Arlo Secure - Geofencing and Schedule Conflict

[halfmoon83]

I  ARLO SECURE Version 6.0.5 9423 released 14 May 2025.

Ever since Arlo Secure was introduced 18 months ago, I have tried to get Geofencing to work but I get two problems

1.  It works one day, but then does not work the next.

I check all the settings on the Iphone and iPad, with latest iOS, like have the App Location set Always & Precise Location and Background App Refresh on, and they are always as required. But Geofencing still is unreliable.

I spoke to technical support and their recommendation is "We strongly recommend that you enable only one iOS or Android device per physical user on an Arlo account""  This makes no sense, as it means the account holder can leave, activating all the Cameras whilst the other residents are still at Home... or do they want every resident to subscribe to ARLO Secure?

2.  Geofencing works and has set AWAY MODE. But Geofencing AWAY MODE only remains active until the schedule overrides the mode and sets it back to HOME MODE... even though we are away from the property.  

The reply from technical support is "Arlo Secure does not allow Schedules and Geofencing to work together".  This is crazy... it certainly worked with the previous App software.

What technical support is saying is

- you have to set a schedule fir when you are at home, for instance ARM all cameras at night time and disarm in the morning.

- you have to stop the schedule when we leave home, so that all cameras are permanently armed.

What is the point of these automations and schedules if you have to manually change them all the time?

Does anyone have a solution to this?

[StephenB]

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@halfmoon83 wrote:

2.  Geofencing works and has set AWAY MODE. But Geofencing AWAY MODE only remains active until the schedule overrides the mode and sets it back to HOME MODE... even though we are away from the property.  

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The enable lists for your schedule automations are probably set incorrectly.

Go into the settings for the Arm Away mode, and disable the schedule automations there.  After you do that, the schedule will not run when the system is in Arm Away mode.

[halfmoon83]

Thanks for that suggestion Stephen, do you mind clarifying if you mean the setting in this screenshot?

if I turn that off, what happens when we are at home and AWAY MODE turns on at night time?

 

[halfmoon83]

I also have, in the Geofencing automation setting, that ARM AWAY is enabled and that Home Mode is disabled. But, the next morning, Home Mode kicks in, even when it is disabled according to this Automation Setting. Any Suggestions?

[StephenB]

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@halfmoon83 wrote:

Thanks for that suggestion Stephen, do you mind clarifying if you mean the setting in this screenshot?

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Yes, both the "Home Mode" and "Night Armed" should be disabled.

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@halfmoon83 wrote:

if I turn that off, what happens when we are at home and AWAY MODE turns on at night time? 

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When you combine geofencing+scheduling, then you need to reserve Arm Away for exclusive use by geofencing (triggered by your "Leave" automation, and NOT by your schedule).

Then schedule by switching between Arm Home and Standby.  That often does require modifying Standby to arm cameras that you want to trigger during the day (and using Arm Home at night).

Then the enable lists are set up so that

• the Schedule automations only run in Arm Home and Standby
• The Leave automation is always enabled
• The Arrive automation is enabled only in Arm Away

The effect of this is to run the schedule only when you are home.

When Arlo puts back custom modes (hopefully soon) there should be some options.  But we'll have to wait and see on that.

[StephenB]

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@halfmoon83 wrote:

I also have, in the Geofencing automation setting, that ARM AWAY is enabled and that Home Mode is disabled. But, the next morning, Home Mode kicks in, even when it is disabled according to this Automation Setting. Any Suggestions?

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While the UI lets you include actions to enable/disable other automations, this did not work when I tested it.  As soon as the system switches to "Arm Away" when you leave, the automation settings in Arm Away are applied (either enabling or disabling every automation you have).  So the action to disable the "Home Mode" automation in the geofencing automation is overridden by the mode change.  

FWIW, I find having an automation with "Mode" in the name to be confusing.

[halfmoon83]

Thanks for clarifying this Stephen... much appreciated. Also noted on the confusion of the names, I have re-titled the schedule events to:-

"At Home - Day time setting"  This uses ARM HOME mode, which has one camera on the road armed to alert us of deliveries etc.

"At Home - Night Armed" uses the ARM AWAY mode and this arms all our cameras whilst we are at home at night time.

Do you know of a way to set two "ARM HOME" conditions so we can keep ARM AWAY mode for geofencing automation.

For instance that we can ARM HOME Condition 1 (one camera armed) and another ARM HOME Condition 2 (all cameras armed)?

[StephenB]

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@halfmoon83 wrote:

"At Home - Day time setting"  This uses ARM HOME mode, which has one camera on the road armed to alert us of deliveries etc.

"At Home - Night Armed" uses the ARM AWAY mode and this arms all our cameras whilst we are at home at night time.

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What I am recommending instead is

"At Home - Day time setting"  This uses STANDBY mode, which has one camera on the road armed to alert us of deliveries etc.  

"At Home - Night Armed" uses the ARM HOME mode and this arms all our cameras whilst we are at home at night time

"Geofencing Away" uses the ARM AWAY mode, which also arms all our cameras whilst we are away from home.

[halfmoon83]

Thanks Stephen, you’ve been a help!

I used STANDBY MODE to switch off all cameras, for instance when there’s lots of activity on the road, I guess, I just turn off the camera manually and remember to turn it back on later 

[StephenB]

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@halfmoon83 wrote:

I used STANDBY MODE to switch off all cameras, for instance when there’s lots of activity on the road, I guess, I just turn off the camera manually and remember to turn it back on later 

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For now, that is the best you can do.  When Arlo adds back custom modes, you should have more options.