Multiple issues with all Arlo products on new app

[MichaelT90]

I have the following issues:

Arlo support don't answer their phones.

Chat button doesn't work. 

Mechanical chime doesn't work. 

None of my cameras observe schedules. 

None of my cameras observe geofencing. 

Setting app to standby or home mode does nothing and they all reset to away mode upon restart of the app.

No longer able to disable 1 camera whilst charging

Activity zones are not observed.

I'm getting quite stressed with notifications popping up all the time, day and night "motion detected" and to top it all off Arlo now restrict the amount of storage we can use, which wouldn't be a problem if all these above issues were resolved. 

This is a premium product, yet there appears to be absolutely no support. I've left a review on the play store where I was told to contact support, I have done that multiple times, as I said they don't reply to emails, chat doesn't work and phones don't seem to be answered. I'm at a total loss as to what to do. 

We have the multi camera subscription. 

Any advice as to how I can get these issues resolved, it would be very greatly appreciated.

[jguerdat]

@JamesC , @ShayneS , @BrookeN please look into this.

OP, my fastest suggestion would be to remove all devices from your account. Depending on whether you want to create a new account or continue with the current one, you could either use Settings, Data Privacy, Account, Delete Arlo Account or just create a new account with a different email address. Set the system back up. I agree it shouldn't be needed but you're pretty stuck. If the mods tagged above can't provide you with a working solution, it's likely your only choice.

[MichaelT90]

Thank you for your reply @jguerdat 

It feels a bit hammer to crack an egg, but I'll keep that in my back pocket as an option. 

These issues all started after we bought the doorbell, and it's addition forced the app to "upgrade" so what you say makes sense in that perhaps the upgrade botched? 

I'll wait to see if the mods can suggest anything less drastic, but if not I will give it a go.  Thanks again. 

Michael

[Edinburgh_lad1]

The advice you received on here is wrong. Your account isn't corrupted.  Simply, with the new app, schedules etc are not transferred over and so you need to set up everything from scratch. See my posts on setting up everything as it's not an easy task, unfortunately.

Regarding Arlo's phone, are you in the UK? When I tried their phone some time ago, it didn't work. Thankfully there's the seller so if your product is faulty, you can return it. Mine was bought on Amazon, and Amazon is a great company making things easy for the customer, thankfully.

It's not a premium product, but their marketing makes it sound like it is. 

[MichaelT90]

Hi @Edinburgh_lad1 

I did set up schedules and geofencing again from scratch, I spent about 2 hours getting it right, and even more time reading trying to understand what fresh hell they've created, but the issue now is that only some of those settings seem to stick around in the app, others disappear straight after I've saved them. 

The ones that do stick around don't actually apply anyway. 

I am in the UK yes, I feel like Arlo support have left us UK customers completely in the dark, they place restrictions on the subscription, then seemingly break the app features that would help with such restrictions, followed by providing no support to fix it. 

They did reply to my review last night, telling me I should get in touch with support if there's an issue, sadly there doesn't seem to be any support for UK customers on the product. 

Regarding returning to Amazon, we don't have prime so they've said 30 days is the cut off, I need to go to Arlo support for help now... I'm going around in circles and all I want is to be able to use my cameras and doorbell.

[BrookeN]

@MichaelT90 I have created a ticket for support to reach out to you. They will be getting a hold of you as soon as possible. 

[MichaelT90]

Thank you @BrookeN 

I really want to continue with Arlo, so if we can get things resolved that would be amazing.

[Richland]

 

Same issues for me. I bought 3 new cameras and had to upgrade the app. Nothing has worked since. I’ve got an ongoing ticket. Arlo website shows an image of geofencing and scheduling working together with the tag “manage your security your way.” Not true. 

[BrookeN]

@Richland as far as scheduling and Geofencing not working together we are aware of this behavior and it is being looked into. I will provide an update as soon as possible. 

[Edinburgh_lad1]

No, and it hasn't worked for quite some time, which is a euphemism for 'we have no idea why that is'. 

[MichaelT90]

I was beginning to think I was going mad!

I'm glad I'm not the only one having all these issues. 

I'm also sorry that it's not just me as it means this probably isn't going to be a simple fix.

[MichaelT90]

Now I am wondering if this is partly my issue...

So @BrookeN what's the current advice for a workaround? 

I'm aware I could use one or the other but I'm hoping you know what the best way is to get some way to arm my cameras again? Currently I have to leave them all unarmed! 

I've also not heard anything from support from the ticket you raised for me yet, is this normal?

[MichaelT90]

Hi @BrookeN 

So I've just had a series of generic responses from my issues from support, and I've tried to reply but I get 500 internal server error... Every time...

What do I do now? I'm happy to post my response here if you can update the ticket for me?

[BrookeN]

I let support know you were getting an internal error when attempting to respond. They will be reaching back out. 

[MichaelT90]

Thanks @BrookeN 

I've worked out the issue... I have 30 seconds it seems between losing the ticket to reply and pressing send. Any longer and it throws a 500 error. 

Today, for reference this was my experience:

Reply attempt 1, I wrote the whole thing out, about 15 minutes probably? 500 error. 

Reply attempt 2, I pasted my reply back in, read through it to make sure it was ok, maybe 1 or 2 minutes, certainly no more. 500 error

Reply attempt 3, pasted, quick check to make sure it looks ok, but didn't read through. Maybe 30-45 seconds ? Sent fine. 

I think this highlights the overall issue with the support system at Arlo. You can't get through on the phone, chat doesn't work, and a forum mod has had to get involved in the issue more times than should be needed with the ticket they had to raise. It's not fair on you or the customer. 

