Not capturing events if not on smart notification

[kenzoc]

As of August 28th my cameras no longer capture any recordings for events which are not apart of my smart notification settings. As an example, my cameras used to always record my dogs in the backyard and properly tag them as animals without notifying me, now I have found these events are not being recorded and is impacting all my cameras as of August 28th. If I do turn on smart notifications for animals they are now again recording but of course sending me a push notification which I don't want.

I work in technology and can tell you this is a back end issue or firmware issue (before you tell me to reset or whatever garbage suggestion Arlo support has). 

The complete lack of QA on this product is insane, fix it. 

[JamesC]

After further investigation, the development team has identified the cause behind some users continuing to see missing video clips when smart notifications for specific events are toggled off. We will be releasing a cloud side fix later this week to address these concerns.

We appreciate your patience and feedback while we work to resolve these issues. I will provide another update once we have more information available to share

[JamesC]

I realize there is a lot of confusion in this thread due to the recent changes we rolled out. I apologize for all the frustration this has caused. Currently, we've rolled back the changes but we're continuing to investigate reports from users about a few unexpected behaviors they are still experiencing.

1.) Video clip deletion when smart toggles are turned off. This results in recordings not arriving in the library or feed when the smart classification toggle is turned off (for example, Vehicles are turned off, resulting in no notification or recording). This change was rolled back but some users are reporting they are still experiencing this behavior. The development team is actively investigating these reports. The intent after we rolled back the changes is for all event recording to be saved to the library/feed regardless of your Smart Alert and Smart Detection toggles (unless the motion is outside of a defined Activity Zone in which case it will be discarded as expected).

2.) When all motion or all other motion is turned on but smart notification toggles are turned off, clips for these events are arriving as expected in the library/feed but they don't have a classification label, whereas previously they would still have a vehicle label even if vehicle notifications was turned off for example.

3.) In the latest version of the Arlo app, there is confusing verbiage in the Smart Notifications toggle area that states recordings will be suppressed when the toggles are turned off. This is the change that was rolled back and this is being updated in a new version of the app that will be released soon.

The development team is working hard to revert these changes to the previous expected behaviors, I will provide more information as soon as I can.

JamesC

[JamesC]

We’re reverting the recent changes to the Smart Notifications settings to their previous state, which only suppressed push notifications.

Thank you for the feedback you’ve shared in the community. We’ll provide further details about this feature as soon as we can.

JamesC

[Rusty68]

As of 9/2 my cameras stopped saving recordings. this is around subscription renewal. Card expiration updated but still videos not saving to library. 
live view works. 
motion detection works when all notifications are on, the videos save to library. But inn-undated with notifications. What’s weird is the only push notification I get is for one specific camera. I don’t get any notifications from any other camera for any reason even though all notifications are on. 

One camera in particular I get constant notifications when they are on and videos are saved to library. If I turn them off one by one I get less notifications and once  they are all off I don’t get any but no videos are saved to library. 

I just want it to record everything and send me the notifications I want like it was for the past 3 years without any issues. What ever you changed. Change it back please. 

[Bart99122]

I just got this email from Arlo support

I apologize for this inconvenience. I could see that you are facing an issue with the recording when you disable the vehicle and other motion features on the smart notification the camera is not recorded.

You may also note that recordings start working again when you toggle on for Person/Vehicle/etc. is turned on. Please be informed that the feature has been updated. We understand your concerns and we will escalate your feedback to management for review and consideration.

Please follow the below KB article for your reference,

https://kb.arlo.com/000056585/What-are-Arlo-s-advanced-motion-alerts-and-how-do-I-set-them-up

In case you need further assistance, please feel free to reach us anytime. Use the above case number for further reference or you can visit support.arlo.com for self-help support.

[ralfyguy1]

Still not working here.

[dgoldg]

As of 9/8 8:36AM PST, not working here either. 

[Curt2698]

Update: it's working on my Ultras but not my Flood Lights. But need it on all...

Not here either. Unfortunately since I was about to expand the system anyway I may be switching. I cannot continue to have this issue where I live. People without security get burglarized frequently. Sux they did this on purpose.

[PlatinumZJ]

Still not working here either. 

[Stu1313]

Can anyone explain the stupid decisions and logic behind the stupid decisions that Arlo has made to the app starting in September of 2023?

