"Operation cannot be completed" -- "Workaround" update from Arlo

[BB117]

I keep getting this message operation cannot be completed at this time does anyone know what this means

[DJL1]

Well, I would certainly expect a security company whose product was broken by a self-inflicted wound to say SOMETHING to support the customers of its $500 product. Unless I was trying to tank the business, which I would never do. I would think they'd either attempt to roll back the server to the previous functional version, or do an incremental server update that fixes the issue without going 6 months without the capability of a mission critical functionality. But that's me.

Trying the proposed 20 second video length workaround.

[GB808]

Just wanted to provide an update as I am still seeing new users with the same problem. It has been over three weeks since I adjusted my settings to 30 second record time as recommended on this thread by a few users and I have not had one error on any of my cameras. We average about a dozen alerts a day for our system. I am using the Arlo Pro so I cannot speak to the same results for the Arlo Pro 2. Message 270 on this thread provided the following instructions that I used to adjust my cameras:

"Mode -> on your device choose "Armed" -> "Armed" choose the pencil -> If motion on camera X -> Record Video -> choose "Record for a fixed length of time" and pick a time like 30s which people say works."

I hope that this works for everyone else as well and that Arlo finds a permanent solution.   

[MWVincent62]

On my IPhone 6 or 8, using the Arlo App, when click on the videos in my library, I get error message "The operation could not  be completed. I have re-installed the Arlo App. Is this an Apple or Arlo issue? I called Arlo Support and they were no help.

[jguerdat]

How long are the videos? It may be that you need to increase the recording time to 20-30 seconds for them to work properly.

[MWVincent62]

I could see my videos in library with on IPhone 6. Then in May 2019, the problem started.

[BugMan75205]

Every time I try to watch a motion video, “The operation couldn’t be completed” pops up. I then try to download and (Cocoa error -1) pops up. Allow access has been granted in my iPhone and iPad

[Ldw52]

Also receiving “the operation could not be completed” randomly, not every time, from both cameras.  Just this morning we purposely triggered both cameras several times, a few videos worked fine, three did not. This is not the first issue we’ve had with this system and since we are out of the 90 day warranty you have to pay to talk to someone by phone??  That right there tells me they have no confidence in their products.  This system is awful and believe me we tell everyone we know that is considering a security system to steer clear of Arlo!!

[406]

So changed my settings to record 20 second intervals. Not had another issue yet.
But a message to Arlo in particular, if this problem is not fixed in less than the 90 day return period i have, i Am going to return to store. I may even hock a loogy in the box before doing so. And then I’m going to spread the news as far as I’m able across the internet that your product is faulty and your customer service is same.
At least you should be responding real time, real answers. Give us some technical data... maybe people here will know what it is you are saying and concur. Your silence on the matter makes me and others very suspicious.

[Garyfoy]

My update on the review error I posted

I changed the recording time to 30 secs and I get all the playbacks. Now my cameras record most of the time and sometimes not. I decided to go to my Bestbuy store (My system came from Costco) and got a few salesmen around and asked them for the best camera system they had. It was Arlo. Surprise?  I showed them the errors and reviews of their BEST system.  They were very surprised by all the bad reviews. This might have more pressure on Arlo than anything else. I would really like my system to work as advertised.

Arlo are you listening?

Probally still hiding!

[MLHensley]

I changed my record time to 30 sec. & all 4 have been recording without an error message. Hopefully it lasts.

[Ldw52]

I don’t think record time has anything to do with my problem. I have a recording today that was over a minute long that worked fine. Shortly after that I have a 13 second recording that did not. “Operation cannot be completed at this time”. It did however have a still shot behind that box of the deer that triggered the camera. It just wouldn’t show a video.  We triggered over 20 recordings today going in and out of the house and barn, some worked, some didn’t and a few didn’t even trigger the camera at all. No confidence at all in a security system that doesn’t work properly, I’m sorry I convinced my husband to purchase this junk. 

[acarrin]

It sounds like you don’t have the “Record for a fixed length of time” set. Search 10 or so posts back on detailed configuration settings. Set it for >=25 seconds and you should be good until Arlo and Apple resolve this problem.

[jiress]

I've changed the recording time to ’until activity stops’ and haven't this issue almost over the month - arlo pro 2 cams, at my arlo hd cams with basic base station without the siren I haven't any issues like this - recording time is set to 30s

[Jale]

New member here. Just bought it yesterday and used it this morning and I received the same message. Is this being resolved? 

