No VPN Connection to Remote Storage Android using OpenVPN

[nyandemoh]

Pro SmartHub VMB4540,  Arlo Pro 4 Wireless Security Camera, #Linksys_MR8300,

I have established a VPN using Firewalla (Purple) and OpenVPN. 
I am able to ping all internal IP addresses on notes within my home network, remotely from my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (with wifi disabled). I am also able to ping my cell phone from my laptop, which seems to prove that the VPN tunnel is established and working perfectly, however, I cannot see any recordings on Hub#1 (base station #1) or Hub#2 (Base station #2) from my cell phone. This seems to clearly point at an issue with the base stations, or the Arlo app. I spent over 4-1/2 hours on the phone with Arlo Tier 1 support who didn't even understand VPN technology. They kept trying to point me back to my ISP (Xfinity). After 1.5 with my ISP, they reassured me that if I'm pinging internal devices within my home network, then the VPN cannot be the issue. Arlo is still insisting that it is the ISP's responsibility to ensure the VPN is up and running, which they did, as a favor, not because it is the ISP's responsibility. After 5+ hours of my life, Arlo took zero minutes to actually troubleshoot the issue with me.
I am so disappointed in this product and even more disappointed in the lack of proactive support to get this functionality working.

[jguerdat]

Are you using Android? This has been an issue for a while now. I can't remember if port forwardinng works so you could try that if you want.

[JeremyP619]

I too have setup a working (OpenVPN) VPN in order to get access to locally stored videos in the Arlo app (for android) only to find it to be non-operational. And then I come here looking for help and find Arlo support basically stating, no it doesn't actually work nor has it ever or will it ever. If this is such a long standing known issue, why has nothing been done to fix it yet?

Or, if Arlo has completely given up on getting this to work correctly on android devices, then why state that the system is fully Android compatible?

We (as customers) should not be required to open network firewall holes by forwarding ports from the outside directly into our internal networks to get this working. A working VPN really should suffice.