Arlo
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JPC · ‎2017-10-09

This new updated App sure drains battery fast and make a significant warm/heat feel on iPhone 5s and 6 especially in live view.. It sometimes freezes when in full screen mode during live view. In full screen, landscape mode still have the top bar showing with the status icons. Pressing the live button doesn't always starts. When it does, only for a few seconds and stops.. Hmm.. am wondering what bug did the talented Arlo Software Engineers fix?

bwarman · ‎2017-12-01

Just got my 4 camera system setup from my black friday Best Buy purchase. Having the exact same problem as everyone else. Warm phone with significant battery drain, even with background app refresh and location services disabled.

I'm thinking it might be best just to return the system, since this thread shows it's been an on-going problem that Netgear has yet to resolve.

NatBran · ‎2017-12-01

I have found if you close the app with the app switcher after you hit the Home button the battery drain stops. Even though background apps are supposed to hibernate it apparently doesn’t. The Arlo system is fantastic. I believe they will get this fixed soon. The free seven day storage is huge. Look at Ring and others. Have to pay for features that are free with Arlo.

bwarman · ‎2017-12-01

In theory they're better than Ring or other cameras (I own a Ring Pro), but if the app doesn't get fixed and the service is as bad as it appears to have been, then it's a no-win situation. I have no interest in running ethernet all over my house and power cables are a nuissance, so the Arlo was supposed to be the best I could do. I'm not sure the trade-offs are worth the money I spent on these things.

I did a lot of research before buying and I don't think the ideal camera system exists yet. I had hope that Arlo Pro would get me as close as possible, but I've been pretty disappointed in the system so far. I will be shutting down the app when not using it, but that is an unecessary work-around for a problem that should have been fixed by now, based on what I'm seeing in this thread.

NatBran · ‎2017-12-01

I agree that it should not be this way. We are a week into having the system and after the initial excitement of being able to watch dogs in yard live etc....we don’t even open the app when we know it’s is in the yard or garage. In last few days we have used app twice...amazon deliveries to front door. At night my Apple Watch hasn’t buzzed with any notifications. So ideally you should not have to open app much...depending on use/purpose though. Still, netgear needs to ramp it up and fix. Anybody shopping this Christmas season will not have a hard time finding the negative reviews and may buy another system that is t as capable.

bwarman · ‎2017-12-01

Just doing some testing and I noticed that even if I open the app and don't watch any video at all, the battery still drains. If you watch video you can actually see the battery dropping as it goes, but you don't have to be watching for the battery to drain. Also, when I close out of the app it sucks up a few more percentage points of my battery.
There's a SERIOUS bug in the app and it has nothing to do with the cameras or OS or video streams. It's almost like a memory leak of some sort. Go ahead and try it. Open the app and watch your battery drain without your doing anything. Then close it and see your battery drop even more.

Netgear needs to make this a top priority or is going to be a very sad holiday season for them. It would be nice if a reputable tech blog would report on the issue because it's legitimately a major bug. The calculator for iOS 11 didn't work right if you typed quickly and everyone was up in arms. This app literally kills your phone, just by opening it, and we haven't heard anything about it yet.

bwarman · ‎2017-12-01

Just did some more testing and it appears the more cameras I have turned on in my system, the quicker it the phone battery drains. I didn't really notice the problem until I installed my second camera. Then the drain really started. Just installed the last two, to see if they were working, and the drain got exponentially worse. I could actually watch the percentage dropping when the app was open. Even when not watching any streams. Turned off three of them and the drain is alot slower now. Just some extra clues that might help Netgear actually fix this problem. That could also be why some people say they don't have the problem. If you only have one camera then the drain isn't going to be as noticeable.

MickeyMeadows · ‎2017-12-03

Hi

Im using arlo pro now for about 3 weeks and after some starting up problems with one camera going offline

I'm very happy with the product.

How aver I noticed already on the first day the battery draining on my Iphone 7 , version IOS 11.1.2 and getting warm or hot. Checking in settings , Battery, the % apps are using I found out thad Arlo app is using 65% .

My solution to this problem is for now to log out of the arlo app when done on till the arlo app gets improved.

MickeyMeadows · ‎2017-12-03

Forgot

Im using 5 Cameras.

Nupie · ‎2017-12-03

For two months I’ve been trying to find a fix for the Arlo app. The Arlo app and 3 or 4 low quality free games heat up the iPhone. It heats up where the CPU is and quickly drains the battery. A well designed app like the YouTube app or Netflix app never heat up the phone or quickly drain the battery. I watch YouTube vids for hours without excessive heat from the back and 1% a minute battery drain.
I have come up with a hypothesis. I think the Arlo app is not utilizing the iPhones hardware correctly. The newer iPhones have a CPU and a GPU. Central processing unit and a graphics processing unit. I think the Arlo app is only using the power hungry CPU instead of the low power GPU.
Apple has published a paper for app developers to follow that correctly utilizes the correct processor. Here’s apples page for it.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/fundamental_lessons/cpu_and_gpu_synchronization
Why doesn’t stupid Netgear look into how to utilize iPhones hardware correctly? I bet it’s an easy fix if an app developer looked at it.

cherlock · ‎2017-12-03

Hopefully the info will get to the Netgear developers, I'm not confident they actually monitor this thread.

Nupie · ‎2017-12-03

I hope so too! But why should we be the ones trying to come up with possible solutions or trying to figure out how to fix their app?

