New Arlo Upgrade is TERRIBLE. Ruined Arlo for me. How can I revert to the old UI

[brianbish]

Hope you're all doing well. I've been an Arlo user for a while now, with 7 cameras and the new 2k doorbell in my setup. My goal was to streamline everything under Arlo, given how much I trust the brand. But after this recent software update, I've run into a few challenges that are really big problems that need to be addressed

I've been around the block on the internet, and I've seen others on Reddit and even here expressing similar concerns. Here's what's been on my mind:

1. Camera Control: The previous version had a dedicated screen for arming and disarming, making it quick and user-friendly. The new UI, with its 'Arm Away,' 'Disarm,' and 'Stand By' seems good outside of realworld applications but it is not practical for having full control over the cameras; especially for individual camera control

2. Status Overview: You can not see the status of all cameras at one time, which is not just inconvenient but a safety concern.

3. Camera Access & Playback: Following Arlo's suggestion, I've toggled devices on and off. The downside? Not being able to see live video playback when it's off, and having to navigate each camera separately to turn them on/off, especially with my larger setup, it is very inefficient

There are other minor issues, but these stand out. Anyone else here facing the same? And if someone has found a way to revert to the previous version or has workarounds while Arlo possibly addresses these, please share.

Appreciate the support and looking forward to improvements!

[ShayneS]

To enable or remove notification for a specific camera, you can navigate to Routines > Modes > Select the mode > Select the device under the Device Rules > Add action > Send Notification > Next > Save. You can also remove a rule by selecting Delete Rules. 

Your cameras will be armed If you have the rules enabled to record in either of the Modes: Arm Away, Arm Home, Standby. 

You can find more info here: https://kb.arlo.com/000062889/How-do-I-enable-or-disable-motion-or-sound-detection-on-my-Arlo-device-Arlo-Secure-4-0

[ocker-biker]

Have to agree with all the previous.  Regretfully just upgraded Nov 2024.

So now where do we go? Another system, or wait for them to fix this.

[BillerP]

I'm just piling on all of the previous posts on this subject.  Long time Arlo user.  Used to love the product.  

I bought and installed two Arlo doorbells to add to my legacy system of 8 cameras.  Installing them required me to "update" my app.   Doorbells were now installed seemed to work well with the app.  But I started to realize how cumbersome the UI was, and that I was missing features.   Only after installing the doorbells and installing and using the new application did I realize what a mistake I had made.  Too late.  Once updated you can't back out and reinstall the old software.   

Having the ability to add modes (user cases) is a must have for me.  Unless you have only a couple of cameras the limit of only 3 use cases quickly becomes an issue.   Further, I find the UI very lacking.   Too many screens and not intuitive.  Just checking the battery levels of my cameras has now turned into a chore going through dozens of screens.  Gone is the one page showing the pertinent status. 

Knowing what I know now about the new software I would not have purchased and installed my new doorbells.  In hindsight, I find it completely unacceptable that there was no information from Arlo indicating I would lose that functionality and get myself in this situation by "updating" the software.    

The sad part is that after reading though this thread, Arlo has seemingly shown a deaf ear to the concerns of their users.  

I'm with many here wondering what to do now. 

[dawgtime]

I have been trying to setup a schedule for the cameras to be on, at night, but cannot get it setup, The former UI was easy. I'm thinking of replacing the cameras with Blink as well, but I have an investment in this system. But the system isn't working. Maybe we need a class action lawsuit.

[StephenB]

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@dawgtime wrote:

I have been trying to setup a schedule for the cameras to be on, at night, but cannot get it setup,

Post the details in a new discussion thread:

• what cameras you want scheduled at various times
• whether you also want geofencing (or not).

Then we can help there.

[AikaneKai]

I've had my system since 2019.

I just made the major mistake of allowing the 'upgrade'.  What an absolute piece of garbage this is.   I see it's been available for more than a year and none of the issues have been fixed.  I need to be able to set modes and set the sensitivity for each camera in those modes.  Since I've just updated the app, I can't tell now if I'm going to be getting 1,000 recordings a day or if it's going to miss everything it needs to record.  One of my most important modes is rainy/windy, where I set the sensitivity down so as to not over record when the rain falls or leaves are blown in the wind.  I also have a low-sensitivity mode where it's even lower for the frequent very rainy/very windy situations.  I have several other modes as well, each for different situations so as to not overload the system with unnecessary recordings.

The Feed view thumbnails are TINY.  Even when set to large, they're so small as to be completely useless.  I also can't see which if any have been marked as Favorites.  I use that setting to determine what I'll download, but I now have no way to view at a glance what's been set or not, so I can't 'delete' en masse in order to clean the list before downloading.

The layout of the Feed takes up a ridiculous amount of space for absolutely zero benefit.

