Only one Pro 2 camera does not cause audio alert on Samsung Galaxy S21 5G

[Al66]

I have an Arlo Pro 2 wireless 5 camera system.  Only one camera does not cause an audio alert on my new phone, a Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, but that same camera does send a video alert to my phone.  I believe I have all necessary permissions turned on as evidence by the other four cameras causing audio alerts on my phone.  Potential solutions will be most welcomed.  Thank you.  

[Dannybear]

Are you able to confirm that your getting audio from the problem camera.
Can you confirm that on the wanted mode that the camera rule for the problem camera has audio detection enabled and the audio sensitivity is not set too low?

[jguerdat]

OP, you're referring to a sound when detection happens for that camera, right? Have you checked the rule for the camera to ensure that push notifications are enabled?

[Al66]

HI Dannybear,  Thanks for taking time to reply. I don't believe I was clear in my OP.  My issue is that my phone does not make a sound when the one camera in question detects motion even though my phone does receive a video recording of the motion event.  My phone does make a sound when one of the other four cameras detects motion.  

[Al66]

Correct, I'm referring to my phone making a sound when detection happens for that camera.  I believe I do have push notifications enabled for that camera, but will boot up the system, double check, and let you know if I'm wrong and if that solved that problem.  

[Al66]

Hi again jguerdat,  I checked my settings and confirmed that I have enabled notifications for Arlo.  However, I could not find a separate notification setting specifically for the problem camera. I clicked on the settings icon for that camera but didn't see a "notifications" option for that camera. Does such a setting exist?  And how can I find it?  Thanks.

[StephenB]

Check the rule for the camera in the mode and see the push notification is enabled there.

https://kb.arlo.com/42/What-are-modes-and-rules-and-how-does-Arlo-use-them

[Al66]

Uh oh StephenB, I think you just uncovered an even bigger problem that I have.  I clicked on the link you provided and read the article about modes and rules. And then I booted up Arlo, clicked on Mode and all that appears are the following options for our base only: Armed, Disarmed, Schedule, and Geofencing.  None of our five cameras appears, so I don't have the ability to modify any of the rules!  Now it seems the problem is bigger than I thought. No wonder I can't make sure push notifications are on.  Any ideas how to remedy this issue? 

[StephenB]

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@Al66 wrote:

And then I booted up Arlo, clicked on Mode and all that appears are the following options for our base only: Armed, Disarmed, Schedule, and Geofencing.  

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So far, that is fine.

Edit the Armed mode, and you should see the rules for your cameras.

[Al66]

Hmmm, I tried everything I could think of to edit the Armed mode and failed. I don't have a pencil icon, or any other icon or link to trigger editing the Armed mode.  I tried clicking on "Armed" but no luck.  I do have some options for my cameras under "Settings" but not the rules described in the article about editing Mode, and not for turning on push notifications.  I've run out of options, all suggestions welcomed.  

[Dannybear]

When editing from the mode page after selecting the base station can you create a custom mode and edit this? Look for the add mode button at the bottom of the page.
If you can you should be able to add new rules for your cameras and when completed set the custom mode to be running.

[Al66]

Thanks Dannybear, and everyone else that has taken the time to reply to my post.  Here's what I learned is going on FYI.  My wife set up our system and she's mentioned a few times adjusting things like "motion sensitivity" that I could not find when I logged in.  So as a result of all of your input, I logged in with my wife's credentials and discovered she has access to all of the rules and options you all have been suggesting.  Most annoying, under "Settings" - "Grant Access" she has allowed me all access rights.  But that clearly hasn't happened, since when I log in with my credentials, I cannot see any of the rules and options she has.  This seems pretty messed up to use a technical term.  Anyone have insight how to remedy this situation.  Thank you all again.  

[Dannybear]

You may want to consider just using the same account credentials on all your login devices if you’re not concerned with others making functional changes.
Only problems with doing this is that only one device will be logged in at a time, that is any active device will get logged out. Also the other logged in devices get access to the account and make changes.
Real question is have you resolved the notifications issue?

[Al66]

A quick test this morning yielded mixed results:  I received an audio alert on my phone when I walked in front of the camera (exterior of house).  However, when I drove my SUV past the camera I did not receive an audio alert even though I did receive a video alert.  So the camera picked up my vehicle, sent a video alert and recording of the vehicle, but did not make a sound?!  Seems pretty strange to me. Any thoughts on the cause will be welcomed.

