Geofencing controlling mode with multiple persons

[SteveAR1427]

Hi,

I'm trying to set up geofencing to disarm the system when one or more authorised people (ie guest persons with app) arrive and re-arm the system when there are no longer such people on site. (A scout hall). The system would remain armed at all other times.

This seemed a simple thing, but maybe it's not possible?

The idea would be to set up an "arrive" condition for specified (or all) people, that would set the system to "standby" when one or more are within the geofence, and set a "leave" condition so that when there is nobody left within the geofenced area, the system would set "arm away". Thing is, I can't seem to set both "arrive" and "leave" automations at the same time. 

What am I missing? How do I achieve this so whether the system is armed or not, depends only on whether authorised people are on site? 

Thanks

Steve

PS I know the geofencing is working with a simple arrive, but with just the "arrive" automation changing the mode to "Standby", the system is stuck in standby even when the person leaves the area.

PPS I can't actually make the geofencing control the mode with just one person. I don't think the requirement for multiple persons is actually the crux of the problem.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you're using the new user interface (UI) that uses Feed to view videos since you state "Arrive" and "Leave". If that's the case, you have to create separate Arrive and Leave geofencing entries. It should be that simple. Also, be aware that each user that listed must not allow their app to be logged out, whether by manually doing so or by lack of use. My wife rarely uses the app so gets automatically logged out, causing the system to fully arm when I leave but she's still at home. She now just opens the app ~once a week to ensure she's logged in.

[Retired_Member]

Hi, I am also struggling to get Geofencing working with the new  ‘Feed’ UI.  My issue is that the new ‘feed UI’ Geofencing routine automation setup page appears to list every device that I or any user I share the system has ever had the App installed on.  This has hit some sort of limit (20 devices) so any current devices the App is installed on do not show up.  Unfortunately there does not appear to be any way of removing devices from this list to ‘free up’ the slots when new devices are added.  Am I missing something?  Can these old user devices be removed from this list?

Thanks

[jguerdat]

Use a computer browser pointed to my.arlo.com and go to Routines, Automations, your geofencing automation, Specific People and finally Edit at the top to delete old devices. For some  reason the app doesn't work but the web client does.

[SteveAR1427]

Hi jguerdat,

Thanks very much for your reply. Your right about being on the new app. Actually I didn't know there was a new version until I tried to install a new guest user and found the interface was very different. I thought something had gone terribly wrong or I'd loaded the wrong app or something. Had to ring support to get sorted out.

Anyway - In regard to my not being able to set up both arrive and leave options, what I found I was doing wrong was not explicitly naming the arrive/leave automation. One I named them, I could set up both. 

Thanks also for the warning about the app timing out. 

Cheers

Steve

[SteveAR1427]

Hi - Further to my Arrive/Leave issue.

I have two people, the admin (me) and a guest set as the two specific people for an arrive and leave geofence automations which disarm and arm the system respectively.

Today I drove to the location and on arrival the system went to standby - great.

However, on leaving, the system did not switch back to armed. The guest phone we no where near the specified location at this time.

Suspecting what the problem might be, I subsequently ran the app on the guest phone away from the site and the system re-armed. So it seems that if you have a number of persons using the geofencing, if any is not running the app or it has timed out etc, the system will not re-arm and one would be no wiser as to the cause.

This does not seem satisfactory. Have I missed something? Did Arlo ever test this system in realistic real-life situations - perhaps not.

jguerdat , I realise that this is just another case what you warned me about - it may be satisfactory in limited circumstances, but for a large group, some of whom can be relied upon to forget to periodically run the app, it's just not satisfactory.  Far be it from me to tell Arlo how to design a system (although I have experience in this sort of thing) however it seems someone needs to. One solution might be for the system to temporarily exclude any listed user from the arrive OR logic and the depart AND logic, from whom a valid geo-location has not been received for a pre-set time interval.

Thanks

Steve

[jguerdat]

The issue, as you likely understand, is that the app has to be working (logged in) for certain functions to work. That also includes things like push notifications). WHile it may seem to not be working properly, the app can't communicate the location to the servers if not logged in. That would be true of any app I'm aware of that requires location services. However, not all log themselves out which would be a potential security issue for any sort of security system. I don't claim to be knowledgeable as to how any other system may work so maybe there are reasonable ways to protect the system without logging out - someone else is gonna have to come up with solutions that would work.

In the meantime, everyone needs to be logged in for things to work properly. Maybe a weekly reminder via each person's schedule could be useful. Education as to how the system works is also needed.

[SteveAR1427]

Thanks jguerdat again for your reply.

I'm sure your right about the behaviour of the phone app with respect to location, however, a small amount of testing would show that the system is therefore unreliable.  I found this in 2 hours of testing once I had the config fixed, so why does Arlo release this with such an obvious flaw? Do you think they are working on a work-around?

Sure, education is fine, but not if the expectation on users is unrealistic.  

I'll pursue this with Arlo support, but looks like I'll need to go to a different security system.