Combine Schedule and Arrive/Leave Automations

[R1BennettX]

I need help programming automations. The new Arlo app automations isn't intuitive and the help topics don't help for real-world use cases that combine schedule and arrive/leave.

Context: I've used the three OotB modes: Arm Away, Arm Home, and Standby. My outside cameras are always active (including Standby mode). Therefore, Standby mode is used for when any phone is at home during the day. At night, when anyone is home, I use Arm Home mode to start recordings for both outside and inside cameras. Arm Away is used when everyone is outside the geofence regardless of day or night. In this mode, there are additional alerts for any inside activity.

Partial Solution: The following automations work together fine and as expected.

Schedule: I've set up schedule automations to define the times of day and night and switch modes accordingly. The Night at Home automation changes the mode to Arm Home and the Day at Home automation changes mode to Standby. Night at Home automation is enabled when in Standby mode only; Day at Home is enabled when in Arm Home mode only. This should mean that when Arm Away mode is active, the schedule changes should be ignored. 

Leave: When all phones leave the geofence, my Leave automation changes the mode to Arm Away. The Leave automation is enabled when in Standby or Arm Home mode, so it can Arm Away regardless of when we leave - day or night.

Problem: I'm not sure how to program the arrive use case. I have set up an Arrive automation for each person that may arrive home. That way any one person arriving should trigger the mode change. They are enabled only when in Arm Away mode, which should be obvious why. The issue I have is that I need an AND condition, or an IF...THEN logic, to distinguish whether it is day or night during the arrival and change the mode appropriately to Standby in the daytime and Arm Home in the night. I don't see a way to accomplish.

Any help welcome.

[jguerdat]

That isn't currently available. Geofencing and schedules can't be combined like they used to when using the old user interface that uses Library to view recordings. You can only change modes, not schedules. Hopefully this will be added down the road.

[R1BennettX]

That is disappointing news. Parity with old should be a foundational requirement for replacement of old with new function. It seems that a simple enhancement would be to include an action to run a schedule automation.

[StephenB]

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@R1BennettX wrote:

It seems that a simple enhancement would be to include an action to run a schedule automation.

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The problem here is that the new user experience doesn't really have the concept of a camera schedule.  Instead, you schedule an automation that will change the system mode when runs.  Not a good approach, since it is not grounded in how the user wants to manage their cameras.

I think to fix this they need to change the approach to have one or more camera schedules (similar to before), and then use Arrive and Leave automations to switch to one of those schedules.  Unfortunately not that simple a fix.

[KachinaShadow]

Pretty much the same issue here...

Since I use Sunrise/Sunset to activate a mode and at Sunset it changes from Arm Home (which has certain cameras disabled and others with different settings) to Arm Away (which basically has everything activated) and I then leave the house after sunset it remains in the Arm Away mode (since Leave activates Arm Away) but when I come back later the Arrive automation doesn't know that it's still after sunset so it activates the Arm Home mode and then I have to remember to change to Arm Away manually.

You're correct in stating that there needs to be an IF/THEN setting that you could make an exception for, in my case, whether you're in the Sunset or Sunrise period or by a specific time frame.

Paul

[StephenB]

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@KachinaShadow wrote:

You're correct in stating that there needs to be an IF/THEN setting that you could make an exception for, in my case, whether you're in the Sunset or Sunrise period or by a specific time of day.

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OR just have the system maintain two schedules - one when you are home, and a different schedule when you are away.  (Either schedule could just arm or disarm everything all the time).  Then have "Arrive" shift to the "Armed Home" Schedule,  and have "Leave" shift to "Armed Away" if everyone has left.  Also allow people to select either mode from the UI (As they can now), or from the home security hard buttons.

In other words, make "Home" and "Away" schedules, and not modes.  Then build in Armed and Disarmed (like before), and allow custom modes (like before).  

[KachinaShadow]

@ShayneS , @JamesC , @BrookeN 

Is there anywhere to submit suggestions to add needed features?

Paul

[BrookeN]

I have already added a feature request for custom modes. Is there another one that you have in mind?

[KachinaShadow]

Not yet...just the one we've been discussing in this thread.

Thanks