[Arlo2user]

Hi all: I reported a couple of weeks ago that after sending an email to Arlo's Investor Relations asking it to be forwarded to Matthew McRae, Arlo's CEO, I received a call with a NEW case number (I had already been assigned one when I had previously contact tech support). The woman I spoke with said this was because my email spurred an "escalation" from one of the management staff. (Well, at least someone is listening.)

I've received two subsequent update calls (proactively!) from that same contact. On the first, on July 2, she told me nothing new: "The engineers are still working on it." Today I received another call telling me that they're still working on (!!) it BUT that they had a suggested work-around. That workaround (drumroll, please): Set the record period to 20-30 seconds! I told her this was disappointing in that this solution had been proposed on this forum several weeks ago, and now they were claiming it as their own??!!

I understand that users have found some success with this workaround, but I want to record motion until it stops (which, after all, is the point, isn't it?). 

[alan_iwa_reg]

@Arlo2user : Thanks for updating us on your call with Arlo.  It's funny their suggested workaround is something we already knew from reading the forums.  Maybe that's their sustaining engineering strategy: read forum & suggest workarounds from forum.  Then they go back to watching youtube cat videos.  

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@Arlo2user wrote:

Hi all: I reported a couple of weeks ago that after sending an email to Arlo's Investor Relations asking it to be forwarded to Matthew McRae, Arlo's CEO, I received a call with a NEW case number (I had already been assigned one when I had previously contact tech support). The woman I spoke with said this was because my email spurred an "escalation" from one of the management staff. (Well, at least someone is listening.)

I've received two subsequent update calls (proactively!) from that same contact. On the first, on July 2, she told me nothing new: "The engineers are still working on it." Today I received another call telling me that they're still working on (!!) it BUT that they had a suggested work-around. That workaround (drumroll, please): Set the record period to 20-30 seconds! I told her this was disappointing in that this solution had been proposed on this forum several weeks ago, and now they were claiming it as their own??!!

I understand that users have found some success with this workaround, but I want to record motion until it stops (which, after all, is the point, isn't it?). 

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[DJL1]

So, we are fed up with the lack of response, effort and responsibility taken by this company. I returned one of our Arlo units today to Costco and told their service person about our experience. He suggested writing Costco on the issue, and I will. We are going to audition Ring and possibly another solution as a replacement. Open to suggestions.

There are companies that will stand their products and business choices (like Costco), and there are those who run and hide, obfuscate, or stonewall. I do not want that kind of company responsible for protecting my home. That this issue is clearly known by the product team, support, admin, and the CEO and they continue to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to address it in a proactive way is simply astonishing. I urge everyone to speak up and let the folks at Arlo know this is a dealbreaker. They will get principled, or the will lose business.

I will continue to follow this forum, and have to say I feel better about having my money back and options open for a beter security product and provider for my home.

[Yeags87]

Has anyone come up with a resolution for this? I just installed this a few days ago and every recording has given this message. Would love to figure this out otherwise I am returning it

[Gregory123]

hi Yeags87,
Message 352 on the thread gives what appears to be a successful work around by using a fixed record time of about 30secs. Details as follows 👍"Mode -> on your device choose "Armed" -> "Armed" choose the pencil -> If motion on camera X -> Record Video -> choose "Record for a fixed length of time" and pick a time like 30s which people say works."

[KKS-Col]

Arlo says they are still working the problem. The 30 second workaround, where you have the cameras record for a fixed length, will provide the majority of the recordings when viewing on an iOS device. If something bad is occurring, however, it will quit recording at the 30 second limit. I expect the firmware engineers will probably resolve the issue sooner or later but they have been working on it for two months now.

[DJL1]

Good News!!

According to the CEO, a fix has been made -- it's being stress tested over the weekend and scheduled for deployment next week.

https://twitter.com/mbmcrae/status/1152310138490933248

[Dannybear]

@DJL1,
Thanks for the heads up.

I hope it’s a server update rather than another flaky firmware update.

[Aec]

I got that too with a video shot in the darkness. Server error? Nothing on my end clears it.

[Aec]

It’s July 21 and the same problem is still there. How much investigating needs to be done? Action, Arlo. Get on it.

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

@ArloAlex from the Product line management team has advised that a server-side update was released earlier this week that resolves this issue. Please note that this update will not resolve the issue for clips that were affected before the update was released, but future clips should not be affected. If you encounter this issue again on clips dated after 07/22/2019, please let us know so that we can follow up for more information.

Thank you!

JamesC