Orphaned Geofencing Devices

[jeremyayates]

How can I remove orphaned geofencing devices of an invited friend?  My friend has changed devices a few times since being invited to my Arlo account and as a result I have several old devices which they no longer have access to which show in the my list of enabled geofencing devices.  Unfortunately all are named the same, so therefore I do not know which is the correct current device to use for geofencing modes.  This seems like a fairly basic capability that should exist, but researching the forums doesn't seem to indicate so.

[DannyBearAgain]

No easy method, you can try removing the granted access account then reinvite again.

if no joy then have the granted user delete their arlo account and app from their devices. Then do the grant invite again.

[jeremyayates]

@DannyBearAgain thanks.  I had seen this suggested before, but was hoping for a less intrusive method.  I supposed I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.  Will follow-up accordingly.

[jeremyayates]

@DannyBearAgain unfortunately neither of these suggestions worked.  When the guest logs out, is uninvited, removes the app, is reinvited, reinstalls the app, and logs back in, all the previous old geofencing devices automatically show back up again.

[DannyBearAgain]

Did the granted user delete their account?

Go to the settings page in the app and select privacy centre, select account then delete.

[jeremyayates]

@DannyBearAgain they had not previously completely deleted, so I did so as suggested.  This has now made life worse.  Upon reinviting the guest, they get the automated email with the link to create a new account.  Once that is accomplished and verified, etc. they are able to login, but see nothing (i.e. none of the shared account/cameras/etc.) in their account.  It is effectively as if they have opened a brand new account which is waiting for them to add some cameras and a support plan, but they see nothing from my account whatsoever.

The status of the shared guest access in my account shows as accepted with numerous (all) devices shared with them, but at this point they cannot even access my cameras/account let alone anything geofencing related.

[DannyBearAgain · Accepted solution]

It seems like arlo has moved the goal posts again.

I recall reading recently that arlo is now forcing the new app experience with the mobile app update.

Firstly check if your mobile app style is the same as the granted user app style.

The original style has the library page and the new style has a feed page.

Granted access is now only allowed if the app styles are the same.

This would likely mean your app will require updating to match the recently updated app style.

Caution: Once you update to the new style app you cannot go back as the new style works very differently needing a complete rebuild of camera rules and suffers a lack of custom modes.

Apart from the bugs being released with it, you have lost features e.g. being able to delete multiple selected recordings, you can only do deleting singularity because they don’t want you to delete your recordings accidentally.

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

Although arlo’s aim is to force the new app style going forward, would advise to hold with the original style until they have fixed their bugs at least.

Regards the geofencing , this is managed under your geofencing mode not the granted user account for the old style app version.

[DannyBearAgain]

See link to similar thread where an arlo moderator sets out the update process to the new style app.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Secure/Grant-access-completely-broken/m-p/1895933#M2302 

[jeremyayates]

@DannyBearAgain thanks.  In the interim of receiving your response I had contacted support via chat and they eventually got me to the updated app experience.  Like you, I would have opted to wait out any potential bugs, etc. but unfortunately my guest (wife) not having access to our cameras was not an option (she uses to keep an eye on kids and set her mind at ease), so I had to go through with the update.

As you also noted, I had to discover and rebuild much of the previously configured functionality as they are not one in the same.  Overall it was relatively painless and I expect to be able to make minor necessary adjustments over the next few days as needed.

I'm also hopeful (although not optimistically so) that a different issue I have with my Arlo Baby's night lights randomly changing colors could possibly be resolved with this.

End of the day, all other things aside, this did resolve my original geofencing issue.  Hopefully it didn't introduce even worse consequences, but we shall see...  Thanks for the help, appreciated.