[Dannybear]

I don’t believe that you would get a audio alert once the motion alert has been triggered.
There is a reset period of about ten seconds after motion has stopped to prevent miss triggering.
As a test, try individually triggering of audio and motion from the camera.

[Al66]

For clarification, my phone has all along been providing both a text notification and an audio alert (i.e., my phone makes a sound) every time the other (non-subject) four cameras detect motion.  Here's an example of the odd issue I'm working on, I just drove my SUV past the subject camera after Arlo had been armed for a few hours. I received a text alert, a recording of my vehicle in motion -- but my phone did not make a sound (which I think is obviously desirable to get my attention).  So, I then walked the exact same path that I drove and not only did I receive a text alert and a recording of me in walking, but I my phone did make a sound alert.  I'm not aware of any setting that would account for that strange difference between a car and a human being?

[StephenB]

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@Al66 wrote:

For clarification, my phone has all along been providing both a text notification and an audio alert (i.e., my phone makes a sound) every time the other (non-subject) four cameras detect motion.  

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The terms here can be easily confused.  Usually when we talk about "audio alerts" we are talking about triggering a notification/recording from the camera's microphone instead of triggering it on detected motion.

But I don't think you are meaning that - instead you just are talking about whether your phone notifies you via a sound+visual alert, or whether it notifies you only via the visual alert.  Is that correct? 

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@Al66 wrote:

Here's an example of the odd issue I'm working on, I just drove my SUV past the subject camera after Arlo had been armed for a few hours. I received a text alert, a recording of my vehicle in motion -- but my phone did not make a sound (which I think is obviously desirable to get my attention).  So, I then walked the exact same path that I drove and not only did I receive a text alert and a recording of me in walking, but I my phone did make a sound alert.  I'm not aware of any setting that would account for that strange difference between a car and a human being?

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This might be more about your phone and car setup than about Arlo.

• Is the car set up to automatically pair with your phone when you start it?
• Does the phone have any settings (or third party apps) to control driver distraction?

You might ask a friend or family member to hold your phone while standing outside your car, and then try driving past the camera again.  Then see if they hear the notification sound or not.

[Al66]

Stephen B, you have found the source of the problem.  The solution, however, has proven to be elusive. First, you are correct - I am just talking about whether my phone notifies me via a sound+visual alert, or whether it notifies me only via the visual alert.  I performed the test you suggested by having my wife hold my phone inside our house and then I drove past the camera.  Sure enough, my wife reported hearing a sound alert from my phone in addition to the visual alert.  Here are my answers to your other questions"

Re: This might be more about your phone and car setup than about Arlo.

• Is the car set up to automatically pair with your phone when you start it?  Answer:  Yes, it is.
• Does the phone have any settings (or third party apps) to control driver distraction?  Answer:  Yes, I just discovered that it does have an app called Android auto and that app has an option called "Silent notifications."  But to my disappointment, this option was already toggled off. I searched this app for other places to turn on sound notifications, found a few, turned them on, tested again, still no sound.  So I disabled the app, tested again, still no sound. Aye yi yi!  Maybe it's a setting in my vehicle, a 2016 Honda Pilot, which has the nasty habit of imposing so called safety features whether I like them or not?  So I'll explore that option next unless you have another excellent suggestion.  Thanks again for you time and efforts, much appreciated.  

[Al66 · Accepted solution]

Here's an update on my problem just in case this info might be useful for other folks.  Thanks to Stephen B I have pinpointed the source of the problem: it is my Samsung galaxy S21 +5G.  Presumably for safety purposes, when my phone is paired with my car, it will only make a sound notification via Bluetooth through my car's audio system.  And turning off Bluetooth on my phone doesn't help either.  The phone apparently still knows it's paired to my car and will not make a sound notification.  So if I want to hear a sound notification from Arlo, I have to set the source of my car audio to "Bluetooth" and then I do hear a sound through my car's audio system when Arlo sends me an alert.  Of course if I do that, I can't listen to the radio, etc. so it's not a good solution.  I've visited various Android forums discussing this very annoying problem and no useful solutions like an option to play sound notifications both through Bluetooth and my phone have been presented.   Ironically, my old Samsung S4 would make a sound for every Arlo alert even thought it was  paired to my car while I was driving.  Seems like another example of technology taking 10 steps forward and then a few backwards.  Thanks again to all for your time and helping me pinpoint the source of the problem.