Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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madkiwi
Luminary
Luminary

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.

86 REPLIES 86
bmwdriver7175
Apprentice
Apprentice
Not sure that I know what significant locations is in the app
Cedarwork
Aspirant
Aspirant
Significant Locations is a feature in iOS itself, not the Arlo app. It can be found under settings - privacy - location services - system services.
Boomer_1
Apprentice
Apprentice

I am STILL having this problem as well. Mine has worked spotless for the past  year or so until about a month ago. This problem is a unique case. Past problems with geofencing were where it would lose track of one phone or the other and not recognize it's status. This problem is that it knows where the devices are, but fails to arm the system when we leave. In a few cases if you toggle it manually it after you leave, it fails to disarm when you return home. This is obviously a Server side problem on Arlo's end. We both have iPhone X's.

 

Also, what is this "significant locations" everyone is talking about? I have never heard of it and do not see it anywhere. Is this perhaps related to the new Ultra cameras? I am using Arlo Pro cameras.

 

 

 

Boomer_1
Apprentice
Apprentice

I did find the significant locations under the IOS Privacy settings and it is on.  Our still is not working.

bmwdriver7175
Apprentice
Apprentice
Thanks I checked that and it’s on so that is not the issue. I have two basestations at our home so each one has its own login account unless I’m logged into that account it will not detect that I am not home unless I toggle disarmed/ geofencing in that account that is not how this app has ever worked in the past it would detect that I am not home in either basestation and I did not have to be logged in for it to do so.
Suki4
Guide
Guide
It is not the problem of the users and we can not fix this problem because Arlo has problem with app geofencing. So they have to fix it, there is no other way. I have tryed everything mentioned till now, nothing fix geofencing.
Boomer_1
Apprentice
Apprentice

This is a server side problem on their end this time and NOT anything with it knowing the status of our phones. It seems to have the correct status of my phones it just does not arm or disarm them on entry or exit. This should not take more than a couple of days for them to resolve this, and yet here it is a month later and they still have not solved it. It isn't like they have to do alot of field debugging. They could test this with one phone or a couple of phones on one account.

Frostbach
Star
Star

I've noticed if I edit the geofencing to only have my phone (logged in with the main owner account), everything works wonderfully. As soon as I add my wife's phone (with a granted access account), it doesn't work properly. 

 

2 main things I've noticed on the phone logged into the account with granted access:

  • If you change the mode from geofencing and then back to geofencing, nothing happens. The mode you switched to before geofencing stays enabled.
  • The phone doesn't appear to be getting push notifications for home/away switching at all even though they are enabled.

 

GrammaKate
Aspirant
Aspirant
Geofencing stopped working correctly for me a few days ago. I’ve not had trouble with it for many months, but this latest update seems to have broken if for me. I am home, the app clearly sees that I am home, but does not disarm the system. Also, when in home mode, the system does not arm according to schedule.
It’s rather frustrating to have something that was working fine suddenly stop working with an update in software.
Yes, app software, base station and cameras are all running the latest version. Wish I could go back to the one that worked.
madkiwi
Luminary
Luminary

Some unhelpful idiots keep merging "somewhat related" threads.

 

So half the people here apparently have Apple phones with something called "Significant locations", and some people are on Android phones which don't have this and so the confusion begins.

 

Please moderators, JUST STOP MERGING THREADS. It causes a lot of confusion.

geofrustrated
Aspirant
Aspirant

Just adding to this thread to confirm that I also have the same symptoms with geofencing at the moment, having had it working okay from shortly after purchasing (end March) - app correctly shows people as being in or out of zone, but the mode is not chaging from home to away when everyone is out of zone, or from away to home when someone returns in zone.  Manually changing to a different mode and then back to geofencing will trigger the mode change, but that's obviously defeating the point of the geofencing capability in the first place.

 

I have a VMB 4000r3 with two Pro and two standard Arlo cameras, firmware all up to date.  iPhone Xr with iOS and Arlo app fully up to date.

 

I also had the issue with no notifications being received when in armed mode, but that seems to be rectified now.

 

What's going to break next?!

 

madkiwi
Luminary
Luminary

@JessicaP wrote:

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


It is now long after the 6th, where's the update??????

 

Your adoring fans are waiting...

JessicaP
Arlo Employee Retired

We have posted the update on this thread here: Geofencing not disarming when I arrive home after iOS app update 2.7.9

 

We will provide updated information through the linked thread shown above when we hear any new information.

Hezg
Tutor
Tutor
Is there any update on a fix ? My system is not arming when I leave despite showing both phones out of zone
madkiwi
Luminary
Luminary

Jessica, it is not fixed. All the people on the forums are telling you it's not fixed.

 

Is this so hard? You guys just jerk everyone around, change one line of code and release it before testing and then tell us it's fixed? Only to find out you are full of it?

 

Geofencing has been broken for 3 weeks. It is still not working. I just went to our 2nd home, the system stayed armed the entire time I was there.

JessicaP
Arlo Employee Retired

For those still experiencing issues with Geofencing after the fixes we've released, please take a look at this article for troubleshooting steps you can take to improve performance: Why isn't the Geofencing mode working?

