ARM/DISARM does not support basic use cases

[XJW]

ARM/DISARM does not support basic use cases. Please make support of all modes minimum viable product rather than providing solutions for ARM/DISARM only.

We leave external cameras on and turn off internal cameras when we are home. Basic use case.

ARM/DISARM does not support this basic use case.

Please add your comments to this thread if you have the same concern or other use cases.

We have been submitting these requests to the ideas exchange for years and they have been ignored.

It's a gap in the product.

[Skinner]

We use a custom a mode for this purpose, all outdoor cams on, all indoor cams off...  works perfectly with geofencing...

[Rags13]

Can you please explain how to set this up? I just installed some Pro cameras after returning the original Arlo. They were a gift but I had nothing but problems. I now have a 5 camera system with an indoor Q as well. The constant notifications from recordings is driving me insane!! I am tempted to turn off the notifications... but then what is the point to even have the camera system!?

[AncientGeek]

The basic use case is armed and disarmed and is what they offer out of the box along with Schedule and Geofencing.  We can create more complex modes and rules to tailor the behavior of the system to our specific needs by combining all of the component tools to develop (in my experience) the most sophisticated behavior control of any home surveillance system on the market.

Modes are collections of rules.  Schedules employ modes during various times of the day.  There is only one schedule, so we sometimes have to be creative with modes to accomplish some sophisticated behavior.  Geofencing employs Schedule and/or modes based on the on our home and away status of selected devices in aggregate. (But not individually. If one selected mobile device is home, we are “home”)

If I want my outdoor cameras to stay on and my indoor cameras to turn off when I’m home, I can create a new mode and name it (for example: OutdoorOnly).  In that mode, I would add rules for my outdoor cameras only.  When I’m away, I would set my system to Armed and when I’m home I would selected the “Outdoor Only” mode.  I could also automatically do this by using geofencing and selecting Armed as the mode to use when I am away and OutdoorOnly for use when I’m home.  I can even customize it further by utilizing a Schedule and perhaps have some outdoor cameras behave differently during the evening when I might be outside versus later at night when I would be unlikely to be outside.

As I stated above, I have found Arlo to have the most comprehensive system behavior controls of any home surveillance system vendor so far.  There are often bugs with the system, but the architecture is really good.  Allowing more than one schedule would be better ... and “over the top” would be to allow different behavior based on which devices were home or away individually or in groups...but that might be too tricky for the average consumer to effectively utilize.

https://kb.arlo.com/42/What-are-modes-and-rules-and-how-does-Arlo-use-them

[AncientGeek]

One more thought...

A high priority “want” on my part is a “snooze” capability that would allow me to disarm one or more cameras for a selectable period of time and then return to “our regularly scheduled programming” (so to speak) after that period of time has expired.

So if I had people working around my house for an hour, I could snooze the system.  Or if the sun was firing off a bunch of false alarms at a particular time of day under particular weather conditions, I could snooze it.

I’d want to be able to choose the number of minutes.

Ring has something like this, but IHMO, it is implemented improperly.  Ring just stops notifying my device when I snooze it.  It keeps the system active and notifies all of the other devices.  I suppose there are times when each of those behaviors might be appropriate, but if I had to choose, I’d want snooze to actually “disarm” while snoozing rather than merely stopping notifications to one device.

[Rags13]

Thanks, I will keep playing and tweaking it until I get it where I want. Today I must have had over 200 triggered recordings.... I finally muted the notifications.

[AncientGeek]

Camera placement is critical.  If you use zones, you can eliminate areas that have a distracting amount of motion.  You can adjust motion sensitivity as well, of course.

I use push notifications and email sparingly and often have to turn off cameras when the angle of the sun causes a lot of false motion alerts.

[XJW]

I am using custom modes for indoor and outdoor cameras.  But I cannot use those modes with IFTTT. 

I posted this thread after reading the pending request for a Widget which also appears to be ARM/DISARM only.

We have been requesting a Widget that supports custom modes for several years. The activation and deactivation process is too slow.

Through this thread I am trying to raise awareness that ARM/DISARM are not adequate for basic use cases. 

IFTTT was implemented with ARM/DISARM only and we have been waiting for several years for custom modes without result.  I hope the same will not be the case for the Widget.

[AncientGeek]

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@XJW wrote:

I am using custom modes for indoor and outdoor cameras.  But I cannot use those modes with IFTTT. 

I posted this thread after reading the pending request for a Widget which also appears to be ARM/DISARM only.

We have been requesting a Widget that supports custom modes for several years. The activation and deactivation process is too slow.

Through this thread I am trying to raise awareness that ARM/DISARM are not adequate for basic use cases. 

IFTTT was implemented with ARM/DISARM only and we have been waiting for several years for custom modes without result.  I hope the same will not be the case for the Widget.

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I would add that while doing this, they need to add a “Location” structure to the app and any arm/disarm shortcuts.  I’m monitoring 35 cameras on 5 base stations covering four locations in three towns and two states.  A shortcut for arm/disarm is useless, when you have more than one location or any sort of complex configuration.

[RoseGate]

I would like to set up my system to only "Arm" when my wife and I are BOTH away from home. We have the base station set up to recognize both of our phones but the system seems to arm whenever ONE of us is away from home.  (Enabled Devices = 2, both phones are being recognized as "In Zone" or "Out of Zone", Home Mode = Unarmed , Away Mode = Armed) I don't see any way to select an option so that it only arms when BOTH of us are away from home.  Please help.

[AncientGeek]

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@RoseGate wrote:

I would like to set up my system to only "Arm" when my wife and I are BOTH away from home. We have the base station set up to recognize both of our phones but the system seems to arm whenever ONE of us is away from home.  (Enabled Devices = 2, both phones are being recognized as "In Zone" or "Out of Zone", Home Mode = Unarmed , Away Mode = Armed) I don't see any way to select an option so that it only arms when BOTH of us are away from home.  Please help.

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The system is “supposed” to work as you desire and “has” worked properly in the past, but many of us have experienced the same problem you are now experiencing.  Some people have suggested deselecting the two devices, saving and perhaps closing the app and restarting it and then selecting and saving the two devices again.  This worked for a while for me but broke again.