I've just spend a very frustrating last hour on the phone and in chat with their "support".  Starting on the 3rd of September (for me) my doorbell stopped recognizing vehicles.  After spending over an hour on the phone and in chat I am told "this is by design".

Basically, I had my system setup so that I got notifications on my phone for everything EXCEPT vehicles.  However, in the library they were still labeled as vehicles - i just didn't get notifications.  Perfect, I may still want to see which cars drove by if something happened but I don't need to know 30 times a day if a car drives by my house.

Starting on the 3rd, ALL vehicles were just labeled as motion and I got an alert.  I thought this was odd as I didn't make any changes. 

After speaking with "support" I am told this is by design as they made changes to the app in early September.  According to them, if you turn off a smart notification (as I have for vehicle) it now just labels that as motion and since I have a smart notification for "all other motion" I get a notification for every vehicle that now comes by.  Their solution is to just turn off "all other motion" notifications as well which means I wont get notifications for anything other than people or animals.  Branch falls in the yard or on the car or some other "unclassified" motion - too bad - you can't get notifications.  Or, I can turn back on notifications for vehicles and they will properly be labeled but I will get a notification every time a car goes down my street.

This would be the same if you turn of people or animal smart notifications - they would now just be labeled as motions. 

This change makes ZERO sense.  No one there can explain why this change would be made.

The smart notifications instructions in the app do not list this change and still says I can turn on and off individual notifications - so while they have changed the behavior they have not changed any of the documentation.

Support says there is nothing I can do about this. They say that there is no external documentation that documents this change. Nothing.  Nada.  No information about a major change in functionality and usefulness. 

So while they have increased the price of a yearly subscription almost 300% in the last 2 years (from $36/yr to $100/yr), they are removing functionality without warning and making the system worse.

Has anyone else experience this?  Can anyone explain the logic behind this change?  I literally don't understand why this type of change would be made - there is no use in having smart notifications if you can't actually use them.

[dgoldg]

Yes, many users have said something, see this thread:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-4/Not-capturing-events-if-not-on-smart-notification/m-p/24163...

Arlo has said they are rolling back this change, but as of today some users (including me) have yet to see any difference.

[Stu1313]

JamesC - can you please provide an actual timeline if when these rollbacks will take place and be complete.  Just saying you are rolling them back doesn't actually help me as I am still experiencing this ungodly awful, unwanted and uncalled for new behavior.  Since 9am i have received 33 "motion".  That is just so far today.  Every day for the last week has been the same.  Unwanted notifications. Arlo has basically made smart notifications useless - they are not smart any more - just on or off. (make that 34 - just got another one as I type)

I need to know when I should see this change.  Is it a day, 2 days, a week?  How else am I supposed to know if the roll back worked or when I should reach out again? 

Thanks for providing an actual timeline and not just a general "a couple of days" response.  The developers rolled this out and they know exactly how long it took to propagate these changes so they should know exactly how long it will take to undo them.  It's been 2 days since your post and I haven;t seen any changes.

[Stu1313]

@dgoldgI just wanted to say thank you for point me to that thread.  I missed it when I was looking for information and I appreciate you pointing it out.

[StephenB]

---

@Stu1313 wrote:

I need to know when I should see this change.  Is it a day, 2 days, a week?  How else am I supposed to know if the roll back worked or when I should reach out again? 

---

The easiest path is to enable smart notifications, but disable people for one camera.  Then walk in front of that camera, and see if you get a recording but no notification.

[Stu1313]

@StephenB Hi Stephen B,

Thanks for the suggestions.  I should have been clearer about my concerns.

I've already done that and I continue to get notifications.  I have smart notifications off for vehicles and yet it continues to now just classify vehicles as motion and send me notices (as it has for over a week).

Previously it worked the way it should.  I had smart notifications turned off, but if I wanted to, I could go to my library and see all my recordings still labeled as vehicle and filter on them if necessary.

My point was to call out the fact that they say they have rolled back the changes but haven't provided what the timeline for doing that is, or what the support path is for those people that are not seeing any changes in the rollback.  Without knowing when I should see changes it is hard to know if I have a problem or am still waiting. 

I appreciate them rolling it back (as they should - this was a bad design and poorly implemented).  However, it should never have been rolled out in the first place.  They already have the tools to achieve their stated goals to not overwhelm people by using the built in filters.  

