Arlo
Support

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-23

Hello, I've upgraded to the version of arlo and I regret it big time.

It's so complicated now...

Before I had geofencing and schedules setup so I had all cameras not armed when I was home and armed when i was away but then at night time say from 5pm to 7am the cameras would arm regardless of me being at home.. which seems simple right.... worked perfectly in the old app..

Now I've talked to technical support tried a few things and it's not working!!

I read the forums and seems a lot of people are having the same issue ? Is it a user issue or is it just not possible now ?

This new app is a big fail any help would be much appreciated.

alex_loo · ‎2024-11-23

if you are "techie" enough to understand this, this is my high level note of what you need to do.

Forget about the way it used work 😉
You seem to have 3 scenarios. Let's give each a label:
1. "STANDBY" - 7am thru 5pm, when you are at home, and do NOT arm any camera
2. "HOME" - 5pm thru 7am, when you arm all the cameras anyhow (home or not)
3. "AWAY" - arm all the cameras, whenever you are not at home
Under Routines >> Modes,
1. click "arm away", and under "device rules", assign all of your cameras to it. If necessary, click each camera to enable motion/audio detection
2. click "arm home", and under "device rules", assign all of your cameras to it. If necessary, click each camera to enable motion/audio detection
3. click "standby", and under "device rules", leave it blank with no cameras there
(you are now sorted with these 3 modes. at this stage you can only MANUALLY change mode, using DASHBOARD) (and that's why let's move on to add in automations and schedules to switch them automatically)
Routines >> automation > "+" >> "Add schedule".
1. Name = "5pm switch to HOME"
2. When = 5pm
3. "add action" >> change mode >> ARM HOME
4. SAVE
Add similar routine for the switch to STANDBY, at 7am
(at this stage, it should auto switch at 5pm and then 7am)
(next is adding final routines for geofencing)
Routines >> automation >> "+" >> Add arrive/leave for all leaving home address then switch to ARM AWAY
Add the 2nd, and similiar geofencing rules
1. for arriving home address then switch to STANDBY (see ** below)
Routines >> Modes >> ARM AWAY. Under "automation" section, make sure you only enable the (arrive home) routine you created in step 10 above

And I think you should be sorted.

The only thing is that ... geofencing is actually not really working 😡 Needs fixing from ARLO.

** (assuming you are returnin home before 5pm. otherwise there is no way out, you have to manually switch to ARM HOME if you are returning home after 5pm)

Hope this is simple enough. Good luck.

Alex

jguerdat · ‎2024-11-24

You may also want to read this FAQ if you haven't already:

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

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-24

this is the setup I'm running currently that I came up with this morning unsure if it will actually work..

Because what I want is the cameras to be armed at night then when I go to work in the morning work off my location...

The geofencing works flawlessly with no schedule but it's the notifications that get annoying when I'm at home the only other way I can think of getting around it setting arm home to record and not notify.. but it seems silly because if something happens at night I want it to notify me.

This is complete BS tbh why ruin a good thing.... don't really want to pay for something that doesn't fit my needs especially when it worked flawlessly before.

alex_loo · ‎2024-11-24

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

now we all have to be grumpy starting from this ARLO community .... since the pics you posted here need our busy admins to APPROVE, before they can be seen by others.

Alex

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-24

Oh true I didn't realize..

I just tested it and when I left the house it stayed on arm home.. it gave me a notification saying it's armed away but when I opened the app it said armed home active lol. This app has heaps of bugs it seems

It's like the logic is interfering with each other, and you can have both schedule and geofencing... like we used to..

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-24

I will also give this a try

alex_loo · ‎2024-11-24

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

I just tested it and when I left the house it stayed on arm home.. it gave me a notification saying it's armed away but when I opened the app it said armed home active lol. This app has heaps of bugs it seems

oh my app is always correctly showing the mode. Though sometimes it may take 2-3 seconds to refresh.

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-24

Thanks for the help and the quick replies, I will implement the setup you have suggested and maybe try a few different things to get it too work.

StephenB · ‎2024-11-25

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

Thanks for the help and the quick replies, I will implement the setup you have suggested and maybe try a few different things to get it too work.

I suggest eliminating all the enabling/disabling of the automations inside of other automations. Instead just disable the schedule automations in the Arm Away mode. One challenge is that the mode itself will automatically enable automations, and it's not clear what happens if a mode enables a notification that you also disable in the automation that changes to the mode. (It depends on the order in which the actions are processed).

Also check the available geofencing devices, and remove any duplicates. Sometimes there are duplicates created when you migrate to feed. After removing the duplicates (and tablets) you can switch to "everyone leaves" and "anyone arrives".

select the profile picture in the upper left
select privacy
select the account tab
select available geofencing devices

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-29

Okay I've managed to make it kind of work...

So I have

"Armaway" - record and notify all cameras

"Armhome" - record and notify all cameras

"standby" - no action all cameras

So I have a night time schedule which "armaway" from 8.30pm to 7.30am which records and notify.. with arm/leave disabled in the automation schedule.

