sounds with the slide bar and. none have the ability to do it in settings

Mtnman57
Onlooker

Chevyboy67

Matters not If other apps are customizable.  I didn’t pay hundreds of dollars for the other apps that are supposed to protect my home.  If you do not have something to add for this issue then take a flying bite at a rolling doughnut 

polymerchm
Novice

I write iPhone apps.   Allowing for use of the alert sounds to be changed in is trivial.   Please enable this for a future release.   

Pjondeck
Observer

That's a bit harsh MtnMan (my name is Peter)

Chevyboy is at least in there talking about it and offering a bit more insight. If all of us users affected by this issue did the same perhaps, just perhaps, long shot I know, Arlo/Netgear might just take a real interest. I actually got a response from one of my case reports assuring me that the "appropriate department are (sic) doing their best on this concern" and apologising for the inconvenience. Perhaps I am gullible but I actually have just a flicker of optimism. Time will tell.  Meanwhile thank you to all of you guys pushing this along.

regards

Peter