Geofencing will not arm and disarm - completely broken

[madkiwi]

So they think they fixed all the problems caused by the base firmware update by updating the cameras (instead of fixing what they broke, they layered a patch on something else).

But the geofencing is still broken. I have 2 houses, both with Arlo base stations. My phone and my wife's phone are set up for geofencing at both locations. Geofencing has not worked since May 22nd.

I am currently sitting at home. The vacation home is currently set to geofencing, but is not armed. I armed it manually, then set it back to geofencing. I get a notification that the system there is now in away mode. But when I look at Devices the cameras are disarmed, when I look at mode main screen it shows Disarmed. When I look at the geofencing setup it acknowledges that both devices are not in zone.

So I look at Home, both devices are in zone, but the current mode is Disarmed (geofencing mode should be front door camera armed, rear door disarmed). Manually set it to armed, then Geofencing. Get the notification that it is in Home mode. Go to the Mode main page and it is showing Disarmed, and of course under devices all cameras are disarmed.

I am running the Android app version from 7/30/18 (in my opinion the last one that was bug-free) but my wife is running the 5/23/19 version. Surely one would work correctly.

It's really quite funny, if you think about ti.

[Wizardsmw]

Despite Arlo closing the previous threads, this functionality still doesn’t work consistently. It worked the first day after the fix was announced, but now again doesn’t go back to home mode even though it clearly shows my phone (iPhone X, IOS 12.3.1) is in the center of the “home range.” My base station is model VMB3010r2 and is at firmware level 1.12.2.1_2798. 

[sward6368]

Appears discussion thread was locked recently after post that issue was resolved -and requested if still having issues to post to the forum.

The isue is not resolved, symptoms remain the same - when one of devices setup for geofencing is in zone, will not change to home mode.  Will change to away mode when all registered devices are out of zone.

ios devices, app udpated 2 days ago to 2.7.10, Hub firmware 1.12.2.1.2798.  All cameras and Base are pro model.

[TomGR1]

Regarding update V 2.7.10 for IOS - initially for about the first 3 or 4 times I arrived back home it didn’t disarm the cameras.  Then all of a sudden it worked and has been working now for the past couple days.  I did not do anything to any of the settings.  So keeping my fingers crossed…

[LiCi]

Arlo team - please do not mark as solved.

Geofencing is still broken. You claimed that outage on 24th May 2019 caused the issue and not allowing disarm when entering geofencing zone however this has worked for only few days after you claim it is resolved.

Since yesterday 03/06/2019 - Geofencing will now neither arm or disarm when leaving and entering zone. Previously it still arms but now it doesnt arm at all when we leave zone and not to mention disarm when entering zone.

We are iOS users and running the latest iOS 12.3.1.  Base station has been restarted, camera restarted, App has been reinstalled - this is getting worse!!!!

[Talktotone]

Agree. Problems still exist. Reinstalled app restarted all equipment and still not working as promised. Am on iOS and up to date. Won’t recognise home in disarm schedule or custom modes.

[elox]

Same issue here, Arlo does not disarm when entering zone or arm when leaving zone. I have tried to reset everything and contacted Arlo support on chat but the problem persists. 

[Suki4]

I confirm, geofencing not working at all, please Arlo team fix it because otherwise your product is almost useless.

[Frostbach]

I’m also having the same issue on iOS. If you go into the geofencing settings you can see that the app knows the phones are in/out of the zone, but the mode never auto switches.

On the previous version of the app (2.7.9, I think), the geofencing would at least switch to away when leaving the zone. Now, with 2.7.10, it doesn’t switch to away nor home at all. It is completely broken.

[Colintoo]

I’ve started this as a new topic as I can’t seem to post on the original geofencing topic that has been driving us all mad over the last couple of weeks. Arlo have declared that geofencing now works and the problem is solved. I thought they were right, no more multiple alerts after returning home. Now I realise that is because the system does my arm when you leave! This really is beyond a joke. I now see why their share price is falling like a stone and I will now be contacting amazone to return my system. Sadly the first Arlo system I bought is now out of warranty and I will have to take the hit on that.

[JessicaP]

Our team is aware that some users are still experiencing issues with the geofencing capability and this feature may not be working as expected. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while our team further investigates this matter. We will provide an update on this issue by 3PM PT/June 6, 2019.

Thank you,

Arlo Team

[HBSofDE]

I am not sure of the cause, but after receiving > 100 notices in one day and my wife suggesting we get a new system from another maker, decided to try addressing myself.

This problem cropped up at the same time everyone else started complaining. Also did notice the duplicate "ARLO HOME" system under Arlo > My Devices.

Setup:

VMB4000 r3

4 cameras

Firmware 1.12.2.1_2798

Myself: iPhone (primary control device) + iPad, ios 12.3.1

Wife: iPhone (secondary control device) + iPad, ios 12.3 (has not yet updated)

Here is what I did:

Signed every device out of the app.

Deleted app on each device.

Hard restart on each device.

Hard restart on base station (unplugged power and ethernet).

Then:

Added app back to my iPhone.
Signed in.

Geofencing on > system DISARMED. (Woooo hoooo!)

Walked in front of several cameras. No notices!

Added app back to wife's iPhone.

