Activity zones are useless

[Nibor_D]

For roughly a month now, my system has been sending push notifications for general motion alerts, despite this being ticked off on all cameras on my system in the smart alert section. The motion detection has also been extremely inaccurate, and things that seem to be quite obviously easily detectable as an animal, vehicle, or person are flagging as general motion and pushing notifications that do not have animated previews. This is related to my previous post, and though removing all devices from my account and re-adding them seemed to help for a brief while, the problem continues to persist. Cameras are a combination of two Arlo pro 2 and 2 Arlo pro 3

[ShayneS]

Hi @Nibor_D

Which version of the Arlo app do you have installed on your phone as well as OS version? 

[Nibor_D]

App version on this phone is 3.5.13_28425, this phones OS is android 11. However, I have granted access to two others with different phones and the system sends misc. motion alerts to them from cameras with said smart alert type disabled as well. As an side, cameras set to " do nothing" when detecting motion will also send misc. motion alerts when said you're is disabled

[jguerdat]

There's a difference between Do Nothing and disarmed. Do Nothing simply won't record while disarmed, whether by using the Disarmed mode or by the lack of a rule in the active mode leaves the camera available but no detection is possible.

[Nibor_D]

Yeah, it was just do nothing, not completely disabled. I was just throwing out more information on the off chance that might help debug the issue. I honestly don't think it's a software issue with the app, seems almost like it would maybe be a firmware issue with the hub giving that it is ignoring the off toggle for push notifications on general motion

[jguerdat]

Have you rebooted the hub and cameras? Redoing the Smart notification toggles may also help. 

[Nibor_D]

Unfortunately yes, I have tried that. I've tried rebooting the hub from the app as well as hard rebooting it, and have even gone so far as to manually remove each individual device (Two Pro 2, Two Pro 3, Hub, Light bridge and two security lights) from my devices one by one and re-adding them one at a time. Had to re-toggle the smart alert toggles after adding them (though I tried bore as well) and so far, none of it has helped. This one really has me at wits end

[jguerdat]

Got nuttin' here. @JamesC , @ShayneS ?

[ShayneS]

Which cameras is this issue occurring with? can you send me a pm with your cam's Serial number(s)?

Thanks 

[Nibor_D]

All four cameras have been guilty. I've sent the S/N for all four as well as the Smart Hub they link to for good measure

[ShayneS]

Thank you for the details, I will provide an update as soon as possible.

[TerribleCams]

As the title states, activity zones are useless. I've tried everything. Even a small box on a step. If a car goes by, I get a notification on my phone. My phone goes off about 10 to 15 times while I'm at work. Being on a not so busy street, I can guarantee I'm getting every vehicle that passes. Only thing that worked was to remove the camera and resync. That works anywhere from about 6 hours, to a day and a half. Then the condition deteriorates to notify of every single car that passes.

Don't give me that about repositioning the camera. If someone parks across the street and walks on to my property, it should start recording when they enter the activity zone. At this point it'll also be recording their car across the street. If I face it so the camera doesn't see the street. Well then I wouldn't have a description of their car. Activity zones DO NOT WORK. I'm fairly tech savvy, I've been reading these forums and fighting with this camera for weeks. It fails every time and I get motion notifications all day and night. How is this not fixed yet? I could set up a GoPro in the window and have a better experience. At least it'd be working as advertised

[TerribleCams]

Ok here's an update.
I've created a custom mode, it's EXACTLY like the preloaded "Armed" mode. A mirrored "Armed" mode. I've had 3 cars go by with zero notification outside of the activity Zone.

Is it possible the preloaded "Armed" mode doesn't accept changes/won't acknowledge alterations to the camera's settings? I don't know.

So far this works ....but so didn't removing and re-syncing the camera ....for a few hours-a day.

Let's see if this sticks. My hopes aren't very high and I've been closing in on lighting these stupid things on fire.

[TerribleCams]

NEVER MIND!!!
4th car to drive by, other side of the road, far outside the activity zone, triggered a recording AND a notification for motion. Then two more with no notification. It's not reflections, or shadows etc I'm not even that close to the street and I even pulled the activity zone back, it doesn't matter if it's a square 40 feet from the road and I can only guess it'll break down and get worse until it's notifying me of every car like when I removed and resynced and I will update this post as it likely does.

