Results of the Arlo Ultra Firmware Updates 12/18/2019 & 12/19/2019

[Whops]

I tried to reply to JamesC post in "Arlo ultra motion detection"  But looks like maybe they have closed that thread at least I did not have a reply icon to reply to that post.    Here are my observations since that update.

Arlo Ultra VMC5040 - 1.050.2_205_0c7c8e1 - 19th December 2019

Arlo SmartHub VMB5000 - 1.15.0.4_297_aa40f04 - 18th December 2019

Appeared like all was fixed,   was able to set activity zone,  and only gave alerts and recorded video that was in the activity zone.   That is until today Christmas Day!   Christmas Eve,  came home from a party at my Son's house.  And the camera worked fine,  alerted me as I pulled in the driveway,  recorded video of us pulling in,  and walking up to the front door,  where Ring Door Bell picked us up.    About 3:30 am a motion controlled security light came on in my back yard.   I got up,  took a look out did not see anything,  checked cameras nothing recorded.   Went back to bed.  (Probably a Racoon) This morning Christmas Day.   I got up went out back to feed the cat,  (Camera did not alert me or record video, usually does)   Then when I went out to the front of my house to get the newspaper and feed the squirrels, (Camera did not alert me or record video,  usually does)   Last alert and recording was 1:38 am when we came home.

I have twice recycled the smart base (pulled the power cord out,  waited 15 sec.  then powered back up) Still the cameras do not send any alerts or recordings.   Live view works great,  Signals are great to cameras,  video bandwidth is strong.   But nothing happens,  no motion detection?  or is Arlo servers having issues?   So hear we go again just when I was thinking that finally the Arlo was stepping up the Arlo Ultra was working as promised.  Then Christmas Day  System is Dead.  

So I am posting hear once again  to see if it is only me,  or did they do something again to take down the system.   Please let me know.

[ACORNS]

I installed my first arlo 1 camera system for my elderly parents yesterday. Late last night, similarly to you, I noticed all notifications had stopped abruptly and the live feed was now showing a prompt to upgrade firmware (required update) and no live camera footage was accessible. *update is showing as 1.3.319* no recordings since last night. On PC and Android app, the firmware will not successfully update the camera. On PC I receive a notification that the camera rejected the update. The app doesnt show an error message but reloads to the update firmware screen over and over. I've restarted the base and checked settings but nothing works. It did randomly kick on this afternoon sending a notification and recording but that is the only sign of life this system has had today...the first 24 hours with this system and it's a wreck. Do you think I should delete and reinstall my camera again to see if that forces the firmware update?

[ACORNS]

Also, the time zone is changing from Central Time to Central America

[Rickp703]

Whops - Your not alone (again).... Yesterday it showed my base was connected, but the mobile app showed that "My Smart hub is not connected to the internet".... I had no ability to view live video.

This AM it is back up but SUPER SLOW in connecting & showing video (like 30 seconds)....  They didn't really every fix our last fiasco (nor did they address our complaints)...  Man o Man, this company is really messing things up !

[JamSam]

I am having a similar problem on my front camera. Motion sensitivity is set to 100, last recording was December 23rd at 5:46pst - OVER 2 DAYS AGO... My Ring doorbell shows several events. I am able to manually connect to the camera just fine and it shows full signal strength. This is getting really old.

[Mjbeuke]

Oh my God this doesn’t end.... same on my Ultras - no notifications and I’ve had like 2 recordings on 20 events at least. Both Ultras are doing this - front and back doors....

Pro 2’s and the vmb4000 base seem to be recording but I’m getting a lot of shortened clips...

Here we go again - but since it just happened in the last two days and the firmware updates were several days ago I’m wondering if the issues aren’t on Arlo’s back end systems somewhere and not our hardware. It seemed to work fine a few days following the update.

Can we get some eyes on this?

@JamesC

@ArloAlex

[JamSam]

Just FYI my front camera started recording motion again after I manually connected using the app.

[T4Viral]

I have the same issues.  Cameras do not record with motion.  I have mine linked to motion lights, and they come on, bu the camera does nothing.  Been going on for a long time, and support has not been much help.

[pjama]

I have a *similar* problem but not quite the same in that my system isn't dead (if I'm reading you right)... yet 😕

A few months back I posted about missing videos in the portal/cloud

which was never resolved as such, it just eventually went away by itself.

