Recent Issue With Recording and Notifications

[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]

The development team has completed a cloud release resolving the issues some users experienced with suppressed recordings from Smart Detection settings.

With this release, all recordings should be visible in the library/feed regardless of the selections made with Smart Detection toggles unless the event takes place outside of a user defined Activity Zone.

[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

[fenton11]

I have Pro3s with hub VMB4540 and still not getting any recordings where the smart notifications are turned off. 

[juderr]

I recently started having issues with our Arlo Cameras (4 cameras + doorbell). We have always had Smart Notifications set to People only. We would receive notifications for people and it would also record vehicles/animals/movement with no notification. I want this... Starting last week sometime... We started only receiving notifications for People only. Will not record anything else. If I change the Smart Notification and switch on Animal (for example)... It will record animals + send a notification. I don't want to get notifications all day for this. I would however like to have these recorded. I'm not sure if I am missing a new setting. Any help would be appreciated.

[Darsay28]

I am glad you shared this as I am having the same issue and was getting frustrated. I saw the Arlo CM saying they are reverting back to the previous settings, but it's still not on my app at this time. Hopefully it happens soon.

[DSallee]

There are many users experiencing this same issue.  Arlo said that there was a change to the smart notifications and that there were so many complaints that they are reverting to the previous behavior.  What they did not mention was the time frame for this.

For the life of me I have never seen a company take away functionality.  If some users don't want certain events recorded then there should be an option added that event to record it or not.

Let's hope that Arlo changes it back sooner than later.  

In my opinion this is a security camera and ALL events should be recorded.  To rely on some AI application to identify an event or some developer deciding to make a change that stops a recording is a security issue.

[DSallee]

There are many users experiencing this same issue.  Arlo said that there was a change to the smart notifications and that there were so many complaints that they are reverting to the previous behavior.  What they did not mention was the time frame for this.

For the life of me I have never seen a company take away functionality.  If some users don't want certain events recorded then there should be an option added to that event to record it or not.

Let's hope that Arlo changes it back sooner than later.  

In my opinion this is a security camera and ALL events should be recorded.  To rely on some AI application to identify an event or some developer deciding to make a change that stops a recording is a security issue.

[Curt2698]

So the changes have taken effect on my Hub that runs the Ultras. I am seeing my animals when those smart notifications are turned off. It has not changed for my 2 Floodlight cameras. My guess is there was a Firmware update right about the time this problem started. It probably needs to be debugged as well. 

[StephenB]

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@Curt2698 wrote:

 My guess is there was a Firmware update right about the time this problem started. 

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The AI processing is all in the cloud, so this particular change only needs to be reversed in the cloud.

[benmettler]

Glad to hear the change being rolled back to original functionality. Still not seeing recorded videos for non smart notification events.

[kayg]

You're ignoring the fact of what everyone is saying in these threads. They do not want push notifications for every vehicle or animal that passes by, but they still want it to show in their feed.

This is a liability issue, because what if a car is in their front yard for several minutes/hours checking out their house? But we don't get a recording because they have disabled smart notifications. Please listen to your customers and bring back the previous function. 

If customers don't want to see events in their feed, then they have the option to filter what they want to see and not see, but to have a customer get a push notification for every vehicle and animal because they want that recording makes no sense at all. 

[kayg]

I've read several discussions in here where members are experiencing the same issues. As of 9/2/2024, my cameras no longer record events such as People, Animals, and Vehicles unless I have smart notifications turned on. I have called support several times with no help or understanding of why this update has happened. How come I am no longer seeing these events? 

This is a liability issue, because what if a car is in their front yard for several minutes/hours checking out their house? But we don't get a recording because they have disabled smart notifications. Please listen to your customers and bring back the previous function. 

Suppose customers don't want to see events in their feed. In that case, they have the option to filter what they want to see and not see, but to have a customer get a push notification for every vehicle and animal because they want that recording make no sense at all. @JamesC 

[StephenB]

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@kayg wrote:

You're ignoring the fact of what everyone is saying in these threads.

