Arlo
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hallinmas · ‎2019-05-23

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!

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-18

@85BearsFan wrote:

So, let me try this theory: When leaving the geofencing radius, the iOS sends a signal to the Arlo app on the iPhone. Because the iOS relies on a GPS sensor and does not require a data connection (WiFi or cellular) to determine the location, that signal is sent to the Arlo app regardless of WiFi or cellular signal. The Arlo app then tries to relay the signal (the change in location) to Arlo's servers (which in turn would relay the information to the Arlo station); however, due to poor data connectity (no WiFi and no/poor cellular connection, the signal never reaches Arlo's servers so, in turn, the base station is never notified of the change in location. Now, what I'm really wondering is whether the Arlo app only attempts the hand-off/relay to Arlo's servers once and if that one hand-off is missed, the Arlo app doesn't reattempt the hand-off at a later time. In fact, I'm wondering whether the Arlo app is unaware that Arlo's servers haven't received the signal about the location change.

What do you think of that theory? Is it plausible?

I believe iOS uses a combination of GPS and WiFi for location services, but it is reasonable to assume it would rely on GPS alone, if that is all that was available. So, yes, then it would be up to the Arlo app on the mobile device to handle the location change event appropriately. Presumably some of that can be done on the local device, but for certain, the cloud servers and subsequently the camera controls (on the camera (Q & Go) or on the base station) would also need to be notified. A good design would include the queuing of transmissions at every level and require the receipt of acknowledgements before marking the transmission as having been completed. Some of this is done at the network level on the various levels of ISO stack, so retries would be automatic, I would think. But at the application level, retries might be on some sort of timer in order to avoid constant retries that might reduce battery life on the mobile device. I’m speculating here, but it seems logical. I think they’d have trouble getting any reasonable reliability without mechanisms for queuing, acknowledgement and retries. It seems highly unlikely they could get along at all without those. That’s rather basic messaging theory and practice.

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-18

@RSC1 wrote:
I have the smart hub that comes with the Ultras, which are my only cameras. I wonder if it’s base stations and smart hubs that don’t play nicely together.

I don’t have any Ultra cameras nor any Smart Hubs, so that isn’t a factor in my configuration. Perhaps others have that issue.

azarloGuy · ‎2019-07-18

The latest update to the app does nothing to fix my geofencing issue. I have 2 homes, one in Minnesota, and a winter home in Arizona. Each home has 2 base stations, all 4 base stations are shared with each other. For several years geofencing would respond appropriately depending on where I and my wife were at the time. Example, when we left our Minnesota home, both base stations in Minnesota would register out of zone and arm themselves. when we arrived in Arizona, both base stations at this home detected us and would disarm our two Arizona base stations and visa versa. This has worked flawlessly for years. Not any more. Yesterday we were on a day trip and returned from California to Arizona. Neither base station detected us when we arrived home. The only way one of the base stations detects us if we are logged into that particular account on our phone. This feature has never worked like this. In the past the system did not care which account we were logged into as all 4 base stations are shared so they would respond correctly.

What is going on? Level with us Arlo. Did you purposely change this feature or is it a bug? Something that worked for years caused me to make additional expenditures on arlo cameras. If you now changed this feature that would be highly problematic from an ethics and advertising standpoint. With well over $3000 invested, I, and many others on this board deserve to know what is going on, as well as a fix. Your loyal customers are speaking and I hope Arlo you are listening.

Boomer_1 · ‎2019-07-18

Mine has worked 3 times in a row now. That is the first time that has happened since about May 23 or so. I see how it does thru the weekend, but so far so good.

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-18

Mine has been working well today so far. My wife is heading to our 3rd location and I’ve been bopping back and forth between the other two locations today. The system has correctly Armed and Disarmed as I’ve arrived and departed from both locations.

My wife will be at the 3rd location later this afternoon, so I’ll see if she (with Granted Access) places that system in Home Mode when she arrives there.

