Geofencing automations Arlo App

[baumbachaflocka]

The old app worked great with geofencing, it would not arm unless every device left the area. Now it always arms if just 1 person leaves. My system is configuration is the following: anyone arrives> standby, everyone leaves> arm away

They are both set to always enabled and I have made sure that both my devices are setup correctly with always allowing precise location, notifications and do not have battery saver on. Its so frustrating because the old app worked great and the new one is so bad and we were forced to switch when we added the new cameras.

More info there is 1 iphone and 1 android phone used for geofencing, I have it set to the largest area and no other automations except for the geofencing ones.

[jguerdat]

At least on ANdroid, I use schedules and geofencing together with no issues. It appears that both the latest iOS update (not sure of the version number) as well as the Arlo app 4.14 have caused issues. I just saw a post this morning indicating a new app update is available  - 4.15. Have you had a chance to install and check that?

FWIW, the "old free app" is the same one as what you have now except perhaps for the version number. There's no differences in the app but there's a big difference between the old user interface (UI) that uses Library to view recordings and the new UI that uses Feed - the app has long supported both UIs.

[dleads]

my apple shows 4,13- just checked the app store for an update and nothing there

[jguerdat]

Huh. Not an iOS user here but there have been several posts referencing the 4.14 version recently. Perhaps it's a regional thing? Where are you?

@JamesC , @ShayneS , @BrookeN can you jump in here?

[dleads]

east coast

[BrookeN]

The app version at the moment is 4.13. In regards to the schedules not working with the automations we are aware of this behavior. At this time you can only use one or the other, but they will not work together on some users accounts. As soon as there is an update from the development team, I will reach out to the community. 

[Sonofabeach71]

I totally hear you.

i had it, worked great. I’d simply drive down the road and would get a notification that the system had switched from Home to Away Mode.

Suddenly stopped working Automatically, I now need to Manually change the setting.

so much worse to once had something good, then losing it.

So be careful what you wish for.

Sure, having it Automatically was awesome (the good old days) losing it is really hard.. 

[Sonofabeach71]

Oh oh, just had another go.

Havent checked thoroughly yet, however check that your correct device(s) are checked in “Specific People“ in the Automations Section.

That setting had a change to an older device I no longer use.

Good Luck 

[BrookeN]

I have reached out to the development team to look into this. I will update the community as soon as possible. 

[Keith100]

This is an issue with the new software that has many flaws. This is not a device issue. 

[Richland]

Same problem persists at my home with one additional problem. I bought 3 additional cameras and when I was syncing them to my WiFi I rcvd a message that said I needed to update the App. When I did the App was a completely different interface and all the modes changed names. It’s been almost 6 weeks and nothing works like it used to. My husband works from home and has to come and go all day. Geofencing was great for this. But, we also used to have the capability to schedule our cameras to arm automatically in the evening and unarm in the morning. Now, I’m being told you have to choose one or the other. It’s either geofencing(which doesn’t work) or schedule. I’ve been thru all of this with tech support to no avail. All day I’m having to manually arm or disarm the cameras. This needs to be fixed. I can’t use a system like this. Pointless. A security system needs to be effortless and allow the homeowner to feel confident their home and family are safe and secure without having to manually keep up with if it’s going to work or not. I don’t have the luxury of time trying to get this to work. Please bring back the old app for the security and peace of mind for homeowners. 

[Richland]

I’m having same issues. Arlo support told me that you can’t have geofencing and scheduling and it must be one or the other. Pointless. I’m looking for alternative camera systems. 

[jguerdat]

I'm using schedules and geofencing together with no issues so "support" is misinformed. Post screenshots of your geofencing settings along with any descriptions of how the problems manifest themselves.

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:

I'm using schedules and geofencing together with no issues

Last I heard, there was at least one scenario when you had to manually change modes.  Which for me means it doesn't work.

