Geofencing DEFECT In/Out of Zone

[XJW]

I'm raising this post to track/discuss this issue with Geofencing. Arlo app is frequently failing to detect in/out of zone. Manually changing mode to disarmed and then back to Geofencing appears to fix it.

Can someone with an Ultra kit test/provide feedback as to whether they see this defect.

I have 2x LG G6 on Android 8.0.1 using Geofencing medium sized zone. Arlo and Arlo Pro cameras.

I would highly recommend Arlo add an option for detecting wifi SSID. Make the GPS location update a secondary check. This will save battery and will be more reliable. Using GPS as a secondary check will ensure that a temporary interruption to wifi will not cause issues. Just an option.

If IFTTT supported custom modes I would use a simple check for WiFi SSID to implement Geofencing. This would use very little battery and would be much more reliable. I have been using it for years for other purposes.

JamesC confirms Arlo will release more fixes for Geofencing Defects soon. I will post comments here as soon as the updates are made available.

Please comment if you see this defect. Hopefully more data will help Arlo to isolate the defect.

[davrog10]

Same issue here. Since the new base update both of my base stations don't change the mode to armed when I leave geofencing zone. This is very dangerous, not just frustrating as we - owners of your products are relying for such simple features as this one.

Before this update it was usually working, so this update was a step back.

2x VMB4000r3

[Kurto]

Same for me. Just got a new IPhone XR, Arlo app continues to show it as an enabled device but "out of zone." Genfencing engages when I leave the zone but it doesn't arm. Frustrating as hell, I've tried everything and it still does it. 

[ColoArtist]

After further testing I'm convinced, at least in my case, that the problem was the custom mode I created became somehow corrupt and stopped interacting with the geofence mode. The custom mode would still work, it just simply stopped working with geofencing.

For geofencing I had it set to the stock Armed mode when I was away and a custom mode when I was at home. The custom mode was identical to Armed only it sent no notifications.

It worked for about a month and then last week suddenly stopped working. After fiddling around with it for a few days I happened to try creating a new custom mode which was the same as my original custom mode....armed but no notifications. Geofencing immediately started working again.

As a test I set it back to use the original custom mode and sure enough, geofencing failed to recognize when I returned home.

After four days the new custom mode continues to work with geofencing.

FYI...probably doesn't matter but I left the original and haven't deleted it yet.

iPhone iOS 12.3.1. Arlo apps 2.7.9 and 2.7.10.

[dwaust]

Ditto.  Ibib.  Op Cit.  Have both ios and Android phones.  I have seen posts over the last couple of years.  Does anyone from Netgear monitor and respond to these customer forums?  

[ColoArtist]

In another thread a number of people mentioned the recent updated Arlo app, 2.7.10 fixed their problem with geofencing.

I had already updated the app to 2.7.10 on my iPhone Xs but I still had the original custom mode which had stopped working with geofencing when returning home. As a test I switched geofencing to use the old custom mode. It failed to recognize my returning home. 

So in my case it doesn't look like the updating the Arlo app to 2.7.10 would have fixed my geofencing mode. But at least it is working for me currently using the new custom mode I had created.

[agarlo]

ColoArtist, thank you for the input, but I am not able to use your solution.  You see, my home mode is the “schedule”.  I did have a custom mode within my schedule so I did delete and replace that mode with a brand new custom mode that was identical to the old one, but my geofencing still does not recognize that I have returned home even though both devices are designated as in-zone.  Since I cannot replace the standard “schedule” mode I am out of luck until Arlo releases a fix.  I am hopeful that your solution provides a fix for those who use custom modes directly as their primary mode for returning to the monitored location.

AG

[DeanRichards]

So received the Arlo iPhone app update last night and guess what......?   IT STILL DOESN'T WORK.....

Still does not disarm the camera even though I get a message stating "In-Zone"

Come on Netgear.  Pull your finger out and fix this debacle. 

[XJW]

I am trying to recall how long Geofencing has been broken. Is it 3 or 4 years ?

It has never worked effectively. The last defect I raised on corrupted home/away modes took close to a year to resolve.

Arlo have never had effective technical support for product defects.

Arlo need new leaders to better prioritise and manage support if they want to reduce brand damaging customer reviews.

[KelleyO]

I hate to say this too loud but my geofencing disarmed this morning when I came back home from being out of the zone. I'm on the .10 version as of a couple days ago, but this is the first time it has actually worked the way it's supposed to since the update. Of course, now that I say that, it will likely stop working. I should just delete this post. Nothing to see here, people, move along. These are not the droids you're looking for. 😉

[Kurto]

My geofencing worked flawlessly until I got a new phone, now it’s like trying to put a square peg in a round hole, I’ve tried everything literally a dozen times, still can’t get it to go to armed when I leave the zone. I’ve given up, manual mode will have to do.