Well now it has returned, coincidentally on Christmas day, like yours, but some days after the ultra base and camera update release so that may or may not have anything to do with the new problems.

On the 25th I noticed a missed detection for the first time in ages when I drove into my carport, no video was recorded on the cloud and no notification. The same camera recorded me driving out of my carport 15 minutes earlier so, detection, recording, notification and cloud recording were all working. I also noticed a few other missing detections that should have notified and recorded to the cloud as well. I was just beginning to have confidence in my ultras again....

I support your theory that there might be issues with the arlo servers or at least the internet path to them. The above mentioned missing videos on the cloud are in fact recorded to an SDCard in my ultra base. This would indicate that detection, wireless and recording are all fine.

Interstingly up until the 25th there were same or less videos on the SDCard then the cloud but on the 25th, through to now, mid morning 27th, there's detections that have obviously happened, recorded to the SDCard but not resulted in notifications or videos on the cloud. Here's the breakdown:

Date    SDcard Cloud
Dec20 70   71
Dec21 133   135
Dec22 113   115
Dec23 96  100 - 2 vids on cloud at 1:48pm (only one on SDCard), 15:23 on cloud
Dec24 69   69 - exact match vid for vid (based on time)
Dec25 32   27
Dec26 63   59
Dec27 27   21 -only to 9:24am. 2 on SDCard at 1:10am, you get the picture

I *really* don't want to call support again. I invested a LOT of time providing information last time in these forums and emails to support that they didn't  even seem to read, acknowledge or use. For each of several interactions, I spent at least an hour providing the same basic stuff. I wasn't permitted to talk to second level support and I got no feedback. My case was closed because I apparently didn't reply but that's not correct. It got to the point where the problem was gone but I have no idea why and was not advised of any details. It wasn't anything to do with any changes or reconfiguration I made on my ultra system.

[Whops]

I called Arlo Support today,  (Joseph Customer Care Advocate Arlo Technologies, Inc.) But as you all know already,  your call goes to call center in Philippines no matter the telephone number you call.  Joseph is the one that responded to my compliant I made on BBB 12/15/2015.   He had promised to call me back with info on what the fix would be and when it would be available.  Of course he did not.  He did respond through the BBB on 12/25/2019  to let me know that they had sent out new firmware,  and did that solve the problems.    So I called him this morning to tell him of the new issues that have cropped up following the firmware update.  (Funny how the update worked for less then two weeks,  and problems started back up)  I think they have made another tweak somewhere that again has screwed us up.  Anyway today is his day of rest the female that answered told me.   She also told me my case had been escalated to engineering,  and they were waiting for their response.  She told me all that and I had not even told her why I was calling.   So I asked her what had been escalated as I had not told her the problem yet,  She said my case where I had complained to BBB.   To make a long story short she said she would have Joseph call me when he returned.  So waiting for a call that will never happen.  In the meantime,  BBB has Joseph response he made on 12/25/2019  under review so I can respond back to him through BBB until they are done reviewing the case.   Probably be next week or after New Years depending on their Holiday Schedule,  So the wait continues,  and in the meantime Arlo Customers Suffer.   This has been the worst support ever from a company,  and very frustrating to customers expecting something to work when you purchase it,  or at least have competent support teams.   By the way,  why is Arlo so expensive?   Support is in Philippines,  Hardware seems good,  Software quality sucks Big time.   While I am waiting for their off shore support team to get back to me.  (I am in the USA, I expect that I would have someone from the USA to give me support)  I will be checking with my local security store and see what camera systems they would recommend.   I know they have some that even are compatible with my Alarm system.   Which by the way has always worked very well with no issues.

[Whops]

Ok today has been really bad with alerts and video recorded to the cloud.   I did a little more checking and find that cameras are detecting motion and recording video,  not to the cloud,  but to local storage on SD card.  Also no alerts to my phone.   Not good when relying on cameras for security when you are away from home.  (Local storage viewing is more difficult when away from home)  easier over local lan.

Further checking.   I see that the app upgraded on Dec. 26, 2019.  so after only about 5 days of the system working they do another update and screw it all up again.  

