Not recording

[Shaun1234]

Cummon Arlo , both me and my father having the same issue yesterday and today in the UK, getting loads of notifications but random cameras actually not recording.
We have both restarted hubs with no change.
These are not cheap cameras and i feel like I've purchased cheap!

[Kaynadian]

I also just noticed one of my cameras missed motion, where the mini screen shows change (just like how you described it) but no notification or recording. I didn’t have this issue since Tuesday, but seems like it’s back. I’ll keep an eye out for the next few days and see if it persists, if it doesn’t persist, I’ll leave it. But if it does, I’ll report to Arlo.

[Shaun1234]

Ok I will do the same, keep you posted.
Thanks

[Shaun1234]

Ok so I've not been busy today so can monitor exactly what is and isn't recording.
I've sat near a window and it would seem it will work flawlessly for say an hour and then will miss 10 cars or people for the next 20 minutes before working again.
If I leave the app on devices I can see when the sensor is activated every time lighting up yellow and for the period of time, but then that's it no recording, notifications and sometimes doesn't even leave a screenshot in the device either.
It would also appear that the Arlo ultra customers are also pulling their hair out.

[Kaynadian]

Same here! Except, I haven’t had to chance to observe so long, but I did notice that when I left the house it recorded normally, but when I came home one camera missed me entirely. 

Did you notifications issue go away though? The one we experienced initially where we got notifications but no library recording? That seem to go away for me. If that has gone away, then I think maybe Arlo is working on it. I haven’t heard from them yet as to if the issue has been resolved. But I did mention to this about this issue about missing notifications. I will follow up with them again regarding this missing notifications and library recording issue though!

Well I’m glad in a way that we aren’t the only ones experiencing the issue. I have Arlo Pro 2s, and they seem to be working fine, and I haven’t had any sort of issues with them. 

[Shaun1234]

Yes same as you I think old issues gone away, it's seems they reverted back to old system that had the other issues??

[Kaynadian]

Yeah! Well at least one issue is gone. Don’t worry, I’m going to keep the Arlo Support posted on this issue. I haven’t heard back from them yet with an update so they may be working on it. If I don’t hear back by Wednesday, I’ll follow up with them regarding this issue.

I’ll keep you posted! Thank you!

[Kaynadian]

A quick note, I did mention this issue to Arlo when I initially spoke with them about the notifications sent but no library recording, so it is on my case file. But the only thing is, with this, it's a bit more difficult to display solid evidence (i.e. screen/video recordings). But they are aware of it as I have mentioned it before as it was an issue.

The agent I spoke with seems okay, as they have been calling me with updates, so hopefully I'll hear from them soon with an update. In the meantime, hopefully more folks from Ultra contact Arlo with this issue so we can push for a solution! I have learned that if you don't hear from Arlo Support, this forum is a good way to get one of the moderator's attention and they escalate your case. That was the only way I got actual response (although that itself took quite a while).

Anyhow, I'll give them until Wednesday to see if I hear from them, if not, I'll reach out to the agent working on my case. Fingers crossed!!!

[Shaun1234]

Well on behalf of everyone thanks for taking your time to try and get this sorted

[Kaynadian]

No worries! Thank you to you and everyone posting their issues here! If no one posted, I would have assumed it was only my own issue and would probably never have submitted it to Arlo and just left it. So I'm honestly glad everyone brought it up so I was confident it wasn't just me! 

Anyhow, fingers crossed we can all get the issues all resolved shortly!!! If any other issues pop up, let me know (I'll be keeping an eye on things but sometimes I do miss things!) If you ever want an update and don't hear from me, don't hesitate to comment here and ask. I understand how silence sometimes can be frustrating too as you're left wondering what happened (especially given how long these issues have been pending).

Thank you! 🙂

[Shaun1234]

I'm going to turn off my smart again until next week as I feel I'm missing too many recordings.
Still no change my end.

[Kaynadian]

Sounds good. Sorry for the delay, I haven’t heard back from Arlo yet, but will contact them tomorrow. Was hopeful they would reach out to me. I’m also trying to get some screen recordings of the missing clips (as they require evidence)

[Shaun1234]

A few things I can confirm though, with smart turned off activity zones still work, also activity zones as far as I'm aware used to work like this...the camera would always get set off in the background and then the footage would then get sent to Arlo servers to then use pixel detection to see if any pixel moved in your zone, if it did it would then assess if it was a person etc then sent it to you.
I think this has changed for the better, probably to help people of battery power.
I made a zone that was a tiny box, I can confirm I walked all round this box and I got no triggers, no yellow motion activation and no last seen time in device screenshot.only once I walked in the zone it started to recorded with 3 second look back which is great.
This must mean they changed the actual camera software I'm guessing..( not positive just my assessment).
So what this all means is if you have a last seen time in your devices but you have no recording then that means that there was definitely motion in your zone but when Arlo assessed if it was a person etc it then decided not to give you the recording back.
Hope this all makes sense.
I will today turn smart off again just to make sure with zones on only I get all recording and no last seen times without footage.

[Kaynadian]

Thanks for the details! I got a call from Arlo this morning, but missed it. I asked them to return the call later today. 

