Arlo and Facebook

[Sgotts]

So I downloaded a network monitoring app, plugged in my phone on charger walked away. Came back and found 5 attempts of Arlo trying to log on to my Facebook... Phone on sleep mode just thought everyone should be aware of what there getting into with Arlo brand please feel free to share

[jguerdat]

Need more info. How do you prove it's Arlo going to FB? I don't see anything that relates to that. Not saying it's not possible, just that I'm not seeing the connection.

[jondean]

Yeah this new app is ticking me off b/c it's constantly sending data to FB.  Many other apps do but I can't stand it when apps with something private like banking apps, password managers ( that's you, LastPass ), video feeds, etc send data to FB.  There's no reason for it other than bad coding.  It's pretty common for devs who don't pay attention or who don't know what they are doing to just use the FB SDK and not configure it correctly, and then it ends up doing what FB does...sucking down data for shadow profiles.  My guess is it's for logging into the app with a FB profile?  If yes, the dev(s) who used the SDK goofed up and doesn't know how to implement it correctly.

I'm pretty upset about it b/c we bought these for a local government location ( not a super sensitive site ) and there is no reason for the employee's phones who have this app to be sending data to FB.  I have debated bringing this up to our district attorney but also just replacing the cameras.  The old app did not go sending data to FB.  Needless to say I currently have no plans to buy any more Arlo devices for myself or work at this point

To see the traffic, install an app like Netguard - it's open source - and set it up so it monitors traffic and resolves hostnames.  ( You have to pay to filter packets but very much worth it.  But not to monitor traffic. )  Think of it as tcpdump or Wireshark.  It'll show everywhere every app on a phone goes to.  I have no idea if it works on iOS since Apple is so weird about users having any power over their device but if you have an Android phone it for sure works.  

I've attached a screenshot.

[faswad]

With Facebook's new "Off Facebook Activity" tool available, I can see Arlo with 50+ interactions to Facebook. That is more than any other retailer/advertiser/spammer on my list of Off Facebook Activity interactions. This absolutely needs to be addressed by Arlo.

[jajaro]

I just found out about FB's "offsite activity" today and downloaded my data. I was also surprised to find that Arlo is the biggest/most frequent sender of information. It looks like it sends data every time the Arlo phone app is activated, so typically when you arm/disarm it, i.e. when leaving/arriving back at the house.... (I need to do a bit more digging to confirm this). The biggest surprise/disappointment was that they continued to do this despite the fact that I had deactivated my FB account about a week ago.

I'd really like to get an explanation as to why they think this is an acceptable thing for a home security system to do. The only reference to FB that I could find in the Arlo T&Cs was that they will retrieve data *from* FB - if you use your FB account to log on, which I have never done. Not impressed!

[faswad]

I have a premium account and videos are stored in Arlo’s cloud and not on local storage. This is making me consider dropping the premium account at the very least and perhaps dumping all the cameras if not addressed.

Please take this to Twitter to be sure it’s made public. I’m considering tipping a tech news site about this, if Arlo doesn’t explain what is happening here and if warranted fix the issue. 

[jajaro]

I'm not on twitter, sorry, but I did post this to their FB page two days ago. All I got was - crickets... they are obviously not interested in addressing this, so I'll be looking for alternatives.

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your concern. As you know Arlo takes your data privacy and security very seriously.. The Arlo app includes a feature to allow our users to share videos to their Facebook account. That functionality is enabled through a SDK provided by Facebook and works by initializing a connection through a ping to their systems upon Arlo app startup no matter if you share a video or not. No personal information (besides device IP from the connection session) or videos are shared through these sessions with Facebook, but we understand the concern expressed in the last 24 hours and Arlo has taken immediate steps to disable this SDK.

We know some users will miss the feature to share videos to their Facebook account. You are still able to share your Arlo content on Facebook by manually downloading the videos to your device and then posting them through the Facebook app.

[faswad]

This is great news- thank you for listening to the community, prioritizing our privacy, reacting with a solution quickly and communicating with us. Super appreciated! Count me in as a loyal customer.

[jajaro]

Thank you for the detailed explanation JamesC, and for providing a fix for the issue. I am looking forward to downloading the app update when it becomes available!