Updated December 26, 2019:  Whats new:  
What's New Resolves a crash affecting some users.
New features:
Assistant PIN: Arm & disarm Arlo via verbal commands, starting w/ Alexa. Set up in the Arlo app (Settings>Profile>Assistant PIN) & in the Alexa app; requires VMB3000/VMB3500/VMB4000/VMB4500/VMB4540/VMB5000
Direct Storage Access: Advanced users can access recordings saved locally to their SmartHub from within the Arlo app. (Enable in SmartHub Settings>Storage Settings; router configuration required for remote access. VMB4540/VMB5000 required)   Some how we have to figure out how to have better support,  I know the update to access local storage was promised before the end of the year.   However,  if it breaks everything they needed to do more testing before updating,  or perhaps it is something else they changed.   I just know these tweaks they do are breaking the systems and causing a HELL of a lot of frustrations among users.   Check the reviews on Google play for the app.  More Bad then good.

Access to storage from the app will be rolled out after another update (team still targeting before end of year as promised). Implemented in a super-secure architecture where no data/video hits the cloud (everything stays local). This was a big request - stay tuned for more info

[n1976jmk]

Hi @Whops.

I just opened a case this morning for the same issues with not receiving smart notifications that have been known to normally work fine for me and for the recordings also missing from my library.

[arlouser121119]

To me it was working fine before the update, now Look Back function is broken on my AC powered cameras and one of them randomly stopped detecting any motion.

[Whops]

Just an update on what has been happening in my case,  seems the only way I was able to achieve any results from customer support was through the BBB Compliant.    On Sat.  Dec 28, 2019 I received a phone call from Joseph Fuellas, Customer Care Advocate, Arlo Technologies, Inc.  He put me on hold,  and then transferred me to Jesse ,level 2 support. (Of course these guys are in the Philippines)   Of course he did the usual thing,  wanted me to remove the Ultra Base Station from the app. Then install the Ultra Base Station again and add the cameras again.  I have already done that so many times,  I told him that does not solve the problem.   So after asking me many questions, and then putting me on hold for 5 minutes while he discussed with the engineers,  he came back asked more questions,  and then on hold again while he conferred with the engineers again. (Seems it would be easier for both the engineers and myself if they just let me talk to them, instead of 2nd hand info) Then he came back on the line,  Said they were going to replace my Ultra Base Station.  I should receive it on Friday,  depending on time of day I receive it,  As to whether I will install it Friday or Saturday and see what happens.   Personally,  I still think the issue is with the app update done on Dec. 25, 2019  as everything was working great after the firmware updates to the base station and camera.  Until the app update.   But one thing I have learned in the months of dealing with Arlo,  is it is never their fault.  I must have done something to cause the problem.  You would think by now,  they would have learned their lesson and would test software updates before releasing them and messing up everyone's systems.  So far in the 4 months I have had Arlo cameras installed,  they have never been reliable.  If I was going to purchase a camera system I would not recommend doing business with Arlo. 

[JamesC]

Tickets have been opened and escalated to the engineering team detailing the issues being reported here. Thank you for all of the information that has been provided so far, the development team is currently reviewing this data to root cause the issue. I will provide an update once we have more to share.

JamesC

[Whops]

I received an email today wanting me to let them know if any of the solutions presented here on the community had solved the issues.   No,  none that I am aware of.   

On Dec. 28, 2019  I received a private message from Mark-V 

"

Thank you for your post regarding the issues you and others are reporting regarding the Activity Zones issue on your Ultra cameras. I have taken the additional steps of gathering the logs from your SmartHub from our end to send to our engineers for further investigation. I have tried to replicate the same issues on my setup, and haven't been able to so far. I did have a few questions for you at this time from our engineering team to see how we can help resolve the issues:

- Have you experienced any issues with the Livestream feature not working, or other odd behavior issues other than the Activity Zone issue starting on 25-Dec-2019?

- Are you receiving any motion notifications at this time from either camera?

Also, could I have you try deleting Activity Zones on one of the cameras, and seeing if motion is then detected? While I don't intend this to be a permanent fix, I want to see if the issue is related to Activity Zones specifically.

If you have any questions, please feel free to message me back.

