Ultra stops working & geofencing doesn’t work

[Julmo]

Our Arlo ultra randomly stops recording. I only realise when someone has been (eg courier delivery). I check the app and am often asked to log in (I haven’t asked to log out) which I do, I then find it hasn’t been working for a week.

Our trial subscription ended a month ago and I am loathed to pay for it as this has been happening so often (at least once a month when I notice).

I have geofencing set up and also this doesn’t work when I add my husbands phone - location service on his phone are set to always.

This is super frustrating and the thousand odd dollars spent on the three cameras feel wasted as if I’m not checking constantly I’m not confident the cameras are operating.

[ShayneS]

Hi @Julmo

  May I ask which troubleshooting steps you have performed so far, regarding the lack of recordings? I don't want to suggest any prior methods you have previously performed.

[Julmo]

For the cameras stopping - I’m not really sure where to start with that one. They just start working again when I check / re login to the app.

With geofencing I have tried removing my husbands phone, putting it back on, updating his app, checking location services for Arlo is set to always on.
I’m on an iPhone 12, his is a Huawei p30.

[Jsijnja]

I have the same issue, but it has only started recently. I notice that a whole day has gone by without any alerts from 1 of my 3 Ultra cameras even though me and my family are walking in front of it at the entrance to the house. Once I go in the iPhone app and stream that camera live, to see if there’s an issue with that, then it appears all is ok and the alerts will start as normal again from there. But there are no recordings, neither in the cloud or the sd card for the period when I have not received alerts!! How can I have confidence the system is working?!!

It is yet another issue with this poor system. If I hadn’t spent so much in purchasing it I would have ditched it a long time ago.

[ShayneS]

Hi @Jsijnja

Please try & reboot your camera by removing > Inserting the battery. If you like you can also try to remove the camera from Settings > My Devices > Re-Add it.

[Julmo]

Thanks, it’s all three cameras, the whole thing just stops working. I have tried this but will try again.

[Jsijnja]

Hi @ShayneS,

Thanks, I will try that. I worry though that this will happen one time when I’m away from home and relying on the system to be reliable and not need manual intervention. Is there a way I can disable firmware updates for periods when I’m away so I can have confidence a firmware update won’t cause these kind of issues?

Thanks,
Jacob

[Julmo]

I’ll add, I am currently at home, have been home for three hours, just looked at my phone and I had a whole heap of notifications about movement. Opened the app to figure out what was going on it logged me in and then said geofencing was now on......
(Note that I only have the IPhone on for location services as it just didn’t work when my husbands phone was also on there).

[ShayneS]

Does this issue still occur with the latest v3.2 of the Arlo app?

[Julmo]

Yes. We went away so it was on permanently, but last week we have been working from home some days, have had to switch it off completely as it was not doing geofencing when hubby home. Have just tried it again.
Went to husbands phone this morning and activated geofencing and his phone.
Have left home.
Am now getting pinged constantly as he is moving round the house.
It’s it so bloody annoying. So now I’ll have to turn it off for the day and hope that I remember to turn it back on when we all go out.
Would be better if it just worked properly.

[ShayneS]

Is the latest version of iOS 14.4.2 installed on the phones?

[Julmo]

His isnt Apple,
Mine definitely has the latest.
I’m pretty sure his has the latest software.
Yesterday I removed him from the access rights.
Then set up two step verification (which I don’t think he had - every time I logged in it came up saying to enable it even though I had it - so I wonder if it was doing that because he didn’t).
Re-added him.
Then when we were both out I turned on geofencing.
Now we just have to wait until tomorrow when he is home and I am out.

[Julmo]

Update:
Asked husband and he says his phone has latest software.
I have left home while he is there and I am again getting constant notifications as he moves round the house.
Yesterday’s attempt to fix didn’t work.

[Julmo]

Update: husband has gone out.
Expecting my mother to arrive any minute.
Checked cameras on my pic.
It says base station is offline.
Log back in to the app and says armed.

[Julmo]

Logged in online again - still says base station is offline and can’t view anything.
Log back in using the app and all cameras working fine.
This is such a cr**py system.

[ShayneS]

Please contact the Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. Arlo Tech Support

[Julmo]

Can’t as we are now over the free trail so there is no option to engage with anyone.And I refuse to pay a monthly fee for a system that doesn’t work properly.
I didn’t contact support sooner as I hadn’t thought about getting some help until we got the reminder about the trial ending - which prompted me to do something about it - but now I can’t without paying.
Should have done something sooner but life got in the way.

[StephenB]

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@Julmo wrote:
 but now I can’t without paying.

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I believe you can still engage with support w/o being charged.