Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Geolocation / IFTTT custom modes / improvements

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

 

 

Comments
Rico----
Aspirant

@XJW have you been able to achieve that set-up, or is this your wish list when IFTTT integration improves? I ask as it is similar to the modes I want to set-up but I didn't think it was possible. Using IFTTT I can only set ALL cameras to armed or ALL cameras disarmed. That's where I use custom modes within Arlo to set-up rules for each camera...but of course these modes cannot be accessed with Arlo's terrible IFTTT integration...

scrampker
Tutor

I'm considering buying a SmartThings hub (after giving my old one away a few months back,) solely for Arlo control. It has the ability to granularly enable or disable each camera.

 

Such a shame that IFTTT cannot do this directly.

XJW
Apprentice
Apprentice

 

Hi @Rico---- 

 

Its not possible today.  As you have worked out IFTTT only supports Arm and Disarm which is useless for the basic use case where you leave outdoor cameras on when you are at home.

 

We have been asking for support for this capability / use case for years but its been ignored.  It should not be ignored its a basic use case.

XJW
Apprentice
Apprentice

Hi @nickmobbs 

 

Using Smart Things sounds interesting.  Are these assumptions correct ?

 

- You cant change modes with Smart Things but you can disable cameras that are included in a Custom Mode.

 

- So you might have one Custom Mode for All Cameras and then disable the indoor cameras when you are at home.

 

- When I am at home I dont want notifications for the outdoor cameras (indoor cameras are off).  They just record activity.  When I am away from home I want notifications for all cameras.  Another basic use case.  To implement this I need to switch between two Custom Modes with different Notification settings.

 

Any thoughts on workarounds ? 

scrampker
Tutor

Yes, when you connect SmartThings it creates a custom mode in Arlo. Then you have fun enable/disable control. You can easily expose the cameras to IFTTT at that point if you wished. For me, I would skip that and just allow my Hubitat Elevation to control then over my LAN. I did this for months before getting rid of that hub, not realizing it was limited only to ST.

 

You should be able to use any generation of hub.

scrampker
Tutor

In your use case I would use ST for notifications, since you want to decouple alerts and actual recording.

XJW
Apprentice
Apprentice

Hi @scrampker 

Great posts. Thank you.

 

It says a lot about Arlo that a Smart Hub is required to work around Arlo's deficiencies.

 

We have been asking Arlo to close this basic use case gap for years ...........

 

 

scrampker
Tutor

FYI was able to add my Arlo to one of my other ST hubs in the wild. At my parents' home. Just for testing, but I don't want them having access to my video feeds. Seems to work just fine. You do NOT have to keep the Arlo hub local to your ST hub. Then you can use IFTTT to link your Arlo thru ST to any other platform.

scrampker
Tutor

I forgot I had several offline hub/locations no longer in use... so I just added the Arlo integration there. It's all cloud-based anyhow. Fully-functional Hubitat Elevation v1 -> IFTTT -> SmartThings Cloud -> Arlo Cloud -> On/Off Arlo switchable camera setting. I only set it up one-way, since I don't use the ST side for anything at all.

 

I already had the _actual_ HE Arlo link configured, which allow motion to trigger momentary virtual motion elements.image.png

scrampker
Tutor

Just to follow up... I had to create bidirectional rules from ST <-> HE because they wouldn't stay in sync. Now it seems very reliable and lightning fast response times. Still not ideal compared to having direct HE control or IFTTT without ST, but at least I'm not having to wait on a hub thousands of miles away. 🙂