Thank you,

-MarkV"

I responded back to MarkV on 12/28/2019  and again on 12/31/2019 .  But I have never heard from MarkV again,   did not reply to either of my two messages to him.   So it is as usual with Arlo,  they keep saying this has been escalated to the engineers,  and they are aware of the issues and working on a fix for them,  but really they never keep us in the loop,  so we get more irate and more frustrated, which they could avoid.   I have talked with Jessie a Level 2 Tech support,  He just went the usual route,  uninstall everything and then install it again.   I refused as I had done all of this many times,  and so then his response was we are sending you a new smart base.   While I am sure the current problems I am having are related to the app upgrade since it started when the app upgraded.  By the way if anyone knows how I can keep the app from updating automatically let me know.  Everything was working great after the firmware updates, until the app update.  Dec 25.   Anyway tomorrow I am suppose to receive the new smart base and will see what happens.    In my case while it appears the camera is missing motion, it is not,  what is happening is almost all recordings are on the SD card,  but alerts and cloud recordings are missing, and sometimes their will be a cloud recording that is not on the SD card.  Activity Zone is working for cloud recordings,  but recordings on the SD card include motion that has occurred outside of the activity zone.   I will report back as to whether a new smart base makes any difference.   For all the users of Arlo security cameras,  that has contributed to the trouble shooting should get some compensations.   In all fairness to the customers,  they should just issue everyone RMA's  and refund the money they have spent on cameras that do not perform as stated in all their literature. 

[SAM21]

I too received the same message. I had responded back to Mark, but have not heard anything back from him. I agree some type of refund should be given. If they believe that the problems is the smart hub, than everyone with problems should receive a smart hub to see if that would resolve the issues.

[T4Viral]

I feel that features that are not working, and since I have had my system have NEVER worked, should not be advertised as a feature of the product.  I purchased my cameras 4 months ago, and the main features I liked about Arlo, IE liking motion lights with cameras, and well..recording video with motion, have NEVER worked since I purchased my system.  FALSE ADVERTISING in my mind. I wish I could return my system and just hunt for something else.

Also why is the CRV only for cameras that are plugged into an outlet and not solar?!?!  Other companies offer CRV with solar charging.  Ugg I just want to get ride of the system and get something else at this point.  Tired of calling customer service, twice now, or chatting with them, and now here in the community.  It is always a "software error currently being worked on" or it is my fault.  Worst experience with a company in a LONG time!

[Damasker]

Returned my Arlo Pro2 since it appears that the Arlo Ultra was better. Just got it yesterday. I had to recharge the battery since they were at only 30 per cent while my Arlo Pro2 all batteries were 100%. Hopefully noting wrong with the batteries on the arlo 

However, I am posting since i am really late in getting the notification on my smartphone.. base is within 15 feet from the cameras same has my arlo pro2 placement and configuration with the base . Signal is strong. 

it takes a good 45 secs to get the notification or video which kinda sucks with this new camera that i thought would be more performant

Ottawa Ontario

[Whops]

My response to Jesse, Level 2 Tech at Arlo  on 1/6/2020 after I installed new Base Unit.

Jesse,
I received the replacement base station on Friday 1/3/2020. I installed it the same day. I have not noticed any improvement from the old Base, However, I have been making more observations and will note those below. I still believe that most of the issues are software related from the App & Firmware Updates.

1: Time & Date Stamp is missing from the videos when playing them. Before update each video had    camera name, time & date in left hand corner. Now only camera name. Which makes it more difficult when trying to locate certain activity issues.

2) I would assume that what records on the SD card & the Cloud would be the same. But watching carefully on 1/5/2020 SD card recorded 135 video, while the cloud only recorded 39 videos. It appears that when it records to SD card it does not record to cloud, the same when it records to cloud does not record to the SD card.

3: Activity Zones appear to work most of the time on recordings to the cloud, but most of the time recordings to the SD card the activity zone is ignored.

4) Option to access the the SD card from the app does not work a lot of the time. I have to close the app and open it again to get it to access the SD card.

5) Audible alerts when sensing motion do not always work, sometimes you will get the alert but no audible alert.

My understanding is that the video recordings should be the same on both SD card and Cloud. When I thought the camera was missing motion it would appear the camera was working but was recording the video on just the SD card not in the cloud so I was not seeing it. As I was not removing the SD card to check the video but now that I can access it through the app. I see the camera is recording all motion just sometimes on SD card or sometimes in Cloud.
So back to my assumptions the issues are software related not Hardware related .

Hope the above comments will help you in trouble shooting the problems and that a fix will be made soon. 4 Months and have not had any reliable security system since investing over $1,000 dollars in Arlo Ultra

Jim

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

Backend changes have been released to address an issue some users were experiencing the resulted in missing notifications and library recordings. We believe these fixes have addressed the issue, if you're still experiencing this behavior, please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC