Geofencing. Broke again

[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.

[ShayneS]

Hi,

Can you try utilizing this setup for your schedules with the Arrive/Leave feature and let me know the results?

1. Select Routines > Automations > Select the (+) to create the desired schedules (When created, schedules will be listed under the Schedules section)

2. Create and enable the Arrive automation under > Select Automations > Select the (+) > Add Action > Change Mode > Select Standby > Next > Add an Action > Enable/Disable an Automation > Select the desired schedule > Next > Select Enable > Next
                             
3.  Create and enable the Leave automation under > Select Automations > Select the (+) > Add Action > Change Mode > Select Arm Away > Next > Add an Action > Enable/Disable an Automation > Select the desired schedule > Next > Select Disable > Next  > Save
                     

When completed you should see your options listed under the Arrive/Leave section under Automations

Thank you 

[DCrusher1]

It’s working for me BUT it quit work with my wife late last week I thought maybe it was not update so did the Arlo update Saturday thinking that would fix it.    NOPE.   watch her come home and it didn’t go into standby mode.  I don’t know what changed again they keep breaking the geofencing. 

[StephenB]

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@mmurphyrepair wrote:

It seems like in any configuration forcing  arrive/leave trigger to hard select a mode is the issue

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Definitely an issue with Arrive. 

As you found, one option is to disable the automations when you leave for vacation, and manually set the mode to "Arm Away".

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@mmurphyrepair wrote:

Another thing I've tried is using standby as a second arm away mode

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As you found, that almost works.  That is the best you can do.

Generally I recommend setting it up so Arm Home and Arm Away both arm all camera, and then modify "Standby" to keep only the doorbell camera armed.  Then have the schedule switch between Arm Home and Standby.  Leave switches to Arm Away.   Arrive can either switch to Standby or Arm Home (choose whatever is more likely to be right when you typically arrive).  This is basically what you did, except you used different modes.

Hopefully Arlo is working on an appropriate fix.

[mmurphyrepair]

That's a sad state of affairs as this version of the app has been live for how long? Thank God for AMEX charge back policy.  Just gonna file this as a defective product and move on 

[DCrusher1]

Well 2 app updates ago I lost geofencing.   Nothing was changed nobody has done anything.   Please explain to me what happened if nothing was changed and how to fix it. 

[Jeffi]

It's been a few weeks now and there's been a few iOS updates and an Arlo app update as well. Geofencing and Schedules have been reliable for the two of us with iPhones coming and going.

There has been the odd time the Leave Arm Away hasn't kicked in when everyone has been away and this was resolved by one  of us logging out the app and back in, then the Arm Away notification triggers. I'm not sure if this is the iPhone or Arlo app playing up, or if mobile coverage was a bit flakey and our geolocation not getting seen in a timely fashion. Next time this happens I will leave it and see if it eventually triggers. However it's been solid on the latest Arlo app update this week. I also have Port Forwarding working now so I can access my locally stored videos on the base station (I thought this was an Arlo issue that broke on an earlier app version, but it turned out to be my ISP - they had reverted me off a static IP when they updated me to a new plan without me realising). 

[SJDrew]

Hi Jeff

You must have been reading my mind because I just rated the app as 1* this morning due to the geofencing stopping working. However, your post gave me an idea which is for us both to log out of the app and back in. Will give it a try and let you know. Right now geofencing is totally broken. We are away for a week so I have to manually arm every morning because the schedule disarms at 6am and geofencing doesn't rearm it

[alex_loo]

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@Jeffi wrote:

It's been a few weeks now and there's been a few iOS updates and an Arlo app update as well. Geofencing and Schedules have been reliable for the two of us with iPhones coming and going.

