Mandatory Two-Step Authentication (Verification) a Bad Idea

[ChrisKay]

Making this mandatory is an exceedingly bad idea since it will slow down authentication and when it breaks—and it occasionally will—it will prevent access completely.  At least give the end-user the option of deciding how much protection to require for the account.

[oillogger]

Chang_Lee, excellent point.  I have a indoor Arlo Q to monitor my 93 old Mom that lives two states over by herself without transportation.  There is one sibling a couple of miles away from her and another two states over in the opposite direction of me.  Being able for all three of us to check in our Mom via a indoor camera when she does not pick up on the phone is important for her well being.  With the implementation of 2FA only one of us will have access to the Arlo camera which is unacceptable for us.  Bad guys are not a concern because of where she lives.  Anyone hacking into her Arlo camera would quickly die from boredom and also realize her home would not be worth targeting so the camera is only for monitoring.  It also records the housekeeper, social works, grass cutter, and other services visiting her.

[dcfox1]

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@Linusl wrote:
But I also got confirmed that no one will be forced to use 2fa as long as they do not forgot their password they will not get locked out and be able to login and and access cameras. I can say this is 99.9% true.

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As you said in your next post it came from a higher up at Arlo. Who was that? 

[MikeBravo]

What Chang_Lee illustrates quite effectively is that Arlo really does not have a frim grip---it at all----on what their customers are doing with their system.

If they did they would long before this have focused on improving the utility of their product, such as reducing the hideous latency and poor motion detection rather than just 'keeping up with the Joneses'. 

If they did then I could get a system for my 82 year old sister who lives alone and often does not hear the phone.

[NPA1]

This new 2 step authentication is not working properly. Why can't my laptop become a trusted device? I thought if I went through the steps to authenticate the laptop, it would be a one time procedure.

And, now, the text message to authenticate isn't being sent to my cell phone. Whats going on?  I'm turning the 2 step authentication back off and hopefully Arlo figures out all the glitches before it makes it mandatory.

The two step authentication should be optional to the owner.  Or, at least, permit other devices to become trusted.

[parsrgood]

Arlo continues to send me ads to purchase their new  products. I laugh at first and then delete the email in disgust and amazement how a company who has continuously stepped on their own ding dong by letting their engineers drive their products into obscurity. It makes no sense that if some one hears a intruder that they have to jump through some dope smoking half wit engineers hoops before they can catch the image they want.

[Gene2916]

Well said! I am on Ring now, and love it!

[parsrgood]

Yep! I have 8 Ring Stick ups in addition to my Ring Doorbell. They work flawlessly and you get recordings and live view with one click. 

[Linusl]

You happy with Ring stickup? Really? I havent met anyone or seen any review that thinks the quality is good on those things. Ring is the "only" brand I havent tested and so far (tested Wyze, Reolink, Neo, Nest, no name brands) Arlo are the best ones according to me. My only issues with Arlo is that they do not have quality testing before pushing out new features that can result in various nasty things. 

[dcfox1]

I had Ring stick up cams and they were bad. Many more problems and less features. They have the 2FA so you won't get around that. 

[parsrgood]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I have not had one problem with ring products and I don't have to log in on PC or Apps. 2FA  is a option in settings As it should be. 

[dcfox1]

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@parsrgood wrote:

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I have not had one problem with ring products and I don't have to log in on PC or Apps. 2FA  is a option in settings As it should be. 

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I still have one Ring. They may have changed it to optional as it was not back in Feb.  I will reactivate it and try again. 

[oillogger]

It would be nice if those that have or is currently testing another system would post the details of what they have encountered on this thread.  The rest of us could use the information to help determine if they need to swap brands and which one.  This Lorex system sold at Sam's looked interesting but the reviews are not very good.

https://www.samsclub.com/p/lorex-6x4-1080p-wire-free/prod24640285?xid=plp_product_3 

With all of the competition for security cameras you would think there would be more improvements than currently available.  I fully understand the importance of 2FA but the current Arlo implementation does not fit the fast moving life styles that exist today.  As a result 2FA becomes more than once a day hindrance or road block to our lifestyle and making us frown instead of smiling when we use our Arlo security system as indicated over and over on this thread.

