Geofencing - Out Of Zone - Unavailable Error

[pengholm]

Have read some issue regarding Geofencing, but I don't get it to work fully.

Have two mobile phones, and even when I sit and work at home Arlo could suddenly "detect" my phone as out of zone and set status to "away". Despite me having the largest "circle" for detection, and being online on wifi with GPS on of course. Just cannot trust this feature if I cannot be 100% certain it will go in "away" mode when we ARE away and "home" mode when either of our phones are home/in the area. Any tips for what to do?

[JamesC]

Geofencing is designed to operate on a "first in, last out basis". This means that if any device is in the Geofencing radius the "Home" mode will enable, and the "Away" mode should only enable when the last device has left the radius. 

How does the first in, last out principal work with geofencing mode for my Arlo cameras?

For this to work be sure the app stays logged in, is running and location is enabled on your devices. If the app is logged off/not running Geofencing will not work.

When using multiple devices, the secondary devices should be logged into the app via shared account through the "Grant Access" feature so that both devices are logged in using the mobile app. Take a look at this article for more information: How do I add and manage multiple mobile devices for geofencing?

If you are having trouble with this, consider refreshing your enabled devices within Geofencing settings. Disable all listed devices, save and then enable the devices again.

Log in to your Arlo Account (the primary) and navigate to Mode > select your Arlo system > edit Geofencing > click "Enabled devices". Toggle all of the listed devices off and save. After you have finished saving, navigate back to "Enabled devices" and toggle all desired devices back on and save.

JamesC

[Mickilo77]

Using VMB3000 with 4 x Wire Free Cameras.  

Initially set up Geofencing and worked intermittently with single phone... and multiple devices, now not working ata all.  

Setup is 1 main account, 2 shared accounts - all authorised and conneted properly.  

Always shows all devices (all up to date iphones running ios 10.3.3) as unavailable.  All have location sharing and background app refresh on.  I have logged all devices out, back in, unchecked all devices and saved, checked and back on... doesn't fix it.  Very dissapointed as this is main functionality I need - cameras monitoring when we are all out of the house.  Any advice?

[renegeorge]

Geofencing not working.  

I only have my phone connected to the app.  Location services on.  But arlo shows my phone as unavailable (in zone shows up for a fraction of a second when I enter the screen then toggles back to unavailalbe).  I tried deselecting/saving/seleting the phone but it does not work.  On the map the phone is shown within the circle.

what to do?????

[Oldtuatara]

I’m having the same problem post ios11

[NiNiNi]

Hi,

I am having the same issue - can anyone help? I've created this video showcasing the issue.

The start of the video is me explaing my current issue (not revlevent to this post), the end is explaining the work around.
It uses 'Life360' and 'IFTTT' apps. It's not perfect though, because IFTTT does not allow you to set-up custom modes/scedule mode.

If anyone can help me with my issue, please let me know! 

[NiNiNi]

Update! The issue is fixed (for me!)

It was due to the name of my phone having an apostrope, messing with the system! Thanks to Moderator James C for suggesting the fix.

on iOS, just go to Settings - General - About to change your name. This worked for me.

[dancohn]

I tried changing the names of my phones to remove apostrophes.  It didn't make any difference.  Both devices still show location unavailable.  Nothing I do seems to make any difference.  The locations used to show up, but now they are permanently unavailable.

Personally, I'm sick and tired of comments from companies like Netgear suggesting various workarounds.  How about fixing your damn software?  I shouldn't have to do things like disabling and re-enabling devices.  I shouldn't even have to check the settings.  The app should diagnose its own problems.  Clearly, if the location is "unavailable" then it's not working.  The really sad part is I've seen posts over a year old complaining about similiar issues.  NETGEAR – EITHER FIX THE SOFTWARE OR STOP PRETENDING THAT YOU HAVE A GEOFENCING FEATURE!

[Mickilo77]

Removing apostrophes worked me too. But I had to cycle the setting on/off on the main account and the shared phones for it to work. If this is know issue then should be updated in software patch!

[TroyTech]

This worked for me as well - name with apostrophe (i.e  Joe's Phone) screws with the software somehow and shows briefly as in zone, etc but then quickly changes to location unavailable.

Changing phone name resolved the issue

[iDragon]

How has this apostrophe bug managed to even slip in? The iOS's default device name has an apostrophe in?!

[Creed3737]

I have an issue with Geofencing. Bear with me as there are a few issues leading to my current one.

I have an iphone and my wife had and iphone also. The geofencing worked where as long as one person was at home it was in home mode.

With the Pixel it worked in that if the phone thinks it is at home it goes to the at home setting for the alarm setting, the problem is the phones status based on location is random and does not reflect the actual location. I have seen it say she is at home when she isnt (and it just switch at home whilst she is out) and I have seen her go home but the status still say out of zone.

I tried all the usual trick such as login as me, check status, then log back in as her. That sometimes worked, but wasnt long before its getting the wrong status again.

I then tried to change her GPS settings to basic in the android settings, so just use GPS and not wifi or blue tooth to determine location. It seemed to work for a day or 2 then got stuck as not in zone. I then noticed thet my phone that had worked fine was also stuck not in zone. I logged out and back in on my phone and now it just says Unavailable as the status for both devices.

I have unselected devices and saved, then reselected and saved, logged out and back in, uninstalled and reinstalled. I cant get it to say anything else other than Unavailable. At this point based on the issues seen on this forum the Geofencing is not fit for purpose. Does any one have any other suggestions? Or is this just a broken app?

