Arlo Smart Notification Issues

[Pdcm]

I am subscribed to Alro Smart Premier and have set alerts to notify me only when a person is detected. . It had been working well for a few months but for the last few days I've been recieving alert notifcations due to all motion detected. Now my phone is being filled with alerts that I had filtered off. Arlo smart notications are not working properly.

[billcawley]

I didn't resubscribe, just updated IOS and it's working there.  It's still not showing in the web view on my computer.  I think they're making software changes to support the new hardware they are coming out with, hopefully they get the bugs worked out soon.

[boltentwins]

Hi, I also updated the app. Restarted the base station, deleted the app reinstalled and still no smart notification options and other subscription features. I want to upgrade to the elite plan 149 yr because I want more cameras. Those options means a lot to me. Holding off for now.

[Auntie]

I have the “Other” option on 3 of my 5 cameras. No rhyme or reason why it’s not the same on all. Bought all at the same time.

[Australien]

I’m so disappointed in the system. Yesteday i signed up from basic to Arlo Smart Premier and updated the app. Since then no notifications anymore but recording to library. It also records only movements and doesn’t say if there are cars, animals and persons in the library recorded. I went with the support to all scenarios and they couldn’t help me to get it fixed. Arlo smart is not smart and I will unsubscribe as soon as possible.

[malibuman67]

Did you get any resolution to your question?   I posted a similar issue but have not seen a response.  Soome of my cameras have the All Other Motions optio n and other of the exact same camera do not have this option.  Strange!

[Australien]

See attachment. Their response from just now. I have been in the live chat again.

[tk53]

Wow, what a mess. It seems like their support "strategy" has shifted from "unsubscribe and resubscribe" (which doesn't work) to "just keep paying us money for something that doesn't work until we get around to fixing it".

I cancelled my plan after spending 4 hours on the phone with support over the course of a couple days with no resolution. It seems like they are putting all their effort into developing cool things to show at CES rather than making the features we're paying for actually work.

[agentthumb]

I resubcribed tonight after the app update to see if it’s fixed smart notification. It did not.

People, animal detection still doesn’t work. General motion works with a preview, but comes a minute later than the free dumb notifications.

Resynced the camera just to be sure. It didn’t help.

Unsubscribed immediately and got a full refund.

I’m on iOS in Australia.

[Jtxnet]

Repeating from anothere thread I started after realizing this topic is essentially all about how for so many of us Smart Elite functionality has beeen recently crippled.  

Since Jan 3rd of 2019 my long term subscription to Smart Elite appears massively functionallly crippled. I have not changed a thing on my home network, all other smart home products from other brands are fine yet I cannot any longer take a snap shot nor video in the Arlo live view, editing modes does not work, cloud storage is lost Jan 3 thru Jan 7. I have canceled Smart Elite and resubscribed, but that did nothing.   I deleted the app, reset the iPhone, reinstalled  . . .everything is current yet the problem remains.  Perhaps most bizarre is that in the settings tab on the app it says on the subscription plan: “Arlo Smart Elite” yet all the functions are lost and even when I click on the Library tab a modal is shown encouraging me to join a plan saying: “Cloud storage keeps all your clips secure.”  I talked to support (over an hour in the hold queue) and they knew nothing. I asked if there is a backend or current app issue, but they would not say.. Seems like here we go again as the victims of terrible QA. I have logged a ticket, but given my voice dialogue with the support folks I am not optimistic. Like many of you out there I have a extensive tech expertise so when something is running fine for weeks (15 cameras/9 lights) or months then stops working properly my fists question is: “who changed what and when?” Any similar experiences out there and/or solution ideas?   My next steps plan includes attempting to contact their executives (hard to believe they would not send out a “sorry we are working on it” note to customers) since unlike prior Arlo bugs, in this case customers are paying for a premium cloud service that has been degraded . . .so there are major implications here their management should be aware of.  If executive escalation doesn’t work then sadly the only other recourse include posting very negative reviews on all the major retailers that I have purchased my Arlo equipment over the years, and moving to other products.   As an “influencer” one hopes Arlo would have the sense to not want it to get that far.   They can release all the new products they want, but today customers are “review savvy” and will not buy what doesn’t get good reviews.

[Formergr]

Do let us know if you find any contact information for their executives--perhaps we can grassroots this to finally get some action or even just acknowledgement!

[Nsapatka]

Seems like many of you are having the same issue I am... smart notifications stopped after working fine for months now I'm flooded with motion notifications. Please help

[Nsapatka]

I am having the exact same issue. Has anyone found a fix yet?

[Australien]

No the support only says it’s escalated and on a higher support level but I didn’t get a solution yet. Tick tock tick tock... time is running and I will cancel after the weekend to basic luckily I only have 3 cams if it’s not fixed...

[Nsapatka]

Well hopefully they fix it soon. It's been down for a week. I've had issues with smart notifications before. And I refuse to call customer service again. They are terrible

[Jtxnet]

Good news and bad news.

The problem appears to be PRIMARILY (at least with iOS) with app rev. 2.7.0

GOOD: I can say that since today I remembered that my backup/spare iPhone still had the prior version of the app (2.6.3) so I turned on the iPhone, did not run the app updates and sure enough I was back to NEARLY ALL of the normal expected functionality including the ability to take still or video during live view.  When I went to the library there was no silly ad to encourage me to subscribe to the cloud services.  

BAD: even in the v2.6.3 rev. the ability to modify any of the Smart Elite functions was absent.   

Additionally regardless of what app version I am on all of my cloud storage from January 3rd thru Jan 7 is gone with only one video found on Jan 8 and about half of what should be there for Jan 9.   

So based on the above it appears:

Arlo released both back end changes and an app rev that were full of quality issues and are now causing major issues to many customers.

A trivial, but telling example of how poor the QA is:   In settings in the Arlo app if you click on “About”:

for version 2.6.3 you see for released: November 23, 2018, but for version 2.7.0 you see for released:  - -/- -/ - -

Looks like even that part was missed.

BTW I did follow up with a professional note to one of their senior executives, but I have yet to receive a response.   I have also repeatedly asked for a status update on the ticket I have in with their support team, but have yet to receive a response.

I have a large investment in the Arlo system, but as we have not yet even received a “we are working on it” with some kind of estimated date for resolution I have started my research into alternatives.  

[Australien]

They people in the live chat are not terrible. They are very friendly but failing because they can’t help. I don’t ring anybody.

[Australien]

I fully agree that they have to come up with a new update. I can not believe they let us drown in the sinking ship. All customers would cancel their subscriptions. Bad luck for those who paid a year in advance but they have to credit them their money back if they can’t deliver the service we paid for!

[Jtxnet]

Agree 100% they are nice people doing their best to help, but appear to have very limited “level 1 support” restrictions.   Obviously given the long hold queues there are not many of them either.

[Nsapatka]

I hadn't even thought about the update on my end. It seems I started having these issues when I last updated my phone. (I have an android) thanks for the feedback. Hopefully they resolve this soon as I do not want to change providers.

[Jtxnet]

For other home applications I have previously implemented 2 other “camera” products/brands.  Each of those have had issues, however, those other companies have approached their issues very differently that what we are getting here in that they:

- provide their customers online system operational status dashboards that include explanations if anything is not “green”

- they announce via email and social media anytime there is an operational issue

- they are very apologetic and candid regarding operational issues or app bugs

- they move REALLY FAST to resolve their issues (typically within a day)

- their dev and testing rigors continually improve such that the incidents have become much less frequent

- they send out post support surveys

Hard to believe that Arlo has not adopted the above straight forward approaches that are now typical even in the most advanced and agile IOT consumer products.

[Jtxnet]

Regarding communicating to their executives I was unable to find a direct email (likely would have been filtered anyway as for their own protection many firms block), but I did send a respectful and detailed message via a private channel on a popular social media platform.   I provided the URL for this community thread.  Hopefully once their person reviews this thread they will realize what a major issue this is.  

[Australien]

Why don’t you use the live chat function?

[Jtxnet]

Regarding why I don’t use chat for Arlo support . . The few times I have tried it the system seemed very sluggish so I gave up and moved to calling and email.   I do have an actual ticket logged that they systematically acknowledge my updates to, but even after multiple update requests (that they acknowledge receiving) I have yet to get an update.

[agentthumb]

Got a some what promising response on their Australian and NZ page acknowledging there is an issue with smart notification. No eta tho, so take it with a grain of salt 🤷🏻‍♂️

See screenshot in attachment. I think this is the first time since November they’ve acknowledged an issue?

[agentthumb]

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