Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

New Secure feature: Removed the ability to delete entire Library/Feed with one click

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RegularJoe
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

  Now, in a giant step backwards, we must click on each individual video, from each camera, and then click on the video's menu, then click "delete", then click on "are you sure you want to delete".

  This is a colossal waste of time. 

  Formerly, a user could open the library, click on one single video... then touch a button at the top of the screen which would "select" all of them.. then touch the "delete" button, then the "are you sure" button.

  It was simple. Empty your video library in one fell swoop.

  You could have 500 videos recorded... took 5 seconds to empty the library.

  Now, we are forced to choose those 500 videos one at a time, then click "delete", then click delete again.. 

  Leaving them in your "feed" for an entire 30 days to let them age out... NOT an option for me. I can't believe a moderator suggested that it is a good idea, a net positive.. because "we're always getting people on here wanting to retrieve videos they mistakenly deleted".  That is not even remotely a reason why we should just "live" with this error in programming.

  I look at the videos, and if there's nothing worth keeping... they're gone.

  Being forced to do it manually for days worth of videos... it a huge inconvenience.

  If a guy didn't check in and empty out the contents of the "feed" of busy cameras... you could have thousands of videos.. of birds and dogs and passing vehicles...that would take hours to manually delete.

  Come on moderators... run this up the flagpole and have the programmers fix this mistake.

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DannyBearAgain
Master
Master

This is a shame if Arlo has purposely removed  this simple selection feature. Not surprised anymore.

 

Still using arlo app v3.8.6 and so not impacted as yet.

 

For those currently impacted with the latest app version, a possible workaround is to use the privacy centre content delete feature which permanently erases the whole cloud library of video, images and cached data.

 

I admit I have not tested this so not sure what it will actually perform.

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16 REPLIES 16
DannyBearAgain
Master
Master

This is a shame if Arlo has purposely removed  this simple selection feature. Not surprised anymore.

 

Still using arlo app v3.8.6 and so not impacted as yet.

 

For those currently impacted with the latest app version, a possible workaround is to use the privacy centre content delete feature which permanently erases the whole cloud library of video, images and cached data.

 

I admit I have not tested this so not sure what it will actually perform.

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@RegularJoe wrote:

  Leaving them in your "feed" for an entire 30 days to let them age out... NOT an option for me. I can't believe a moderator suggested that it is a good idea, a net positive.. because "we're always getting people on here wanting to retrieve videos they mistakenly deleted".


I didn't see either of the moderators ( @ShayneS and @JamesC ) suggest this.  Note that superusers are not moderators - just other users.

 

I agree that bulk deletions should be possible, but it is also the case that we regularly see posts from users who want to retrieve videos they've already deleted.  It would be ideal if Arlo provided a trash folder, but so far they haven't done that.

 

RegularJoe
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

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DannyBearAgain
Master
Master

I don’t believe that many users who purposely delete their library recordings want them back else why would would they delete them in the first place.

 

I don’t recall seeing many requests on the forum to recover deleted recordings even if accidentally.

 

Most requested recovery is from those that have not downloaded and saved wanted recordings and have allowed them to drop off the library.

 

The cited reason to claim it was due to customer demand is, I feel is a feeble attempt to mislead. Could it be because they don’t want you to delete the recordings for another purpose?

RegularJoe
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Feeble, that's the word I was looking for, lol!

  This whole new "experience" has me fumbling around in the dark..... I can't figure out **bleep**.

It's hard to get your point across on this forum, because they change so many things that it's like trying to take a drink from a firehose.

  For instance... this morning I wanted to take down a camera and bring it in to charge... an Essential Wireless Spotlight.

  My problem:  Where do you click... on the phone or desktop... to pause or isolate or whatever you want to call it.. this camera. I want to bring it in the house and charge it. I thought, just maybe, that I should click on "STANDBY" on the Home screen.
  Well, no... it's still "ON"...
On Edit: I finally discovered that for "standby", you must click on that logo, click on each individual camera and make a "rule" to tell it turn off motion detection... and there were other choices.... EACH INDIVIDUAL CAMERA!!! 
  Why not one button, that says "STANDBY", simply putting them on standby without being forced to go down the menu?
  Still, I don't find one simple function to turn off one single camera at a time...

