How to run a schedule ?

[CCNE37]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but my searches didn't answer my question.

I was forced on to the new app this week, and so far it is NOT looking good (being polite).

I have had a schedule set up for the past 10 years to turn various cameras on and off at different times of the day - depending on the camera's location and it has worked well.

Okay, so the new app supposedly simplifies things by just starting a mode change. I have set my Arm Away mode to run all cameras, and Arm Home mode to only run the outdoor cameras.

So, I created a schedule called Night am to turn Arm Away on at 12am, then another schedule called Daytime to turn on Arm Home at 6am, then a third schedule called Night pm to turn on Arm Away at 7pm. I realised after doing this that the Night am schedule is probably unnecessary (because it should just stay in the Arm Away mode) but that is what I had in my old Arlo schedule.

Thing is - how do I activate the schedule ? In the old app the schedule was a mode that could be switched to just like Arm or Disarm, but not that I can see in the new app.

I thought that maybe it just "runs" automatically in the background, so I changed it to switch to Arm Away in 2 minutes time and saved it - I left it in "Standby" mode, and nothing happened when the 2 minutes was up. I tried again except I switched it to Arm Home mode, and again nothing happened when the time (2 minutes) arrived - nothing changed.

I am clueless how to simply get it to run this basic schedule ???

Appreciate any tips from those that have worked this out please.

As an aside, but related question - the silly thing sends me a notification (to phone) every time the mode changes (manually because I haven't go the schedule working) - how do I stop it from sending these notifications ? I want notifications when a camera is triggered by motion detection, but not every time the mode changes. I figured out how to stop seeing these in the "Feed".

[StephenB]

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@Amati5 wrote:

That’s exactly what i have, arm from 1159, then switch to standby at 6am.  I see that it does switch to arm at 1159 but it wont switch to standby at 6am.

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It's best to start your own discussion thread, as it is quite difficult to give tailored advice to two people in the same conversation.

But if your schedule is switching from "arm home" to "standby" (and back), then your automations need to be enabled in both "arm home" and "standby".

If you want to keep the cameras armed 24x7 when you are away, then your automations need to be disabled in "arm away".  Then you can manually switch to "Arm Away" when you leave, and switch back when you return.

[jguerdat]

My guess, without screenshots of your schedules, is that you need to use Change Mode as the action (Then Do This) rather than choosing the mode directly (I did just try this myself and I find that the latest app actually allows you to select the mode for Change Mode so perhaps you've already done this properly). In addition, make sure you haven't chosen to Enable/Disable an Automation. The schedules then should just activate at the set times with no other actions.

[RememberFallen]

I agree.  I have read and reread and reread articles about how to set up schedules on this new program.  Same with the videos... I have worked on trying to get this done for 3 days.  I am beyond frustrated. I have tried to contact Arlo to get someone to help clarify and just get the sites help pages.  My cameras all work.  I had not ONE issue with running my schedules on the old app.  I have been considering getting a new system but at this point it WON'T be Arlo  due to the amount of difficulty of getting in touch with anyone.  I truly am not happy to have spent so much on this system. 

[jguerdat]

Screenshots of your Automations could prove useful. Also, check this FAQ and embedded links if you haven't seen it already:

https://kb.arlo.com/000062777/About-Arlo-Routines-Modes-Rules-and-Automations

[CCNE37]

Thanks for the replies.

I am not sure how to post a screenshot ?

My automation is;

To change to only outdoor cameras during the day;

Name  - Day

Mode - Arm Away, Arm Home (which only turns on outdoor cameras)

When : Everyday at 6am

Then: Change mode - Arm Home

To change to all cameras at night;

Name - Night

Mode - Arm Away

When : Everyday at 7pm

Then : Change mode - Arm Away

How do I enable or disable an automation ? I have not seen any "switch" to to turn them on or off.

[CCNE37]

Ah ha.

I was playing around and noticed something - when I clicked on the automation in the list, it turned it from a "normal" text to a sort of "greyed out" text. I have just tested this and discovered that this appears to be the On - Off switch.

