"This Arlo device is offline" in app - OK in browser

[Arlonely]

After a complicated setup with 2 base units and accounts granting access to each other, the system is finally setup and works in browser.

However, when viewing on Android App with Samsung S8 (with all latest updates) 2 of the 9 cameras report as:

"This Arlo device is offline.  Please make sure it is connected to the internet"

After over 3 hours (no exaggeration) on a support session with Arlo, they advised that I should check whether ports 123, 80 , and 443 are blocked and should contact my  Internet Service Provider to open.  Is this really required to use Arlo "out of the box" I thought this was supposed to be a super easy setup?

What seems very odd is that 7 out of the 9 cameras can be viewed in the app and 9 out of 9 cameras can be viewed in the browser.

Anyhow my ISP cannot help, they said contact the router manufacturer - which is Netgear.  Arlo support said they couldn't help because it is a "different department" and I should contact my ISP!!! 

I'm not even sure that jumping through these hoops will fix this as it is only 2 cameras that are not working.  Has anyone else had this problem and did opening up the ports fix it?

I have a Netgear NightHawk X8 - how do I confiugre it to work with the Arlo Pro 2 base station?

Is it really the case that I have to jump through all these hoops to get this to work?  It seems that it is very common that ports 123, 80 , and 443 are blocked.

[Arlonely]

Additional, I spent another hour jumping through all the hoops to enable these ports on my Netgear Nighthawk R8500, and it still does not work.

I sincerely believe that this issue is a problem with the Android App and that Netgear are wasting my time be checking all these other issues.  

Is there a good explanation as to why the system working fine in a browser but the problem only occuring on the Android app?  

[brh]

I don't know if this will help you, but have you tried turning off the power saving mode for wireless connections? It seems to solve some other problems.

Go to Settings, Connections, WIFI, Advanced to find it.

Brian

[jguerdat]

There should be no issue using the app to see all devices. Try logging out and back into the app and reinstall the app if that fails.

[Arlonely]

Thanks for the reply.  I agree, there should not be an issue.  Sadly and frustratingly there is, I've tried logging out, logging in, uninstalling app, reinstalling app, using a shared account (access granted) but all to no avail.  Very odd, 2 cameras stubbornly always say same message in app and do not work but all OK in browser.

[Arlonely]

Thanks I checked power saving mode for wireless connections.  This is already off on my phone so still no luck.

[Arlonely]

I'm hoping Arlo support will reach out and collect logs from app so they can diagnose this.

[TomMac]

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Arlonely wrote:

Thanks for the reply.  I agree, there should not be an issue.  Sadly and frustratingly there is, I've tried logging out, logging in, uninstalling app, reinstalling app, using a shared account (access granted) but all to no avail.  Very odd, 2 cameras stubbornly always say same message in app and do not work but all OK in browser.

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yes... strange if it works in the web and not in the S8... obv the system is working, just not on your device

( I run the S7/os 7+ without issue ) It may be device specfic wit the 8 being new.  Can you try it on another android device ?

[steve_t]

Arlonely, I've had this exact problem when I got a new Pro base station!

What I did was I plugged in the second base and added it to my account and then hit sync on the base and sync on the existing cameras. The cameras paired to the new base just fine but when I opened the app, the cameras on my S7 Edge said they were offline, while the web browser login showed them up just fine.

The mistake was in adding the cameras to the new base without first removing them from the old base. I can't remember what I did exactly but if you need to, resync the cameras to your old base and then remove them from the app before you resync them to the new base

[Arlonely]

Thanks for the suggestion.  This could be related because I did sync the new cameras to the old base first.

I tried:
Removed offending cameras from new base station (via app)
Added cameras to old base station (via app).  The same thing happens here (works in browser but not on app)
Then removed cameras from old base station (via app) and add again to new base station.

The problem persists.

Any more details welcomed.

[Arlonely]

I don't have access to any other Android devices at present.

[steve_t]

Have these cameras ever been sync'd to a third base station previously?

[Arlonely]

New cameras are fresh out of the box only ever synced with my existing base station and now the base station that they came with.

Also, tested Arlo app on iPhone X and all cameras can be accessed from there with the same account.

[Arlonely]

Any ideas or solutions greatly welcomed! Netgear support have not been able to offer a solution either (despite "escalating it")

It seems the only recommendation is to "use a different phone" which is not feasible.  Samsung is the best selling smart phone I really thought Netgear would support it. 

Currently I have a $2000USD camera system that is not fully accessible when I'm not at home!  Please help!

[brh]

@Arlonely

Don't know if this article will help or not. You might have a look.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-211208/

Brian

[JamesC]

Arlonely,

Definitely odd that the cameras can be viewed from your iOS device and web client but not Android...

You mentioned using Grant Access to share the cameras between two accounts. Are you logged in to the primary account on the android device or are you viewing the problem cameras as shared devices from an account granted access? Does it make any differences which account you are logged into?

JamesC

[Arlonely]

Thanks for the reply JamesC.  The problem occurs on both log ins:

1. The first base station which grants access to the second

2. The second base station which grants access to the first

[Arlonely]

Thanks Brian, I checked that and have all permissions enabled for Arlo.

[Arlonely]

I received this reply from Arlo L2 support:

"We do not have an update regarding a fix on the device. But we I was informed that there is actually an issue with some Android devices and we have already inform the manufacturer of the devices regarding the application showing offline. I will send you an update once we already have a firmware push ready to correct the issue u are having. "

I can't make much sense of it.  It looks like they are kicking the ball in Samsung's direction.

Incidentally the two offline cameras did surprisinbly start working for abount 20 seconds on my Samsung (no configuration changes had been made), then returned to the same problem again.

Really disappointed with this, it's getting to the point where I can't return it to the supplier for a refund and Netgear are being vague about a fix...

[jguerdat]

New hardware, which requires new OSes, can always cause issues. Since Samsung likes to piddle around with their implementation of Android, a new release can cause problems, just as it has with iOS. It may take time to figure out what's going on and fix it without breaking others.  Samsung is a leading source of phones but the S8, while popular, isn't a huge percentage of the installed base. Resources have to allocated according to overall impact.  Yeah, it sucks when it happens to you but things happen.