Silent Mode Issues: I want a notification but no phone call, chime sound, no "leave a voicemail"

[Nicknacker]

I just installed the Arlo doorbell and am frustrated that I can't get the right features to work from the app.  All that I want is to have the chime work and the app to notify me that it detected motion (or the doorbell was pressed) without getting a phone call.  I also don't want a message asking a person to leave me a message.

After reading many other threads here, I've gotten close but still am short from what I'm seeking.  Using silent mode, I can prevent the doorbell from calling me and the chime works.  This is good.  However, I get a message that asks someone to leave me a message.  I don't want that.  I turned the voicemail feature off in the app, but it still does it.  My workaround for this was to turn the speaker volume to 0 so people can't hear the "leave a message".  This stinks because then I can't use it to communicate through the doorbell now but I rarely do this, so I guess okay.

Now, the problem is, I don't get any notification at all.  Again, I don't want a phone call, but would like a notification on my phone.  Being a long-time Arlo customer, I'm very unhappy with the lack of customization with this doorbell.  If I can't get this figured out soon, this thing is getting returned.

[Nicknacker]

Just a quick follow-up... to be clearer, all that I'm looking to do is to turn off the phone call and for everything else to work as normal.  Why is that so difficult?

[StephenB]

Just to clarify - There is no option to get a notification+recording when someone presses the doorbell.  All you get it is the normal motion detection notification.  FWIW, I think it should be possible to get a recording+notification when the doorbell is pressed (even if the motion detection is disabled).

Disabling "leave a message" should of course work, so that sounds like a bug.  @JamesC - is that on the developer's bug list?

[Nicknacker]

I appreciate the response, Stephen, but am confused by your reply.  My main request is simply being able to turn off calling my cell phone (without impacting other features).  I don't want phone calls - just notifications. That really should be easy enough to do and is something that many other users have reported wanting as well (for quite some time).

[StephenB]

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@Nicknacker wrote:

I appreciate the response, Stephen, but am confused by your reply.  My main request is simply being able to turn off calling my cell phone (without impacting other features). 

You indicated that you wanted notifications when the doorbell was pressed.  I replied in part to say that such notifications aren't available now (but that I think they should be).  You can get a call when the doorbell is pressed, but that is not the same as a notification.

The rest of your post essentially reported a bug - that disabling calls in silent mode also enabled voicemail (even though "leave a message" was explicitly disabled).  I tagged @JamesC , to make sure Arlo was aware of that problem (and hopefully get some status from him). 

[Nicknacker]

Thanks for the clarification, Stephen.  I was under the impression that since the doorbell does in fact provide a notification when it senses motion (during silent mode), it would also do the same when someone pushes the button.  I'm not sure why this is not the case and Arlo forces you to have a phone call (which I don't want). 

[JamesC]

I'll pass this feedback along to the development team. At this time, there is no notification of a doorbell press beyond receiving the call as StephenB mentioned earlier.

JamesC

[StephenB]

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@JamesC wrote:

I'll pass this feedback along to the development team. At this time, there is no notification of a doorbell press beyond receiving the call as StephenB mentioned earlier.

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Maybe also include a request to allow users to specify which device(s) they wanted to be called.  There seems to be an assumption that all accounts with access to the camera should be called when the doorbell is pressed.