Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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hallinmas
Initiate
Initiate

I have Arlo Pro cameras and just today my geofencing is not working. I am home and the app says that I am "In Zone", yet it is saying that the system is armed. I also noticed that Arlo Smart is not filtering, and it is allowing all motion for one of my cameras to come through when it should only be People. Is there a bug? Any help would be appreciated. I already tried unplugging the base station and restarting. Thanks!

932 REPLIES 932
Frostbach
Star
Star

@JessicaP wrote:

For those still experiencing issues with Geofencing after the fixes we've released, please take a look at this article for troubleshooting steps you can take to improve performance: Why isn't the Geofencing mode working?


Already tred this/verified all of this several days ago when I was doing my own troubleshooting.

 

The problem we seem to be having is related to the fact that we have secondary/granted access accounts enabled. From what I've seen, if you set up geofencing to only use the main account, everything works as expected. However, if you add another device for a secondary account, things do not appear to work so well - it seems to work if the owner account is the last to leave the zone/first to enter, but if the secondary account leaves last or enters first, it will not switch.

 

I've noticed weird things with the secondary account device that I posted earlier that are probably related. Reposting this again:

If I change the mode to disarmed on the secondary phone, then change the mode back to geofencing on the same phone, nothing happens. The mode will show that is geofencing/disarmed (Disarmed is not part of my home/away modes). If I do the same thing on my phone linked to the main owner account, it will change to either the home/away mode and show the push notification with the change (though the secondary phone does NOT get the notification even though it is checked to receive them). 

madkiwi
Luminary
Luminary

@RSC1 wrote:
I guess I’m too much of a new technology purchaser and see this in almost all new products. Of course, the people who are happy are not here complaining.

It’s usually safer to wait six months to a year after a product is introduced, if you cannot accept development issues. Many of these issues cannot be foreseen until they’re in use.

I have confidence that they’ll fix this, just like Nikon fixed it’s D200 and many other cameras that had firmware issues not identified until in wide use.

Arlo has been around for 3 years, Geofencing has been part of it for over 2 years. How long do you think is a reasonable wait for it to be fixed?

AncientGeek
Hero
Hero
My wife just left our home and is out of range. Five Arlo Q and Q plus cameras all correctly armed. Our Arlo Pro wireless base did not switch to Away mode, though it does correctly identify her iPhone as being out of zone.

I am the owner of all of these devices. She has Access rights to all of them.

So this appears to work properly for Arlo Q and Q Plus cameras.
sl18
Tutor
Tutor

I am using geofencing with my husband. It had worked perfect before both of us updated Arlo mobile App version 2.7.10 (released date: 28 May 2019) in iPhones. After we updated the App, the system changes to alarm when I leave home and my husband is still home. When I get home the system is still alarming. Please advise how to resolve it. Thanks

AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

@JessicaP wrote:

For those still experiencing issues with Geofencing after the fixes we've released, please take a look at this article for troubleshooting steps you can take to improve performance: Why isn't the Geofencing mode working?


Yep.  None of those know issues apply.  My wife and I have one iPhone each that are used for determining geofencing.  She has access rights (aka administrative rights in sharing).  She is recognized as out of zone by six Arlo devices at the same location.  Five of those devices (Q and Q Plus cameras) correctly shift to away mode, but the Arlo Pro base for the Wireless cameras, does not change to Away mode. It stays in home mode.

 

I’d be happy to work with a second or third level support engineer or a real developer on diagnosing this, but I’m not going to waste my time calling customer support so I can get talked through all of the scripts and the basic troubleshooting techniques or worse yet...asked to perform a lot of unrelated tasks to see if by magic it might start working.

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
I’m betting is a result of the Ultra release and changes made to accommodate it. I bought Ultra knowing it was off to a tough start.

AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

Wouldn’t it be really cool if we could click on a “System Report” button that would gather up all of our configuration data and place it in a file that we could upload to Arlo, so the engineers could see exactly how our apps and devices are configured rather than asking for screenshots and verbal/written answers to questions.  This is what Axis has.  Click and upload....then they can look at facts as reported by the code they wrote...with no opportunity for user error and with much lower time invested by customers and the company as well.

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
Are you using Ultra’s? I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a firmware issue with the base stations and base station compatibility between different models.
Gregav8
Aspirant
Aspirant
ForzaMotorsport

Thanks!

Your fix worked for me. I’m afraid to add my second device back in, but for now geofence working for me
Talktotone
Apprentice
Apprentice

Totally agree with what Frostbach just posted

"Already tred this/verified all of this several days ago when I was doing my own troubleshooting.

 

The problem we seem to be having is related to the fact that we have secondary/granted access accounts enabled. From what I've seen, if you set up geofencing to only use the main account, everything works as expected. However, if you add another device for a secondary account, things do not appear to work so well - it seems to work if the owner account is the last to leave the zone/first to enter, but if the secondary account leaves last or enters first, it will not switch."

 

I have 2 iOS devices (both running up to date software and app is up to date). The above statement seems to ring true. I have done all of the "trouble shooting" of uninstalling, deleting icloud, re-setting the base station and setting up from scratch. This is all crap, it was functional prior to the "update" in late May. Therefore, why can't you roll back the firmware to what worked

 

This artile is now close to 500 replies. Surely that is proof enough that there is still a problem with the firmware.

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
I’d like to know whether the apps have to be open and running in order to work. My wife will not want to be bothered to make sure her app is open and I frequently close apps I’m not using.

