Geofencing. not working

[kimskev]

I would expect this from other companies but from netgear????  Think it's time to get my money back!!!

OK so we finally get Arlo which we were excited about.  We have 3 people in our house and well this system should be able to be armed and disarmed when anyone of us comes and goes.......or so you'd think.

 NoHelp, SayWhat?

Set up IFTTT:

IF first family member arrives HOME then disarm arlo (Using life360 and arlo)

IF last family member leaves HOME then arm arlo (using life 360 and arlo)

3 IPhones set up with life 360 which have been working for the last 2 years 

Member #1 comes home alone - Arlo disarms

Member # 3 comes home alone - Arlo disarms

Member #2 come home alone (the member that set everything up) and we have motion alerts going off left and right.

Yes, I set up everything the way it should have been set.

Search for Support number.... can't be found but find "Live Chat"

First support person is of no help and disconnected

Second support person gives me phone number and advises me to set up Geofencing and walks me through steps.  Tells me THIS WILL WORK!

Call Support (Speak to someone in the Philippines ....... WHAT?? No USA Support????) And after being on hold get disconnected

Member #1 comes home alone - Member #3 gets 14 motion alerts even though the app says that member #1 is "IN THE ZONE" which means the system should have disarmed.  Nope, Not my Arlo!

Look online for the Support chat and it's nowhere to be found but today, the phone number is there (crazy)

Call Support again.... yes, another person in the Philippines (nothing against Philippines but why no USA support???)  This person knows nothing about how to fix this and suggests that I (member #3) remove myself from the system all together (Take my name, number, everything off the website, take the app off my phone) and this should help...... Ummm..... WHAT????

So I have to completely remove myself from everything just so I won’t get any alerts on my phone? Instead of someone coming up with a way to arm and disarm this system when different members of the family come and go???  Nope, not working for me!!!!!  Support person asks me if I mind being put on a 5-7 minute hold?  Um.... again... WHAT????  No. Im not going to wait 5-7 minutes.  

Yes, Support person puts me on hold anyway and there I sit for about 15-20 minutes listening to some horrible music when CLICK....... Disconnected!

Can you even imagine how happy I was at that moment????  Yea, not very happy.

So here I sit, with all three members in the house and my phone flashing on and off.

GEOFENCING AT HOME IS NOW HOME MODE

GEOFENCING AT HOMOE IS NOW AWAY MODE

MOTION DETECTED ON PORCH

MOTION DETECTED IN LIVING ROOM

MOTION DETECTED IN BASEMENT

GEOFENCING AT HOME IS NOW HOME MODE

GEOFENCING AT HOMOE IS NOW AWAY MODE

MOTION DETECTED ON PORCH

MOTION DETECTED IN LIVING ROOM

MOTION DETECTED IN BASEMENT

MOTION DETECTED ON PORCH

MOTION DETECTED IN LIVING ROOM

MOTION DETECTED IN BASEMENT

[Snn5]

Well I got near my Wi-Fi and the system disarmed saying I was home and I was the only one home so the iPhone on the account has no bearing whatsoever on geofencing arming or disarming. So at least for my phone it seems to work however that disproves the theory that both devices have to be at home or both away to arm or disarm.

[Snn5]

Nevermind. Sitting here the iPhone went "out of zone" with my Android in zone and it armed.

Back to manually arming and disarming.

Arlo is a failure.

[avanvliet]

I've seen that notification too, it's in app though, like at the bottom of the camera feed? I also just started getting a push notification to my phones notification bar that says "[camera name] is playing" with what looks like a pause button next to it. Selecting this notification however, does absolutely nothing... WTF is playing?! I'm not currently in the app...
These are also in addition to the normal motion detection alerts, which I am also still getting even though my wife is home.

So I've just given up on geofencing entirely at this point... Configured my schedule mode so we're covered most of the time without having to manually change it... Likely won't be buying an Arlo again, unless there's some miracle where they actually address this issue!

