If we can't have custom modes, can we have some better routines?

[doncaruana]

I really liked the old version of the app with multiple modes but of course now we only have the 3 default.

The schedule allows you to do a little bit - if I want to "turn off" a camera, the best I can do is use that to modify the motion sensitivity and turn it down to 1. So it's a hack/workaround...but it's functional. It would be nice if the device modifications allowed you to completely turn off certain devices.

Tip for others (if this has been said, I missed it) - you can set up "schedules" with no actual run time and then use "test automation" to effectively create new "modes". Unfortunately, you have no way of visually knowing exactly which hacked "mode" you're in, but at least you can be a little more flexible. Also takes some work of course, setting it all up.

[grillmaster13]

I tried this out and it does seem to function as a workaround. One catch is when you use a Routine to change a setting like Motion Sensitivity, it does not get automatically reset. So you need to add Actions to all your other Routines to set Motion Sensitivity back to 5 for all cameras (that are supposed to be armed at least).

So it looks like this:

Routine Day: 

- Change Mode to Standby

- foreach camera, Set Motion Sensitivity to 5

Routine Night:

- Change Mode to Armed Home

- foreach camera, Set Motion Sensitivity to 5

Routine Disable All:

- foreach camera, Set Motion Sensitivity to 1

The only way I've seen to "know" what "mode" you are in is to go to one of your cameras and check it's Motion Sensitivity (Default Mode Settings). If you see "1" then you know it's "Disabled".

ADDITIONAL NOTE

If you only have a couple of cameras in your Standby Mode, then it may be easier to just power them off/on them as needed, but this does give a way to "snooze" them all if you have a lot more.

[jguerdat]

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@grillmaster13 wrote:

The only way I've seen to "know" what "mode" you are in is to go to one of your cameras and check it's Motion Sensitivity (Default Mode Settings). If you see "1" then you know it's "Disabled".

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You should be able to click on Dashboard to view the active mode.

[grillmaster13]

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@jguerdat wrote:

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@grillmaster13 wrote:

The only way I've seen to "know" what "mode" you are in is to go to one of your cameras and check it's Motion Sensitivity (Default Mode Settings). If you see "1" then you know it's "Disabled".

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You should be able to click on Dashboard to view the active mode.

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No, I wasn't referring to the literal Modes in the app (which are limited to 3), I was referring to the virtual "modes" that were proposed in this thread leveraging the Routines and the "Test Automation" button to effectively have more than 3 different configurations of cameras that are active. 

I saw saying there is no way to know which Routine was last used to effectively configure the cameras (e.g. setting motion sensitivities), other than to actually check the "Default Mode Settings" on the cameras.

Aside: This is a long topic for which I have complained and made suggestions many times, with no response from Arlo. Besides adding support for more than 3 modes, a new action to actually "turn on/off" a camera actually would feel less hacky.