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
RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
Then disarm the system when they get home until they can figure it out, or have the first family member home disarm it until they can figure it out. I wasn’t even aware of the geofencing when I purchased my Ultras, but I’ll be more than happy when they fix it.
mamarcac
Apprentice
Apprentice

@RSC1 Can you provide one, just one single example of proof that Arlo is working on it as you keep spamming multiple threads with in this forum? One. Just one.

Greck
Guide
Guide

A while ago I had issues with the geofencing even with just one iphone. That got worked out and has been working fine with just my iPhone activated. I had previously invited my wife and she was getting notifications on her iPhone, but the system was only using geofencing with my phone. When I looked at geofencing from my phone it showed 2 Enabled Devices, but hers would show up as offline. Today after reading more of the postings I decided to try to get her iPhone to work with the geofencing. One of the posting that I had read spoke about not having any special characters in the phone name so I renamed her phone. Deleted her from the system and reinvited her. I set her up with full access so she can change things if she wanted to. Previously she had no permissions. I also looked at the settings on her iPhone and found that she had Location set to only when using the app. I changed it to always. I think that changing this fixed the offline issue. She had set it to only when using as she had been told that it saves on battery life. I explained why it needed to be always. She hates getting notifications, but for testing I turned on Location In/Out Notifications. She left to go do an errand and at first when I was observing the system on my iPad her location stayed Home. I checked it on my iPhone which logs out my iPad and my iPhone showed her iPhone Away. So I got her phone working. Next I went for a walk to see what would happen when I went out of Zone. My zone radius is set to small so I did not have to go far. My iPhone gave me the notification that I was out of the zone and then the system shortly gave me the notification that the system was in the Away mode.  My iphone and app did act strangely when I tried checking on status. It kept logging me out when I tried going to mode. Eventually it did stay logged in and showed the Away status.   The only thing that I could not check was if the cameras would record if there was activity as no one else was home. When I returned system told me I was in zone and then that the system was in Home mode. System appears to be working.

 

I will keep monitoring the system. I wish that there were someway to turn on a log to record time and changes of system status. It would make the debugging easier.  I still need to see what happens if my wife returns before I do. Will her iPhone turn the system into Home mode? I will try to report back if the system keeps working or if it stops working. 

 

Curious if others have gotten the system to work with multiple phones.  If anyone wants more information about my system or my settings that seem to be working post a reply with your questions. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
I’m not spamming. I’m responding to threads like this. Those threads have been mentioned.
Frostbach
Star
Star

@Greck 

From what I've seen, it has worked with two phones in the following situations:

1.) If both phones are logged into the main system account, it works without incident (not sure if this will continue to work over extended periods of time - not sure how the system handles the multiple devices logged into the same account; if you try opening the app on both phones at the same time, someone will be kicked off, but it still seems to update the geofencing in/out status).

2.) If the main account phone is the last phone leaving the zone, it will switch to away mode properly. If the main account phone is the first phone entering the zone, it will switch to home properly.

 

I personally haven't had any issues with the phones updating their location properly. They show in and out of zone properly, it just doesn't switch to home/away mode properly when the secondary account phone is first to enter/last to leave.

 

Another point of interest - I tried setting the geofencing to ONLY my wife's phone logged into her account. It didn't seem to work at all - so the issue definitely seem related to the secondary account somehow.

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
I was getting similar responses from my wife’s phone, being unknown. That has stopped. Maybe that was with the smart hub’s firmware update for Ultras, anyway

My issue has been that the authorized device does not disarm when it beats me home. It does appear as being in the zone.

When both devices departed and returned together over the weekend, nothing happened, but the was a firmware update for my smart hub,...so?
RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
I agree. When I’m last out and first in, there’s no problem. When both phones depart and arrive together there is an issue. Nothing happens then.