There has been the odd time the Leave Arm Away hasn't kicked in when everyone has been away and this was resolved by one  of us logging out the app and back in, then the Arm Away notification triggers. I'm not sure if this is the iPhone or Arlo app playing up, or if mobile coverage was a bit flakey and our geolocation not getting seen in a timely fashion. Next time this happens I will leave it and see if it eventually triggers. However it's been solid on the latest Arlo app update this week. I also have Port Forwarding working now so I can access my locally stored videos on the base station (I thought this was an Arlo issue that broke on an earlier app version, but it turned out to be my ISP - they had reverted me off a static IP when they updated me to a new plan without me realising). 

 so @Jeffi I am interested to know how your geofencing has been doing now

1. Are your devices all iOS?  Do you have android?
2. geofencing all leave then trigger -- how long has this been working fine? (say since logging out and back)
3. geofencing one returns then trigger -- how long has this been working fine? (say since logging out and back)

Cheers,

Alex

[SJDrew]

Hi Alex

Both IOS. Logging out on both devices and then back in again fixed it straight away. Thanks for the advice!

[alex_loo]

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@SJDrew wrote:

Hi Alex

Both IOS. Logging out on both devices and then back in again fixed it straight away. Thanks for the advice!

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thanks mate.  how about ...

1. geofencing all leave then trigger -- how long has this been working fine? (say since logging out and back)
2. geofencing one returns then trigger -- how long has this been working fine? (say since logging out and back)

Cheers,

Alex

[Jeffi]

Hi Alex_loo

1) yes 2 iOS iPhones no android 

2) it's worked for about a week before one iPhone needs logging out/in or rebooting - I'm still trying to narrow down what action exactly fixes it or if I just wait if it's a delayed timing thing that would self-resolve. 
3) same as above. 

extra info: we're both away and able to verify that I need to tweak the schedule/automation to factor in no one being home over 24 hours. So the evening standby triggered when it should ideally have stayed armed away. Then the arm home triggered the next morning at 7am when we were still away so I had to manually switch mode to arm away. I think I've found the tweak needed and am now testing it while away another day to see what happens. I suspected this would happen based on previous replies. 

[Jeffi]

Hi SJDrew

Yes I have the same issue here now that we're away a few days. 

The evening standby mode activated at 8pm last night and the arm home activated at 7am this morning ignoring the fact we're away and should have stayed in arm away throughout. So the schedules were over riding geo fencing. I think I've tweaked the schedule to fix this. Will check ver the next 24hour period. 

[StephenB]

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@Jeffi wrote:

The evening standby mode activated at 8pm last night and the arm home activated at 7am this morning ignoring the fact we're away and should have stayed in arm away throughout. So the schedules were over riding geo fencing. I think I've tweaked the schedule to fix this. Will check ver the next 24hour period. 

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The only way to work around this is to dedicate one mode for geofencing, and not using it at all in the schedule.  "Not using it" means not switching to that mode in the schedule automations, and also not including that mode in the enable list for the automations.

I always recommend using "Arm Away" for geofencing, as that at least has an intuitive name.  That leaves "Arm Home" and "Standby" for scheduling - not enough for many situations, but unfortunately that is all you can do until Arlo rolls out improvements.

The alternative is to manually disable the schedule automations when you leave.

[Jeffi]

Ok after a minor tweak things are working as expected. A few short breaks away have allowed me to test it. 

Before: with us at home over night. Standby mode would activate at 8pm and Arm Home would activate at 7am, as required. Then if we both left the house during the day, the geofencing automation would trigger as required into Arm Away mode. On return during the day the mode would change to Arm Home and Standby at 8pm. 

However, if we did not return home before 8pm, I.e. we went away for a holiday, the mode would not stay on Arm Away for the entire time we were away and Standby would still activate at 8pm and Arm Home would trigger at 7am the following day. So it would not recognise we were away after the Standby mode activated. 

Now: if we go away during the day, Arm Away triggers and remains activated until we return. Standby and Arm Home will not trigger while away. 

Fix: in each schedule, deselect the Arm Away option. So the schedules only operate under the Arm Home and Standby contexts. 

[Jeffi]

Hi StephenB - I think I’ve effects done that now in the schedules. I’ve not changed the geofencing automations. 

[SJDrew]

Also been having this issue that when we were away on vacation it would not rearm in the morning. Just deselected Arm Away so will see if that works when we go away again next week. Thanks again for your help!

[kcopp]

@Jeffi  - What is entailed in your Home-Night and Home-Daytime automations. Does one arm the cameras and the other disarms them - placing them in standby? Would you mind posting screenshots of those two automations? 