I did observe one remaining odd behavior. I realized I was using a medium radius around one location and it wasn’t needed. So I changed the radius in the Geofencing settings for both my wireless Arlo base and my Arlo Q Plus at that location. The Arlo app logged me out twice after making those changes to Geofencing settings and the Arlo Q Plus reported me as being in Away Mode, with the system Armed...though I was (and still am) sitting in the driveway. These devices are owned by the account I use on my iPad and it was the iPad I was using when I got logged out of the app after making those changes to Geofencing settings. This is an issue I have had for many weeks and which was not resolved by the cloud server software update nor the new version of the App. (2.7.12). Anyway, I pulled out my iPhoneXs and opened the Arlo app on that device. It is signed in on a different account, but is one of the two iPhones that are used to determine Geofencing status. Once I opened the app and it updated the device status, my Geofencing status went back to Home Mode at this location and all returned to normal.

So, I’d say Geofencing appears to be working very well, but not flawlessly for me. I certainly should not be logged out of the app every time I make a change to the Geofencing settings...and that oddity of changing to Away Mode while I was sitting in the driveway and changed the radius to small also seems like a bug. Not one of significant consequence, of course, but just not correct behavior from a user perspective.

I will have more data points once my wife gets to the 3rd location later today.

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-18

Following up...

Geofencing worked well well for our 3rd location today also. The system properly went into Home mode when she arrived and back into Away Mode when she left. She is a “Granted Access” user for that system, so that is particularly good.

Ironically, while she was there my Nest cameras did NOT go into Home mode and kept recording even though Geofencing should have disarmed them. Go figure.

Like I always say...NONE of these systems are flawless. My Ring doorbell and Spotlight cam audio playback was as very sketchy today. Almost completely unintelligible.

Thank you, Arlo, for finally making geofencing functional (at least for me) ... again. I wish you had never broken it and I wish the repair had taken one week instead of two months or whatever it has been. But I’m glad to have it back. What a pain!

iTem70 · ‎2019-07-18

It started with that the base station did not understand that I was away. I had to start the app - select "Active" - save and then - Select Geo fencing again - Save. Now it says ohhhh... you are away...

I have an iPhone 8 and the geo function has been like that for months now

Today schedule messed up as well. No matter how I do the system goes to INACTIVE when within the scheduled time even though I have set it to active. And when trying its stone dead. Tried Activating and bam it starts filming on motion.

Jesus christ.... how can you sell a system this expensive when the basic functions are u/s.

iTem70 · ‎2019-07-18

Using: iPhoen8 with IOS 12.3.1

Base station: VMB4000r3 with Firm 1.12.2.4_2772

Cameras with Firm 1.092.0.23.32920

dj3w3ll1 · ‎2019-07-18

It seems after Arlo updated their App to Version 2.7.10 and now 2.7.12 for iOS, the Arlo Baby will never switch to “Monitoring On” when Away or “Monitoring Off” when Home.

After updating both my wife’s iPhone 6 and my iPhone XS Max today to the newest Version 2.7.12 of the Arlo App from the App Store, I have begun testing a few things.

My wife left around 11am EST and I was still at Home. Her iPhone 6 (Secondary Device) reported as “Out of Zone” at that time which was correct. I then decided to leave and take a drive just outside of my “Small” Geofence setting I set for the radius in the Arlo App. This is a setting I have always had set by the way. After I was past the Small Geofence set radius, I received 2 “Away” alerts as the Arlo had set my Arlo Baby Camera to Away or “Monitoring On” and my three Arlo Ultras had been set to “Away” as well. I then opened the then completely closed (non backgrounded or suspended) Arlo App and checked the status under Geofencing, and to my surprise the Status was correct, and reported “Away” but the Arlo Baby status was reporting “Monitoring Off.” I completely closed and then reopened the Arlo App while I was parked away from Home still, and my Arlo Ultras still showed “Away” for the status and both devices reported as “Out of Zone” which again was correct! This was great for my Ultras, but my Arlo Baby Camera was then showing as “Monitoring Off” while still away from Home. This was an issue occurring with the previous Arlo App 2.7.10 as well and now is still an issue with 2.7.12.

I then switched my Arlo Baby to “Monitoring Off” and then back to “Geofecing” for the Arlo Baby settings and I immediately received a single notification stating that the Arlo Baby was now “Away.” I then closed the App out completely again while away from Home and opened it again, and the status of the Arlo Baby was changed back to “Monitoring Off” again but the Arlo Ultras reported as “Away” still.

Please help, as this needs to get resolved.

Best,

D

madkiwi · ‎2019-07-18

To all of you talking about what app version you are running-

It has nothing to do with your system not working. Even the message from Jessica said it was a server side patch at Arlo.