So my understanding, is that when you have Smart Notifications (the person/motion/animal etc.) all off, then your cameras are functioning normally no issues? Is what I'm understanding correct? I haven't turned those features off for a while since I wanted to keep an eye out. So basically, when Smart Notifications are on, is when we see the missed motion (with no notifications/no library recordings) but we would see that orange color if we leave the app on which indicates motion was detected by Arlo camera just not recorded?

Yesterday, things seemed to go better for me. But, it seems to be fluctuating! I had a better day and then worse. I did notice that I have instances where my screenshot photo on the App changed (time with 10 minutes ago) changed, but no notifications/library recording and also instances where that didn't change but motion was missed entirely. It's a bit difficult to get the screen recordings for these situations, so I plan to do my best to describe to them and see what they suggest.

[Ed_H53]

I have had my Pro 3 system for about 1 month and have also noticed inconsistent recording. You mention turning Smart off and I wanted to know if I remove a camera from smart notifications will I be able to add it back since I am in the 90 day trial period?

[Kaynadian]

@Ed_H53 

Yes, you should be able to. Turning off Smart Notifications is a "on" and "off" switch on the Arlo App. I have turned it off and on a few times before.

[Shaun1234]

Yes correct to all, and the orange motion only only activates if I actually walk into a zone which is great.
I think smart is the issue

[Kaynadian]

@Shaun1234 

Great, thank you for confirming! I will speak to them regarding this issue and as soon as I get further information, will keep you posted. Thank you.

[Kaynadian]

@Shaun1234 

Update: I got a call from Arlo Support yesterday and I confirmed that our initial issue with notifications but no library recording has been resolved by them. However, the past few days I haven't been able to observe the issue with missed recordings very often (I had one yesterday). It's been occasional, two days before that, I didn't notice any issues. I asked Arlo Support to keep my case open and I'll observe for another week. If within this week, I don't find any issues, I'll be asking them to close the case. The reason is because I wasn't able to record/screen shot the issue to them the past few days to show them. I'll keep an eye out for another week though!

If you see the issue consistently, may I ask you to report it to Arlo (as you may have more evidence that I am able to find to show them. Which they need in order to fix the issue)? From my recent experience with Arlo Support, I recommend the following:

- Ensure you have screenshots AND screen recording, if possible (it's a feature that is available on iOS devices where you record the screen)

- Ensure you have a few screenshots of a few cameras displaying the issue (as when I first reported the issue, they wanted to see the issue consistently across the cameras to verify it wasn't our own camera issue)

- Use Arlo Chat when you initially report the issue, as I find it much faster than phone. If no reply within a few days, I recommend using this Arlo Forum and contacting James here, to request for an update of the case (had that request about two times and my issue finally escalated to an agent who was responding/updating me consistently). I was escalated to an Agent named John, who was fairly good at responding to me. He usually responded within 24-48 hours of my questions via call/email.

Anyhow, it is a bit of a lengthy process, but if Arlo Support gets all the evidence they need to narrow down the issue, they will look into it 🙂 

[Shaun1234]

Ok thanks, I will turn back on the smart and monitor.

[Shaun1234]

I give up!
I've just gone to check my recordings and 2 of my cameras haven't picked me up walking 4 feet in front of them twice, in and out of my garden.
Perfect weather, full signal...
I'm giving up, I'm being hassled with emails because my smart trial ends in 6 days time, you have to have this to record, why in earth am I going to pay for a service that's broken.
Spoke to customer services wasn't interested.

[Kaynadian]

I'm sorry to hear that it hasn't been working.

Not sure if this is something you are aware of, but for me, initially I had an issue with Wifi interference/slow internet that impacted my cameras. I have a few other devices that also run at 2.4 GHz, and other devices such as the robot vacuums that seriously impacted my cameras. I ended moving my home base to somewhere without interference and upgraded my internet mbps speed too (I had too many devices connected to wifi) and my bandwidth wasn't strong enough.  This may not help, but something I discovered while I did my own research.

[Kaynadian]

@Shaun1234 

Hi,

So I ended up closing the case file because that issue was resolved and I didn't have issues. But then the issue came back, today and another issue which I see from the forum it is pending a fix. I was wondering if it's my network issue because I've been experiencing slow upload speed.

Do you know if your network upload/download speed is the issue for missed motion? I have a lot of devices connected, and pondering on the idea if my internet speed isn't fast enough for my cameras!

[Shaun1234]

What's your upload speed?

[Shaun1234]

And what are your current issues

[Kaynadian]

@Shaun1234 

My current issue is:

- One of my cameras notification is sending notifications that my Arlo Base is detecting motion. It's not recognizing which camera is detecting motion/what motion and just says "Motion was detected from your Arlo  Base..." sort of thing. Recording at the library cloud is normal though, just the notification. But as of this morning, this camera just stopped recording! And... the weather is so nice out that I don't want to get upset over this.

My internet speed plan 300 mbps upload/download, but I usually get around 200 mbps of download and around 100 mbps of upload. But it's highly variable as I think I have a lot of devices connected, and a robot vacuum that may interfere with it.

Are you still having issues? I'm ready to have war again with Arlo.