Thanks

[consensus2]

Phone IDs with only standard characters makes no difference here. IPhone 6S plus, latest version of the Arlo app and IOS. Toggling phones, i.e., disabling/reenabling them as geofencing devices solves the problem TEMPORARILY, but it constantly reoccurs. Either a phone is ’unavailable’, or is in the wrong zone. It seems that the Arlo app is either not polling the device’s gps position at all, or it is not using it correctly. 

Netgear: If this is the way you want the app to work, then you might as well terminate the geofencing feature in the next app release. Or FIX IT.

[enjoychewy]

---

@consensus2wrote:

Phone IDs with only standard characters makes no difference here. IPhone 6S plus, latest version of the Arlo app and IOS. Toggling phones, i.e., disabling/reenabling them as geofencing devices solves the problem TEMPORARILY, but it constantly reoccurs. Either a phone is ’unavailable’, or is in the wrong zone. It seems that the Arlo app is either not polling the device’s gps position at all, or it is not using it correctly. 

Netgear: If this is the way you want the app to work, then you might as well terminate the geofencing feature in the next app release. Or FIX IT.

---

I understand your frustration because it's been affecting me too. But I wouldn't ask them to terminate geofencing at all, it's one of the few features that attracted me to the system. However, now that it's totally unreliable and non-functional, I'll be seeking a refund soon. It's definintely a deal breaker.

[mtay]

The Geofencing location is now a joke. Even removing asphotophe (') from the mobile phone's name won't work. Read another thread that all spaces have to be removed too. Soon it will be only 8 letters 😄

My work around is using a Samsung SmartThings hub as the control centre and set up the mobile phones as presence sensors in the SmartThings which then adjust Arlo accordingly.

[enjoychewy]

I hope everyone understands why I keep jumping back. But I'm all too frustrated (and I'm sure you all are too) that Netgear is non-communicative about this issue. Geofencing is still broken for the Android version of Arlo's app (2.4.10-2007). This all started at the beginning of March with their first March update (previous to that it was a login issue). I understand problems do arise and I appreciate that. However, I'm starting to believe that Netgear's software engineering is completely incompetent! Oh and Netgear's customer service don't seem to understand how to communicate issues to customers. I mean isn't that the first thing customer service should be doing, communicating? I've posted multiple times on this forum, contacted via and commented on the Australian and International Facebook pages and spoken to them via Live Chat only to get no response or "it's a known issue" or "we're not tech support, we've passed on your message." You know what - nor are all these contributors on these forums. However, the community here seems to be able to find temporary workarounds by using 3rd party apps. For some, we didn't buy Arlo for 3rd party apps as they don't give us all the functionality promised by Arlo.

SO! Let's try again. Netgear mods: When is there going to be a fix that WORKS reliably and WHEN will this update happen OTA?

[consensus2]

There’s been a few updates in the last two weeks, at least for IOS. We have IOS 11.3 now, plus two updates of the Arlo IOS app that I’m aware of.

Geofencing seems to work much better now, thank you!!!

[Brett_Speed]

FYI after spending a couple of days with a similar issue with none of the various suggestions fixing this problem it turned out that my issue was that the shared device that wasn't registering with the geofencing had it's "Low Power Mode" manually activated.

Turning it off fixed everything.

Just another thing to check if anyone is still having trouble.

[enjoychewy]

I just wanted to put it out there that the latest Android app update did not fix the crashing issue and geofencing issue. OTA update - v 2.4.11_20331 still crashes using Android 7 (2 independant devices too, btw). And geofencing doesn't work as it used to a few versions ago. Netgear support keeps saying "known issue, we're looking into it". Both Android devices have the app taken off the battery optimisation list, hence the Arlo app should be running freely in the background.

[mtay]

Mine has not been working for many many months too. Multiple false alarm over a short period forced me to not use the "geo-fencing" mode any more. Does Netgear Support have an estimate time on when this can be fixed for Android users?

[enjoychewy]

I can speak on Netgear's behalf based on the non-response I've gotten - No, Netgear doesn't care and no they don't seem to have an ETA or even an inkling to fix it. Here's my story. Since an update late in Feb 2018, I started noticing my Arlo android app geofencing feature not working properly. False disarmings, false arming, going off randomly. I then noticed that I wasn't getting notifications. And it's been not working as expected since. I've reached out to them via public Facebook (FB) comments and private FB messages, here on the forums (multiple threads), on live chat and via email to a "technician" who I believe isn't a real person due to their totally cookie cutter "form" responses. Furthermore, I have been promised a phone call, but that never happened either. So, no, Netgear doesn't care. I'm seriously thinking of returning my unit and under my jurisdiction's consumer protection law, I'm entitiled to a full refund, even if the unit is outside warranty, because I'm covered under the law which states "a reasonably lifespan, regardless of warranty periods." But that's all a moot point because my unit is only 6 months old and I'm disgusted that I paid several hundred dollars for it on the premise it'll work with my Android smartphone and the app has powerful features like geofencing. Sadly this hasn't been true lately. Netgear, if you want to keep playing your customers like they don't matter, that's fine, you can give me my money back.

[Dozvette]

James,

I have been having this same issue for months. I  have followed the directions as you have outlined in your response to the letter countless times but nothing seems to remedy the situation. The enabled devices keep switching to Unavailable. The system will arm when the iPhone 8 is in the home. My wife is constantly opening the app. My Samsung Galaxie S9 will almost never move into home mode unless I restart the phone. We have uninstalled the app and reinstalled several times on both phones.

[Barbsbrigade]

Nope not working on Android