arlo pro 2 smart premier notification problems

[Gregg1455]

Recently signed in to Arlo pro premier...very disappointed...notifications are 5 to 30 minutes later, and what I was promised with new features,,,notifications to my phone's lock screen isn't happening...solutions please...!

[JessicaP]

Hey @Gregg1455,

Could you elaborate some of the problems you are having when subscribed as Arlo Smart Premier?

[ralfyguy1]

I don't understand why he still needs to elaborate about an ongoing problem that has been lingering for months now, and has at least a dozen threads about it in the Arlo Community. This notification problem is well known and I am quite confident EVERY moderator here is aware of it. There is no need to to pretend the problem doesn't exist or is something completely unheard of.

So to once again clarify, notifications from an Arlo Smart subscription do NOT work as advertised and do NOT deliver what paying customers are expecting. The op desciribed the issue PRECISELY and is perfectly clear to understand.

[Gregg1455]

OK...long story short...purchased an Arlo system with 5 cameras..setup was good, and cameras worked well...notifications were nearly immediate. Very pleased...so pleased that we decided to buy one more camera, since the paperwork that came with the system said that it could support up to 8 cameras. Went to sync new camera and was told that the basic plan supports up to 5 cameras, and that I would need to upgrade, which I did, to Arlo Premier. Since that upgrade, I have not received notifications on my lock screen, access for my wife was expired...resending the invite is still "pending", and notifications are any where from 5 to 30 minutes AFTER THE EVENT. We have turned off the new camera to see if that would help, but it has not.  Bottom line...am I mising something? Did I do(or not do) something that I should have? Really enjoyed the system,but is stressing me out a bit now!

Gregg1455

[ralfyguy1]

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@Gregg1455 wrote:

OK...long story short...purchased an Arlo system with 5 cameras..setup was good, and cameras worked well...notifications were nearly immediate. Very pleased...so pleased that we decided to buy one more camera, since the paperwork that came with the system said that it could support up to 8 cameras. Went to sync new camera and was told that the basic plan supports up to 5 cameras, and that I would need to upgrade, which I did, to Arlo Premier. Since that upgrade, I have not received notifications on my lock screen, access for my wife was expired...resending the invite is still "pending", and notifications are any where from 5 to 30 minutes AFTER THE EVENT. We have turned off the new camera to see if that would help, but it has not.  Bottom line...am I mising something? Did I do(or not do) something that I should have? Really enjoyed the system,but is stressing me out a bit now!

Gregg1455

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Go into Settings - Manage Arlo Smart and move the cameras out of the Smart Zone. You get your instant notifications back, but it's not what you pay for. The smart features are turned off then and it's like before you got your 6th camera.

[dhiller0217]

I had the same situation.  I bought a 6th camera (like an idiot), so I needed to upgrade to Arlo Smart at $10/month to support it.  The "rich notifications" did not show on an image on my lockscreen (just gave an option to sound the base station alarm or call E911), and even worse, the notifications were severely delayed. Severely delayed as in someone could have entered my home, cooked a meal for themselves, looked through photo albums, used the restroom, took a shower, and left with my television and pawned it, and I wouldn't have even known it until I got home and saw for myself.  Then the alert would come in and wake me up when I went to sleep that night (unless it only vibrated, which was another frequent issue).  Another thing I've mentioned in another thread, if I have modes where a camera triggers secondary cameras to record, but the camera doing the triggering has an "activity zone" (another worthless feature), the secondary cameras will record even when the activity is OUTSIDE of the primary triggering camera's zone. So I always have a bunch of pointless videos in my library from cameras that aren't even supposed to record unless another camera has zone activity, which does absolutely nothing but drain batteries and irritate me.  I can confidently say that not a single "smart" feature is working correctly.  Has anyone tested E911?  Haha!  I haven't, but you can rest assured that crap won't work either, if you ever happen to actually need it.

It's hard not to rant, but on to my point - I've disabled these "smart" features from every camera as @ralfyguy1 suggested, and it is in fact working as it used to now.  I'd rather get a prompt alert and have to take the time to open my phone and enter the app than to get an alert long after the activity took place and not even have a still image of what it was (probably a leaf blowing down the street).

I don't foresee this being resolved soon because it has been widely expressed on here from multiple users and we have had zero communication about a solution or if it's even on the enormous list of needed fixes. I really wish I didn't even purchase that 6th camera and $10/month subscription.  I am 100% done giving this POS company my money, and I will probably sell my system eventually - if I can even get a buyer after all the bad press they're receiving.  

[MNBug]

I just spoke with support and they have confirmed this is a known issue with Android with no ETA.  And I don't see how to move anything out of the "smart" zone any longer.  Can someone embelish on how to do this?

[spirosspike]

Im not receiving any notifications to my phone from my arlo pro 2 cam since this smart feature. Even if i have selected all options (people animals etc)

some of my arlo pro cam work ok but with delay notifications and if i only set to people it doesnt push notification even when i walk pass it

[Shmorgs]

Had the pro2 camera set for about a year (jan 18 I think) and has been working well. I’ve tweaked and played with the setup (camera sensitivity etc) and other then getting some cat/fox hits from the cameras it’s a good system. I paid the upgraded price as I wanted the 30 day look back etc.

At some point earlier this week it seems Smart finally launched in the uk and as I’m paying subscription noticed all cams flipped over to this.

I’m on iOS and can see the same problems - even with everything (people animals etc) selected you can sometimes walk past the cam and nothing picks up. The camera at the front of the house perhaps as it’s a clean elevated position is better - but basically I’m gonna disable everything today. Clearly hugely flawed in its current state.

[JoeTAZ]

I guess I'm happy that I'm not alone.  I signed up for Arlo Smart Premier when I was offered a 30 day free trial a few months ago. It worked great until a few weeks ago. Like others, I started getting multiple notifications, no notifications, the "smart" feature wasn't very smart and notified me on any motion, sometimes I was told it was a human, most of the time it didn't have a clue, there was a significant lag time between the event and the notification (if I got one), and on and on.  I chatted with support twice and was told 1. it's a problem with Android, 2. it's a problem with my phone, 3. I had to reset my phone to the factory defaults, 4. they weren't aware of the problem, and 4. they are aware of the problem and engineering is working on it.  I got bumped up to level 2 and got pretty much the same message from them as the online support people.

I finally gave up. I was paying $10/month for something that just totally frustrated me.  I'll try again in a few months and see if they got their act together.  I went from being an Arlo superfan to wishing I would have gone with a competitor.

[rivajean]

Exactly. It seemed to work great at first. Loved it. Now I am getting notifications for a “person” detected when it is a vehicle. Out of the 15 “person” notifications just until 2:00 pm today only 3 have actually been people. I finally turned off the notifications. Quite a pricey system that does not work. 🤬

[jguerdat]

Or donate the videos to help improve the software. My notifications are about 95% and those that don't match I can usually excuse due to distance or lack of clear identification.

[rivajean]

Thanks. I appreciate your response. I have donated all of them. The thing I don’t get is that it worked fine at first. And it has identified huge garbage trucks and UPS trucks as a person.