I am running Arlo android 2.5.3_22376 from July 30th 2018 and it works just fine.

The reason I run that is because it's the last version that doesn't nag you about Smart Zones or asking if you want to phone a friend (or 911 mode or whatever they call it). Also notifications on that version work without having to decipher 8 different rules.

JV-CA · ‎2019-07-19

So I happened to wake up very eary and when i walked by the arlo camera, the night vision was not working. Low and behold, I looked at the modes on arlo and the were both DisArmed. i never use disarmed for any mode. So i changed the mode to Schedule or GeoFence; the mode automatically went to DISARMED! hense no recordings. if i set to a schedule ot armed; they worked fine; bu this is only occuring with geofence & schedule. Hopefully Arlo can correct the software, i have sent them many screenshots of the below (you can see i changed geofence & schedule on each base and they both go to Disarmed)!

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-19

@madkiwi wrote:

To all of you talking about what app version you are running-

It has nothing to do with your system not working. Even the message from Jessica said it was a server side patch at Arlo.

I am running Arlo android 2.5.3_22376 from July 30th 2018 and it works just fine.

The reason I run that is because it's the last version that doesn't nag you about Smart Zones or asking if you want to phone a friend (or 911 mode or whatever they call it). Also notifications on that version work without having to decipher 8 different rules.

That is good to hear, but just know that all of these parts play together architecturally. While it is possible to make changes in functionality that is entirely contained on the camera, base station, cloud or mobile device without any dependency on changes elsewhere in the Arlo system, some changes will be codependent and will only support a range of versions for any given component that is compatible with the cooperating components elsewhere in the system. Just like apps cease to support old versions of a mobile operating system or vice versa. Eventually, it will happen.

dazednconfuzd · ‎2019-07-19

Nope. Geofencing STILL does not work for me. My wife and I have iPhones. We're running the latest Arlo update. Nothing...... What is up with this?? I'm the admin on the account while my wife does not have admin rights. I wonder if this has something to do with this fiasco? Like everyone else, geofencing was working fine until the Arlo update.

mamarcac · ‎2019-07-19

@madkiwi That's too funny, I have the same app version saved up to Google Drive and intstall it anytime I wipe a phone or factory reset. Every version past that seems to be riddled with serious flaws.

Greck · ‎2019-07-19

@madkiwi wrote:

To all of you talking about what app version you are running-

It has nothing to do with your system not working. Even the message from Jessica said it was a server side patch at Arlo.

I am running Arlo android 2.5.3_22376 from July 30th 2018 and it works just fine.

The reason I run that is because it's the last version that doesn't nag you about Smart Zones or asking if you want to phone a friend (or 911 mode or whatever they call it). Also notifications on that version work without having to decipher 8 different rules.

I am one who posted that it started working after the latest ap update and yes I saw what Jennifer posted, but as others have said you do not know the connectivity between the ap and the icloud versions or the base station versions. As many have said there is a lack of transparency with Arlo so we do not know or understand the changes that they are making to the different pieces and how they connect. All I know is that it started working for us after the last ap update.

I have left first several times and it detects me leaving and as my wife is home it leaves the system Disarmed. Today we both left together and it noted us both leaving and after a delay it Armed. I have noticed that the system status changes seem to be delayed more than before. It may be that I am more parnoid that it is not going to switch as it should. I need to do more testing with me leaving first then her and her returning first to have any confidence in the system. I do have both iphones set to have admin rights.

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-19

Mine is working again also after the cloud software tweak. Just to be clear, “the cloud” is not Apple’s iCloud. I think Arlo May host their virtual server environment on AWS. I’m not positive.

I’m on the current version of the iOS app after staying on V2.5.5 for a very long time. At some point beyond 2.7.4 or higher, I started allowing updates again.

dj3w3ll1 · ‎2019-07-19

It seems after Arlo updated their App to Version 2.7.10 and now 2.7.12 for iOS, the Arlo Baby will never switch to “Monitoring On” when Away or “Monitoring Off” when Home. The Baby Camera is also on Firmware 1.9.3.0_791.

After updating both my wife’s iPhone 6 and my iPhone XS Max today to the newest Version 2.7.12 of the Arlo App from the App Store, I have begun testing a few things.

My wife left around 11am EST and I was still at Home. Her iPhone 6 (Secondary Device) reported as “Out of Zone” at that time which was correct. I then decided to leave and take a drive just outside of my “Small” Geofence setting I set for the radius in the Arlo App. This is a setting I have always had set by the way. After I was past the Small Geofence set radius, I received 2 “Away” alerts as the Arlo had set my Arlo Baby Camera to Away or “Monitoring On” and my three Arlo Ultras had been set to “Away” as well. I then opened the then completely closed (non backgrounded or suspended) Arlo App and checked the status under Geofencing, and to my surprise the Status was correct, and reported “Away” but the Arlo Baby status was reporting “Monitoring Off.” I completely closed and then reopened the Arlo App while I was parked away from Home still, and my Arlo Ultras still showed “Away” for the status and both devices reported as “Out of Zone” which again was correct! This was great for my Ultras, but my Arlo Baby Camera was then showing as “Monitoring Off” while still away from Home. This was an issue occurring with the previous Arlo App 2.7.10 as well and now is still an issue with 2.7.12.

I then switched my Arlo Baby to “Monitoring Off” and then back to “Geofecing” for the Arlo Baby settings and I immediately received a single notification stating that the Arlo Baby was now “Away.” I then closed the App out completely again while away from Home and opened it again, and the status of the Arlo Baby was changed back to “Monitoring Off” again but the Arlo Ultras reported as “Away” still.

Please help, as this needs to get resolved.

Best,

D

dazednconfuzd · ‎2019-07-19

Geofencing just DOES NOT work! It used to work great then the update broke everything. Then I downloaded the Arlo update 2 days ago and it STILL doesn't work! iPhones running the latest everything.

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-20

@dazednconfuzd wrote:
Geofencing just DOES NOT work! It used to work great then the update broke everything. Then I downloaded the Arlo update 2 days ago and it STILL doesn't work! iPhones running the latest everything.

I know this will sound a lot like Arlo support, but have you double checked all of your settings?

Geofencing Mode selected

Correct location selected on the map

Correct phones selected in Geofencing > Enabled Devices

Home & Away modes set the way you want them.

Push Notifications set to the desired device. (I had at least one set to a previous iPhone)

iOS Settings > Arlo > Location = “Always”.

...and I don’t see why this should matter, but I have the iOS setting for Arlo “Location In/Out Notifications” set to “On” on my phones. This will result in the display of a message for every Base or Q /Go camera for which Geofencing is setup, when you open the app and sign in. I get 8 or 9 messages now (one for each) and I’ve named the Geofencing “Arlo Device Location” for each of them uniquely, so I can see (and recognize) the Geofencing status for each and when I open the app. The wording is a bit odd, but it basically confirms what a Arlo thinks my Geofencing status is for each “Arlo Device Location” and is at least another diagnostic step. I have not turned this off to see if it changes Geofencing functionality. It shouldn’t, but I have it turned on and mine started working reliably at all of my locations that use wireless base stations and geofencing immediately after the cloud software update Arlo made on 7/18 (I believe). My Q family cameras already worked properly with Geofencing, but now they all work.

If you have all of those settings set up and it still doesn’t work. You might try force closing the Arlo app, deleting it, power cycling your iphone(s) and reloading the app. I did that prior to the release of 2.7.12 while I was trying to get 2.7.10 working, to be sure any possible old data associated with app was deleted and I would as starting with a fresh copy of both the app and data.

I also removed the apostrophes from my device names back when I was “sacrificing chickens under a full moon” to see if anything I could do, would make it work, and I haven’t put those apostrophes back yet to see if that now makes a difference or not. One community member reported he or she had spaces and punctuation and geofencing was working, so it shouldn’t matter. It certainly didn’t help when I removed them, but I still have mine setup that way.

I may have also restarted or power cycled my base stations while attempting anything and everything to get Geofencing working prior to the cloud software update. I have no way of knowing if that matters now. It did not help when I did it, so I doubt it, but it is something I did at one time. I’m mentioning it for completeness only.

I’m also located in the northeastern USA. It seems likely that Arlo would use cloud server farms in various locations around the world and possibly even in different parts of the USA in order to minimize latency. If Arlo failed to properly update the cloud software on all of their local cloud platforms, that would matter also depending on where you are located and which cloud farm services your area.

I have a fairly complicated Arlo system monitoring 39 cameras. Six are Q family cameras, one original Arlo base, five Arlo Pro bases, one Netgear MR1100 serving as an LTE Arlo Base, and a mix of standard, Pro and Pro 2 wireless cameras attached to those bases. The devices are owned by four different Arlo accounts. Three of those accounts have paid plans and one (my son’s) is likely still the free plan. Access for devices is Granted to the other accounts and to one additional account that doesn’t own any equipment. Geofencing is configured on all six Q family cameras, on the standard base, on three of the Pro bases and configured (but not currently selected) on the MR1100.

That’s all I can think of.

Boomer_1 · ‎2019-07-20

It would be helpful if you would tell us what the state of your phones are when it doesn't work. For example when your away, check under "modes > geo-fencing > enabled-devices" and see that both phones show out-of-zone or if you are home that they are both in-zone. Occassionaly one device will get its location services broken and just not change states.

dazednconfuzd · ‎2019-07-20

@AncientGeek wrote:

@dazednconfuzd wrote:
Geofencing just DOES NOT work! It used to work great then the update broke everything. Then I downloaded the Arlo update 2 days ago and it STILL doesn't work! iPhones running the latest everything.

I know this will sound a lot like Arlo support, but have you double checked all of your settings?

Geofencing Mode selected

Correct location selected on the map

Correct phones selected in Geofencing > Enabled Devices

Home & Away modes set the way you want them.

Push Notifications set to the desired device. (I had at least one set to a previous iPhone)

iOS Settings > Arlo > Location = “Always”.

...and I don’t see why this should matter, but I have the iOS setting for Arlo “Location In/Out Notifications” set to “On” on my phones.

"CHECK"

If you have all of those settings set up and it still doesn’t work. You might try force closing the Arlo app, deleting it, power cycling your iphone(s) and reloading the app.

"CHECK"

I also removed the apostrophes from my device names back when I was “sacrificing chickens under a full moon” to see if anything I could do, would make it work, and I haven’t put those apostrophes back yet to see if that now makes a difference or not.

"CHECK" (funny 🙂 )

I may have also restarted or power cycled my base stations while attempting anything and everything to get Geofencing working prior to the cloud software update.

"CHECK"

I’m also located in the northeastern USA.

"CHECK" (western states)

That’s all I can think of.

Thank you for all your input. I'm in the process of rebooting the base station and bridge. We'll see what happens. This is about as cornball as my new Chevy truck. Everytime I start it, you never know how the computer is going boot up. Example: Some features won't be active but the next time (or 10) you start it, those features will work. Very unreliable. Computers...................

dazednconfuzd · ‎2019-07-20

@Boomer_1 wrote:

It would be helpful if you would tell us what the state of your phones are when it doesn't work. For example when your away, check under "modes > geo-fencing > enabled-devices" and see that both phones show out-of-zone or if you are home that they are both in-zone. Occassionaly one device will get its location services broken and just not change states.

I checked the other day while both phones were out of zone (miles away from our house) and they indeed showed "in-zone".

AncientGeek · ‎2019-07-20

@dazednconfuzd wrote:

"CHECK" (western states)

That’s all I can think of.

Thank you for all your input. I'm in the process of rebooting the base station and bridge. We'll see what happens. This is about as cornball as my new Chevy truck. Everytime I start it, you never know how the computer is going boot up. Example: Some features won't be active but the next time (or 10) you start it, those features will work. Very unreliable. Computers...................

Western USA could be a different cloud server farm. Even normal web sites often use caching services like Akamai, to deliver web assets from sites in closer proximity to users than the home site of the business. So location could be a factor depending on how Arlo’s cloud infrastructure is designed and implemented.

I love your comment about your truck. We have seen the same behavior in our Audi’s. The MMI display will sometimes look weird so we power cycle the car and it powers up normally the second time. I am a retired IT professional and it bugs me to see these failures. (Pun intended)

Boomer_1 · ‎2019-07-20

So this is a completely different problem then. The problem we were all having before the devices showed they were correctly out of zone, but the system did not put things in away mode and arm the cameras. When you are home does it stil show in-zone or does it flip it to out-of-zone. It is almost as if your location services is somehow not working correctly maybe on the base station. I would power the base station off - and leave it off for about a minute. And then restart it.

dazednconfuzd · ‎2019-07-20

Yes, when we're home it correctly shows "in-zone". I just rebooted the base and bridge about 30 mins ago so we'll see later today when we leave the house if that fixes the issue. Thanks!

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