sporadic no Arlo smart notifications or recordings in library starting December 26 - case #41359733

[n1976jmk]

Good morning all, unfortunately I am also starting to have issues again. The issue is not happening all the time but it has started around December 26 for me.  I won't receive any smart notifications from motion triggered within our activity zones where it normally works completely fine. Example, on December 26 an Amazon delivery person walked down my driveway to put a package at my backdoor but I did not receive any smart notifications from the driveway camera when they were walking down the driveway to deliver it or when they left (I should have received two person notifications).  On a second example, last night someone came to our front door where we always receive a person smart notification from our front yard camera did not receive any smart notification or no recording in the library.

I have opened case #41359733 today, emailed Mark from L3 Arlo support who helped me a few weeks ago with beta testing the new base station and camera firmware and tweeted a direct message to the Arlo CEO Mark a well all this morning in hopes of raising awareness to resolve sooner than later.

Lastly, I believe more Arlo camera owners out there are having issues but just are not noticing it because it is sporadic for me.  So if Arlo owners are not paying 100% attention they may not notice they are not receiving all the notifications and recordings missing from the libraries.  Lastly, I believe I read someone else posted on this forum their issues started occurring on December 25 and they stopped receiving all notifications and nothing is being recorded in their library :(.

@JamesC could you please make sure your connections at Arlo are aware please.

thank you all,

[findonsa]

I also have the same issue, all 3 Ultra cameras miss many events that are recorded on the SD card. I have had these cameras for just over a month (before that I used Arlo Pro). I have an inclination that the issue started around the most recent app update which for me was on December 25. Before that while more events were recorded on the SD card than the cloud, at least there were no misses of obvious events that I knew of. Now it seems like at least 50% of obvious triggered events are missed. It's really frustrating as I'm about to go on holiday and the cameras were purchased for this peace of mind while I'm away. But now I have no confident that they will wotk reliably.

[Memsl]

Just today my camera's have stopped recording people movement. They are continuing to record vehicle movement ok but not people movement. I have 4 Arlo 4K Ultra camera's and 3 Arlo Pro 2 camera's. Both have had issues from around 12:00 PM AWST time. I have removed and re-added the camera's and restarted the Arlo base station but there has been no difference. The camera's were all working reasonably well before today. The base station is new Arlo 4K Ultra base station which I have had for around 1 month. All are running the latest firmware.

I say reasonably well because whilst they were recording well the smart notifications and activity zone settings did nothing when added or modified (it made no difference to what the camera's recorded or what they notified (this is a secondary issue for me).

The primary issue now is that the camera's are not recording motion even when I walk across the field of view of the camera in close proximity to it (within 1-2 meters). I believe this may be the fault of the latest update.

I understand Arlo are doing rapid development and probably using an agile approach to release management but it appears your product testing processes to detect significant and obvious bugs in the code are failing miserably. Please fix this quickly as this issue reduces security around my home.

Device firmware versions are:
Ultra 4K Hub: 1.15.0.4_297_aa40f04
4 x Ultra 4K Cameras: 1.070.50.2_205_0c7c8e1
3 x Arlo Pro 2 Cameras: 1.125.13.0_31717

Kindest regards,
Mark

[n1976jmk]

Hi Memsl, your issue sounds like mine and many other posts here that started on December 25.  We will only receive some of the smart notifications and there will be no recording in the library either.  We are working with Arlo support on this but never hurts if you open a case as well. 

thanks!

Jonathan

[n1976jmk]

Hi Findonsa, there was an Arlo iOS app update yesterday.  I did install and will watch to see if it helps!

[JamSam]

We will see what the update does, but after rebooting my base a few days ago my Porch camera started working again. Unfortunately my Side Yard camera now has missed events for the last ~48 hours or so. I can jump up and down in front of it but get no recording. This is reminding me of the issues we were having right out of the gate 11 months ago.

@JamesC Still waiting for a response. There is obviously something wrong and Arlo’s silence isn’t helping.

[n1976jmk]

Yes agreed, I haven’t heard from Arlo since Saturday evening.

[Mjbeuke]

@n1976jmk It’s not any better - still about 50% of recordings are not showing up on my Ultra cameras. This is after both of iPhones were updated to the new app.

I’ve also pulled batteries and reset the SmartHub on The Ultra system. No help....

The radio silence isn’t helping - and the complete lack of acknowledgement of issues is the old go to.... any updates Arlo team?

@JamesC @ArloAlex @Mark-V

[LandJS]

Yes, the silence is worrisome but not as scary as some of the Nov. stock analysis reports.  If they don't get these working as promised shortly and lose their loyal base ?????

[n1976jmk]

@Mark-V 

@JamesC 

@ArloAlex 
@mattmcrae 

@Mjbeuke 

Arlo - any update would 110% appreciated by all of us, please.

[Bigcitynl]

My system has been failing to detect motion and the notifications are very slow. In the last few days it has failed
to detect an animal, 2 people and a car. When it does see something the pop up/push notification is quick but the video clip takes several minutes to appear on the timeline.

I've got 4 Ultra cameras set if 80% and Smart Notifications turned off. All updates have been applied.

I'm really pissed that Arlo cant get its act together and make a system that works.

[JJAdV]

Since the update where you can access local storage, only a fraction of these recording are making it to the cloud.. Has this been happening all the time?? or is this just new bug to ad the others?

If I record press record this also only gets saved locally, and does not make it to the cloud.. 

FFS

Will there ever be a time when these things just work?? I feel I need half my money back..

