Forced update to mobile app now rendering my use of what i had useless

[BradSP65]

I roginally had many Arlo cameras that used custom modes. It worked perfectly. Then came the update that I noted removed custom modes. I rejected the upgrade. I have move 6 camera away from Arlo becauise of that app change. Today at 4.11am in the morning arlo FORCED the upgrade and armed and set up the alarms in my house repeatedly until I realised what had happened while every one was asleep. This FORCED upgrade was not requested and now renders what I have as useless for myself. Not only that the entire house being woken up at 4.11am now DEMANDS that Arlo be removed from the house ASAP. This move has left me more out of pocket that what I needed to be. I would not recommend Arlo to anyone over this debacle with the app. Now at 4.24am I am looking to replace the rest of the camera and ultimately cancel the subscription. Use less investment in Arlo. 

[BrookeN]

Custom modes will be available to all users again in the near future. 

[BradSP65]

missed the point entirely. First that response has been the same for over a year. Not very customer responsive is it when you just FORCED users off custom modes. That means that if your like me that your system just become unusable. Second. I have scheduled custom modes in the app and the issue is that every time the mode changes you alert every single user with an alarm! This you can not change. The result of this is that every one in my house uninstalled Arlo because it goes off 6 times a night when I change modes to not set off the alarm when people are scheduled to return to the house. So given there is an alarm to disable some camera I may as well not use custom modes and just let the alarms go off because the impacts to the end user is the same. System no longer is usable as a security system when the users uninstall the app because it is so annoying. So those that may don't have custom modes after over a year don't expect a usable solution when they do. This is so bad that the finance person of the house has endorsed a rip and replace.

[BrookeN]

I understand the frustration of the alert when modes change. We have a feature request into our development team that is looking into this. 

[jaygraham]

Brooke,

I see you've replied to many people about the removal and then promised return of Custom Modes. Please ensure that people inside Arlo understand what a catastrophic decision this who debacle was. The decision to remove Custom Modes and then spend literally months and months promising its return has created for your power users a complete lack of trust in Arlo the company.

The result is that I am now done with Arlo as a company and will no longer recommend Arlo products or services and will buy no further Arlo products. 

The app upgrade did the stupidest and most dangerous thing possible: it broke whether cameras were on or off. Imagine if a car company quietly broke whether seatbelts worked or not. That would be unacceptable. Well, for a company that is providing a service for home security it's unacceptable to discover that my custom modes stopped working which meant that my cameras would not turn on automatically as I had configured. And all this without the slightest notification.

On top of that the removal of Custom Modes removed all sorts of power user configuration. Arlo literally took their most dedicated customers and decided to screw them over. 

[BrookeN]

I do not have an exact date for the custom modes, however they will be available to all users in the very near future.  I am sorry I can not provide more information as of yet. However, I will update the community as soon as there is more information available. 

[Andy_R_C]

I cant even figure out how to turn the stupid thing off. I'm furious! I have them positioned around a transport yard, all my schedules are useless and the camera seems to be stuck on. To stop them notifying me every 30 seconds I've had to pull the batteries on the cameras. Can't I simply turn them off or on? Home, Away, Standby, nothing turns them off. I will not be using Arlo ever again unless something is done soon to make the app easier to use.

[Andy_R_C]

... and now the whole thing doesn't work at all. So angry.

[Rod452]

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@BrookeN wrote:

Custom modes will be available to all users again in the near future. 

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If 'Custom modes' are coming back to all users, does this specifically include restoring full compatibility for Arlo Q? Or will functional hardware still be excluded from the new ecosystem?

[StephenB]

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@Andy_R_C wrote:

I cant even figure out how to turn the stupid thing off. I'm furious! I have them positioned around a transport yard, all my schedules are useless and the camera seems to be stuck on. To stop them notifying me every 30 seconds I've had to pull the batteries on the cameras. Can't I simply turn them off or on? Home, Away, Standby, nothing turns them off. I will not be using Arlo ever again unless something is done soon to make the app easier to use.

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What camera models do you have?

[Andy_R_C]

Hi, Thanks, Arlo Go. the white tennis ball sized ones. a few years old now.

[BradSP65]

I had custom modes and had refused to upgrade for the last year. I even returned additional camera i had purchased because the capability was missing. The forced upgrade provided me with custom modes on the new app. Now the issue is every time that a schedule mode changes it provides an alarm. You cannot disable this alarm. It is the same alarm as a alert to take action. If you have modes going on multiple times a day and night you will get an alarm every single time. My family uninstalled Arlo as a result of these alarms. Now this makes it useless. I've managed to use other apps to block Arlo around the time of the custom mode changes. However it is not feasible to provide this work around on every phone in the house and to repeat it every time i change a schedule.  Given how long it has been stated that customer modes would return, i can see it equally as long to make it usable once available and others learn of this issue. 

[BradSP65]

And here is a new one for those waiting for custom modes to return. all Alarms for all categories still continue to go off. You can only set if they appear in your feed as recordings. Turning them off in the feed does not stop the alarms. Its a windy day and I have 30 alarms for motion and motion is turned off for the feeds.

[Andy_R_C]

Same here. At first I had nothing then reinstalled the app. Not sure it helped but now I have alarms but I cant turn them off short of pulling batteries.

[BradSP65]

20 motion alarms in 3 hrs from my one remaining outdoor camera. Motion detection turned off in feed. That doesn't stop the alarms. Seems the only way to stop it is to either uninstall the app completely leaving the entire system useless, or deny the App from being able to send notifications, leaving the entire system useless. This means you can't use it as a security system any longer.

[BradSP65]

I noticed that this constant alarming issue seems to be the result of the update on 22 April.

[BradSP65]

The camera now also pick up rain as motion and alarm on that. Useless now for outside. 4 days of rain and on average getting 40 alarms a day for motion. Had to block arlo from sending notifications because this is just useless. Now accelerating the removal of the last few camera as the system is now useless with all the family removing the app and myself haing to block it from sending alerts. All from a system that used to work seamlessly to now a system that is not fit for purpose.

[BradSP65]

Another 40 alarms for 5 hours. Enough is enough. Replacement camera's ordered time to move away from this mess altogether. There is currently some really good discounts available. I've had to disable notifications from the app for sanity and ability to sleep. Time to move on.

[jguerdat]

Have you tried reducing the motion sensitivity while still getting the coverage needed?

[BradSP65]

Tried that as well but then detection is also never triggered. Again back to stop alarms means disabling the primary reason you purchased arlo and paid a subscription. Replacement camera due tomorrow. Looking forward to testing and removing this mess. I've just placed arlo on permanent do not disturb.