Dec 2nd firmware update

[Dbensette]

Is anybody having problems with the most recent ultra base station firmware?

I noticed my cameras which were connected to the ultra base station didn’t have any recording and kept going offline for some reason. I narrowed it down to only happening since the dec 2nd firmware update, and after some testing I realized that the base station will go online but goes offline as soon as any camera is triggered to record.

This is completely the opposite I would like a security camera to work. Why would I want a camera to go offline as soon as it’s triggered. Then no recording is saved afterwards?

I have been having geofence issues which I have relied on for over a year since iOS 13 and I am told it is being worked on and should be fixed in the next app update. Now, they have another “update” which is another step backwards.

Anybody else having this issue with the ultra? My arlo pro base is still working as expected, minus the geofence issue...

[surfer1000]

If it was just a camera issue my door bell would reconnect to base station and it doesn't. My door bell is sat on my bookcase at present I try 10 times every day to connect it but the app never finds it yet it acts like its connected ie looks like its synced and makes the typical sound when pressed

[JamesC]

The issues being reported here have been escalated to the development team and are currently being investigated. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.

JamesC

[Dbensette]

Thanks James. I appreciate arlo notifying it’s customers that there is an issue and it is being worked on.

Thanks!

[tbath]

Update on my Ultra issues - After the firmware update, I saw constant issues with recordings not occurring, motion detection being broken, continuous recordings for no reason, no spotlight during night recordings, etc.  I can report that after removing the hub from my account and factory resetting it followed by adding each camera back to the hub I have been able to get past almost all of the issues while using the new firmware.  It took about an hour for the smart notifications to start working again for some reason.  I also ran into an issue when trying to set activity zones where the camera was zoomed in for some reason.  I had to remove the camera from the hub and add it one more time to correct that issue.  Overall things seem to be working pretty well once again but it required setting absolutely everything up from scratch again.

[surfer1000]

It's been over a week now James, how long before we have any idea of if/when were going to see our systems fixed? 

[surfer1000]

Seem to have all my issues fixed now.......removed the smart hub from account, press reset on smart hub with paperclip for a few seconds, leave to reboot solid blue light, re add hub, re add cameras etc! Pain in the ass I know but it's working!

[surfer1000]

No, spoke too soon, smart hub gone offline again, now no sync on door bell again

[Hemanta]

No its not fixed. Yesterday no motion record from one of my camera and today lots of motion record and lots of notifications from out of zone.

[MFAMG]

Same thing happening to me since the firmware update. Every time one of my Ultras detects motion and triggers a recording it causes the SmartHub to go offline/reboot. As others have said, I can live stream with no problems and I also tried a hard reset and setting up from start again. This worked for less than 12 hours before the same thing started happening again. I'm getting very frustrated with this camera system, £900 for the 3 camera system here in the UK and its absolutely useless at the moment.

Arlo, please get your act together and sort this out ASAP.

[Bigcitynl]

My case has now been escalated to the Arlo engineering team. Great - the same idiots who did the update are now going to try to fix it.

[surfer1000]

Let us know how you get on!

[enigmaphoenix]

If you haven't tweeted at Arlo CEO Matthew McRae yet, please do.

We aren't getting any traction through normal support channels.

[JamesC]

The development team is prioritizing the issues being discussed here. When I have more information, I will update this thread as soon as possible.

JamesC

[surfer1000]

I'm really disgusted in this James, my whole system has been screwed up for 8 days now, why cant they just roll back to the previous good firmware? If its because the new video doorbell won't work at all with it then that's still a better option than our properties being unprotected all this time.

[RB321]

Isn't this ironic....I got a note from support to update my case, when I push the reply button...i got this!!!

[n1976jmk]

What’s JamesC wrote here basically means that Arlo now believes us and is starting to fix it....

I have so many smart devices in my house, smart thermostat, smart door lock, smart light bulbs, smart leak sensors.

And my first smart device was four years ago, the Ecobee.

But in my four years of owning smart devices, these 2 Arlo ultra cameras since April have given me thee most hassle! Nothing else was SO hard to get working and of years of firmware and app updates nothing has broken likes these Arlo cameras in 7 months from bad app software updates and firmware pushes. Arlo is the only one.

Pretty great hardware when it works but so much maintenance and headache.