[kcopp]

This is EXACTLY what I’m attempting to do, have you been able to accomplish this?

[StephenB]

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@kcopp wrote:

This is EXACTLY what I’m attempting to do, have you been able to accomplish this?

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Can you start another discussion thread, identifying what cameras you have and how you want them scheduled?

This one has gotten too long to offer tailored advice. 

[SJDrew]

I spoke too soon. Unchecked "Away" and now they won't move to standby at 6am and stay armed. This app really is a heap of s***

[StephenB]

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@SJDrew wrote:

I spoke too soon. Unchecked "Away" and now they won't move to standby at 6am and stay armed. This app really is a heap of s***

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Can you start a new discussion thread, with screen posts of all your automations?  Then I can help.

[Pats6XSB]

There is a separate thread with many users seeing the same problems.  Geofencing and scheduling is not working togther like it did in the old app.  Huge miss on Arlo's part and needs to be fixed.  Support has verified this.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Secure/Schedules-and-geofencing-New-app-problems/m-p/2428506

[alex_loo]

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@Pats6XSB wrote:

There is a separate thread with many users seeing the same problems.  Geofencing and scheduling is not working togther like it did in the old app.  Huge miss on Arlo's part and needs to be fixed.  Support has verified this.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Secure/Schedules-and-geofencing-New-app-problems/m-p/2428506

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to be fair (to the buggy ARLO), the discussion with above link has NOT touched the real bugs with ARLO yet.  Say for the latest message there, I only see users users still getting it right to have "anyone arriving" in place.

Regarding "geofencing and scheduling not working together like it did in the old app", I can't comment since I started using new (ie "feed") app.  But I see geofencing and scheduling working fine with each other --- except:

• that only geofencing is sometimes not triggered for some reasons (whereas schedules are always good as per configured)
• that there are not enough modes

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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Regarding "geofencing and scheduling not working together like it did in the old app", I can't comment since I started using new (ie "feed") app.  But I see geofencing and scheduling working fine with each other --- except:

• that only geofencing is sometimes not triggered for some reasons (whereas schedules are always good as per configured)
• that there are not enough modes

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"Library" automatically switches to the scheduled mode when you return.  "Feed" can't do that.

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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"Library" automatically switches to the scheduled mode when you return.  "Feed" can't do that.

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So with "library", do you just set up the arm/disarm of individual cameras in different timeslots of the "home address", within all the 24H of the week?

And then above gets overridden by geofencing --- when everybody's away, then another set of camera arm/disarm status.  And then when anyone's back, stick back to the timeslots of "home address".

Or something different?  Never a "library" user, so just wild guessing for fun here.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@StephenB wrote:

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"Library" automatically switches to the scheduled mode when you return.  "Feed" can't do that.

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So with "library", do you just set up the arm/disarm of individual cameras in different timeslots of the "home address", within all the 24H of the week?

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It depends on how the cameras are connected. 

When using hubs, there is one schedule for each hub.  Scheduling requires you to identify what combinations of cameras you want enabled at various times.  Then you create custom modes for any combinations (other than all armed and all disarmed, which are built in).  After that you schedule the modes (using timeslots, not triggers).   The schedule is weekly.  Geofencing lets you switch to "Arm" when you leave, and "Schedule" when you return.

Each directly connected cameras has its own schedule, and geofencing similarly will let you switch to "arm" when you leave, and "Schedule" when you return.

The geofencing center and radius also is handled differently in "Library".  You need to set that up separately for each hub (and each directly connected camera).

Although "Library" is definitely more flexible (and covers use cases that "Feed" can't handle), many users also find it confusing - especially if they have hubs (or a mix of hubs and directly connected cameras).  So I've spent almost as much time here helping folks with "Library" scheduling as I am now doing with "Feed".  Also, if you have a lot of cameras it can be quite tedious to set up.

IMO, the ideal approach would be to let you define your own groups of cameras (no matter how they are connected), and then create a schedule for each group.  Each camera could only be in one group.  That is better aligned with the way most users think about scheduling.