Invited friend cannot see devices on their dashboard (Arlo Pro 2)

[sdmcgeown]

I have seen numerous people posting similar issues but none of the solutions offered really address this problem. There are, at best, workarounds.

I am the main account holder for my Arlo secure account. I have a base station and three Arlo Pro 2 cameras.

All I want to do is share these with my wife's account so she can see the footage as well.

I used the Grant Access feature, selecting all the devices and base station, and it generated an invitation that was sent to my wife.

These are the three attempts we made:

1. She created an account on her App and followed the link. At the end of the process, no devices were visible on her dashboard.

2. We tried again, this time using a different email address. She used a Chrome browser this time on her Windows laptop and created a fresh new Arlo account from scratch. Again there were no devices on her dashboard (browser and app).

3. Finally, I tried myself - using my other email address as if I were a brand new user, going through the process from scratch on my Macbook's Safari browser. Again, I could see nothing appear on my dashboard.

In cases 2 and 3, I could see that the invite was accepted. In the first case (using the app on both my side and my wife's side), the invitation was marked as pending.

This shouldn't be difficult to do. We've tried the app, Windows and Macbook, so can probably rule out a specific platform with a problem.

What is the correct process to add another user? The current documented process does not work.

Thanks, Stephen

[JamesC]

For the grant access feature to allow visibility to the shared account, both users need to be on the same version of the Arlo mobile app and UI experience. We're currently rolling out app updates for iOS and Android users, but all users may not have version 4.0 available to them just yet. If you have a support ticket open, I encourage you to continue working on a resolution with the support team. Otherwise, please send me a private message and I will assist further.

JamesC

[StephenB]

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2. We tried again, this time using a different email address. She used a Chrome browser this time on her Windows laptop and created a fresh new Arlo account from scratch. Again there were no devices on her dashboard (browser and app).

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I suggest trying this again, but instead of creating a new account, try logging into the old one.

[sdmcgeown]

Thanks, but that didn't work either. It showed the exact same issue (no devices listed).

[StephenB]

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@sdmcgeown wrote:

Thanks, but that didn't work either. It showed the exact same issue (no devices listed).

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Is the invitation still showing up as pending in your account? You might need to send out another one.

[sdmcgeown]

It shows as accepted.

[ChicknLil]

I have a camera on my main email account and all is well there. I try to share that one camera (my only camera) with other email addresses (of mine) and while it says on my main account that the camera is shared, the camera isn't visible on the secondary account. Arlo's tech support can't seem to understand what I'm trying to do (which seems like it's a simple and common request) and I've tried several email addresses and removing the invite and/or resending it repeatedly. No love. I need the secondary account active or this camera is useless to me. Any help anyone could provide would be appreciated.

[StephenB]

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@sdmcgeown wrote:

It shows as accepted.

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@JamesC and @ShayneS: This is not the only poster seeing this behavior. Is this something Arlo is investigating?

[StephenB]

I'm seeing a couple of other posts from people reporting this, so it looks like a bug in the Arlo cloud. I tagged the mods on one of the other threads, so hopefully they will follow up.

[ChicknLil]

Hopefully they resolve this soon. Not a good first impression as a new Arlo customer.

[AMaxwell]

My husband and I are having the exact same issue and took the same steps. No devices showing up. I'm waiting for an agent to assist (11 more people ahead of us and we're 1/2 hour in).

[Neat007]

I'm seeing this issue as well. Any updates from Arlo?

[boltentwins]

Did you happen to upgrade the Arlo Secure app to the new version with the widgets which is coming with the new Arlo Security System? My Brother did and now can’t share cameras.

[Neat007]

That might be it, I'm running the most up to date version of the app with the new icon

[sdmcgeown]

Hi there,

I don't know if it's the latest version of the app - it seems like the same interface I've been using for a while. Normally I update my apps automatically to keep up with security updates. This is the first time I've tried to share my devices with anyone else, so can't tell how long this has been an issue for.

For reference, my app is running version 3.8 (3443).

Thanks, Stephen

[boltentwins]

I was referring to a hidden update, not just the new app.!If you select add new device and select the new Arlo Security System it will ask you to install an update which introduces widgets. Don’t do it as it can cause unsupported camera not to work.

[AMaxwell]

We stayed on the chat last night for almost 2 1/2 hours. They created a case number for us and said that the team is working on the issue, but could not give us a time frame for how long we needed to wait for a resolution.

[rcawley62]

Adding a friend friend gets invite creates account but does not have access to my account seems like its a new account. I have granted access to the friend to my camaras but it looks like i am setting up a new accout once the friend logs in its asking asking to add devices in the app.

[JamesC]

For the grant access feature to allow visibility to the shared account, both users need to be on the same version of the Arlo mobile app and UI experience. We're currently rolling out app updates for iOS and Android users, but all users may not have version 4.0 available to them just yet. If you have a support ticket open, I encourage you to continue working on a resolution with the support team. Otherwise, please send me a private message and I will assist further.

JamesC

[AMaxwell]

Both my app that I just downloaded yesterday, and my husband's (which he updated yesterday after inviting me as a friend) is version 4.0.1 (5272). I still have no devices showing up and we have not received any update from our Arlo case #.

[sdmcgeown]

Hi JamesC, thanks for your response, appreciate that.If there is a discrepancy between two users and their client versions, it should be flagged as an error to the user so he/she knows for sure what is up - an error code and informative text. Instead we have a silent error here and we have no way of knowing what to expect.

Also, how does this play out when users are trying to view apparently shared devices on a web browser (i.e. not using an app)?

[sdmcgeown]

Hi @JamesC what is the next step here? Looks like there's a few of us with this issue and the thread has gone cold. Please can you address my questions in the last response of mine.

[JamesC]

AMaxwell, sdmcgeown

I will reach out to you in a private message to gather more information.

JamesC

[AMaxwell]

Thank you to JamesC for your assistance via private message.  The process your shared worked and I (as a friend) can now view the cameras under "Devices" and see the "Feed" camera library as well as my husband who is the primary account holder.

[Neat007]

Great news! Can you share the process by chance? Thank you!

[sdmcgeown]

Hi,

This is the guidance I got in a PM from @JamesC though I'm not sure why it was sent privately.

The first thing you need to verify is if both the primary and secondary accounts are using the latest version of the Arlo mobile app (4.0.1 as of today). Second, both apps need to be using the same UI experience (you can quickly identify this by seeing if there is a "dashboard" option across the bottom of the app main screen after logging in). If you do not see dashboards, we need to force your account to migrate to the new UI experience. To do this, you will need to tap "Add new device", select "Arlo Home Security System" and you should be prompted to migrate to the new UI. After you receive verification that you've successfully migrated your account, you can then leave the Arlo Home Security System onboarding flow and then you should be able to share devices with the friend account. 

I felt this was ridiculous in a way that there is no way to find this out as a normal user without a long series of discussions with support staff. They should make it obvious in the app that the feature won't work unless you have a certain version, which is fair enough.