  I can find no button/function anywhere to let me isolate/pause/stop/put on hold... this one camera all by itself.
  Last week, before I migrated to this new and improved disaster, I could. 

  Today, I have no idea how to do that.

  

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

@DannyBearAgain wrote:

I don’t believe that many users who purposely delete their library recordings want them back else why would would they delete them in the first place.

 

I don’t recall seeing many requests on the forum to recover deleted recordings even if accidentally.


I've been here since shortly after Arlo was introduced (Feb. 2015) and have seen enough requests for deleted videos to recommend NOT deleting since they will eventually get deleted automatically. While there certainly can be good reasons for deleting, there's also good reasons to not do so. We simply don't know how many requests have been made since not all of them may have been through these forums. If you're going to delet, be sure to download any possibly needed ones first.

 

FWIW, I believe only @TomMac and maybe @JamesC  have been around longer. I know Tom can verify such requests being made here.

RegularJoe
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Some other users' misfortune aside..... it doesn't excuse the fact that they neglected to keep a perfectly good function when they were coming up with a different version.

  The fact remains that we need to be able to mass delete bunches of videos at once.

  Videos piling up in the library/feed causes problems with a person being able to review the most recent... you can't separate the viewed from the unseen... and deleting them one at a time is monotonous and time consuming.

FIX IT!

  

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

@StephenB

It would be ideal if Arlo provided a trash folder, but so far they haven't done that.

 

Funny you mention that.... Back in the early days, Arlo did have a Trash Bin.

Anything deleted went there and you could get it back within a certain time. It did eliminate some of the issues that users have with accidentally deleted files, but the powers that be removed the option prob due to storage issues.

 

 

 

 

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RegularJoe
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Those pesky storage issues.... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.   
  Due to storage issues related to pesky users sending gobs and gobs of deleted videos to the trash folder.... they removed that folder.
  So, in a bid to carry on in that tradition, we've decided to restrict the ability of users to easily delete videos...we'll just change the name "library" to "feed", turn it into a combination library/trash bin, call it "feed" and let them pile up for an entire month....til they drop off due to age... Yeah, no storage issues there, lol.

  Less is More is their corporate mantra.

RegularJoe
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

  I am setting here, waiting on "Support Chat" to get to me.. it says I have 2 people ahead of me.

  Pfffftttt., lol.

  I'm going to try and make my language descriptive enough to get it through their heads that we need to be able to "select all" when deleting videos out the "library" or "Files".... whatever they want to call it.

  I've been second out for about 15 minutes now.

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

RegularJoe,

 

This limitation has been raised with the team. We're providing feedback like this to the devs for future consideration. Stay tuned for updates.

 

JamesC

fresnocampbells
Initiate
Initiate

a REALLY ridiculous response by Arlo, but, then, Arlo's software has always been pitiful -- I can't believe how many hours it took, with Arlo tech looking over our shoulder, to get the new software to acknowledge the various devices on our family's phones.  YES -- a giant step backward and a classic example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

fresnocampbells
Initiate
Initiate

The removal of the select all/ delete all feature does NOTHING to cure the "delete and it's gone forever" function -- it just makes it impossibly more difficult to get to the point of wanting a deleted video back.

hfsmith8020
Aspirant
Aspirant
Spoiler
Yes! Please fix so DELETE ALL comes back!!
hfsmith8020
Aspirant
Aspirant

This new ARLO software is horrible. 1) Forcing a subscription to record is not welcome. I bought into ARLO years ago because you didn't have to buy a subscription to record and save locally. 2) One can't move from one saved recording (on old cameras being used within new software) to another seamlessly like old software. 3) Deleting recordings 1 at a time is completely a waste of time. Where did the ability to "select" groups of recordings to delete go??? This new software needs a major overhaul and some better USER EXPERIENCE testing!

JoeWar
Aspirant
Aspirant

This is another classic terrible action by "Big Bro."  Not unlike Google.

 

Major inconvenience and annoyance.  WHAT were they thinking?