It seems that every single change you make is a detriment to the application.  I have been a programmer for ~40 years and I see a lot of really bad design out there.  Arlo is right up there.

[AikaneKai]

OH, I see.  Marking recordings as Favorite no longer matters, because it won't prevent them from getting deleted.  I really wish the original company had never sold Arlo to this group.

[danshoeco]

Too much work. Not happy and don't have time. Will be installing a new, different system.

[lettuceme]

I called Arlo within an hour of this upgrade and begged them to remove it for all the reasons you have cited but they refused to do so.  Since I have had this most of the time I cannot even use the cameras at all.  Currently my cameras are being triggered by sound and efforts to turn off all sound triggers have failed.  I called Arlo Support and spent over an hour on the phone with a rep going through a preprogramed protocol that was unrelated.  CURRENTLY I AM LOOKING FOR SOME COMPANY THAT CAN TAKE OVER THE CAMERA OPERATION.  I am also praying that another, customer responsive company, buy out Arlo.

[StephenB]

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@lettuceme wrote:

 Currently my cameras are being triggered by sound and efforts to turn off all sound triggers have failed.

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FWIW, that happened once to me with one of my cameras.  Removing it from the account, doing a hardware reset, and then reinstalling the camera resolved it.

Also, if you have smart notifications enabled, then try disabling CO/Smoke detection (since that is also detected using the camera mic).

[ML56]

spot on, I will be looking for other systems outside of Arlo & canceling my subscription.   Arming & disarming individual cameras with ease was why I went to Arlo to start with, what use are widgets????

[ittroll]

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@ML56 wrote:

what use are widgets????

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I am wondering that too. It just seems to provide a selective view of the cameras which are available on the Devices screen. Most annoying is if you don't add anything you get a huge advert for the useless feature. 😧

[Mahem235]

Long time Arlo user.

Just updated today, 

Yes, I was able to figure it out, but why did Arlo have to make it harder and more frustrating?

So much easier to navigate older system.

It was doing its job before, one touch and you could activate or disarm, turn on, turn off. ect

Maybe a YouTube Tutorial would be nice.

If there's one, I haven't seen it.

[alex_loo]

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@ML56 wrote:

what use are widgets????

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As an ARLO android app user, I have been putting the ARLO widget to the main screen of my phone.  The widget shows only which of modes is on.  yes, you can imagine the widget an extract of the top part of the Dashboard in the app.  But it's more convenient than watching this from the app, which may be currently show other screens.

And you can also click and switch to 1 of the 3 modes, from the widget.

I must add, though, there is again a bug with even this little widget.  It does NOT not fresh its mode status all the time.  Often, I have to open up dashboard from app, and then when I return to check out the widget, then it becomes refreshed correctly.  Not a show stopper to me, but again you can smell the quality of testing and app development with ARLO.

Alex

[ittroll]

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@Mahem235 wrote:

Maybe a YouTube Tutorial would be nice.

If there's one, I haven't seen it.

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There are some very short YouTube videos but they are barely more than a promotional ad. This all text KB page is the best Arlo can provide:

https://kb.arlo.com/000062777/About-Arlo-Routines-Modes-Rules-and-Automations

[ittroll]

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@alex_loo wrote:

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@ML56 wrote:

what use are widgets????

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As an ARLO android app user, I have been putting the ARLO widget to the main screen of my phone.  The widget shows only which of modes is on.  yes, you can imagine the widget an extract of the top part of the Dashboard in the app.  But it's more convenient than watching this from the app, which may be currently show other screens.

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I think the widgets we are questioning are the ones which can now be added to home page of the app (new experience). They just seem to replicate the functionality of the devices screen.

[alex_loo]

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@ittroll wrote:

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I think the widgets we are questioning are the ones which can now be added to home page of the app (new experience). They just seem to replicate the functionality of the devices screen.

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ah I see.  Agree the widgets in home "dashboard" are replicating those in "devices".  One distinct feature with dashboard is that you can choose which cameras to monitor, while devices always show all cameras.

But yes still, this is not a big deal.🤣

Alex

[Zerr0]

The old software was perfect for me. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to schedule my cameras to activate or deactivate. Please tell me how to get back to the old system. Again it was perfect before.

[StephenB]

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@Zerr0 wrote:

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to schedule my cameras to activate or deactivate. 

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If you post the details of your schedule on a new discussion thread, I can help you with that.

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@Zerr0 wrote:

Please tell me how to get back to the old system. 

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Unfortunately, you can't migrate back to "Library".  

[kamerat]

I agree the first post. New Arlo App is terrible! I have now now idea how can I set times when cameras are on or off. Why did you have to ruin the old functional UI?? Do at least decent tutorials of these situation: 1) In present state I want cameras be on at nights, not at daytimes 2) in away state I want cameras be on all time. Simple? How in the world can this be done????????????????