Daytime schedule which "armhome" 7.30am to 8.30pm which records and notify.. with arrive/leave enabled

Then geofencing leave/arrive.

Leave - "armaway"

Arrive - "standby"

It all seems to be working except this morning is Saturday and I didn't go to work so once it was 7.30am it changed to "armhome" even though i was at home should have come off armaway to standby..

then once I went out geofencing was enabled it armed "armaway" then once I came back it arm "standby"

What a headache. So it seems the geofencing logic isn't functioning correctly as stated by you guys before..

StephenB · ‎2024-11-29

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

It all seems to be working except this morning is Saturday and I didn't go to work so once it was 7.30am it changed to "armhome" even though i was at home should have come off armaway to standby..

Can you post current screenshots of your automations?

Scheduling should work correctly, it's the geofencing arive automation that is the problem.

alex_loo · ‎2024-11-29

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:
Okay I've managed to make it kind of work...

So I have
"Armaway" - record and notify all cameras
"Armhome" - record and notify all cameras
"standby" - no action all cameras

So I have a night time schedule which "armaway" from 8.30pm to 7.30am which records and notify.. with arm/leave disabled in the automation schedule.

Daytime schedule which "armhome" 7.30am to 8.30pm which records and notify.. with arrive/leave enabled

Then geofencing leave/arrive.
Leave - "armaway"
Arrive - "standby"

It all seems to be working except this morning is Saturday and I didn't go to work so once it was 7.30am it changed to "armhome" even though i was at home should have come off armaway to standby..

then once I went out geofencing was enabled it armed "armaway" then once I came back it arm "standby"

What a headache. So it seems the geofencing logic isn't functioning correctly as stated by you guys before..

You can consider having 2 daytime schedules:

"Daytime workdays": same as your existing daytime schedule, but with "create custom schedule" setting for your work days only
"Daytime off days" similar to your existing daytime schedule, but with mode change to STANDBY instead of ARM HOME. And then create custom schedule" setting for your non-working days only

And then make sure ARM AWAY mode has both schedules enabled.

Hope this helps.

Alex

StephenB · ‎2024-11-30

@alex_loo wrote:>
And then make sure ARM AWAY mode has both schedules enabled.

Huh?

@DimensionNO5354 - if you are using ARM AWAY when you are away from home, then the ARM AWAY mode should have all the schedule automations disabled. Those automations should only be changing the mode between ARM HOME and STANDBY.

Leave and Arrive Notifications can be enabled in all modes, though if you like, you can disable Leave notifications in ARM AWAY and disable Arrive notifications in ARM HOME and STANDBY.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, there is no need to have any actions to enable/disable other automations in your automations. There might be some use cases where that functionality is useful, but not for scheduling or geofencing.

alex_loo · ‎2024-11-30

@StephenB wrote:
@alex_loo wrote:>
And then make sure ARM AWAY mode has both schedules enabled.
Huh?

@DimensionNO5354 - if you are using ARM AWAY when you are away from home, then the ARM AWAY mode should have all the schedule automations disabled. Those automations should only be changing the mode between ARM HOME and STANDBY.

good to see you are asking this question 😉

Now my question for you: given "armaway" is also there from 8.30pm to 7.30am (see your first message), what will happen to it, when it comes to 730am?

From the beginning, I guessed you should rethink you modes. But I hope my previous reply at least helpful in another aspect.

Alex

StephenB · ‎2024-11-30

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

So I have a night time schedule which "armaway" from 8.30pm to 7.30am which records and notify.. with arm/leave disabled in the automation schedule.

Daytime schedule which "armhome" 7.30am to 8.30pm which records and notify.. with arrive/leave enabled

I am very confused on this part. The cameras are recording 24x7 with this setup. There is no reason to change to "Arm Away" at 8:30 pm, and no point to geofencing since the cameras are always running the same way.

I am wondering if you meant to disarm the cameras during the day. If that is the situation, then you want to switch to Arm Home at 8:30 PM, and switch to Standby at 7:30 am.

Alternatively, maybe you meant to disable notifications but not recording in the schedule? In that situation, you need to modify standby to record but not notify. You'd still set up the schedule to switch between "Arm Home" and "Standby".

Again, if you want to use geofencing, you need to dedicate a mode for exclusive use when you are away. "Arm Away" is best, as it has the appropriate name. You never schedule a change to "Arm Away" "Leave" does that, nothing else.

Posting the screen shots of the automations is I think the most efficient way for us to help you figure out what is going on.

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-30

Yes you are correct there is an issue with the arrive geofencing, schedules work fine.

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-30

Yes this is a good idea I changed it and it suits much better for when I'm at home on the weekends. It would be interesting to see if I was away for the whole weekend though would geofencing take priority or would I be away and in "standby"

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-30

I did try this and it makes sense but it didn't seem to work how I thought it would ? So I just have all automations activated in all modes. I've been testing few different things since my original post.

StephenB · ‎2024-11-30

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

I did try this and it makes sense but it didn't seem to work how I thought it would ? So I just have all automations activated in all modes. I've been testing few different things since my original post.