[g3nius]

Yes I believe this update has fixed the geofencing for me as well.  Thanks @JamesC

[chrisfeng20]

Geofencing magically started working normally since yesterday. I have asked netgear to update my case, hopefully they will tell us the reason why is was fked in the first place.

[agarlo]

My geofencing started working just before the app update came out.  Seems like something in the cloud was changed and the app update solidified the solution.  Both our phones are now updating with in and out of zone status appropriately and the geofencing status is changing to away and home properly now.

[avanvliet]

Interesting, I just saw a reply on another similar thread with someone saying they got a response from L2 support that engineering still has not fixed the issue, and they will provide an email update once they have more information... Has anyone also been getting a push notification (on android) that won't go away saying that something is playing? for example mine says "Living Room is playing" with a pause symbol next to it, because i named the camera Living room. I can't dismiss it, and when I press it, nothing happens....

One Last rant, seems like they are updating their site, and it's been super buggy the past few days.. the menu bar covers other buttons at the top, this comment screen i'm typing right now only show's one line at a time.... isn't there any testing done when you make updates to your websites? ?

[Snn5]

Well that's three days in a row where when I leave without the app open or in the background geofencing works and arms. However that's three days in a row where when I get back home it does not disarm. I have to manually open the app and then it will disarm as soon as it recognizes I am connected to Wi-Fi and or in my home location.

[Tonstar1]

Use ifttt app works on my s8

[Snn5]

IFTTT does not work with location. Not on Android. You can only vocally tell it to arm or disarm manually.

[Snn5]

Besides do we not need an app that works the way it's supposed to versus a workaround and another app with applets?

[Tonstar1]

Works

[Snn5]

Also that might work with Android if it did in fact actually work but there is still the slight issue with the iPhone to my Android also using the app and the same system. So the system might or might not disarm even if it would use location based upon the iPhone being in or out of the zone and also not using IFTTT.

[Snn5]

Please reference screenshot circling iOS only.

[Cronqvist]

IFTTT DOES work with location on Android. My camera arms/disarms every time I leave/return home. But it surely would be nice if the Arlo app it self would do the job.

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@Snn5wrote:
IFTTT does not work with location. Not on Android. You can only vocally tell it to arm or disarm manually.

---

[Snn5]

Do you have an iPhone with its location set to always instead of only when using? I have attempted to only have my Android as an enabled device. I have also tried to enable both the Android and the iPhone. IFTTT triggers do not work. Not for me anyway.

[Cronqvist]

I only have an Android (Samsung Galazy S7), and IFTTT and location works flawlessly and my Camera arms/disarms everytime. But I only see this as a temporarely solution, as I hope/expect the Arlo app to be fixed....some day.

[Snn5]

I also tried giving access to the iPhone through my phone's app. The iPhone user also created their own account with access given to them by me. So at this point does the iPhone need to be on the same account as my phone with the same login information and have permission granted through my app to them?

[Snn5]

I am using an Android with 8.0 and the other device is an iPhone 7 plus on iOS 11.3. I'm using the Hub that came with two Arlo cameras with one Arlo Pro 1 add-on.

Geofencing has never worked properly and has always been erratic even with location set to always on. Sometimes it arms and sometimes it doesn't as well as it arms at it odd times when I'm in the zone and disarms when I'm out of zone this also goes for the iPhone as well.

We have tried logging in with the same account as well as separate accounts and granting access to each other. Nothing has seemed to work thus far.

Using IFTTT sometimes I get the notification that it arms and disarms and sometimes I do not. Sometimes IFTTT applet changes geofencing to Armed or disarmed and I get the error message from Arlo to check my geofencing status and settings because they have changed.

So far the only thing that works is using either the manual IFTTT applet widgets to manually turn on and off the system or to go into the Arlo app and click through several men use to arm or disarm.

I knew there were several threads on this topic of geofencing not working for the past couple years but all of the chatter seems to have died down so I don't know if everyone has fix their issue or if Netgear has fixed the app issue or if everybody has just given up.

I have not seen an app update in several weeks. I know that Arlo And Netgear are going through some sort of split however that doesn't justify the lack of support as of late.