They recommend not signing in on two different devices, but I wonder. You shouldn’t have to.
Steve-M
Star
Star

@mamarcac wrote:

@RSC1 Can you provide one, just one single example of proof that Arlo is working on it as you keep spamming multiple threads with in this forum? One. Just one.


He cannot and this was proven in post 557 and 560 of this thread.  

 

He has stated:

1. they’re probably working long hours on this issue.

2. Because he assumes they are working on the geofencing issue, that is acknowledgment to him, that they are working on it.

3. He guesses and assumes they will not ignore it.

 

We would all all like to think that way,  but until they acknowledge it for themselves, vice some wishful thinking person assumes they are probably working on it (speaking for them).  In my eyes, and many other...They are not working on it.  Arlo needs to be transparent, instead of not accepting there is an issue, and direct folks to their FAQ.  As has been recently mentioned, their front line staff are notmeven acknowledging it.

 

 

Greck
Guide
Guide

So Frostbach what you are saying is that my system is not fixed as it will not work if she is the last to leave or first to come home. That is disappointing. I will try to test it tomorrow. You say that the only work around is if both iPhones log into the same account. That sort of defeats inviting someone else and being able to restrict access. It would work with a spouse, but not someone else. 

 

I keep hoping that that they will get this fixed. It is a pain not knowing if the system is armed when I leave or when she leaves. The old systems where you lock the door and arm the alarm was pretty straight forward. As long as you rembered to lock and arm you were all set. The geofencing is a nice idea, but it has to be dependable. 

 

Thanks for the feedback. Tomorrow I will see if she leaves last and returns first what happens. 

RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
They sent a response saying it was fixed for “most” users. That acknowledges that it isn’t all users. It’s been acknowledged.

They sent a thread asking users to check their settings. Have you? Did you report results afterwards?

If you want to rant, go ahead I’ll wait for the fix.
RickWNich
Apprentice
Apprentice
Having both phones access Arlo Accounts with the same email doesn't work! Arlo then closes the Arlo App when the second person logs in (geofencing), for you are already logged in. Which is logical. Originally, Geofencing worked fine with 2 unique log in users. Then stopped about 3-4 weeks ago.

I can inform ALL that Arlo has contacted me and given me a Support Number regarding this issue. I also told them that 100’s of people on the support site are having issue also.

Once I hear back, I will update All.
Clubracer
Aspirant
Aspirant
Geofencing and handshakes cannot be that difficult to make work. I have been using the IFTTT solution with my arlo setup since arlo broke the geofencing.

Whilst I agree we all need it fixed, the ifttt solution which I learnt on this thread, does the job. Which may make some people’s life a bit easier.
Dannybear
Master
Master
Maybe that’s the problem, everyone else’s geofencing works because they’re using IFTTT. This would explain why Arlo thinks that only a few are having issues.
From what I read this has been ongoing for years.
ekul851
Initiate
Initiate

Same problem, recognizes in zone and out of zone but doesnt disarm when in zone. Have to disarm in mode and then change to geofencing again to activate. Very annoying. Was working perfectly a couple of months ago.

KoniniKid
Star
Star

@Clubracer wrote:
Geofencing and handshakes cannot be that difficult to make work. I have been using the IFTTT solution with my arlo setup since arlo broke the geofencing.

Whilst I agree we all need it fixed, the ifttt solution which I learnt on this thread, does the job. Which may make some people’s life a bit easier.

That IFTTT looks really good. I've set it up on my phone and will test the Geofencing in the morning. How well does it work with a second device? Will it arm the system if it leaves my house and one of us is still here? How do you add a second device? Do I just create a second login for my wife and setup the same geofencing rules or do I just install it on her phone and login as myself?