My wife did not have administrative rights when it was working. Her job is in a location where cell service is nonexistent. So no location service can find her most of the day. Yet, it worked flawlessly last month.
RickWNich
Apprentice
Apprentice

Just needs to run in the background and during the phone setup, when ARLO worked, you would set it to Locations ALWAYS. 

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
That’s what’s confusing to me. If I recall, both apps were closed when it was working. Location services were available all the time for both apps.
RickWNich
Apprentice
Apprentice

agreed....  They cant roll back if they are NOT looking at the support issues. 

sAdam
Aspirant
Aspirant

yes.  this is rediculous.  its a provable issue. 

the system recognizes the secondary device as 'in zone' but fails to switch to 'home mode' and disarm

all the admin user needs to do to get the system to perform the correct disarm action is switch the mode to anything besides geofencing, and then immediately back to geofencing.

given the above, this should be an easy fix. 

you have all the info you need netgear.  stop sucking.

sward6368
Apprentice
Apprentice

There never used to have to be any heroics to get this to work prior to May.  The apps did NOT have to be running in the background on ANY of the associated devices.  Once a device was associated to the account and added to the geofencing list it worked - even with multiple devices.  When all devices were in zone, it correctly changed to home mode.  When last device left in zone, changed to away mode.  It even worked great with combining schedules with geofencing.  About a year ago for a period occasionally a phone would get the message lost connection and simply had to reopen app and it went back to working fine.  That had not occurred for 9 months UNTIL May 2019.

 

Arlo please STOP blaming this issue on your users, STOP saying it is fixed yet the symptoms and underlying way it is not working changes, STOP pointing us to the FAQ document on how to set up Geofencing - most of us complaining on this forum had it working PERFECTLY fine before it stopped working in May.  FIX geofencing if you care about a) continuing to make new sales as otherwise we will continue to share with potential customers this is still not working and b) those of us paying for the premium packages will cease to do so.

KoniniKid
Star
Star

I've been sitting back following this thread & have all the same issues. 

 

I work in IT & have been recommending Arlo to customers and justifying the premium price by the quality of the product. I now have customers calling & emailing wanting me to fix their geofencing which has suddenly stopped working. Up till this last update it was working perfectly. Last employee out arms the system and first one in disarms. 

Same for me at home. Now I can be in a meeting with a customer & my phone starts going crazy because my wife has arrived home from work & picking up the kids from school and they are playing in the driveway. It's not doing the battery life any good either.

AncientGeek
Hero
Hero
sAdam
sAdam Aspirant Aspirant
‎2019-06-12 04:04 PM
Re: Geofencing not disarming when I arrive home after iOS app update 2.7.9
yes. this is rediculous. its a provable issue.
the system recognizes the secondary device as 'in zone' but fails to switch to 'home mode' and disarm
all the admin user needs to do to get the system to perform the correct disarm action is switch the mode to anything besides geofencing, and then immediately back to geofencing.
given the above, this should be an easy fix.
you have all the info you need netgear. stop sucking.
—————

The process you describe here does not work for me. I’ve tried it ... at least not in “away mode”. I have to manually arm the system and leave geofencing off.
garej704
Tutor
Tutor

I'm using the first Gen Arlo cameras  https://www.arlo.com/au/products/add-on/vmc3030.aspx.

All camera's are the same models as well as the base station.

If it was a firmware issue then I wouldn't be able to do geofencing on either basestation. 

But one works fine the other one not at all as I'm always away even when standing beside it.

Both basestations have the same firmware. 

Talktotone
Apprentice
Apprentice
After disabling the secondary device linked to my wife’s account geofencing worked when I left my house this morning. So @Arlo seems like the issue is related to having more than one device. I’ve read your how to and have followed your instructions but the fault is at your end. From reading this thread it seems like we have done all the troubles shooting for you. There is a problem when you have more than one device active. So now please fix the problem that you have made.
AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

@garej704 wrote:

I'm using the first Gen Arlo cameras  https://www.arlo.com/au/products/add-on/vmc3030.aspx.

All camera's are the same models as well as the base station.

If it was a firmware issue then I wouldn't be able to do geofencing on either basestation. 

But one works fine the other one not at all as I'm always away even when standing beside it.

Both basestations have the same firmware. 


That is intriguing.  Are both base stations the same hardware revision (you already confirmed firmware) and are you sure the settings are identical on both of them.  If that is the case, then it would be interesting to jump through the hoops that have been suggested by some...basically deinstalling the entire malfunctioning system and reinstalling it from scratch to see if there is some odd state or bad data in some obscure place causing the malfunction .

brubble
Guide
Guide

Jessica

 

these are the same things supprt asked me to do over the phone, nothing has been fixed

RickWNich
Apprentice
Apprentice
I put this on Twitter! (Twitter = @RickWNicholson). Make this Go viral on Twitter!

‪@ArloSmartHome Arlo Camera Geofencing is still non functional (after 2 weeks) & Arlo Support won’t acknowledge & address! 100’s of complaints on Arlo Support Site. @ConsumerReports @Ces @kimkomando @Cnet @engadget ‬
Talktotone
Apprentice
Apprentice
I may have worked out a temporary fix. I logged my wife’s app out of her secondary login and logged into her app as me the primary account holder. I have left myself logged into my phone again as the primary account holder. We left the premises together this morning and I was advised that Arlo had activated away mode. Coming home together I was advised that Arlo was now in home mode. Bit more testing required of us leaving at different times and come back at different times. However prior to me being signed into both phone and both phones being active this was not happening. Hope this helps some of you.
Gubster
Initiate
Initiate

Same issue here (2 iOS devices - disarms on my mobile - keeps armed when my wife's mobile is in the zone)