I'm not stupid, I'm pretty damn good with all sorts of tech. Though I don't claim to be an Arlo camera expert, one shouldn't have to be as it should have a user friendly interface. Which it does, problem is, it doesn't effing work.
I tried all the settings, disabling notifications for motion in "smart" notifications. Etc etc etc only to still get notifications on my phone for motion... Still does the same crap. I tried turning the motion detection sensitivity down a few more points only to have a friend drop something off in front of my garage completely under the radar with no notification and no recording of the event. These cameras may be ok if you have a 500 ft driveway and zero traffic within view but that's not the case with everyone. I live on a road with very minimal traffic on weekdays. I feel bad for those on a busy road. Their cameras are probably dead in 4 hours from incessant recording for no reason.

I'm telling everyone I know to stay the *bleep* away from these cameras. Looking back through posts, this has been an issue for YEARS and through several models. Obviously they don't care.

If they did, they'd have a fix for it other than pointing the camera at a wall.

[TerribleCams]

Aaaaand while it seemed to be better for a little bit recording motion and pushing a notification to my phone for about 1 out of 4 cars that go by, it's now EVERY vehicle just a half day later. It completely broke down. AND every notification is for "Motion" which is turned OFF. Not "person", not "vehicle", not "animal"... MOTION... WHY? I have motion notifications turned off. Oh look, as I type another motion notification for a car going by outside of my activity Zone. These things f***** suck.

Why tf would I pay for a subscription for "smart notifications" and "Activity Zones" when they're quite literally, fake settings?!? They DO NOT WORK!!

[TerribleCams]

I should be able to turn sensitivity to 100 and moving objects outside of the activity zone should not trigger and push a motion notification to my phone. Especially when "all other motion" is turned off. Why would I want to be notified every time a neighbor drives by the house? The cameras are there so I know when someone is at the house that shouldn't be. Who is writing the programming? It's this some sort of joke?

Does nobody have a fix for this? Are these guys serious? I see a ton of complaints about this issue. Do these guys not care? Eventually this will catch up to them financially as folks research before they buy.

My girlfriend got me these cameras for Christmas, I feel bad and I'm trying really hard not to be aggravated with them around her. Had I bought cameras myself, it wouldn't have been these because I research thoroughly before I make a purchase. Especially with things like this.

[yeebee29]

Hello, I have smart notifications turned on to detect animals and people, but simple leaves moving, or plants swaying is triggering notifications.

[ShayneS]

Hello, 

Are we still experiencing this issue with your Smart Alerts?

Thanks

[Nibor_D]

To be honest, I hadn't been paying mindful attention to the alerts because they'd been going off like crazy for so long. After getting this message, I went back and checked the recordings for the day, and for the last few days. Looks like the motion type recognition has sharpened up considerably since about the 17'th, and I found something that could reliably reproduce general motion alerts (Car coming straight down my drive way on the camera pointed that direction). Tested it this morning and the video flagged as general motion, but did NOT push the notification through! Thank you very much for your help!

[ShayneS]

Thank you for the update.

[Generic123]

Finally someone else that is having nothing but issues I have had the worst customer service and my camera has not been working since January and they are refusing to help me refusing to give me a discount off of a doorbell when my camera was way more expensive I offered to give them back everything I have asked him about has been denied every time I ask a customer service representative to talk to the manager they refused to let me talk to the manager and refused to contact them for me absolutely unprofessional crap company!

[ShayneS]

@Generic123

May I ask what the issue is that you are experiencing? 

[Syl20_qc_ca]

Bonjour, my smart notifications are no longer efficient since 2 or 3 months. Notifications sended: - on activities outside the smart zones - even if the notifications are desactivated on the specific camera. That cause so many unwanted notificatiins and recordings that the service remain inefficient and no longer reliable. Please help.

[StephenB]

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@Syl20_qc_ca wrote:
Bonjour, my smart notifications are no longer efficient since 2 or 3 months. Notifications sended: - on activities outside the smart zones - even if the notifications are desactivated on the specific camera. That cause so many unwanted notificatiins and recordings that the service remain inefficient and no longer reliable. Please help.

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Have you tried restarting the base?  Also, try restarting the camera(s) by removing/reinserting their batteries.

If that doesn't help, try removing the activity zones, and then re-creating them.

[Doodle2322]

I have the same problem what is the solution