Geofencing not working for secondary account

[Saphod]

Hi,

I’ve got the new Arlo Secure App on iOS 18.2.1 on an iPhone 15 Pro.

App version 5.4.0 (8887) from 4th January 2025. 

App is also installed on my wife’s iPhone 13 Pro and she was invited with restricted access. 

Location services are both set to “Always”. Background app refresh activated. Both accounts logged in on their respective phone.  

My wife’s status does not seem to make a difference. When I leave home and my wife stays, the “Everyone leaves” automation is activated…

… which is not what it should do. I have to set it back to stand manually. 

Any idea what the issue could be?

[BrookeN]

The development team is currently testing a fix that will be made available in an upcoming version of the Arlo app that we hope to release very soon. Once we have more information available about this release, we will provide an update. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

[BrookeN]

The development team was able to reproduce the issue as described and is continuing to work toward a solution. As soon as we have more information available, we'll post an update.

[BrookeN]

We are still currently investigating this behavior. I will update the community as soon as possible. 

[Saphod]

Deleted app from my wife’s iPhone and reinstalled. After logging in with her (invited) account settings, the old app UI shows (with “Library” on the bottom). She has admin access, but cannot see any cameras or change any settings. Arlo is not showing up under “Location Services” in the iPhone settings. It also does not show any location access next to the clock on the top left the iPhone (tilted triangle, position marker).

Logging in with my account on her phone prompts the “Enable Location Services” hint, shows “Feed” instead of “Library” and shows all cameras and all options. 

Obviously, I don’t want to stay logged in with my account. 

What is going on here?

id really like to use geofencing, as it is very convenient. But if it only triggers on my location, it’s pretty much useless. 

[Saphod]

Logged into “My Dashboard” on the Arlo website with my wife’s credentials. 

I was told that I need to upgrade to the new layout.

after that, the app on my wife’s phone also changed. Under “Feed”, it now shows two homes on the top, and I chose the shared one. 

Left the geofence zone only with my phone again (left wife’s phone at home), and “Arm Away” was NOT triggered this time. 

I assume it’s working now? Will need to keep an eye on it. 

[Saphod]

Actually, geofencing is now completely broken - neither arrive home (set to “Anybody arrives” -> Standby”) nor leave home (set to “Everybody leaves -> Arm away”) works. At least it worked for only me before.

It feels as though the App thinks that my wife’s device is always home - even when she’s evidently not. 

Have to go back to setting it manually every time anyone arrives or we leave.

Great stuff, Arlo! 👍

[Saphod]

Tagging @BrookeN 

[Saphod]

Changed both to “specific people leave” and “specific people arrive” - although only our two devices show.  Let’s see if that makes a difference. 

[Saphod]

My beloved but concerned wife changed the app settings on her phone to “Location: While using App”, so I changed it back to “Always” and asked her to leave it like that. 

Left home with both devices, left geofence area… nothing (supposed to Arm Away). Same when I enter it again: Nothing happens (supposed to Standby). I have to do everything manually. 

How can a feature like this be so hard to set up, test, and get running?

Settings for both phones:

Location: Always
Local Network: Off

Background App Refresh: On

Can anyone tell me why it is not working?!

[alex_loo]

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@Saphod wrote:

Hi,

I’ve got the new Arlo Secure App on iOS 18.2.1 on an iPhone 15 Pro.

App version 5.4.0 (8887) from 4th January 2025. 

App is also installed on my wife’s iPhone 13 Pro and she was invited with restricted access. 

Location services are both set to “Always”. Background app refresh activated. Both accounts logged in on their respective phone.  

My wife’s status does not seem to make a difference. When I leave home and my wife stays, the “Everyone leaves” automation is activated…

… which is not what it should do. I have to set it back to stand manually. 

Any idea what the issue could be?

---

ou have a first step which ARLO hasn't fixed and hence introducing this issue:  haven't different login account and then granting access.  This would introduce duplicate geofencing devices, and then messing up the geofencing logic.

I'd suggest that you have all devices logging in the same master account first.

- Alex

[Saphod]

Sorry, I don’t really understand. Why would a secondary, invited account create duplicate geofencing devices?

I find that logging in with the same master account raises security concerns and is not what I would like to do. 

[StephenB]

@Saphod - have you checked the available geofencing devices in both accounts?

[alex_loo]

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@Saphod wrote:

Sorry, I don’t really understand. Why would a secondary, invited account create duplicate geofencing devices?

I find that logging in with the same master account raises security concerns and is not what I would like to do. 

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agree it's compromising certain security.  To me, this is a temporary solution to duplicate geofencing devices (which cripples the whole ARLO geofencing --- an even worse compromise on security!)

I am expecting ARLO to fix this bug moving forward, so we can resuming having different login accounts granted access.

Alex

[Saphod]

@StephenB:

Each trusted and geofencing device shows up in the list on both accounts as it should.

[Saphod]

Great… now it armed when I left - my wife is still home and it is set to “Everybody leaves”. 😡

[StephenB]

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@Saphod wrote:

Great… now it armed when I left - my wife is still home and it is set to “Everybody leaves”. 😡

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Maybe try "specific people leave", and select both phones.