Sorry, rant over. Thank you again for letting them know. 

[MichaelT90]

Ok so responses from support, and my update: 

Turning the device off when charging, they suggested this link: 

https://kb.arlo.com/1085092/How-do-I-turn-my-Arlo-camera-on-or-off

This should be fine. 

Using a mechanical chime - we need a compatibility list, but I have had some be success with the Byron 776, however I don't think it can charge the doorbell.

I'll update as we go through more of the issues.

[MichaelT90]

Updates since June 27th:

Chimes: arlos answer is buy our chime or work it out for yourself, we've given you the requirements.

Support issue: I've reported it again, the contact page now provides you with a 404 not found, tried on multiple computers, and phones and multiple browser's and both on WiFi and mobile data. 

Disabling individual devices: works fine on cameras, feature is missing on doorbell, my understanding is that's intentional, you can't disable the doorbell. 

Saving changes: still buggy as! I have do to most things multiple times before they take, still no news on if they are fixing this.

Geofencing and scheduling: I've gone around in circles, the feature is obviously broken, automations randomly disable themselves and once they have, they can't be re-enabled again.

If I didn't know any better I would say they've taken dev in house and tried to save money... The "app" screams html 5 website with a pwa wrapper... It doesn't work, so I make a public plea to everyone at Arlo... Please please please can we have the old app back? It wasn't perfect, but it was better than this garbage!

[Edinburgh_lad1]

No chance of getting the old app back, I'm afraid.

[MichaelT90]

Update on issues August 6th

Support site: sometimes it's fine, other times my updates still don't submit. 

Disabling devices: still can't disable the doorbell, support won't acknowledge this. 

Saving changes: still not fixed

Geofencing and scheduling: it's intermittent at best. Often gets stuck in away mode, I can't change it, support are still just giving me the same non responses "try deleting and recreating everything" the very definition of madness. Surely just admit you broke the feature?!

Ooh and they've all but outright admitted the new app is just a website wrapped into a browser... So it will never truly fully work. 

I'm seriously considering my options here, issue is that we have a lot of money sunk into Arlo...

[Ispy23]

Yeah, well they totally **bleep**ed up my stuff. Can't use my camera on my phone. My cameras aren't picking up on my unit. What the **bleep** have they done?

[MichaelT90]

I'd say get in touch with support, but I've now had a response that says "you can't use both schedules and geofencing anymore" it's taken them 2 months to confirm what I already knew.... They broke it.... 

What I want to know is when they plan on fixing it! 

What's not working for you? Do you happen to have another device you can test on? If so, does the feature work on that device? (I work in it support( not for Arlo), so if I can help with some basic troubleshooting I'm happy to)

[StephenB]

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@MichaelT90 wrote:

What I want to know is when they plan on fixing it! 

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Me too.

IMO they need to make major changes here, so it could take a while.  

[MichaelT90]

I think you could be right, unfortunately, I suspect they're looking at needing to train Devs, then they can start actual development again... The way all of this has been handled so far I doubt we will see any real movements forward until Q1 2025 at the earliest...

Unfortunately working in IT, and cyber security, I have a lot of friends, colleagues and family coming to me asking for recommendations on this sort of stuff and my response over the last couple of months has been "Arlo hardware is great, but their software is now so shocking, and unreliable I'll need to research other companies and get back to you". 

I really hope they can prove us wrong and get these things fixed soon, I would love to be able to recommend Arlo again...

[StephenB]

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@MichaelT90 wrote:

I think you could be right, unfortunately, I suspect they're looking at needing to train Devs, then they can start actual development again...

Not sure about training. But it's clear that the UX team missed a lot of common use cases when they redesigned the app.

FWIW, I don't think it is as terrible as many people here think.  Modes and scheduling were a definitely a mess with Library, particularly if you had a mix of base stations and home-wifi connected cameras.  The new design is IMO an improvement there.   Although scheduling+geofencing works in Library, it isn't very intuitive.  (I know because I've had to explain it to a lot of folks here over the years).

But they need to rethink fine-grained control over individual cameras (and groups of cameras).   Putting back custom modes is the simplest path.  They work, but you still can end up with too many modes if you have lots of different camera groupings.

As far as scheduling+geofencing goes: Automations are too hard, especially if you need to disable/re-enable automations from other automations - which appears to be what they expected people to do with geofencing+scheduling.  Even if the design wasn't buggy, it's far too easy to end up with your cameras disarmed when you don't expect them to be. 

Also, the one subscription per location IMO should be reconsidered.  I get that unlimited locations would be an issue (leading to account sharing).  But I think they should allow two locations on one subscription.

I'd also put local recordings back in the Feed.

FWIW, I've shared my own design ideas with Arlo on how they might address the issues I see.  No idea on what they will do with that input.

[MichaelT90]

If this isn't a training issue somewhere then I have to say I think it makes it one of negligence.

They've really cracked down on the subscriptions, and what is fair use, whilst simultaneously breaking activity zones, geofencing and scheduling, meaning that going by my estimates (as there seems to be no way to monitor it) we've almost hit our limit each month since. 

If all these features worked like they used to it wouldn't even remotely be an issue. 

This is all exacerbated by the fact that support send me a weekly email that asks me to delete all my automations and recreate them again, which is a massive pain because to ensure each and every change saves I have to completely come out of the app, and then go back into it, navigate back and cross my fingers that it saves. 

I get they wanted to modernise it, but when it didn't work they should have rolled it back to the last known good config... They're in too deep now.