Nupie · ‎2017-12-03

The Arlo app reminds me of a 2 year old car with 300,000 miles on it.
It looks beautiful on the outside and has lots of features. But the engine smokes and only 1st gear works. Not going very far with it.

gildrush · ‎2017-12-03

Here's an excerpt from a chat session I just had with Arlo support:

I would like to sincerely apologize for this inconvenience, Gil. Upon consulting with my team, they have informed me that this issue was already brought to our engineer's attention. In fact, an issue number was already created on this which means our engineering department are already working on this.

However, as of now, we do not have any updates yet. What we can do for now is create a case number for you and once we receive any feedback then we will let you know as soon as possible.

Nupie · ‎2017-12-03

That’s a similar response I’ve been getting for two months now. It’s just a generic answer to get you off their backs.

Kaelaria · ‎2017-12-06

New 4 cam user here and by the time I had finished doing a simple setup - aiming and such - I had lost 50% of my iPad battery! I thought I was going crazy! NETGEAR FIX THIS CRAP!

CaptC · ‎2017-12-07

Did you try their suggestions and note the battery drain numbers? Am curious.

Kaelaria · ‎2017-12-07

They haven't given any suggestions. They just said they don't have a fix yet.

CaptC · ‎2017-12-07

Yep- sorry. My message was intended as a response to a message from Nupie- pasted below...

To further isolate the problem, I hope that you can perform another tests:

1. Reboot your phone.
2. Install a YouTube app and stream a video for 5 minutes.
3. Observe how much battery % will drop per minute and if your phone heats up.
4. Afterwards, launch the Arlo app.
5. Leave the app open for 5 minutes without doing live streaming with your camera.
6. Observe how how much battery % will drop per minute.
7. Afterwards, go to Settings > General > Battery > Battery Usage. Compare the battery usage of both YouTube and Arlo app.

Afterwards, test your phone's battery.

1. Go Settings > General > Battery.
2. Note the Usage and Standby times.
3. Then put the device to sleep by pressing the on/off switch at the top.
4. After five minutes check the change in the Usage and Standby times.
5. If your device is working correctly, the Usage time should have have gone up by less than a minute, while the Standby time should have gained five minutes.

I also recommend to follow other tips to save the battery life when using an app:

1. Adjust your phone's brightness.
2. If you aren't using Geofencing mode, disable the Location Services for your app. Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Turn off location services for Arlo app.
3. Reduce the time that you are streaming with your cameras. Just like watching videos using another app, live streaming with the camera can also affect your phone's battery

Message 52 of 117

bwarman · ‎2017-12-07

This is the response I just got from my Twitter message to the Arlo amount:

"Thank you for reaching out. Our Engineering team is working on a fix to the backend to be released as quickly as possible. We can update you soon on an ETA. If you would like to speak with Support, please see for contacting Support: ... goo.gl/wmrMtx"

The person running their social media is at least recognizing the problem. Most others want to blame the user or the phone. I can watch YouTube videos for hours without my battery draining as much as it does in a few minutes using the Arlo app. Fingers crossed they fix this.

saronian · ‎2017-12-07

It's depressing that they don't have an iPhone in-house to perform the test, but want us to compare the battery use of Arlo with YouTube.

I'm insulted by such stupidty.

Not a battery issue, but an app programming issue.

Khorn · ‎2017-12-07

So I did compare the two and YouTube had no heating or draining issues. Arlo, even without watching videos would heat the phone up and drain the battery. But, with that being said, at least it works. I recently purchased a Ring Video Doorbell 2 and that thing never works. My Arlo cameras fire up and I can view them every time (so long as my battery on my phone lasts). I just get a black screen with Ring. Furthermore, the Arlos are only rated 720p and the Ring is 1080p, yet Arlo's videos are so much clearer. I'm so tired of wasting money on junk--trying to be optimistic Arlo is only a software issue and it'll eventually be fixed and not a hardware issue, which I think is the case with Ring.

SkyBot · ‎2017-12-07

I’m with you... we all know it’s an Arlo app software bug.

People are not as tech illiterate as they used to be.

Fix the glitch Netgear, and stop wasting people’s time with pointless tests.

Livinlife · ‎2017-12-08

As a consumer of camera systems at multiple properties, I basically agree with those on the thread who feel the Arlo system potentially may be one of the best available in the home consumer market. Their hardware technology is exceptional. The problem lies with Netgear’s lack of a timely acknowledgement and/or response to the flawed software that drives the overall process. I look at this way... if I purchased a high performance automobile that has a top speed of only 30 mph because of a flawed engine...I would not buy again even if I liked the car’s design!
I fear that Netgear may be more focused on piles of cash generated through holiday sales and not concerned with the long term effect created due to the faulty software system. Ultimately iPhone users will not support the continued apathy demonstrated by Netgear to this point. I honestly hope Netgear will quickly correct the issue and leverage the Arlo system as one of the best before someone else grabs the top spot.

bwarman · ‎2017-12-08

Don't worry, I've been doing my best to make sure they don't make any more money from my circle of influence.

Until the problem is fixed the system is seriously flawed and I can't recommend it to anyone else.

sjchester7 · ‎2017-12-09

I got a new iPhone. I gave my iPhone 6s to my husband. His iPhone, my old iPhone, keeps dying. Yep, Arlo is using 90% of the battery. It dies in just minutes. He has Arlo at his office. We have Arlo at home. My iPhone 8 is doing great. The new iOS update doesn’t like the Arlo app, or visa versa!

Arlo App 2.4.4 on iOS causing battery drain/significant heat

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Arlo App 2.4.4 on iOS causing battery drain/significant heat

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