Stay away from new app

[razrback99]

Unless forced, do not upgrade to the new app. It is so buggie, even a programmer like myself can’t tell what the heck it’s doing. Geo fencing seems to only work one way, if it works when you leave, it won’t work when you return or it won’t work when you leave but works when you return, which is stupid because it never armed to start with. You can’t tell who it thinks is still in geofence anymore.

 Hate to say it but after 7 years with it working very well, may be time for me to look at other providers. I can’t believe they implemented something like this. I would fire the whole damn bunch, revert everyone back to old app and start over.  

[StephenB]

---

@razrback99 wrote:

I thought I could have settings by Mode and Camera. However, it seems to be the same camera settings, at least Arm Away and Arm Home. My use is I'm home but I want my outside camera to only alert if animal, and nothing else. But if I'm gone, I want that camera to be on full alert. Am I confused about functionality of the app or is this not possible?

---

It's not unfortunately not possible.  Arlo separated the objection detection settings from the rest of the video sttings and the rules in the mode, and so there is no way to have automate changing the object detection settings for a camera.   Personally I think that is a conceptual flaw in their design.  

[razrback99]

Unfortunately, it’s still unpredictable as to what it will do when leaving gps fence. I left one location twice and it never changed mode to armed. It did set to standby when I returned    The app tracked me fine in automation’s geo so it knows I’m moving. What causes the app to check and how often does it do that check?

[alex_loo]

---

@razrback99 wrote:

Yeah, that’s what’s so weird, it shows me exactly where I am on the edit geofence map, but it will not trigger when I leave or return, at either location. Of the 4 phones (3 shared), 2 of those work fine, 2 do not. 

I am exactly one of those who have been trying to enjoy ARLO's geofencing capabilities from app --- but in vain, unfortunately.  Guess I can share some of my views here.

Firstly, even though "edit geofence map" is showing your location correctly, the ARLO logic behind triggering on leave/return is still incorrect sometimes.  I used the word "sometimes", because yes you may see it working today but you are not sure next time --- it's only working somewhere 50-75% of the times, per my setup of:

• 1x android + 1x iPhone (single device is much simpler, and ARLO geofencing seems working more reliably)
• both devices logging into same ARLO account (eliminating issue of duplicate geofencing devices)

The way ARLO geofencing for multiple devices is working unreliable to me has simply forced me to stopping using it --- after waiting for fixes and trying different "suggestions" over at least 9 months.  I do encourage you trying again, though --- since I am genuinely looking for a reliable setup that I can copycat 😉

Alex

[alex_loo]

---

@razrback99 wrote:

OK, we have a small victory. For the first time on the new app, it recognized when i left zone and enabled Arm, which is correct. It also, went into Standby when I returned. So, hopefully that part is working. 

Good to see your small victory with single device.  I'd suggest trying this single-device geofencing for at least a few days (with real arrivals and departures in practice).  Then change the geofencing routines to trigger on "any one arrives" and "all leaving" --- which is the setup for multiple device scenario.

And if you are fine with multiple device scenario for say a week --- please let me know! 🙏😉

Alex

[razrback99]

Yeah, I have no good news to report at this point. The sad part of all of this, I don't know if the new app will allow me to do what I need, even in a manual mode. Several years ago, it worked fine in the 2 location - multi-person - setup, but something changed about year ago and it's been harder to manage. Sad to hear you've been dealing with it as well. 

[razrback99]

Hi, since I havent heard back from you, just checking to see if you are still out there

[alex_loo]

@razrback99 , how's your single device geofencing going?   Have you now moved on to multiple device geofencing?

Alex

[razrback99]

Man, no discernible difference. Back to shared and more or less running manually. It’s odd how it seems to work better (geofencing) for some shared users than others. I can’t quite crack the combination, to make it work the way it used to or at least run in auto again. 

[alex_loo]

---

@razrback99 wrote:

Man, no discernible difference. Back to shared and more or less running manually. It’s odd how it seems to work better (geofencing) for some shared users than others. I can’t quite crack the combination, to make it work the way it used to or at least run in auto again. 

---

my advice is don't waste your time, since I did already 😅

for geofencing, I am feeling that they are intermittently missing the geo location and/or status change of each device.  Making the geofencing routines working only intermittently.

Alex

[StephenB]

---

@alex_loo wrote:

---

for geofencing, I am feeling that they are intermittently missing the geo location and/or status change of each device.  Making the geofencing routines working only intermittently.

---

I've suspected that also, but my simplified test setup hasn't missed any triggers for 3 weeks now.  So not something I am seeing on my own phone at present.

The simplified setup 

• disables the schedule
• enables arrive and leave in all three modes
• configures arrive and leave for one specific phone

I intend to put back my usual setup this weekend, to see how well that behaves.  Note my usual setup still only uses one phone (and no friend accounts), so it won't fully cover your use cases.

[alex_loo]

---

@StephenB wrote:

---

@alex_loo wrote:

---

for geofencing, I am feeling that they are intermittently missing the geo location and/or status change of each device.  Making the geofencing routines working only intermittently.

---

I've suspected that also, but my simplified test setup hasn't missed any triggers for 3 weeks now.  So not something I am seeing on my own phone at present.

The simplified setup 

• disables the schedule
• enables arrive and leave in all three modes
• configures arrive and leave for one specific phone

I intend to put back my usual setup this weekend, to see how well that behaves.  Note my usual setup still only uses one phone (and no friend accounts), so it won't fully cover your use cases.

---

how do you leave and arrive?  drive or walk?

Alex

[StephenB]

---

@alex_loo wrote:

how do you leave and arrive?  drive or walk?

---

Mostly driving, thanks to the winter weather in New England.  -8°C outside at the moment (-14°C if you add in wind chill), so not great for walking.

But there was at least one leave+arrive when walking.  

Not sure this matters, but the radius is set to "small'.