I certainly understand that these things can take some time and might be being done in a phased manner - but just like the initial rollout of this ill thought out and implemented change - they've provided no information.  I see many people still saying that they haven't seen any changes since they announced a rollback - I am one of them. 

If it is still ongoing then I will wait (but it shouldn't take 4-5 days).  If it is finished then it didn't work and they need to provide a support path to help get this resolved.  For me, they have left my system in a rather unusable state and I just need to get it back to where it was. 

[Stu1313]

@JamesC 
Hi JamesC,

Can you please provide an update on this rollback.  I, and many other folk, still aren't seeing any changes and it has been days since you stated you would rollback these Sonos level bad changes to our systems.

I am not seeing any changes to my system and I am being "overwhelmed" by the stupid number of alerts I am now getting on my phone.

Can you please give us a specific timeline for when we should see these changes and if we don't can you provide us the escalation path to support to get these issues resolved.

[Curt2698]

Still not working and quit working on all cams again.

[e-mathieu]

Hello, 

For information, I have exactly the same issue in Europe with iOS.

[JamesC]

Thank you all for the continued feedback. The development team is currently investigating reports from users who are still experiencing this issue. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information to share.

JamesC

[Curt2698]

@JamesC not to keep harassing you but now it seems to be working properly with my Ultras connected to my HUB but not my Floodlight cams. But that keeps going back and forth.

[Stu1313]

@JamesC 

Thanks for the update - but can you please be more specific.

When will we hear back about an update?  End of the day today, tomorrow by noon, Friday, a week from now?

Providing actual, concrete information to the community will help us better understand what is going on and what to expect.  The entire rollout of these changes was botched.  Clear and concise communication is much better than vague "promises".  

My system, like many others, is still broken.  I can't determine if it should be fixed or not unless I have clear information and communication from the company - and in this case we really aren't getting it. 

Why is it not possible for the development team to provide daily updates on what they are doing (other than "investigating" for the last 3 days since the rollback was announced), when they are expecting fixes to roll out,  and what our escalation path is if services have not returned to what we had before these unnecessary changes were made (your development team knows you have an entire filter system that would keep people from being "overwhelmed" by videos in their feed, right?).

[Jeff-SJ]

Easiest path seems to be a simple rollback of the errant feature that seemed to have started on 9/3.  If it ain't broke, please don't fix it.  🙂    It is a seemingly useless feature plan, don't you think?

[ralfyguy1]

It WAS a feature before, now it's CRIPPLED.

[Stu1313]

@JamesC 

Any update - another day has passed and my systems are still not back to working the way they were before you all made changes.

Please provide an update on what is going on - the lack of communication between Arlo and the community is frustrating.  

[JamesC]

Stu1313,

The development team has reverted the changes that were made. I've escalated the cases mentioned here on the community to the dev team to get an understanding of why some user are seeing different results. As soon as I know I will provide an update here on the community.

JamesC

[Jeff-SJ]

My case is  44251522

Support says they are calling, but nothing on my phone.  🙂

Let's just get this put back the way it was, and we can work to re-establish some trust in the product again.

[ssilence]

Mine are still not working correctly. This is very frustrating!

[Stu1313]

@JamesC 

Thanks - not exactly the response I was hoping for.  Still no timeline and more importantly no indication that anyone will actually reach out to me to talk to me about the issues that I am having and getting first hand, in real time feedback that might help resolve the issue.  Maybe if the developers or support personnel actually talked to the users that are having issues resolving the problems might go faster.

I am being bombarded by unwanted notifications.  My system, that I paid for, is broken.  Broken by Arlo so that they can save a few pennies on compute time and few more on storage space.  All at the same time continually raising the subscription rates (mine have gone from $36/yr to $100/yr in 2 yrs) with no increase in functionality. 

We should be getting regular updates from you and the developers on what is going on.  Again, just telling me that someday, sometime, someone might do something about the problem is really unacceptable.  I know how hard troubleshooting a problem like this is, but I also know that communicating what is going on and reaching out the those impacted is not difficult at all and goes a long way.

All I am asking is that Arlo fix this issue and not just ignore those of us who, through no fault of our own, are still experiencing issues.  I just want my system to function properly again.  I'd like my smart notifications to be smart, my video library to be labeled correctly, and to not get 40 or 50 notifications a day that I don't want.   You know,  the same exact way it has worked for the last 2+ years until Arlo broke it.