Push Notification Delay AND 4 minute videos recording randomly

[PropDad]

Really disappointed with the delay of notifications this thing has.  I have 3 cameras and sometimes the notifications are instant, other times there can be up to a 45 minute delay.  Example would be the camera at my front door.  When walking in the front door, the camera is less than 2 feet from my face but yet when I come home from work at night a lot of times it notifies me 10 to 15 minutes later.

Also, we randomly get videos that are around 4 minutes long.  Watch them and see no motion on them at all.

[TomMac]

As to the pushes, make sure the phone isn't in some sort of battery save

As to videos, you can pick a set amount of time to record in the mode your using to arm  ( need to edit the mode for that camera )

[pc2k17]

To add......... for the delayed pushes, IMHO, it's Android and the way it uses its "heartbeat function". The "heartbeat function" is basically when android checks in with cell towers, internet, google,etc. I does this at set intervals.

I too have noticed notification delays sometimes, but not just from arlo, from smartthings and other apps as well. Even with the apps set to never sleep or never save battery it still happens occationally. I then started doing some research and testing (I'm an engineer) and I've come to the conclusion that the Android heartbeat function is the root of the problem. Now, with that said, you can put some code in your app to try and keep things "alive" or install 3rd party apps to help, but what I found that helps, is to just press the unlock button on the phone to wake it up (you don't have to actually unlock).

Perfect example is when I leave my house my smarthings sensor detects I'm away and turns Arlo cameras on. I know exactly where on the road I should get the notification that cameras were turned on, it's about 1 min 30 seconds from when I leave the house. If I have used the phone within the last 15 minutes or so the notification comes in right away, but occationally the notifications don't come, so i simply press the unlock button on the phone then all of a sudden the 5 notifications I'm expecting come in. When I check the logs, the cameras turned on about 1 min 30 seconds after I left but the notification didn't come in until I "woke" the phone up. Since I see this behavior when multiple apps and "waking up" android gets things going again I can conclude that Android is the issue. If you search for android heartbeat you'll find lots of complaints about this.

[PropDad]

I understand that you can choose how long to record.  I just can't figure out why sometimes it records videos over 4 minutes long.

[JessicaP]

Hey @PropDad,

You might have your motion sensitivity up high if it is detecting some motion and recording for about 4 minutes long. Try to lower the motion sensitivity to see if that helps. You can read how to change the motion sensitivity here: How do I change the motion sensitivity on my Arlo camera?