[jcplonghorn]

As an experiment, after all this failed troubleshooting, today I turned off schedules. Removed them altogether. Suddenly, for the first time in a year, my geofencing is working. HALLELUJAH! (Love this self-help support model <sarcasm>.) Of course, you should be able to use both, but apparently, scheduling is interfering with geofencing – at least for me. I am on an iPhone on iOS 17.5.1, with Arlo iOS app version 4.14.5 (7467).

Previously, my schedule was simply set to disarm interior cameras from 6AM to 11:59PM, with all outside cameras on, and from midnight to 5:59AM, arm everything inside and out. There is no geofencing option in the scheduling, just the options of the other existing modes. 

[Richland]

 

[Richland]

 

[Richland]

 

[Richland]

3 screen shots attached previously. The problem is even without schedules geofencing is not switching over when we come or go. 

[jguerdat]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@jguerdat wrote:

I'm using schedules and geofencing together with no issues

Last I heard, there was at least one scenario when you had to manually change modes.  Which for me means it doesn't work.

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 Is this an iOS issue? I don't have any here.

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:
 Is this an iOS issue? I don't have any here.

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No, nothing to do with iOS.  And I think you did mention at least one issue in one of your earlier posts, where you said you had to manually shift the mode in one scenario.

With Feed you can

• create an automation to change to a specific mode when you leave
• create an automation to change to a specific mode when you arrive
• create an automation to change to a specific mode at a given time.

But AFAICT, three things you cannot do are

• change to a specific mode at a given time, but only when you are home
• change to a specific mode at a given time, but only when you are away.
• change to a scheduled mode when you arrive or leave (where the mode depends on the time you arrive or leave).

These were all possible with the old Library interface, since you could set either Home or Away to "Schedule".  

But the new UI doesn't have the same concept of Schedule.  Instead of telling the system what mode you want at any given time, you instead are scheduling triggering events that change the mode when a time is reached. So (for example) when you leave, then the system will just run the "leave" automation, and not follow the schedule you want until the next schedule event triggers. 

If you were using the three behaviors that worked with Library, but not with Feed, then there are times when the system just isn't in the mode you want.  The only way to overcome that is to manually change the mode, which is a PITA.

There have been several folks who have posted about this, and I think you managed to overcome it using the exception mechanism in the automations.  That mechanism disables/enables other automations, so getting the logic right could be really hard for some scenarios - if you get it wrong, you could end up disabling geofencing or scheduling altogether.

• https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Secure/Geofencing-This-has-to-be-a-bug/td-p/1935254

If there is a simple way to get those missing behaviors to work, then it would be REALLY good for Arlo to create some clear examples in a KB article.

But IMO the most intuitive and general way would be to allow users to set up a home schedule and an away schedule, and then have geofencing trigger the correct schedule when they arrive or leave.  Which is very close to the way Library works.

[grahamam107]

Thanks @stevenb.  I see a month has gone by with no confirmation either way from Arlo.

[grahamam107]

@ShayneS , can you answer my message number 48 on this topic please.  This thread has been open since 2023 with no resolution, 60 posts and over 3000 views.  When is arlo going to address it, or do we need to start a class action?  I would be keen to get compensated for the $1000 of hardware and years of subscriptions if Arlo are not intending to fix the software issues.

[BrookeN]

@grahamam107  I reached out to support who will be reaching out to you. I let them know you had some specific questions regarding rules. They will be reaching out as soon as possible. 

[grahamam107]

Thank you @BrookeN   Support have been in contact but have not been very helpful yet.  They just seem to want details on the issues that have been raised ad nauseum in the community forum rather than actually fix them or even admit there are issues.

[jrager]

@BrookeN has there been any diagnosis or fix release scheduled for this issue?  I've had the same issue for at lease a couple of months with my two AL1001R4 lights - finally got around to doing all of the power cycling, resetting, removing/re-adding devices, removing/re-adding schedule and no change.  My three cameras have worked fine all along.

Please let us know.  Thank you.