[aw092000]

James, in Australia I paid over $1000 for your system....super unimpressed by the lack of urgency to fix this. Until it’s fixed give us the option of going back to the old camera firmware. Then take the time to do proper software regression testing before you push out future updates. Customers rely upon this as a serious security product so put some rigorous product development and customer support processes in place. unless Arlo steps up and solves issues quickly you’ll be done in the security market and relegated to the hobby section of the stores. Really regretting my purchase so far...

[srandall25]

I'm having this exact same problem as well... All my last successful recordings ended December 2nd.. the very day that firmware was pushed. I spent hours on the phone with Arlo support until we determined it was a potential faulty Base Station, so they authorized a replacement. I received the new base station today and the exact same problem exists.. The base station keeps going offline... I log in to here and see this thread of everyone else complaining about the exact same thing. It amazes me that Arlo hasn't already rolled back the firmware to the previous. I don't understand why that can't be done. At the very least, allow the customer to roll back to the previous firmware. It also really disappoints me that I had to pay $16 in shipping for a replacement of an item under warranty that apparently was never even the problem.

[53Crusher]

You bring up an important point. Generally, everything else I own gives me a choice to upgrade firmware or not. I typically wait and see if there are any negative effects reported by early updaters. With Arlo, we have no choice. You go to bed with your system working, they automatically push out a firmware update and everything is broken in the morning. It's never been this severe, but many times over the last year, one thing gets fixed and other features stop working. A prior update broke the functionality of my audio doorbell and Chime. Waited a long time until the 12/2 update. Audio doorbell and Chime generally work now but everything else is broken. I just received a very rare notification of activity in my driveway. It was from my wife driving into the garage 45 minutes before.

[n1976jmk]

Srandall25

I’m an owner of a 2 camera 4K system with the audio door bell and chime since May 2019

What I’ve realized with Arlo Support is all they do is a follow a book of exactly what to do. And they will never go off script.

There ‘book’ doesn’t account for firmware updates, app updates, etc.

I even told them that everyone on the forum is experiencing the same issues but they tell you ‘ok’ but in actuality that really means ‘that’s not in my ‘book’’.

The support team is ran out a basement warehouse in India somewhere.....

[srandall25]

You are correct. This is exactly what happened to me. Arlo support made me think that it was a problem with my Internet Service Provider. They even told me that my small 6Mbps upload compared to my 47Mbps download was the problem. I had to do a lot of convincing that this was not the problem and that most ISPs provide very little upload compared to download. I've spent many many hours on this between Arlo Support and my ISP support. I thought for sure it was the base station.. Now that I'm convinced it's not since the replacement base station is doing the same thing, and this all started since the firmware update on December 2nd (that I only just now became aware of), I'm a little upset that I unnecessarily spent all these hours and money on shipping for something that was Arlo's problem with the firmware update and no option to roll back... 

[srandall25]

Also, Arlo if you're listening, there is another issue with this firmware that causes the video to be 'zoomed in' when trying to create a zone in Activity Settings. You can't see the enter video screen, it's cropped. This happened on my previous base station and now the new base station under this same firmware... and is also the case with two different cameras.

[53Crusher]

srandall25

If you look at Arlo advertised specifications, they say the Arlo Ultra system requires a minimum of 3Mbps upload. Your ISP rate is twice that.

My ISP provides my house with 5Mbps upload and 50Mbps downstream. Up until 12/2 those speeds worked perfectly with my system. They should read their own specs before sending you down that rabbit hole.

[RB321]

My Ultra Cameras also do this now, there was also a camera update that was rolled out very close to the recent base station update.

If I do a live view I can see all of the FOV, if I go to settings/my devices/and select the video settings of an ultra camera, I can only see more or less half the left hand side of the full field, and cannot zoom and reset zoom a these options are greyed out. I tried removing the camera and repairing that and the base station to my account, it fixed it for a short period of time (less than an hour or two, not exactly sure of the timing) and then reverted back to the same issue, so the new camera firmware rollout is crap too!

[n1976jmk]

It seems everything started operating normal for me again as of yesterday morning about 7am EST including the iOS badge app number notifications returning and as of this morning I view CVR from my Arlo iOS app where as since the Base firmware update I was only able to see my CVR on a PC at my.arlo.com.

Even though JamesC hasn’t said anything yet and it’s working over 24 hours for me at least. Not that I’m surprised since support is ran out of an India warehouse basement.