If the two schedule events are enabled in Arm Away, then the schedule will remain active when you are away. There's not much value in geofencing if you set it up that way.

If you want the cameras to remain in Arm Away no matter how long you are away, then you need to disable the two schedule automations in Arm Away.

You can keep Arrive and Leave enabled in all modes.

DimensionNO5354 · ‎2024-11-30

So what I had at first was

Mode > armaway > record and notify.

Mode > armhome > no action.

Mode > Standby > no action.

Then schedule Automation 8.30pm > everyday > armaway (So when I'm at home regardless of my location "armaway" is active because I'm sleeping)

Then at 7.30am > "armhome" (what I expected is geofencing to take priority and it would change to "armaway" when I left for work...)

Then geofencing

Arrive > armhome

Leave > armaway

What was happening with this setup, it would come off "armaway" and "armhome" but then I'd leave for work and geofencing wouldn't "armaway" when I left because the schedule is taking priority.

But I need two schedules other wise it would stay in "armaway" 24/7 right ?

So I have now made this setup

Mode > armaway > record & notify. All automates enabled.

Mode > armhome > record & notify. All automation enabled

Mode > Standby > no action

All automation enabled.

Schedule

Daytime weekend > 7.30am > "standby"

Nighttime everyday - 8.30pm > "armaway"

Daytime weekdays - 7.30am > "armhome"

Geofencing

Arrive - "standby"

Leave - "armaway"

maybe I'm not making sense. but all i want is my cameras to work off geofencing

most of the time except when it gets dark at night 8.30pm to 7.30am i want them to 'armaway' regardless of my location

then when i go to work in the morning i want geofencing to take priority so it 'armsaway' when i leave and when i arrive 'standby'

StephenB · ‎2024-11-30

The changes below will result in your cameras

being armed no matter how long you are away
the cameras being disarmed when you are home on weekends
the cameras being armed when you are home on weekdays and at night

You will get notifications whenever the cameras are armed and detect motion.

I suggest just trying them for a while, and not experiment until you confirm that they act as described above.

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

So I have now made this setup

Mode > armaway > record & notify. All automates enabled.

Mode > armhome > record & notify. All automation enabled

Mode > Standby > no action All automation enabled.

Disable Daytime weekend, Nightime everyday , and Daytime weekdays in Arm Away

Otherwise, the schedule keeps running when you are away (disabling the cameras at 7:30 am on weekends)

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

Schedule

Daytime weekend > 7.30am > "standby"

Nighttime everyday - 8.30pm > "armaway"

Daytime weekdays - 7.30am > "armhome"

Change Nighttime everyday to switch to armhome.

You don't actually need Daytime Weekdays, so you should just delete that one. Just make sure Daytime Weekend is only set for Saturday and Sunday.

@DimensionNO5354 wrote:

Geofencing

Arrive - "standby"

Leave - "armaway"

Since the cameras are only in standby on weekends during the day, I would change "Arrive" to armhome. That is more likely to be the mode you'd have scheduled if you had stayed home.

djskyhawk · ‎2024-12-06

I got the away to work, but not arrive. I played around with it and got both to work, I just had to find the "right buttons to push". I noticed my Samsung Galaxy phone was using a lot of battery, then I got a warning that Arlo was using excessive battery. I had to turn off geofencing. Now, I manually hit away and arrive, if necessary. The other part of the new app that sucks is the symbols, at the bottom of the live view screen. They are now blue, instead of white. They just look like a blur.

Pats6XSB · ‎2024-12-11

Totally agree the new app is awful. I want certain cameras to be active at night when geofencing determines someone is home. The only way I can set the night cycle is through scheduling which I was told does NOT work with geofencing in the new app. This is a pretty basic set up, but seems Arlo can't figure this out. Arlo support said the scheduling does NOT work with geofencing. WTH?

ARM AWAY = Everyone leaves (geofence)

STAND BY = Specific People Arrive (geofence)

ARM HOME = Schedule Set Arm Home at 10 pm, set Standby at 7 am

I really think schedule should have a start and stop time to make this the easiest. So right now I had to delete the schedule part. Not sure if anyone figured this out.

StephenB · ‎2024-12-11

@Pats6XSB wrote:

This is a pretty basic set up, but seems Arlo can't figure this out. Arlo support said the scheduling does NOT work with geofencing. WTH?

ARM AWAY = Everyone leaves (geofence)

STAND BY = Specific People Arrive (geofence)

ARM HOME = Schedule Set Arm Home at 10 pm, set Standby at 7 am

Not sure if anyone figured this out.

The problem when combining scheduling with geofencing is that when you arrive, you have to choose one mode to switch to. So if you choose "Standby" and arrive home after 10 pm, you'd need to manually set the system to "Arm Home".

I can help with the rest of it, but I need more info. Your post above is equating modes and automations. They are not the same. Do you want all cameras armed when you are in "Arm Home" mode? Or do you want some other combination of cameras armed?

Arlo Support

Arlo App for Support

Arlo
Support

Arlo App
for Support