Geolocation / IFTTT custom modes / improvements

[nickmobbs]

Hi,

I am genuinely excited to see geolocation and IFTTT has been implemented, and yes I know its still 'Beta' but while it is still work in progress i would like to suggest a couple of improvements....

1) You need to support multiple devices. it makes no sense to have the cameras arm as I leave for work, only to get tons of videos of my wife leaving 10 minutes later.

You need to check for all devices to be out of the area before arming the cameras.

2) It should be possible to schedule 'geolocation' control.

Currently geolocation cannot be included in the schedule, which means i need to change the mode manually if like me you set them on during the night when you go to bed.

3) IFTTT - support 'custom' modes.

Currently you can only choose the standard armed or disarmed modes, you need to include for custom modes as well as being able to select gelolocation mode..

This would mean you could use the 'do' trigger to change mode quickly, helping to ease the pain of issue 2.

Overall though i have to say i am impressed with the additional functionality, but please Netgear, keep us informed of what you are working on!!!!

Kind Regards

Nick

[jwilliams08]

IFTTT is a great way to connect lots of different smart systems and logic!  I find the Arlo service to be unforunately weak in what should be simple, functional actions.  

I agree 100% that the Arlo IFTTT service should have a "Set Mode" action.  I have a Low Sensitivity mode for the daytime and High Sensitivity mode for night based on typical outdoor activity where my cameras are monitoring.  I use the Schedule mode to alter between these modes.  If I'm going out into the yard, I press a button to trigger IFTTT to disarm the cameras so I'm not setting them off.  When I want to re-arm them, the Arlo IFTTT service only gives me the option to set the hub to Armed mode, not Schedule, so I have to open my phone and wait for the Arlo app to load up so I can set that mode manually.  It would be great if I could also creat a scheduled IFTTT trigger to set the mode back to Schedule late at night if I forgot to re-arm it.

@JamesC, do you know if there are any upcoming enhancements to the IFTTT service?

[thaweatherman]

Having the IFTTT integration is nice since I haven't finished documenting your API, but what would be really nice is if we could turn on our custom modes in an IFTTT applet. Arm/disarm is fine and all, but changing to my custom profiles is more useful.

[JogiL]

Hi,
currently it is only possible to arm or disarm the whole Arlo-system via IFTTT. That is not detailed enough. I need to arm or disarm individual cameras, e.g. an indoor camera when I'm not at home or an outdoor camera when I'm at home. Are there plans to add those options?
Regards, Jogi

[dineshreds]

I love the arlo pro, have a couple of those cameras and would like to make use of other smart devices in my hosue to create smart flows.

Currently when i try to use IFTTT or Stringify to connect my smart lock, thermostat and arlo cameras together, the only options i have for arlo are to arm, disarm or record. i cannot set the arlo to any of the custom modes i created, this defeats the purpose as i would like to still keep all my outdoor cameras active for most use cases, however dont want to deal with false positive recordings when i know i will be out.

Say i need to go to the front yard to pick up a package or go to my car and come back, i want to be able to disable the camera when my smart lock is opened for 4 mins and re-arm the cameras.

I want to be able to only arm and record from certian cameras depending on my settings or modes on my thermostat for example sleep mode on my thermostat to trigger the sleep mode (custom mode i created which has a subset of cameras armed) on my arlo cam.

This seems like it is an easy enough request. 

[Danstable]

Agreed. Just created my first IFTTT actions but my joy was short lived when I realised that 'disarming' meant completely off rather than back to schedule. How hard can it before to add the options to trigger other Arlo modes? Sort it out please, this whole Alexa/IFTTT/Arlo/Sonos is quickly turning out to be one giant compromise.

[KikBxr1969]

IFTTT integration is nice to have.  However, it is very limited in what it can do.  I would like to suggest an upgrade to IFTTT integration that allows all custom modes and individual camera motion triggers to be accessed through IFTTT. 

The custom modes would allow a workaroung for the Beta Geofencing that is not as reliable as it could be. 

With the individual camera motion triggers, that can then be used in conjunction with smarthings or other home apps to do things like turn on lights in the zone with motion.  (Note: I am aware that smartthings will accomplish this as well, however smartthings requires the mode to be "smartthings" and does not do a good job of controlling the arlo app - Using the specialized modes to arm/disarm the cameras, I can then be more specific in how I use the armed cameras)

[KennethB]

+1
Any updates on this since June last year?
It's great with the integration to IFTTT but as stated initially, Armed/Disarmed is really not enough since you can't customize the default rules.
Any updates from the arlo Dev team??

[tomjohn]

It looks like there are a number of threads around the Arlo community forum about triggering custom modes from IFTTT, but this feature request didn't seem to be captured in the idea exchange, so wanted to capture this feature request here.

[Rolgarza]

I agree great feature to add

[PattyPP]

TomJohn,

You seem to have some expertise in using Arlo and IFTTT, and I am hoping you can help me troubleshoot my logic.  I am new to Arlo, but not new to programming.  I have a problem I've been trying to solve using IFTTT.  Arlo does not allow you to run 2 different modes automatically (geo and schedule in my case).  I want to have Arlo turn itself on when all of us leave the house, and also to arm itself on a schedule at night (only arming 2 of the 4 cameras).  For the "away from home" I have to use Geo on Arlo (because there are multiple people coming in and out of the house, so it needs to only arm when ALL are out of the house).  But then I also want Arlo to arm the outside cameras only (I have 2 outside and 2 inside) at 11:30pm and disarm at 5 am when we are home.  I do this through IFTTT.   Two problems:  IFTTT does not allow me to choose which cameras to turn on and which ones to leave off.  And secondly, Arlo does not revert back to Geo once IFTTT disarms it at 5 am.  Any advise/pointers/links will be ppreciated!