Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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pjama
Luminary
Luminary

Oct 2021 I posted a case where animated previews broke previews on my watch and asked if it could be turned off. I was pointed in the right direction and all was right with the world until previews were broken again. I went to turn them off again because it looked like several app upgrades might have changed the config however it was still configured as off.

 

After reading a couple of similar posts, I've rebooted one of the cameras as a test, the base station, toggled various smart notification options including animated preview and it's made no difference.

 

So, animated preview is turned off but I still get animated previews and I can't see the preview on my watch.

 

Android App version 3.6.8_2846

VMB5000r4 Firmware 1.19.0.3_1237_68a8e53

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

Hello,

 

Is anyone still experiencing this issue? 

View solution in original post

12 REPLIES 12
ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

Hi,

 

Are you still experiencing the issue?

 

Thanks 

pjama
Luminary
Luminary

Yes, I'm still having this issue.

I've killed the app and restarted it because I wasn't getting ANY notifications there for a while. I've also toggled Animated Preview to off.

Now, it's back to "normal" where the notification pushed to my android has a tiny thumbnail that is a still image and if I open that notification (in the android notifications) it has an animated image which displays about 3 frames. The same notification on my watch has the same tiny (about 4mm dia) thumbnail which is virtually indiscernible and just the text from the notification.

The watch USED to display the full image but doesn't now. I strongly suspect that's because of the animation that won't turn off even though the the Animated Preview is set to off.

Cheers

pjama
Luminary
Luminary

aaaand I'd no sooner posted the above when a new notification came through which had some different results.

The larger image DID display on my watch initially, ie within a minute of receiving it. It had a green frame around the moving item as if it were one frame of a multi frame animated image... then it disappeared.

In the mean time the animated image on my watch also changed, at one point (after staring at watch image) showing about 6 frames but about 5 minutes later showing 4.

Would I be right in suspecting the animated image is "built" over time, initially starting with a fixed, one frame image, this displaying on my watch initially?

Still, back to the crux of the matter: Turning off Animated Previews does not turn off animated previews like it used to.

secaz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I've posted about the issue elsewhere and can't seem to get any traction.

 

Turning off animated previews doesn't turn them off - I can confirm.

 

With my Android 12 phone, it's sporadic, once in a while I get a normal notification with thumbnail, but mostly get animated previews, it's really annoying.  The notifications with animated previews take longer to arrive than the ones without, and since time is of the essence...

 

Just more of the same, broken Arlo, ever and always, never 100% correct, always lacking... and since I work from home I see so many things that should trigger my cameras, like HUGE delivery vehicles whizzing by, and yet if the wind blows a few leaves on a bush, THAT will trigger the camera, but not the delivery vehicles.

 

No matter what you do to try and circumvent the animated previews, nothing works... rolling back to earlier version of Android app doesn't work, either... I've tried that with versions I've know to behave correctly and they no longer do, so it's not on client side, but server side...

 

It's maddening to pay for a service and the people you are paying just do NOT give a damn... you're just another whiny customer to Arlo...

 

I'm just going to turn off smart notifications... Arlo can't figure out the difference between a person and a cactus, or between a dog and a rock... so the smart notifications are pretty useless to me most of the time... and the animated previews are awful, and so...

ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

The Arlo development team is currently investigating this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community.

secaz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Still an issue - varied results, not consistent.  Some times get thumbnail with trigger item in green box, then shortly there after another notification with the animated preview.  Sometimes thumbnail with trigger item in green box, wait a second then it transmutes into animated preview.

 

It's really annoying, I have bad eyesight and its hard enough to discern what the trigger item is in the green box without it transmuting to animated preview and moving the trigger, when it does an animated preview, I really can't tell who or what I'm looking at...

 

And it doesn't matter what version of apk I use, results are always the same...

 

secaz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

For the curious, I removed all cameras from Arlo Smart for several days, cold started all base stations, also uninstalled and reinstalled the Arlo Android app.  

 

After several days I added some cameras back to Arlo Smart, disabled animated previews, and all still exhibit the same behavior.  Still get animated previews.

 

Nice having features thrust upon me whether I want them or not...

ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

@secaz

 

Did you happen to receive my PM regarding an Arlo app log request? requested Aug 2nd

ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

Hello,

 

Is anyone still experiencing this issue? 

pjama
Luminary
Luminary

This "works" for me now in that previews are not animated AND they can now display on my watch.

I didn't have to reset anything, just auto updated the app to the latest and it started working.

Cheers

secaz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Same old same old here - even after Android 13 update on my Galaxy S21 Ultra 5g.  I uninstalled Arlo, wiped partition cache, installed clean the recent Arlo update, still get animated previews.

 

All three base stations.  I can't follow the quick jerky motions of the animated previews, so useless to me.

 

And not to mention that Arlo Smart misidentifies most everything.  A car will drive by and it will report a person then will show a cactus in a green box before it immediately morphs into an animated preview (and I don't get the green box at all if the notification has been sitting for a while before I get to it).  A person will walk by and it will identify it as an animal and show a boulder in a green box before it morphs into an animated preview.  The UPS truck rarely gets identified as anything, and if it does its as an animal and shows a boulder as the trigger.  How can Arlo identify a javelina trotting by on the street at night as an animal and not be able to identify the UPS truck as a vehicle?  Or not identify it as a motion, period?

 

I really restricted my activity zones so I only pick up triggers (just people and animals) on my driveway, walkway and doors.  So sick of all the notifications where the trigger is misidentified, multiple notifications of exact SAME trigger, and quirky animated previews that are useless to me.

 

Long ago and far away, I used to get a SINGLE notification with a static preview and a green box drawn around the trigger.  These were USEFUL.

 

And Arlo really needs to shorten the notification subject... I have poor eyesight so have my screen zoomed in and all I see is "Animal detected on" and  it cuts off, might get part of the camera name... should have camera first and then what triggered it... Door (camera name) and Person (what was detected), so Door Person, GW Vehicle (GW being my camera name for Garage West camera), etc.  Most of my camera names are just two characters, though, in hopes of it displaying in the notification before the subject line cuts off.

 

And the notification grouping is really annoying.  When you get a million notifications, you want to see them in the ordered the were received, not group[ed by camera.  Well, I do ,anyway, so I can follow the path of the trigger, and not have ferret around in other groups for other cameras to find it... I have a lot of cameras.

 

it's a crime to be charged for a deficient service.  You can always count on that 1 minute security gap between 23:59 and 00:00... and you can always count on Arlo to work on their systems on Thursdays or Fridays in the morning, borking things.  I've always worked from my home, so I have noticed the pattern... will see cars and people and no triggers at all and wonder why not... and then ah!  It's Thursday, THAT'S why...!!!

 

Criminals are well aware of Arlo's many deficiencies and how to that advantage of them, and how to  circumvent camera triggering...

ShayneS
Arlo Moderator
Arlo Moderator

HI,

 

Are you still experiencing this issue?