Signed in.

Geofencing on > system DISARMED.

Walked in front of several cameras. No notices!

Added app back onto both iPads.

These are used only for viewing, so system does not recognize their location.

Geofencing not applicable.

Made these changes at 1700 EST last evening.

At 0900 this morning, system continues to work correctly.

And,  there is only one "ARLO HOME" system under Arlo > My Devices. 

Hope this helps for you.

[Colintoo]

The clock is ticking. At the moment it seems it sort of works sometimes, if you are lucky but often doesn’t. Hmmm.

[JessicaP]

Arlo’s geofencing feature is now working as expected for most customers. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this time. 

For more details on how to add and manage multiple mobile devices for geofencing, please see this: Arlo Knowledge Base Article. 

Our team is committed to optimizing this feature for all users and their various use cases. With this in mind, Arlo will soon host a survey to collect more specific feedback around users’ environment and set up. We would appreciate your participation in this survey as the information you share will assist our team to enhance our products to best meet our customers’ demands. 

Thank you,

Arlo Team

Note: We will provide updated information here as it becomes available. Marking solved to float the latest information to the top of the thread. 

[ErnieL]

Geofending is still not working as of now 6-6-19 despite Alro claims the function is working again. IOS 12.3.1 and Alro App 2.7.10 (91). I was working till the last couple of updates from Alro. Here are the problems. 1) Won't see if my wife is "not in zone" when she is out or "in zone" when she is back. To get it sync, need to sign out of the app and then log back in again. 2) when any of the phone is "in zone", it won't disarm even it show the phone is "in zone". To disarm, need to uncheck geofending and check any other mode and then check geofending again to have the system to disarm. This is the same for arming the system. Even it sees every phones are "not in zone", it won't arm. Need to do the check and uncheck to have it armed. 

Already did 1) hard reset of the base station, 2) delete and reinstall the app and 3) create new accounts for new step up. All won't work.

[BrianP53]

I have the same iPhone and sw version
But my base is VMB4000r3 same sw version
My geofencing failed about 3 weeks ago then Arlo did a fix and it has been working fine ever since.
I did not have to do factory reset or any other changes

[ErnieL]

My base is VMB4000. Geofending quit working after Alro updated the App couple of times about 1 month or so ago.

[Cedarwork]

I have also had this problem for the past month or so. On my iOS devices, I was able to fix the problem by turning on “Significant Locations” under privacy-location services-system services. Then open the Arlo app. Instead of “unavailable”, the app now recognized that I was in or out of zone. Even stranger, you can turn significant locations back off after doing this and the app still works properly. Weird I know, but it worked on all 3 iPhones in the family.

[RobDC]

Can you tell me why my system continues to automatically/randomly swithes to "Armed" mode from either geofencing mode or disarmed mode ?

[JessicaP]

Arlo’s geofencing feature is now working as expected for most customers. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this time. 

For more details on how to add and manage multiple mobile devices for geofencing, please see this Arlo Knowledge Base Article. 

Our team is committed to optimizing this feature for all users and their various use cases. With this in mind, Arlo will soon host a survey to collect more specific feedback around users’ environment and set up. We would appreciate your participation in this survey as the information you share will assist our team to enhance our products to best meet our customers’ demands. 

Thank you,

Arlo Team
 

[madkiwi]

If it isn't working for 100% of your customers then perhaps you shouldn't be coming here are saying anything... "working as expected for most customers" is not a rousing endorsement.

The fact that you peddle some pablum about "user surveys" also sends the message that you are not actively working to fix the problem WHICH WAS INTRODUCED WITH THE BASE STATION FIRMWARE UPDATE.

Or it may have been some simultaneous change to something at Arlo itself. Who knows? Bet even your software engineers can't tell.

[Cedarwork]

Update: you have to leave Significant Locations on in order for the Arlo app to actually toggle the system between home and away modes when using geofencing.

[bmwdriver7175]

If you think it’s fixed then this really highlights the reason so many problems as you are not adequately testing your fix. Given there are so many people telling you otherwise shows you completely out of touch you are with your customers. I have several base stations setup across a couple of properties and shared. Used to be when you are out of zone with say 2 basestations both basestations would arm. That jo longer is the case now you have to be logged in to one of the accounts for that respective basestations to arm the other one will detecting out of zone won’t arm unless you log out of one account and into another. What’s the point of sharing accounts if we constantly have to log In or out of the accounts to get both basestations to arm via geofencing? That has NEVER been the way this process has worked. Did you change it on purpose to cripple the sharing function in order to increase your revenue? If so I’ll be shopping for a new system. Please restore this functionality and might I suggest you setup a team of dedicated testers for your software changes instead of all of us becoming your Guiny pigs. Can you feel the frustration?

[ErnieL]

Enable Significant Locations won't solve the problem. At first, I thought it solved the issue when we left the zone and geofending will arm itself and showed we are out of zone. But when we came back it won't disarm even it showed we are in zone. To get it to disarm I still need to manually toggle to another mode and back to geofending, then it will disarm. Both the Arlo camera Base Station and the Arlo Light BD Bridge show the same behavior.

[Cedarwork]

Significant Locations did the trick for me. System works perfectly now. Bummer it didn’t work for you.