Geofencing Breaks when iOS App Login Session Times Out

[jcrain]

My wife and I both have iPhones with the Arlo app. Both if these are listed as devices which are geofenced.

We regularly find that one of our devices has been logged out of Arlo, and therefore won't trigger the geofencing (either Home or Away), leaving our system exposed.

We will both leave home, only to find that Arlo thinks one of us is still there, and won't arm the system. Similarly, we'll arrive home, and the system won't disarm, until we both log in, change mode to arm or disarm, and then back to geofencing.

The trouble is, neither of us know when this happens. The Arlo app doesn't tell us that we've been logged out until we go into it, which defeats the purpose of geofencing. We also don't understand why either of us would be logged out when we haven't touched the app.

This is very confusing and frustrating, any tips would be gratefully received.

Jamie

[ShayneS]

Hello,

This issue has been identified and a fix to resolve this issue will be coming soon. I will provide another update as soon as possible.

[ShayneS]

The Arlo development team is currently investigating this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community.

[Teer]

Update: There have been 3 app updates since I last posted. I realized I had forgotten to tell you that I no longer have to log in EVERY time there is some kind of motion.

I think that's fixed, thanks!

[erulastiel]

This is not directly related to the Arlo camera hardware, though I couldn't find a better forum category. 

On our Arlo iOS apps, there is a login session as there is with any app. However, with the Arlo app, the session expires after a week or two. And you must keep the session "alive" by opening the app every few days. Often just a fresh opening of the app or FaceID will bring the Geofencing back again. The general issue is: If Arlo's login session expires, then the geofencing feature stops altogether. There is no transparency to this process or its effect on Geofencing.

Testing reveals it happens with and without FaceID turned on, across multiple devices. Two Factor Is turned on for every device/account tested. 

Living in an apartment, Geofencing is important to us. However, we don't want no need to open the app repeatedly every few days to ensure the login session is kept alive. 

Please address this issue. Thank you!

[Dannybear]

Yeah, geofencing has never really worked for me for the last few years. I saw some promising advice with v3.6.4 but when I tried using it it just stops working after 24hrs.

I have since gone back to using the manual geofencing method.

If it doesn’t work don’t keep trying to use it.

[Woodself]

Replying to moderator:

Yes we are still experiencing logging out.  Let me explain to be sure my issue is the same as others.

My wife is granted access and accepted.  If either one o fus goes on Arlo  that person is kicked off when the other one logs on.  It tells us we must enter all our login information to get back on.  We have both gone to the App Store and updated our app to the latest update.  We are still having this problem.  

[Dannybear]

My recent experience using geofencing is that it stops working after 24hrs, the app no longer logs out every day at least.

[ShayneS]

@Woodself

And you are running App verision 3.6.4? 

[Woodself]

Yes my wife and I have both updated the arlo app to version 3.6.4 and it still logs me out if she tries to log in and vice versa. 

[ngl1604]

Do you have separate accounts?  This behaviour sounds like that experienced when you try to use the same account to log in on different devices.

[wurstbeutel]

still the same issue, we are on 3.6.4. i guess its time to move on…

[ngl1604]

I have to say that so far things seem much better. I have three people (each with their own accounts) using a device each to trigger geolocation and the logging out issue seems to have gone away for them all.

I’d be interested to know whether there is still a maximum amount of time set for inactivity that may log them out at some point

[jcrain]

"I’d be interested to know whether there is still a maximum amount of time set for inactivity that may log them out at some point"

Has there ever been? We check our cameras every day and it still logs us out.

[Dannybear]

For me it was two weeks before I had to login again after the fix was implemented.
For those that are still having to relogin daily I speculate the fix was server related so your local server may not have had the update rolled out yet.

[erulastiel]

This issue still persists, even after just a few days of me being on vacation the app session expires, breaking geofencing. Screenshot here

[jcrain]

The "fix" has not worked with our apps. Still getting "session expired" message most days on one of our devices. All apps are updated.

[ShayneS]

Can you update to the latest version of the Arlo mobile app v3.6.5 and test again?

[ShayneS]

Can you test with the latest version of the Arlo app v3.6.5 and iOS 15.5. If you do not see the Arlo app update you can remove and reinstall the Arlo app to force the update. 

[erulastiel]

Sounds good, I am always at the newest version. Though will test again. Currently on 3.6.5.

[wurstbeutel]

still the same

[Arques]

Situation has not improved for me. All that changed is the error message. It now says that the access token has expired instead of session.

[jcrain]

No change for us. 

What a shambles.

[Dannybear]

Mine changed to having to manually enter credentials again after the Oops! Message. Latest app version.

[Mic983]

Arlo app constantly logs me out and renders the cameras inactive if geofencing is set. Logs me out every 2-3 days requiring me to re login to the app to fet cameras active. There is no reason for this to happen and is a new issue within the past 6months to year.
Many attempts to get support just result in being told to reinstall the app. How many times to i have to reinstall the same app

[esnyde10]

Are there any new updates to this?

[janhjordie]

I had my Arlo system for several years. Everything but one thing works just fine.

We are several users on the system with individual accounts. And always use geofencing.

We use latest iOS version on all our apple devices.

After some time (1-3 weeks), the system session expires, and log out all users/phones.

And since NO ONE get any notification about the session expiration, then the system suddenly is disabled without knowing it.

For security reason it's just fine you expire the session sometimes, but please let the user know !

We have very often noticed the system has been disabled for several days because of the session expire, and not knowing it.

The stupidest thing is also that you one day can open the Aplo app, and the next day you are logged out ??? 

So the session time is always for a fixed period, and not sliding expiration. 

Why is there a session expire timeout ??? And why don't you at least not notify about the session expire.

You should at minimum set the system to active when you force the session expire.

I'm not interested to have to open the Arlo App f..... every day just to check I'm not logged out.

I can see there are so many other users also have the same issue.

Please fix it !

Thanks

Jan

[jcrain]

@janhjordie Spot on!

But even this website logs me out after I've ticked the "Remember me" box, so I'm losing faith that a fix is coming.