Clubracer
Aspirant
Aspirant
i use Life360 as the individual locator, and just run applets off that. Works a treat for two devices. I even now run an auto door close check on the garage.
RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
When it was working, my wife logged into her own account and did nothing. I had full control of the modes.
Cance
Guide
Guide
Hi, this is first time I listen to this app IFTTT.
So, this morning (I remember you I’m from Italy) I install it and of course it work.
But not all that glitters is gold.
In fact I only found “arm out of zone”/“disarm in zone”, but I still want my external cameras always on...
Cance
Guide
Guide
I don’t what’s happened, but now both phones, mine and my wife’s seems run... cross fingers!
Cance
Guide
Guide
I don’t know what’s happened, but now both phones, mine and my wife’s seems run... cross fingers!
RSC1
Apprentice
Apprentice
They’ve been on it. I cannot Test until tomorrow, I beat my wife home and left afterwards and returned. It snaps to with my phone.

Maybe I should go get gas when she’s coming home 🙂
lrgsell
Aspirant
Aspirant

Set up geofencing in on iPhone x, Sent email inviting samsung s9 user to share.  Samsung user set up arlo account as instructed.  When geofencing was set up on iphone, the Samsung device shows as an enabled device.  However, when you drill down to look at the enabled devices, the Samsung device shows as "unavilable".

We have rebooted the samsung, uninstalled and  reinstalled the arlo app, made sure location sharing is on.

 

The iPhone is receiving geofencing notifications, but the samsung is not (since it is "unavilable").

Is there a fix?

Linusl
Luminary
Luminary
Start with 3 modes
-Active (comes standard)
-Inactive (comes standard)
-Active home (create one with some camera active and some not)

Geofencing settings you have
- away set to active
- home set to schedule

In the schedule you set
00:00-07:00 to active
07:01-22:00 to active home
22:01-23:59 to active

This will during the time 00:00-07:00 set mode to inactive instead.

BUT

Go and delete the last entry 22:01-23:59 and add it again but 22:01-23:58 to active then the mode will be active between 00:00-07:00

Above just examples of times but the main issue is that if you fill all timeslots from 00:00 - 23:59 the modes will not always be correct.

If I for example see mode is set to active as it should and edit the 22:00-23:58 to 22:00-23:59 to be active it will be directly changed to inactive.

I have seen this before.

Anyone have an idea other than mine how to trick the combo with geofencing and schedule?

I can also add that I have arloq that does not have this bug at all.
Linusl
Luminary
Luminary
Tested some more. It bugs out if you use timeslots to 100%. Leave 1 minute somewere during the day free in the schedule and modes will work.

Example (compare to my first post/comment)

Home mode set to schedule and then
00:00-07:00 set to active
07:02-22:00 set to active Home (custom settings)
22:01-23:59 set to active

I have one minute not added in the schedule between 7:00 and 7:02. If you change that to 7:01 then mode is set to inactive instead. A mode not even being in the schedule at all.

Seen posts back in 2018 regarding this aswell. Community members recommended using 100% of the time, that is actually what is causing the problem.

So keep 1 min ”free” somewere in the schedule during the day and modes will work and you might actually spot a burglar using this expensive system.
AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

@Linusl wrote:
Tested some more. It bugs out if you use timeslots to 100%. Leave 1 minute somewere during the day free in the schedule and modes will work.

Example (compare to my first post/comment)

Home mode set to schedule and then
00:00-07:00 set to active
07:02-22:00 set to active Home (custom settings)
22:01-23:59 set to active

I have one minute not added in the schedule between 7:00 and 7:02. If you change that to 7:01 then mode is set to inactive instead. A mode not even being in the schedule at all.

Seen posts back in 2018 regarding this aswell. Community members recommended using 100% of the time, that is actually what is causing the problem.

So keep 1 min ”free” somewere in the schedule during the day and modes will work and you might actually spot a burglar using this expensive system.

I had a problem that could be related.  I found that using the same mode in two different time slots during the day did not work.  Perhaps if I had left a minute between them, (midnight and 11:58 pm) it would have worked.  However, I just duplicated the rule with a different name and I was able to get it to work with the same effective mode during two “midnight adjacent“ time slots as long  as they were different rules by name.