Arlo Pro Camera and Base Station disappeared from app

[Watshim]

I've been using my Arlo Pro for a few years now. Last night, the cameras and base station disappeared from the app (iOS 17.0.3). Earlier in the evening, I notice that the  HomeKit integration was gone, so I rebooted the base station via the app, as I normally do when that happens, prior to contacting Arlo to reset the Homekit token. However, this time when the base station came back up, there were no cameras or base station shown. A hard reboot and power disconnect afterwards did not help. I've tried rebooting the phone, force quitting the app and even deleting the app, but nothing has helped. 

I've seen other threads where they just re-appeared for some people after another reboot or some had to re-added all devices. Is there a recommended way to recover the devices or do I have to manually set them up again?

[Watshim]

Also, I just logged into the myArlo site and while my videos are also available there, the cameras and base station are not showing up there either.

[Watshim · Accepted solution]

Seems there was no magic bullet.

Had to reset  the base station using the pinhole button, re-add the cameras manually, reconfigure the cameras, recreate the modes and schedule, re-add everything to HomeKit and re-create all of my automations that involve my cameras.

Not difficult, but a little time consuming. Everything seems to be working now. Glad this doesn't happen as often as the HomeKit token expiring and needing a remote reset from Arlo staff.

[archieab]

Same thing happened to me about a week ago. I have old Arlo Pro cameras from 2018 connected to my base, not wifi capable.  I purchased the spotlight cameras and they connect to wifi directly and are still showing in my Arlo app on iPhone. I then purchased Arlo 3 Pro floodlights a few months ago and they were in my app but now the app will not find my base (I've done EVERYTHING for troubleshooting including rebooting my cable modem and router multiple times, deleting app and reinstalling, etc.) and it dropped my floodlight cameras. Base station is VMB4000 and I know my older non-wifi cameras are EOL but they've been working fine.  I'm at a total loss, I've been troubleshooting this for a week.  Can't add devices from app on iPhone or website.  OS on computer is Win 10 and 11 (I have one of each), firmware is up to date on new cameras and base and older cameras no longer get firmware updates.  Base station has all 3 green lights, it senses movement on cameras according to the LEDs on base but still can't see in app. 

[jguerdat]

FWIW, I had a similar problem quite some time ago. All looked fine and even called the ISP since it was their router. Turned out to be a faulty base - a different one worked fine.

YMMV.

[archieab]

I actually had a spare VMB4000 base that I never setup still in the box so I got that working and it's showing in the app and web, all 3 LEDs are green.  I finally got my floodlights added by doing the factory reset on all of them a few times.  My older non-wifi direct capable Arlo Pro (EOL) cameras are connected to the base, I see the activity light whenever I move one of the cameras just as I did on the original base but neither the app or web detect them.  I know there is no way to factory reset these older cameras from what I've read. I've tried syncing them dozens and dozens of times in both the phone app and web.  Rebooted modem, router, iphone, base and cameras what seems like a hundred times. I've also removed the app and reinstalled on my iphone multiple times. Arlo, what changed please? The EOL emails and policy notice does not say anything about not allowing older cameras to connect to the app.  Very frustrated because I have 8 cameras that are useless now.

[jguerdat]

What is your active mode? Are there rules in it to detect and record for each camera? If needed, attach screenshots of the rules for sample cameras. Don't forget that the floodlights need a subscription for cloud recordings.

[archieab]

I have a paid plan that allows multiple cameras.  I have the floodlights finally attached as well as the direct wifi connected cameras. Arlo app and web see the VMB4000 base station but will not detect the older Arlo Pro cameras connected to the base.  I have no specific rules setup on any of them.

[jguerdat]

What are the base LEDs showing? All should be green with maybe the Camera LED flashing amber (camera connection issue). It may be fastest to remove the base and any cameras that may be connected to it (no need to remove cameras connected via WiFi) and reset the base by holding the reset button until the LEDs flash amber. Let it reboot (~2 minutes) and then claim it as if new. Then try connecting the older cameras to it.

[archieab]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  In response to jguerdat, I'm copying and pasting what I had posted previously so you know everything I've done to troubleshoot this:

I actually had a spare VMB4000 base that I never setup still in the box so I got that working and it's showing in the app and web, all 3 LEDs are green. I finally got my floodlights added by doing the factory reset on all of them a few times. My older non-wifi direct capable Arlo Pro (EOL) cameras are connected to the base, I see the activity light whenever I move one of the cameras just as I did on the original base but neither the app or web detect them. I know there is no way to factory reset these older cameras from what I've read. I've tried syncing them dozens and dozens of times in both the phone app and web. Rebooted modem, router, iphone, base and cameras what seems like a hundred times. I've also removed the app and reinstalled on my iphone multiple times. Arlo, what changed please? The EOL emails and policy notice does not say anything about not allowing older cameras to connect to the app. Very frustrated because I have 8 cameras that are useless now.

[jguerdat]

I know you were repeating what the original post said but you didn't answer my question in my last post. You REBOOTED the base but not RESET. In addition, you state that the "activity  light" - what is that? The amber dot with 3 lines on the camera thumbnail?

[archieab]

I factory reset both the old and new base stations multiple times. 

The activity light is the middle of the 3 LED's on the base.  When I move one of the cameras around to create activity, that light flickers just like it has in the past when I was able to see all cameras in the app and on the web. And when I'm not moving any of the cameras, it's blinking 5 times fast which from what I've read means it's talking to the Arlo server. Still cannot add to either the app or website.