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".

[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.