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Arlo isn't ignoring it, and decided to reverse the change.

The only issue left is that several people haven't seen the reversal in their system yet.  Arlo hasn't said what that is about.

[Lisa12345]

I am having a similar problem that started recently. I have all 3 cameras set to not send notification for vehicles but now the cameras a detecting "Vehicles" as "Motion" and sending notifications of motion when a vehicle drives by.

Any help would be appreciated.

[StephenB]

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@Lisa12345 wrote:

I am having a similar problem that started recently. I have all 3 cameras set to not send notification for vehicles but now the cameras a detecting "Vehicles" as "Motion" and sending notifications of motion when a vehicle drives by.

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Does turning off "all other motion" make any difference?

[Lisa12345]

Since September 9/24 at 5pm my cameras have been detecting 'vehicles' as 'motion'. I have always had the 'Vehicle' notification off but now it is detecting all vehicles as motion and sending notifications constantly.

I need a resolution.

[dgoldg]

This is an issue lots of folks have been having and Arlo is working on it:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-4/Not-capturing-events-if-not-on-smart-notification/td-p/2416...

Please reach out to Arlo Support and let them know you're having this issue as well. 

[angelahortega]

I thought mine was working, but it is not. I have to turn on this smart notifications to see everything. Will this be fixed?

[Mb1234]

It’s been almost a week and this is still an occurring issue for me. When do you anticipate an actual fix to go through? 

[DudeMac17]

Go ahead and start planning for a different setup. I bet they’re just gonna troll us till we move on. We’re a very small minority of their users who even possess the skill set to troubleshoot, let alone seek out this message board. No offense JamesC, i appreciate your efforts and don’t blame you. But with as downhill as the app has gone since whatever this trash new version that got forced on us is, I don’t have high hopes for much, if any improvement. I hope I’m wrong. Nothing works right in it even before this whole debacle. 

[kenzoc]

I've started getting more general events recorded without smart notification on.. but they're all just showing as motion not animal etc and not across all cameras. 

Like others I just want it working like it used to and as all your competitors offer by default as well. 

[JaySchwarz]

All of a sudden, my feeds isn’t picking up People or Vehicles. It just shows Packages and Animals. Since I use cloud storage, this is a big problem. 

[Curt2698]

@kenzoc same. It works on my cameras connected to my Hub but still not my Floodlight cams which makes no sense.

[Bugger]

In case it may be helpful to Arlo / others, here is my current situation: 

- Getting recordings for all Motion, even when notifications are disable for general motion

- However, Animal and Vehicle identification doesn't seem to be working (just People and Motion)

- iOS app version 5.0 (8269); cameras include Arlo Pro 4, Essential Indoor and Video Doorbell
fyi @JamesC 

[Poem]

Hello, my wired video doorbell was working fine for many months but recently it stopped detecting people and animals. The subscription is still active and it still detects packages. All clips are either marked as motion or package. I already tried turning various smart features on and off but no joy. Funny thing is that the notification sometimes has a green box around the person. It must be a bug that was added because I didn't change a thing. Please fix it. 

[KcRachael]

Before this update I had my app set to ‘do not send notifications about vehicles to my device’ but they would still show up in my feed. But now they don’t show up in my feed? I’m confused because one thing says in smart detection ‘

By selecting what detections you want to see, Arlo Secure will intelligently give you a more personal and purposeful home security experience. Your Arlo camera will continue to record videos to your feed, but you will only receive push notifications and clips based on your selection’ but in smart detection it now says also says  ‘

Disabled detections will not notifiy you, or record event clips in your feed’ 

I really want vehicle detection on and showing in my feed but I don’t want the notifications popping up on my phone about every car going past my house? Does anyone have any insight? 

[jguerdat]

Vehicle Smart notifications can't be tuned to only certain ones - if a vehicle is determined, regardless of where it was, you get the notification. You can reposition the camera to eliminate the street from the camera view, reduce motion sensitivity (which may or may not work well) or use activity zones to help screen out unneeded areas. Repositioning is your best bet,