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@Saphod wrote:

Great… now it armed when I left - my wife is still home and it is set to “Everybody leaves”. 😡

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Maybe try "specific people leave", and select both phones.

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I think it won't help.  We all know geofencing has issues, and there is no interim fix (well, I'd say except for my google home automation way 😆).  Purely trying something else is likley another "trying your luck".

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@StephenB wrote:

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@Saphod wrote:

Great… now it armed when I left - my wife is still home and it is set to “Everybody leaves”. 😡

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Maybe try "specific people leave", and select both phones.

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I think it won't help. 

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Arlo ( @BrookeN ) recommended it on another thread, so I think it is worth a try.

FWIW, "Leave" is working for me, but "Arrive" started failing a couple days ago.  I reset it to "specific people arrive" last night - but haven't gone out since then, so I don't yet know if that works around the problem (or not).

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@StephenB wrote:

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@Saphod wrote:

Great… now it armed when I left - my wife is still home and it is set to “Everybody leaves”. 😡

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Maybe try "specific people leave", and select both phones.

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I think it won't help. 

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Arlo ( @BrookeN ) recommended it on another thread, so I think it is worth a try.

FWIW, "Leave" is working for me, but "Arrive" started failing a couple days ago.  I reset it to "specific people arrive" last night - but haven't gone out since then, so I don't yet know if that works around the problem (or not).

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how many devices do you have for "all leave"?

I have seen "leave" and "arrive" both working --- but not always.  And I/we have never heard anyone claiming it's 100% working fine.  Even ARLO is still suggesting us trying this and trying that.

So I won't try (and very likely failing again) until ARLO says geofencing is fixed.

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@StephenB wrote:

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@Saphod wrote:

Great… now it armed when I left - my wife is still home and it is set to “Everybody leaves”. 😡

---

Maybe try "specific people leave", and select both phones.

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I think it won't help. 

---

Arlo ( @BrookeN ) recommended it on another thread, so I think it is worth a try.

FWIW, "Leave" is working for me, but "Arrive" started failing a couple days ago.  I reset it to "specific people arrive" last night - but haven't gone out since then, so I don't yet know if that works around the problem (or not).

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So I won't try (and very likely failing again) until ARLO says geofencing is fixed.

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Up to you of course.  And @Saphod obviously has the same choice.

I don't normally use geofencing (or scheduling), I only have them set up so I can monitor progress.  All three of my own modes are configured (for testing) to arm all cameras, so the system behavior doesn't depend on the combination of scheduling+geofencing working.

Geofencing is only set up for one device (my own iphone).

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@alex_loo wrote:

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I have seen "leave" and "arrive" both working --- but not always.  And I/we have never heard anyone claiming it's 100% working fine.  Even ARLO is still suggesting us trying this and trying that.

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All of a sudden "Arrive" never works for me.  Which is very different from "not always".  "Leave" continues to work reliably for me (agreed that is not the case for others).  I'll know if @BrookeN's suggestion makes any difference soon. 

[Canyonrune103]

Same is happening to me. I have shared and reshared all cams on this account, but only 1 shows up. 

[BrookeN]

@Canyonrune103 are you and the shared user on the same user interface? 

[BrookeN]

I have reached out to the development team to investigate the behavior you are seeing. I will update the community as soon as possible. 

[Canyonrune103]

The app kept crashing when I clicked add new device, despite restarting the base station, my iPhone/iPad, deleting/reinstalling the app, and confirming all cameras and base stations had updated firmware. My iPhone worked to click add new device, then security upgrade today. Now I can see all shared cameras.

[Jm976711]

Hi there,

we have older cameras (pro 2) and we both just updated the UI interface. And now it’s only letting me turn the cameras off and on despite her having administrative rights.

any suggestions?

[alex_loo]

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@StephenB wrote:

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Geofencing is only set up for one device (my own iphone).

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single device is just the simplest scenario for geofencing.  It does not cover scenarios only possible when there are at least 2 devices --- say "anyone of the multiple devices arrives", "only some devices away" and "all devices away".

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@StephenB wrote:

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@alex_loo wrote:

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I have seen "leave" and "arrive" both working --- but not always.  And I/we have never heard anyone claiming it's 100% working fine.  Even ARLO is still suggesting us trying this and trying that.

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All of a sudden "Arrive" never works for me.  Which is very different from "not always".  "Leave" continues to work reliably for me (agreed that is not the case for others).

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May be "leave" continues to work, but only for your simpler single device scenaio.  It does NOT always work for my set up with 2 devices, which I believe is very common in practical situation.

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I'll know if @BrookeN's suggestion makes any difference soon. 

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What are your findings now?

Alex

[StephenB]

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@alex_loo wrote:
What are your findings now?

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Leave and Arrive did not work today, even though both were changed to use specific devices.  I am wondering if this is an issue with 5.4.2.

[BrookeN]

@StephenB are you seeing this behavior as well?