Hezg
Tutor
Tutor

This Article is not helpful because the issue is not with the device showing correctly as in zone or out of zone. That works properly. There is no communication issue with the phones. The issue is that the mode selected for the in zone and out of zone is not happening even when the geofencing shows that the devices are in zone and out of zone. For example, my out of zone mode is to arm. Yesterday both phones left the house. The system did not arm. I checked it hours later when I realized I didn’t get my normal notification when the gardener arrives. I found both phones listed as out of zone but the system never armed. I had to toggle to disarm the back to geofencing for it to arm. This worked fine up until a few weeks back. I have all of my settings correct. Please fix the issue.

madkiwi
Luminary
Luminary

@JessicaP wrote:

For those still experiencing issues with Geofencing after the fixes we've released, please take a look at this article for troubleshooting steps you can take to improve performance: Why isn't the Geofencing mode working?


Your troubleshooting article doesn't address the main issue I and everyone else here has been reporting- our devices ARE reporting locations correctly, Arlo is not changing modes accordingly.

 

When we leave the home zone the system should arm, when we return it should disarm. For 3 weeks the system has not been doing that, I look at the geofencing mode and can see that both devices are in zone and the system is still armed. We leave, it does not arm.

 

I just switched from Home mode on one system (exterior cameras armed, interior disarmed) to Geofencing. Alert correctly advised that I'm in the home zone, and Home mode is active. Problem is, when I checked the mode it actually just disarmed EVERYTHING.

 

In summary your troubleshooting steps do not address the problem at hand. Arlo is receiving correct GPS data from all active devices, no settings are disabling the Arlo app and they all have unlimited data access and battery usage.

geofrustrated
Aspirant
Aspirant

 


@JessicaP wrote:

For those still experiencing issues with Geofencing after the fixes we've released, please take a look at this article for troubleshooting steps you can take to improve performance: Why isn't the Geofencing mode working?



Come on Netgear - this article clearly doesn't address the symptoms that I and others have described - Arlo app correctly shows which devices are in or out of zone, but the mode is not being changed automatically on the relevant trigger - i.e. last device leaves or first device arrives.  In these circumstances if you manually change to another mode and then back to geofencing the app immediately pops up a notification that the mode has changed, so that would imply it's absolutely nothing to do with location reporting by devices, but something to do with your app and/or base station/server software.  Besides, this used to work - it's not a feature that we're just trying out for the first time and haven't got to grips with yet.  Please fix it.

 

I've selected Arlo and invested almost £500 (and many others have spent much more) in the system based on features that you advertise but clearly don't work correctly.  It's a pretty poor show.  An acknowledgement that there's a problem, and a promise (one that's met) to at least provide a status update by a specific date, and preferably a target date for a fix, would be the appropriate way for a manufacturer to behave in this situation.  That's how I expect to, and do, treat my customers.

RomfRed
Aspirant
Aspirant

I'm having the same issues. The app registers that we are entering or leaving the Geofencing zone, but does not change the mode to Armed or Disarmed. I have to switch to another mode then back to Geofencing mode manually, for it to Arm or Disarm. We have two android phones so not just an iOS issue.

 

I've tried engaging with Arlo on twitter along with other users, but they are now ignoring all tweets - no updates for about a week now and this thing hasnt work for over 3 weeks.

 

Arlo - As it stands, I believe your product is in violation of the consumer rights act 2015 :
- Satisfactory Quality - no geofencing does not work
- As described - No, Its a security system which isnt able to secure itself.

- Fit for purpose - nope, as above

- Last a reasonable length of time - No, I didnt pay £400 for this product to only last 12-18 months and then stop working

 

If you are not able to provide a proper update of why this has happened, how you intend to fix and when you expect to fix it by, then you need to give people their money back.

RomfRed
Aspirant
Aspirant

talking to the numpties on Live Chat. They have no idea that there is a problem with GeoFencing.

@JessicaP are you going to provide an update or what? Whats going on?

azarloGuy
Apprentice
Apprentice

And it's no wonder their stock price is down almost 70% from it's high.  When you peddle junk and don't respond to your customers, the consumer loses confidence.  A bad downward spiral.  Unfortunately, upper management is probably totally unaware of all these problems.  If they are aware, then they are incompetent to run a company that gets this many complaints about their products and software.

RomfRed
Aspirant
Aspirant

The management do know. I emailed the CEO. This in turn resulted in contact from a “customer services advocate” who wants to help, but I can’t see how going through pointless troubleshooting steps that everyone has already tried will help especially as things stopped working because of their update. Just going through the motions to buy time.

azarloGuy
Apprentice
Apprentice
Sadly, I think you are correct. I think most of us would show some patience if these people would just acknowledge the problem and tell us what they are doing to fix it. It’s the silence that angering everyone. Maybe soon there’ll be a shakeup because they can’t sink much lower and stay in business.
RomfRed
Aspirant
Aspirant

Spot on. The silence, lack of acknowledgement and the fact that they keep repeating the same mistakes time and time again. They never learn. I went through this pain after a botched update last November. The fixed came out jan/feb. But it was like pulling teeth.