Android phones (Samsung/Pixel) get drained by Arlo within hours since yesterday

[arcticchiller]

Hi everyone

I post here in this forum, because Arlo has no support e-mail address.

Since yesterday, my wife's Samsung Galaxy S22 and my Google Pixel 8a get drained by the Arlo app within hours. The phones showed up to 75% battery use by Arlo yesterday and got hot, even when we didn't use the phones much during the day. Arlo just completely drains the batteries. We never had this issue before since getting the cameras in December 2024.

We have four Ultra 2 cameras and a chime connected to the Ultra Smarthub VMB-5000.

Are other people having this issue as well? Is Arlo working on a bug fix?

Thanks!

[jguerdat]

Not here. Android app 6.5.2, Pixel 9, Android 16 (up to date).

[Dlearious]

No change here I am afraid, last battery drain event for me was Saturday (again was on 4G/5G which is generally when the issue occurs).

Still doesn't occur on WiFi for me.

[BrookeN]

Thank you for the update. I will pass this onto to the team, I will update you again soon. 

[Maboh]

This started happening to me as well a few weeks/months ago. Arlo app drains the phone battery in a few hours. Can go from 95 to 5% during the night. I'm at the point of uninstalling the app and throwing away the cameras.

Google Pixel 7, everything up to.

[jguerdat]

That's a rather extreme waste of money. Just install a CPU monitor )I happen to use CPU/GPU Meter & Notification) and use the monitor on the notification bar after using the Arlo app. Mine sticks at ~50% so I can then force stop the app and restart it. Just make that process a habit until the fix is truly in. I'll be shouting loudly here if/when it gets fixed...

[Vertigo110]

I am having the exact same issue on a Google Pixel 9 Fold. The battery is draining very quickly and the system is saying it is the Arlo Secure App. It has been happening now for just over a month. Is there a fix coming for this issue?

[a_obrad]

Same issue on my Samsung S25 Ultra and on my wife's S24 ultra, android 16, geofencing on.

Today I was only on Wifi, and just opened once the app, without watching live feeds or records. 

 

 

[BrookeN]

@a_obrad I sent you a dm can you please respond to that at your earliest convenience. 

[Scout152]

I've been having this issue for awhile. Arlo support is horrendous. I reported this months ago and their response was to buy a new phone because it was my phone's battery causing the problem, even after providing all the similar screenshots of battery usage and drain. I have since upgraded my phone and low and behold, same issues with no intention of Arlo actually fixing the issue. 

This is besides the fact that geofencing works half the time, the schedules set to arm/disarm at specific times randomly just do whatever they want. I'm almost convinced Arlo tech support is headquartered in a 2nd grade classroom.

[BrookeN]

I apologize that you were told to buy a new phone, that is not a solution. The development team is investigating the battery drain behavior, I do not have any further updates as of yet. 

For what you are seeing regarding geofencing, can you please explain a little more of what you are seeing. 

[Scout152]

I have geofencing setup to arm when I leave and enter standby when I arrive home. Additionally, I have a schedule set to arm home at 8pm and enter standby at 6am. It will either not set mode to arm home at 8pm or randomly go to standby mode in the middle of the night.

[BrookeN]

Can you please send pictures of the set up of your schedule? 

[Scout152]

 

 

[jguerdat]

Your screenshots show Night to change at 6:30 PM rather than 8 which is what you stated - is that correct? DOes geofencing work properly for you (Leave and Arrive)? How many phones are used to determine location for GF?

[Scout152]

It is set at 6:30pm for night. Geofencing does not always work properly. Sometimes it doesn't disarm when I arrive or arm when I leave. I am only using one device for geofencing.

[jguerdat]

Are you using iOS or Android? I'm on Android and GF works (almost) 100% for me and my wife. Some have noted that iOS has had issues for quite some time.

Have you deleted your schedules and geofencing setups and recreated them to see if that helps?

[Scout152]

Android, Pixel 9 Pro. I've deleted them multiple times, cleared cache, deleted and reinstalled app. Always the same issue. Just last night the schedule for arm home never turned on. 

[jguerdat]

But did you delete and recreate your Automations? You might want to delete them and only create the schedules to get them working before adding GF.

[Scout152]

Yes, of course I did. I've done it multiple times. I'm obviously not the only one with this battery drain issue. 

[jguerdat]

I also have the drain problem. However, I've posted a workaround (see post 30 on this thread) for that issue until a fix is deployed.

As for Automations, you've deleted and recreated them with no help but, as I suggested just above here, did you try creating JUST the schedule to prove it works? You could do the same thing with GF instead, according to what's most important to you.

[BrookeN]

@Scout152 can you provide the following: On the android phone->Settings->Arlo Secure->Battery and check if it's set to Optimised?

[Scout152]

Are you saying within the Arlo app, select Devices, select a camera, select settings gear icon and then select Power Management and make that Optimized? Because Android itself does not have an option within the Settings menu to change battery settings like that. 

[jguerdat]

No, this is for the phone settings for the app. @BrookeN did miss the Apps part of her request and I find on Android 16 that it's Settings>Apps>Arlo Secure>App Battery Usage and verify that Allow Background Usage is enabled.

[Scout152]

Yes, that is set to Optimized. 

[BrookeN]

@Scout152 sorry I was out yesterday. I did forget the apps part my apologies. Thank you for letting me know.