[JJAdV]

WT?? Now of notice that some days in the past there is more recording on the cloud and these are not available locally.. 

How can I rely on on this thing? In contrast, my Ring door bell just keeps doing its thing, day in day out.. I guess at least I have that..

[El_Lobo_Malo]

since December 2019 update: Unable to receive motion activated video. No notifications. Deleted base station, added again and renamed, camera settings unable to be changed for the "if" statement. Settings stuck on "if ,motion on camera, do nothing". I cannot change the settings and it's been at least 3 weeks almost.

[TomMac]

Try increasing the sense level higher in the mode....

[Bigcitynl]

I'm also getting false positives where the camera is picking up movement when nothing g is there

[Phoney49]

I also have this problem. I have an Ultra camera and 3 Pro 3 cameras. The Ultra will randomly not save the recording to the cloud. I know because it is stored locally. Hopefully Arlo is aware and working on this. I am not calling support. I called on 2 other items and I it took hours of my time. They could save us all a lot of time if they acknowledge items they are working on.

[ArloWatcher]

I'm also experiencing these problems and it seems to be appearing in multiple discussions on the Arlo forums. I enjoy using my system to check on local wildlife, but now nothing like seeing fresh tracks in the snow but no recordings. Arlo was great before, but it seems like all my wildlife now has some kind of Klingon/Romulan cloaking device that Arlo can't detect them. Before it could detect from rabbits and squirrels to coyotes, foxes and deer and now nothing.

[SAM21]

I think it time for all of us to start calling Arlo and request a refund for these cameras that will not work as advertised. My unit is getting worse every day. If and when motion is detected the same camera/thumbnail is showing up on multi cameras. All I could say is “WOW” what the F**K.

[LandJS]

Yes that is an interesting one I just had happen for the first time yesterday, the thumbnail didn't match the camera and on one the same thumbnail was on two cameras

[gadgetfan]

I'm also having sporadic failures: notification failures, notifications that seem unwarranted, notifications that go to only one of the 2 iPhones authorized, and occasional recordings of events only on SD and not in the cloud.

I set up the system on Dec 26, and have been experimenting since. This unreliability makes the system a no-go, so I hope it is addressed by Arlo promptly, because I'd rather be able to keep this system and add to it, rather than returning it.

I have also deployed at our houses sets from Dropcam, Kuna, Blink, and a Luna PoE/NVR. These are all reliable. Sadly, so far the Arlo Ultra is not.

Continued radio silence from Arlo will be a clear indicator that the system needs to be returned. I have already wasted too much time testing and checking settings etc.

[SAM21]

My network stop working, I was unable to connect to the internet. Went upstairs to check my modem and WiFi router and noticed the smart hub was blinking orange. I unplugged the smart hub, just right after I got my internet connection back. Waiting for 30 minutes and plugged the smart hub back into the router and 10 minutes later the smart hub started orange again and all of my others devices lost internet connection. Not sure what going but this Arlo system is cause multi problems. So I unplugged the smart hub again and my connection is back. This sh**t is the most expensive piece of junk I’ve had owned. Arlo, I need my refund now.

[JJAdV]

Im wondering how long they keep these forums open for, anyone doing a quick search will see all this and buy something else. They are lucky they are a toy, if they were a serious product, they would have a class action by now.. I actually think in a lot of countries they are breaking consumer law by selling something that does nothing it professes to do.

[Mjbeuke]

We are almost through the holidays - although unprotected because literally since Christmas my Ultras have been useless. Worst timing too - 100 deliveries scheduled online these last 2 weeks.... thank God I have a video doorbell that functions - if not I would have zero footage of anything.

I’m hoping the compete radio silence ends tomorrow and not into yet another frikkin week...

@JamesC @Mark-V @ArloAlex

[Johnny290]

Same problem here missing notifications but the recordings are on my SD card not on the cloud.

[findonsa]

So I have done some quick comparison in the past two days.
1 Jan: 136 recordings on SD card, 99 on the cloud (73%)
2 Jan (so far): 90 on SD and 55 on cloud (61%)

These are from three cameras, all activity zones cleared, one directly facing the street (light traffic), sensitivity at 100, the second pointing diagonally to the driveway and also angled towards the street, sensitivity at 100, and the third facing away from the street (pointing back to the from door/porch), sensitivity at 80. Smart notifications only set to notify 'people'.

There are some important misses, like when I deliberately walked in front of the cameras. Some time notifications on all cameras, some time one or two cameras only and other times none of the cameras notified at all (and no record on the cloud). In some instances there are recordings on the cloud but registered as 'motion' when it should have been 'vehicle' or 'person'.
On all instances the footages were recorded on the SD card. So far the missed events appeared random on one or more cameras with no clear patterns of being camera or time dependent. My Internet is fast and stable as far as I can tell with 50/20 (D/U) Mbps speed.

Based on this I think the issue is not hardware related as the cameras still detect motion and properly record on the SD card. I believe this has something to do with connectivity to the servers and/or the smart analytic function/algorithm (app or firmware related?). Could it also be related to the recent change in smart subscription packages? I'm still on the free one-year Smart Premier plan, and it seems the issues started happening around the time they announced the new subscription services, which coincides with the new app around 22-25 Dec.

By the way, unlike iOS I have not seen a new update for Android yet.

On a plus side, I love the Direct Storage Access function. So much easier to access footages on the SD card! If only I could figure out how to get Port Forwarding to work. Been trying with my Asus RT-AC68U without any success. Anyone has managed to get it to work?