When I changed the time to current time + 2 minutes and clicked until it looked like "normal" text, it switched the mode from Arm Home to Arm Away.

That was NOT obvious.

The other thing I noticed was that I did not get a ping notification on my phone of the mode change (which is what I wanted), whereas when I manually change the mode (eg. to Standby) I do get a ping notification - strange.

Although, I did another test where I manually put it into Standby mode, and set the Day automation to turn the cameras on into Day mode, and when the time clicked over nothing happened, so perhaps the automations do not work when it is in Standby mode ? Not sure now ?

[CCNE37]

@RememberFallen- For what it is worth - 3 years ago when Arlo was playing silly buggers with customers (well, they still are), and told everyone that the old 7 day free recording etc was being removed and all older gear was being made redundant, I bought some Eufy gear.

I bought a kit with the Base station 3 and 4x EufyCam 3 (4K, solar etc) plus 2x EufyCam 2 Pro (2K), and a year later bought a Eufy E340 dual camera doorbell. Honestly the system has been really good. The video quality (even on the 2K cameras is like night & day with my old Arlo Pro (like comparing an Arlo to a iPhone 6s or similar for video quality), and having the base station (I fitted a standard 1Tb 2.5" HDD) with local recording and no subscription nonsense has simplified things a LOT.

Having the solar charging on the outdoor cameras has been revolutionary - they have been up for 3 years now, and I am yet to "manually" charge any of them (and they are all sitting at over 90% currently) - the days of getting up a ladder every few months to drag cameras down to charge them is over. The 2K cameras (which I use indoor so they see far less detections) have a large battery that has lasted around 600 days in my usage (they are currently around 50% charge, and I last charged them in October 2024, which was the first time since January 2023). This is so much better than the 3-5 months I used to get from Arlo Pro, it just isn't comparable.

Eufy isn't perfect but it is a HUGE amount better than my admittedly old Arlo Pro cameras. Arlo has increased the video compression to the point where the quality is so poor (technically my Arlo Pro are 1080P but with the ridiculously high compression they arguably have something like 240P quality) that I can only really identify a person that I already know, whereas on my Eufy cameras I can easily read car number plates, even at night. The biggest "downside" for me is that Eufy doesn't have a proper web-based PC interface, so everything is done in the mobile app, but I have got used to it.

I now only keep my old Arlo cameras for non-critical areas and have the Eufy system as my main system.

[jguerdat]

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@CCNE37 wrote:

Although, I did another test where I manually put it into Standby mode, and set the Day automation to turn the cameras on into Day mode, and when the time clicked over nothing happened, so perhaps the automations do not work when it is in Standby mode ? Not sure now ?

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STandby is just another mode like Arm Away/Home. This is where a screenshot of the mode would be useful. Take the screenshot and either use the "camera" icon above the reply text box or the "browse" link just below the box to navigate to that screenshot and attach it to your reply.

[StephenB]

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@CCNE37 wrote:

My automation is;

To change to only outdoor cameras during the day;

Name  - Day

Mode - Arm Away, Arm Home (which only turns on outdoor cameras)

When : Everyday at 6am

Then: Change mode - Arm Home

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Starting here:

The second line tells you the modes in which this automation will run.  If you want it to run when the system is in standby, then enable the automation in that mode as well.  It should then say "always enabled".

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@CCNE37 wrote:

To change to all cameras at night;

Name - Night

Mode - Arm Away

When : Everyday at 7pm

Then : Change mode - Arm Away

Following the same logic, this automation is a no-op.  It only runs in Arm Away mode, and then changes the mode to the mode the system is already in.  This should either be Arm Away, Arm Home (or always enabled if you want it to run when the system is in standby).

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@CCNE37 wrote:

I am not sure how to post a screenshot ?

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Use the camera icon in the toolbar.  The mods (or superusers) have to approve the image before you see it.

[CCNE37]

Thanks. That is very helpful. I had no idea what those modes meant.

It did actually change from Arm Home to Arm Away and back last night, so I am making progress I think. I think making the changes to include all 3 modes as you describe should hopefully see things working properly.

I still don't understand why Arlo would just force through an update without warning that destroys all existing schedules etc to implement a new system with no easy to understand information about how to re-generate the schedules in the new system. Even the change from a simple "Disarm" to "Standby" is a dumb change - it took me a while to figure out how to disarm the system. Mind you, I have long since given up trying to understand how Arlo makes business decisions.

[CCNE37]

Perhaps another stupid question - is there an easy way to simply change the mode to Arm Away, such that it doesn't apply any schedules or automations ?

With the previous app, it was really simple - I could choose from Armed, Disarmed, Schedule, and Armed or Disarmed over-rode the schedule.

In this app, it seems that if I change the mode to Arm Away, it just changes back to Arm Home when next the schedule/routine/automation rolls around. I might guess that the way to avoid this is to Deselect all automations in all modes, but that seems pretty clunky compared to simply hitting "armed" in the previous app - surely there is an easier way ?

[StephenB]

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@CCNE37 wrote:

In this app, it seems that if I change the mode to Arm Away, it just changes back to Arm Home when next the schedule/routine/automation rolls around. 

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There are two steps here.  The first is to reserve use of "Arm Away" to times when you are actually away.  This can be limiting, since your schedule can only switch between "Arm Home" and "Standby"

Then disable your schedule automations in "Arm Away" - leaving them enabled in "Arm Home" and "Standby".

[CCNE37]

Thanks Stephen

I currently have it running in Arm Away at night when I want all cameras armed, and Arm Home during the day when I only want the outdoor cameras armed. I would have to think about how to do this without using Arm Away. In the old app it was easy, but not sure how to do it here ?

Alternatively if I disable the automations in Arm Away and then manually select Arm Away mode, but leave the automations active in Arm Home active, will it switch out from Arm Away at any point. I am going away on holiday soon and want to know that the cameras are going to stay active.

I can never understand why a company takes something that was working well and completely changes it to something more complicated, less intuitive, and far more limiting like this ? It is like they had a brain-storming session on "How can we make the app worse, and take customers back 15 years in time". Quite odd.

[StephenB]

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@CCNE37 wrote:

I currently have it running in Arm Away at night when I want all cameras armed, and Arm Home during the day when I only want the outdoor cameras armed. I would have to think about how to do this without using Arm Away. In the old app it was easy, but not sure how to do it here ?

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Then of course the schedule will continue to run when you put the system in "Arm Away".

You can modify "Standby", and then schedule switches between Arm Home and Standby.  Not intuitive naming, and you do give up the ability to disarm all cameras.  But it will work.

[CCNE37]

Thanks. I got it to "stick" to Arm Away by switching off all automations on both Arm Away and Arm Home. It works - it just requires 10 more steps than it did in the old app 😠

This is really a mindlessly stupid step backwards - what were they thinking ?

[Amati5]

That’s exactly what i have, arm from 1159, then switch to standby at 6am.  I see that it does switch to arm at 1159 but it wont switch to standby at 6am.

[Amati5]

“make sure you haven't chosen to Enable/Disable an Automation”

You meant to NOT CKECK all of these?

[StephenB]

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@Amati5 wrote:

That’s exactly what i have, arm from 1159, then switch to standby at 6am.  I see that it does switch to arm at 1159 but it wont switch to standby at 6am.

---

It's best to start your own discussion thread, as it is quite difficult to give tailored advice to two people in the same conversation.

But if your schedule is switching from "arm home" to "standby" (and back), then your automations need to be enabled in both "arm home" and "standby".

If you want to keep the cameras armed 24x7 when you are away, then your automations need to be disabled in "arm away".  Then you can manually switch to "Arm Away" when you leave, and switch back when you return.

[CCNE37]

Stephen

Thanks for the confirmation that my automations only need to be disabled in the Arm Away mode to keep them permanently on Arm Away.