Activity Zones

[Brennan90]

Any idea on how to stop getting notifications which fall outside of the activity zone which is set. I get about 60-70 a day of stuff outside of zone. I have tried literally everything I can think of. Smart Notifications, just put it on people and I still get them of the last second of a vehicle driving past. I have deleted and added the zone again and again. One of the biggest headaches is that its draining the battery rapidly having all these notifications . I have another camera on a shared drive of which activates when the neighbours go on the drive but this doesn't seem to drain the battery anywhere near as fast as my front camera. I subscribed to the plan so I can get the zones to reduce the amount of notifications but they just keep coming. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Reallyconfused]

So I got a call from Arlo today as I was told I would when I canceled a few days ago. I was asked to send more pictures and videos so they could further investigate. When I mentioned how many people here are having the very same issue she told me that some people are reporting the Activity Zones are working for them again since the Cloud update a few weeks back.

I told her I would sign up again, for one month, to see if it’s working. Well what do you know...ITS STILL NOT WORKING!

I submitted new evidence to them to see what they say. Not holding my breath.

This is still under my open ticket from May!!!

[Ziya]

Reallyconfused is your camera connected via mains or battery?

[dcfox1]

@Reallyconfused  Did you notice any difference since cloud fix for activity zones in early June. Mine and others are working since then but some are still reporting problems mainly the AC error. There was also problem with smart notifications that was said to be " fixed" today. 

[Ziya]

Today i disconnected my AC power to the camera and ran it from the battery and it seems to work on battery.
Why is it not working on AC mains?

[Reallyconfused]

No difference on my initial test after signing up again.

Two cameras on ac work great but the battery powered ones are the issue, as before.
Mind you, it did seem like one of them worked if I am walking in one direction but not in the opposite direction. I need more time to retest.

[dcfox1]

Yea I believe the AC error issue is a different problem. I'm on Battery and don't receive that error. 

Some have reported receiving  it no matter what. 

[Ziya]

Arlo need to sack their engineers and get people who know what they are doing. You cant have a system like this (a security device) that works when ever it wants too.

[Reallyconfused]

It seems to be hit and miss right now.

Looking at my open app at the "devices" page, I saw the still image of my neighbor walking beside his home. But there was no recording which I could view  and the icon to register the number of video's was "zero". Nothing in the library either.

This tells me that the camera did see something but it was outside of the set up activity zone I have and did not send me a notification. So perhaps things are getting better.    

[Terlx]

I have been paying for months for arlo plus. But i can not use the activity zones in one of my cameras as it stopped working 7 months ago. I have contacted customer no service and has several tickets out there. None of which have solved my issue. I have learned ON MY OWN that if i cut power to the base it resets and my activity zones work for a few hours to a couple of days but than fail again. I have to keep that camera off because it goes off every 5 minutes due to a mailbox that gets a lot of traffic.
I was just charged a renewal fee for a product that i can't even use. It is also impossible to talk to a live human being. And when you finally reach a live person it is almost impossible to understand them. I get asked all the time about my cameras. At first i told them they were the greatest thing. What do you think i tell them now?

[Reallyconfused]

Another update.
I am very happy to report that it does seem like there has been a huge improvement with the Activity Zone feature. It does look like it is preventing motion outside of my zones from being forwarded to me.
I really do hope this is a permanent fix and that it does not relapse to its former state!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed

[Ziya]

Mine seems to be working alright battery operated but was misbehaving when on AC power. Will try again on AC to see if its a total fix

[Reallyconfused]

That’s strange. My ac powered cameras were never an issue, only the battery powered ones gave me trouble.

[Ziya]

It never used to be a problem, only recently few weeks started playing up. Worked perfect both on AC and battery. There has been no software update on the app so maybe it was a glitch on Arlos end and has now ben fixed.

[ShayneS · Accepted solution]

Hello Community,

Arlo deployed another cloud update enhancing Activity Zone accuracy. This should improve the experience for users reporting symptoms of motion detection alerts and recordings occurring outside of their defined Activity Zones. We are continuing to monitor Activity Zone behavior and will provide additional enhancements in the coming weeks.

[DisgruntledinFL]

When was cloud update sent and is it documented anywhere for us to see proof? I'm assuming this update is different from the "Firmware update" which we can observe from our device info on app.

[matt5931]

It’s really frustrating that these just don’t work. I’ve seen lots of posts and would like an update as to the resolution of this. My camera is currently doing 100+ recordings a day and none of it within the actual zone.

[MartinBell]

Just installed the video doorbell and have the same issue. **bleep** loads of recordings far outside the activity zones. And funny enough; when I open the door and stand infront of the camera and waving (inside my zones) it doesn't record. I have tried putting the activity zones where I don't wont it to record but still doesn't help. 

[Reallyconfused]

Yes, I thought maybe it was finally fixed but it is still hit and miss for me. Better but not close to 100%
Same camera, sometimes works and not other times.
And the other thing that is faulty AGAIN is the Smart Notifications.
I’m getting all sorts of alerts for things I have de selected.
And on it goes.....

[joshallen]

Nope. Activity Zones still not serving a purpose. Tons of motion detections happening outside of them. Arlo Fail.

[Reallyconfused]

Looks like I will have to move the location of at least one of my cameras to a less than desirable spot for my liking due to the inoperable feature of “Activity Zones”. This feature just does not work.
And after all this time it leads me to wonder if it can ever work. I’m starting to wonder if it’s not the fault of the Arlo team. Does anyone know if any competitor’s product does successfully? Perhaps it is not actually possible.
If not, it should not be advertised or even offered to the public as a viable feature, and the cameras should then be priced accordingly. (Lower)
On the other hand, if it can be done, meaning the technology does exist, THEN FIGURE IT OUT ARLO. HIRE PEOPLE WHO CAN DO IT AND STOP RIPPING US OFF.
Sorry, I was shouting there. Forgive me. Perhaps it is my fault I canceled the subscription and started it once again on the hope that it was fixed. I was led to believe it was.
Kind of like the Smart Notifications which also do not work again.

[Ziya]

Since my last post above with the issue iv had like the rest of you, i must admit that mine seems to be working as it should both on AC power and battery. Im only getting notifications within my zones.

[dcfox1]

Yea things are working better not perfect but for the most part its good. Also positioning is everything  with any camera. 

[Reallyconfused]

So position is everything? What, I need to point my camera so far off where I want it to be for it to acknowledge the Activity Zones? Sorry, I’m not drinking the Kool-aid. 

“Working Better, not perfect”. Does that mean my payment should be less than what Arlo is asking?  Sorry, but it should be PERFECT!

[dcfox1]

@Reallyconfused I don't know but you said in a  earlier post you were going to do that. Zones work for me and others now.  some say it does not.  Sorry it does not work perfect  for you. 

[Reallyconfused]

No worries, it was not meant as an attack on you. I’m just very frustrated with the whole experience. As you say, it’s not working for everyone