Arlo support has been of no help because there are so many variables between devices that have access and the settings used to control access that it is very hard to pinpoint exactly what the issue is and how to rectify it.

It also does not help that each time I try to contact Netgear support it takes 3 days to get a response and it's the usual scripted try this that you've already tried or try that that doesn't work.

The app has been uninstalled from both phones and reinstalled as well as removed devices and reset up the entire system. At this point I have no idea what to do since I am past the point of product return to the retail location from where I bought it.

Can someone enlighten me as to a fix or an update or any news at all?

[TomMac]

I have seen that ios 11 has been causing some issues ( not sure if here too ).

But to be honest, When using more than one phone the Geo seems to start having issues.... I've found it to work well when using one phone.

Why, unsure as there are many variables....  But do a check that the gps runs along with the app in the background AND also check to make sure the power saving functions are toggled off for those apps

[Billpeacock]

Got an arlo q in my living room. Geofencing is set up to not operate while I'm in the zone.
I've been home for 45 minutes. I've gotten 27 notifications letting me know I'm walking in the living room. I checked the geofencing settings, and it shows me in the zone. But it is still armed. Why won't it disarm. This has been going on for about a week. Rebooting my phone sometimes gets it to disarm, but not every time.
Ivr got a Samsung note 8. The accuracy of the GPS is good with it. Right now it looks like it's got me pinned right in the seat I'm sitting in.
How can I get my arlo to disarm while I'm in the zone? It used to work better.

[Billpeacock]

Just came home today, and when I pulled in my driveway, got a notification that geofencing at home is now in away mode. What gives?

[Snn5]

I'm trying IFTTT. I use the on off widgets for fastest arm and disarm.

As far as geofencing goes...do you guys set arlo to geofencing and let IFTTT control or set to Arm or Disarm? I have only one mobile device with access now.

If I leave the area or come back sometimes Arlo tells me my geofencing setting have changed and to resync. Like maybe IFTTT changes the location instead of just turning on and off.

[Yank555-lu]

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@Snn5 wrote:
I'm trying IFTTT. I use the on off widgets for fastest arm and disarm.

As far as geofencing goes...do you guys set arlo to geofencing and let IFTTT control or set to Arm or Disarm? I have only one mobile device with access now.

If I leave the area or come back sometimes Arlo tells me my geofencing setting have changed and to resync. Like maybe IFTTT changes the location instead of just turning on and off.

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If you use IFTTT, alro will be either armed or disarmed, the geofencing in the Arlo app won't be used at all, since it'll be IFTTT that will change arm/disarm states using the Arlo IFTTT web interface.

Just start IFTTT, go to "My Applets" (bottom right button) and hit the plus sign (top right next to setting).

It will show a text like this :

if

+this

then

that

tap "+this", then chose location, then chose "You enter an area" (you'll have to do this whole thing twice, once for when you leave). Define where that area is (your home I suppose), then tap on the check mark (top right) and you'll be back at the text :

if

(location sign)

then

+that

This time tap "+that", then scroll and search for Arlo and when you tap on it, it'll present 3 options "Arm, Disarm, Start recording". Since we're in "when you enter an area", chose "Disarm", then tap on the check mark (top right) and it'll show you the Applet you'll just have created. You can chose to be notified whenever this runs (if you want it to be like Arlo app, flip the switch to on). Edit the title if you want to change it and tap finish.

Now redo the whole thing with "when you exit an area" and "arm" as the Arlo action to perform.

You should be good to go now.

JP.

Note: You'll likely be presented once to log in to your Arlo account (didn't ask me this time as I already granted IFTTT access to my Arlo account). That should be when you first select the Arlo action.

[Snn5]

I will certainly give that a try. Thank you very much. I was using the preset pre-created applet which it seem to be for iOS. So basically with this applet or tubing set I shouldn't have to change anything in the Arlo app as far as harming disarming geofencing correct?

Now to be clear this only has to do with my phone on Android and does not affect the other phone on iOS correct?

Do they still need access and do I need to Grant access to my device in Arlo or how do I set up the Arlo options for Access granted?