Where to start? Geofencing? Notifications? Just staying logged in?

[Rusty617]

Before I begin this lengthy post, my iphone, ipad, arlo hub and cameras are all up to date on software. 

The recent string of problems, and corresponding corrective updates, have been nothing short of atrocious.  For months, everything worked perfectly, then my geofencing stopped disarming upon arriving home, despite it clearly knowing a device was "in zone".

One of the two recent updates seemed to fix this for about a half a day, but now geofencing issues are back and have brought some other problems with them.  My Arlo Q cameras now properly arm and disarm, but my Arlo Hub and 6 Arlo Pro 2's will not disarm themselves when a device enters the zone.

Notifications have also decided to stop working (a GREAT feature in a security device, who wants to know whats happening anyhow?), motion still triggers a recording but I get zero, zlich, nada in the way of any notification.  Reading other threads on the same issue, I randomly moved my two Arlo Q cameras into the non active section of the smart notifications device group and my notifications are working again, some of the time, but not consistently. Not an acceptable long term fix!

And my personal favorite bug, which has been around for a while, but at times is INCREDIBLY frustrating, is me being immediately logged out once I open the app and receving a "you've been logged out because you logged in from another device." message.  Sometimes this does not happen, sometimes it happens once, sometimes it happens 5+ times in a row, making the app utterly and completely unusable.  I am 100% certain I am not logged in elsewhere, so this is most certainly a bug.

People are investing hundreds to thousands on these cameras and Arlo seems to be inept at making the software work properly, in fact it seems they routinely break working features via updates or server side issues. 

Here's a couple of tips, instead of having the "support" button in the app just be a link to your mostly useless support center, how about have a "report issue" button where we can actually submit problems along with logs that might help you correct issues?

Maybe instead of your app update change log stating "bug fixes and stability improvments" you actually say what bugs you think you may have addressed? or what issues you have stabalized?  How do you expect to fix issues if you aren't properly receiving feedback about them, or informing people about what you think you have fixed so they can let you know if those issues are still persisting?

This is Common Sense 101 type thinking, I'd expect at least this level of sophistication from such a large company that supposedly has teams dedicated to improving this software.  Garbage in, garbage out, clean it up! This community is clearly invested in your ecosystem and willing to work with you on making it better, utilize us and make this work for everyone.  Random posts in a message board like this only go so far, get some usable data in the hands of your developers.

I have in the past recommended Arlo cameras to others, I certainly won't do so anymore unless the Arlo team gets their act together.

[Dannybear]

Agree with all the recommendations you have mentioned.
Arlo can’t be helped.

[Bartley]

100% agree. I detailed every piece of Arlo  Equipment I have and all my networking hardware ISP provider and all devices on my network to Arlo. That is including Firmware and release dates. Along with 14 issues I have been having that are in so many versions of posts on here. Troubleshooting techniques for a temp fix. This is in a level 2 engineer support ticket. It has been a week since I replied to the e-mail to the support ticket number I recieved in an e-mail. The agent I talked to said to reply with any information I could supply and leave the support number in the subject line. They either are short staffed on Level2 support or they just ignore the issues. Mine works better so far after the firmware update for the VMB4000 his morning. When I checked the library this morning I was greeted with a message about a failed firmware update dated June 5th. I was afraid to run it but upon doing so it did finish without errors. All I can say is at least so far today I stayed in the eastern time zone. Maybe small progress.  

[Dannybear]

I was informed by my case worker that if you reply to the case email it goes into a cue that takes about two weeks normally to be added into the case file. The case worker does not know you have any new information until then.
This was prior to the recent debacle so it is now likely case updating using this method has extended out to months because of the work load.
The case worker also suggested using their case management portal to update the case file by using the link in the email that will alert the case worker of any changes but again the work load has extended this out from normally a week to a month. The case worker only reviews the case weekly and any response is cut and paste.

[Bartley]

If nothing else Arlo has accomplished with this latest fiasco is to prove that there security camera's do not give the customer confidence that if an event does happen where you truly need Arlo they cannot state a fact to the effect that they will be able to get a reliable notification, a video to review, a chance to hit the E911 button or have the base siren activate to all of ther customer base as advertised. This is by no means a security system at this point. Second week of no reliability or  even a corporate acknowledgement. For me I think it is time to leave my 6 month review with Best Buy where I purchased the initial 4 camera system and then on Amazon where I bougth the 5th camera and accessories. My honest feedback of my experience for the consumers that are thinking of making a purchase with Arlo so that they can make an informed decision. Very disappointing.