---

@KelleyO wrote:

I hate to say this too loud but my geofencing disarmed this morning when I came back home from being out of the zone. I'm on the .10 version as of a couple days ago, but this is the first time it has actually worked the way it's supposed to since the update. Of course, now that I say that, it will likely stop working. I should just delete this post. Nothing to see here, people, move along. These are not the droids you're looking for. 😉

---

[XJW]

@DeanRichards   Note that this is no longer a Netgear Product.  Netgear offloaded Arlo some time ago.  You would have thought Netgear would have wanted to retain a "smart" product but perhaps they had observed the performance of the development team. 

I am guessing that we are observing another Agile development team that interpret Agile as a lazy minded excuse to apply no discipline, standards or quality.

If Arlo would implement IFTTT custom modes we could solve two big issues with Arlo ourselves.  We could implement a reliable Geofencing solution in under 10 minutes.  We could implement simple home screen shortcuts to activate / deactivate Arlo with a single touch rather than trawl through menus and wait endlessly for the servers to respond.

[agarlo]

Without making any changes today my geofencing changed to home mode when we entered the geofencing area.  This just started working again today and I did not make any changes for the last several days.  I checked when we left the house and the geofencing changed to our away mode and when we returned to the geofencing area the mode changed to our home mode.  Not sure if this was corrected by Arlo but it worked at least once today.

AG

[davrog10]

It appears that it started working for me as well today.

[DeanRichards]

Funny thing happened to me on the way to work this morning.........    ARLO disarmed itself.....  lets just hope it continues to work properly now.   No more App updates for me.

[VegemanNZ]

Interesting indeed. I saw these messages so i enabled geofencing and left the house today. It switched into away mode AND switched back to home mode when i got back.

The app doesnt seem to have changed so maybe it was a server side issue and I'd now working.

Lets give it s couple of days and im sure others will comment.

Perhaps we have been heard, which is a good thing.

[RSC1]

Spoke too soon. Arlo Ultras on iOS are not working. Geofencing showed my wife home before me, but it did not disarm. An alert said I was home when I got there, but it did not disarm.

[VegemanNZ]

Another day, and another success. Geofencing worked in and out....

So since the app hasn't updated, I'm guessing that the Hub/Basestation has updated. Before the success, I had numerous hours of flashing orange light on the hub, and gave up worrying. I've noticed that it's been solid blue for awhile and maybe that was where the bug fix came from.

This is my hub's versions

HW VersionVMB5000r4

Firmware1.12.2.0_33535

[pinkoos]

This is definitely not fixed for me, in fact it's worse than what it was the past week or week and a half

Now, even disarming and then putting it back on geofencing doesn't "fix" the problem like it used to

[JamesC]

Arlo’s geofencing feature is now working as expected for most customers. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this time.

For more details on how to add and manage multiple mobile devices for geofencing, please see this Arlo Knowledge Base Article.

Our team is committed to optimizing this feature for all users and their various use cases. With this in mind, Arlo will soon host a survey to collect more specific feedback around users’ environment and set up. We would appreciate your participation in this survey as the information you share will assist our team to enhance our products to best meet our customers’ demands.

Thank you,

Arlo Team

Our team is aware that some users are still experiencing issues with the geofencing capability and this feature may not be working as expected. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while our team further investigates this matter. We will provide an update on this issue by 3PM PT/June 6, 2019.

Thank you,

Arlo Team

[DeanRichards]

Well, all was going well for a couple of days.   Now my wife's iPhone X Max is not showing In-Zone or disarming the camera now.  Same problem as we have had many times before and it is back.

I give up on this Arlo product.  Too much time wasted trying to get the product to function correctly, and I especially for the price that was paid for it.  I could have purchased a cheaper full security system for the price of one ARLO camera, which would work as it says on the box.

[JamesC]

For those still experiencing issues with Geofencing after the fixes we've released, please take a look at this article for troubleshooting steps you can take to improve performance: Why isn't the Geofencing mode working?

JamesC

[Kurto]

Problem solved. I had the Arlo app on my Ipad and my Iphone, deleted it from my Ipad, now geofencing works perfectly. Apparently you can only keep it on one device, phone, to engage properly. 

[RSC1]

Doesn’t solve most, who have more than one person at home.

[Kurto]

Oh I know, but for those of us with one person in the home it's a relief. Hopefully Arlo gets it figured out. 

[RSC1]

My wife was the first home tonight. Neither of ours deactivated the alarms. Both phones were recognized as in the zone.

She now has full administrative rights and her phone was set to geofencing.