Geofence Notifications

[Cbolos]

Hello, it seems with the release of the new Arlo app the option to hide geofence enter/exit notifications has been removed? Is this true? If so it's a very annoying omission. Thanks.

[AncientGeek]

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@Arlouser010320 wrote:

Yes, this is stupid to force a mode change notification.  First, I didn't realize my system was broken after the last upgrade so basically my app wasn't doing anything for a couple of months.  When I upgraded 2 weeks ago, then this new crap I cannot disable started up.  Finally tonight I was fed up with it and disabled notifications completely and started researching.  What this decision has done is had me turn off all notifications, period.  Defeats the purpose of having notifications on security type of equipment, but you tards forced my hand.  I will probably ebay my equipment and get an alternative.  Good job you jackwagons.

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My problem appears to be the opposite.  (I’m using iOS.). Currently, I appear to get NO geofencing notifications even will ALL of the notification settings turned on.  Not even Location In/Out notifications are working.  I set that setting and subsequently saw one set of notifications for one of my locations, once when i opened the Arlo app.  Since then nothing ... and I have been moving from location to location and in and out of the app many times a day.  Geofencing appears to correctly reflect our iPhone positions relative to the zones, but I receive no notifications regarding geofencing status changes from neither iOS nor the Arlo app.

[wldrns1]

Frankly, I just don't get this company's approach. How can you have so many customer complaints and not offer more than 'we're looking into it' or an overly brief 'it works that way because that's how we want it'. We don't need a long drawn out explanation. We're not idiots either. We are your customers and should be treated like you want us to be on your side.

I owned a small business. I learned very early on that most people won't say anything when they feel they don't get a fair shake or there's something sub-standard in some way. They simply move on AND TELL ALL THEIR FRIENDS. The friends tell theirs and so on. Once loyalty/good reputation is lost or questioned, it's so very hard to get back. People don't expect things to be over the top. They just want to feel products and service meet their needs. It's a very simple formula and easy to accomplish and maintain if prioritized. What Arlo is seeing now is just a percentage of the loss. 

It is much harder and more costly to win back trust than to stay on top and ensure a good operation. Actually today, with flimsy/just good enough becoming the norm, it's easier to be considered good compared to the old days. We won't talk about excellence which really isn't that much more effort. It's a focus.

Rather than spend money on TV Ads and new products, I suggest taking a moment to mop up and straighten out the major issues/complaints thru out these message boards. I suggest putting a trained, dedicated person in charge of reviewing these boards and prioritizing an action list. This needs to be their ONLY job until the mess is cleaned up. If someone is doing this now, you need to find someone else. Whatever you're doing now (if anything) is costing more in all aspects and certainly isn't cutting it.

[AncientGeek]

So true. They have heard similar coaching in the past as well. It is good to keep reminding them.

[Arlouser010320]

Since I am the gadget guy in the family circle, during Christmas I had 2 family members, both household decision makers, ask me about baby cameras as well as front door cameras.  Last night I emailed them both the link to this thread and told them NOT to buy Arlo's crap.  This is a 180 from what I had told them during Christmas.  That is 3, including me, where they will be losing future hardware sales and potential monthly membership fees, just because THEY KNOW BETTER than me.  I now hope their company fizzles because no company deserves to exist without keeping customer service the most important bullet in their mission statement.

[keithc0]

Agree with all. I would never purchase anything from these folks again. I noticed in the past that occasionally a Netgear person would respond in there, but that has dried up. Either they ignore us, or they've stopped caring entirely.

I know I've gone in and adjusted my Amazon review to 1 star. You may want to do the same if you want to share this out with others. Arlo is one of the most frustrating products I've owned.

[Arlouser010320]

Wish I could change from 1 star to less that 1 star

[AncientGeek]

For all of the pain we have endured, it is no surprise folks are totally fed up with this.  However, I was just thinking the other day that I have seen improvements recently and it feels like Arlo software is starting to come back to a decent place.  Perhaps this is primarily due to the horrible state of the software starting with 2.6.0 about 14 months or so ago...and continuing through 2.7.x and all of the follow-on versions.  Remember that 2.6.0 gutted the devices screen of a ton of critical functionality.  Arlo added to back slowly.  2.7.0 (if I recall correctly) rendered the app nearly useless due to the length of time it took to open the app and display device statuses.  We saw times of 45 seconds to nearly 2 minutes on our various iPads.  Around that time, my iPad display also started this weird shifting of the columns of devices displayed on the iPad screen.  Columns 2 & 3 shifted left and column 1 shifted to the 3rd column.   That stayed broken until 2.12 was released a few weeks ago.  Few people experienced this issue, because it was iPad specific and only for people displaying over 30 cameras, believe.  And this doesn’t mention all of the people who had horrible experiences with Live View throughout various versions.

This has been a very rough ride for loyal customers.  One we most certainly did not deserve.

I only bring up the improvement (aka working nearly the way it should) because I have experiences with Ring, Logi Circle, Nest (previously DropCam), Axis, Wyze, Eufy, and a few other camera companies.  All of which I am currently using in some capacity ... They all have limitations and problems.  So there is no perfect alternative to Arlo to which we could all happily flee.  When and if there ever is that alternative, Arlo better have its act together or people will be gone.

I tend to like having at least two systems installed so I have some cameras from each system that work when the other company  is experiencing a failure or breaks their software.  It is a Sadi statement on the quality of this industry, but I think that is they way it is currently.

[RSC1]

My cameras are all Ultras and I have only one basestation. It’s all working quite smoothly with exception to activity zones. It’s not the end of the world, but the zones would be nice.

[caboy123]

Like many others I created an account simply because of this issue.  

I purchased an Arlo base station with two cameras ($292) and later an Arlo Go Verizon ($400).  Now that I am past the return period for both devices, Arlo has decided to release a new App version and change the GeoFencing alert. The alert is always on. There is no way to turn it off. In the previous app version this alert could be turned off.

From looking at this thread, it seems lots of people have complained about this.  It seems Arlo management does not care what customers think.

The device should only alert on motion detection when I am not home. That is what it did in the previous version of the app.

The device is now useless to me. Now I have to either look at my phone each time I cross the Geofence boundary to know if it a geofence alert or an intruder.  What happens if customers become conditioned to believe each time they are returning home the alert is just the geofence boundary being crossed, they stop looking at their phones, and come home to an intruder?

Since Arlo management decided to change the functionality of the product after the return period expired, I want you to buy this equipment back from me.