Help with geofencing, scheduling, and new app

[baumbachaflocka]

The old app worked great with geofencing, it would not arm unless every device left the area. Now it always arms if just 1 person leaves. My system is configuration is the following: anyone arrives> standby, everyone leaves> arm away

They are both set to always enabled and I have made sure that both my devices are setup correctly with always allowing precise location, notifications and do not have battery saver on. Its so frustrating because the old app worked great and the new one is so bad and we were forced to switch when we added the new cameras.

More info there is 1 iphone and 1 android phone used for geofencing, I have it set to the largest area and no other automations except for the geofencing ones.

[Richland]

I’m having same issues. Arlo support told me that you can’t have geofencing and scheduling and it must be one or the other. Pointless. I’m looking for alternative camera systems. 

[jguerdat]

I'm using schedules and geofencing together with no issues so "support" is misinformed. Post screenshots of your geofencing settings along with any descriptions of how the problems manifest themselves.

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:

I'm using schedules and geofencing together with no issues

Last I heard, there was at least one scenario when you had to manually change modes.  Which for me means it doesn't work.

[jcplonghorn]

As an experiment, after all this failed troubleshooting, today I turned off schedules. Removed them altogether. Suddenly, for the first time in a year, my geofencing is working. HALLELUJAH! (Love this self-help support model <sarcasm>.) Of course, you should be able to use both, but apparently, scheduling is interfering with geofencing – at least for me. I am on an iPhone on iOS 17.5.1, with Arlo iOS app version 4.14.5 (7467).

Previously, my schedule was simply set to disarm interior cameras from 6AM to 11:59PM, with all outside cameras on, and from midnight to 5:59AM, arm everything inside and out. There is no geofencing option in the scheduling, just the options of the other existing modes. 

[Richland]

 

[Richland]

 

[Richland]

 

[Richland]

3 screen shots attached previously. The problem is even without schedules geofencing is not switching over when we come or go. 

[jguerdat]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@jguerdat wrote:

I'm using schedules and geofencing together with no issues

Last I heard, there was at least one scenario when you had to manually change modes.  Which for me means it doesn't work.

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 Is this an iOS issue? I don't have any here.

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:
 Is this an iOS issue? I don't have any here.

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No, nothing to do with iOS.  And I think you did mention at least one issue in one of your earlier posts, where you said you had to manually shift the mode in one scenario.

With Feed you can

• create an automation to change to a specific mode when you leave
• create an automation to change to a specific mode when you arrive
• create an automation to change to a specific mode at a given time.

But AFAICT, three things you cannot do are

• change to a specific mode at a given time, but only when you are home
• change to a specific mode at a given time, but only when you are away.
• change to a scheduled mode when you arrive or leave (where the mode depends on the time you arrive or leave).

These were all possible with the old Library interface, since you could set either Home or Away to "Schedule".  

But the new UI doesn't have the same concept of Schedule.  Instead of telling the system what mode you want at any given time, you instead are scheduling triggering events that change the mode when a time is reached. So (for example) when you leave, then the system will just run the "leave" automation, and not follow the schedule you want until the next schedule event triggers. 

If you were using the three behaviors that worked with Library, but not with Feed, then there are times when the system just isn't in the mode you want.  The only way to overcome that is to manually change the mode, which is a PITA.

There have been several folks who have posted about this, and I think you managed to overcome it using the exception mechanism in the automations.  That mechanism disables/enables other automations, so getting the logic right could be really hard for some scenarios - if you get it wrong, you could end up disabling geofencing or scheduling altogether.

• https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Secure/Geofencing-This-has-to-be-a-bug/td-p/1935254

If there is a simple way to get those missing behaviors to work, then it would be REALLY good for Arlo to create some clear examples in a KB article.

But IMO the most intuitive and general way would be to allow users to set up a home schedule and an away schedule, and then have geofencing trigger the correct schedule when they arrive or leave.  Which is very close to the way Library works.

[grahamam107]

@ShayneS , can you answer my message number 48 on this topic please.  This thread has been open since 2023 with no resolution, 60 posts and over 3000 views.  When is arlo going to address it, or do we need to start a class action?  I would be keen to get compensated for the $1000 of hardware and years of subscriptions if Arlo are not intending to fix the software issues.