[Linusl]

Lifehackster on youtube and others are doing a great job to explain the security cameras out there and how they work.

For me
Reolink is good wired with nvr but not for person detection since it is pixel based on detection and gives push on every raindrop therefore sending to many notifications = end user turns them off and will miss the important stuff. I have both poe and wireless reolink. Wireless eco just explodes with push for every bush moving in the wind even with all settings turned down and ”improve shade and moving bush” options activated.

Nest
Very reliable and have good person detection but few features for the end user to control schedules and settings for different scenarios.

Wyce
Cheap and limited but might be good in the future. I pay for person detection etc but get push for lights turning on/off.

Neo
Same as wyce but less functions.

Arlo
Expensive and requires a subscription for the good features. Having alot of activity around my house the arlo cameras ans smart services are the only one today I can trust. I would not invest in arlo to have them indors (actually have two indoor). I have them to make sure I am notified only if animals are sneaking around, package delivery notifications and most important if people/persons are on my property.

Ring
Some of their products is just crappy quality in sound and image and not reliable. In test they have less triggering of activity than other brands so you might miss that burglar visiting your yard/house.

Blink
Not a security camera. Not even according to blink. Built for light use to see if someone/friend comes to visit you but my blink cameras are just broken in the software. Smart areas for getting less notifications just do not work. I have xt2

I have bought a few eufy cameras , the cam 2 and 2c but not instslled and tested them yet. Combined with homekit they can serve as cloudstorage and and more smartness for person detection even though they have some of that built in.

I guess you have to ask yourself what you want out of the camera sycurity system. If its more spot on detection on intruders without false alerts and good battery life for me, arlo is the best option today.

[oillogger]

My desires in a security camera system is:

1.  Quick access with ability to opt out of 2FA.

2.  Free cloud storage for at least 5 days or local storage that can be remotely accessed.

3.  Multiple user access across all devices, android, PC, OS devices, Alexa.

4.  Wireless color outdoor cameras with decent battery life(over 3 months) and night vision.

5.  Alerts via email and SMS.

6.  No monthly or extra fees.  Extra services can be provided for those who want to purchase them.

7.  Adjustable zones or sensitivity.

8.  Recordings that are easily saved and emailed.

9.  Person detection would be nice but not necessary.

10. Dependable equipment.

11. Built in siren.

12. Multiple arming modes.

I am sure there are a few points missing I desire.

By the way, I do not think the Eufy system has a website camera system login for PCs.

[dcfox1]

I checked and tried my Ring account on the one cam I have left as a backup and there is no option to disable 2FA as someone said. They did at least extend their recording time on a event to 120 sec from 30 sec as earlier on Battery. Still small for events 

[parsrgood]

You mentioned you hadn't used in a while. Did you update the firmware? They do have you make a one time 2FA . Nothing like Arlo's constant 2FA when using PC. Don't want to get into a pissing contest so I'll back out and hope everyone finds what they're looking for.

[Linusl]

@oillogger
Not sure I have ever encountered a newer security camera that sends sms but email yes. But Im not sure Ive seen wireless cameras sending emails with the videos. Reolink wired cameras and wired wifi cameras can send emails but not sure they invlude the video clips since they could be very large and encrypted and you would need to login to see them.

Ecviz has some of the festures you are looking for but its a wired wifi camera. https://m.ezvizlife.com/product/c3x/12359

Arlo will not force you to enable 2fa as long as you do not forget your password (according to people at arlo but not according to their scare the customer campaigns they are running, time will tell).

But if you want all of this ”no fees” but alot of features I think an isolated non cloud based system is what you should try to find. Would take longer to setup they way you want. Perhaps the unifi protect is something to invest in https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-protect

[andrewbnz]

I have ditched my Arlo system and expanding my DIY system which uses Zoneminder for recording, object/person detection etc..

I then can use almost any IP camera I like.

This requires a bit more setup and you need to host Zoneminder own your own server. But its opensource and flexible for my needs. As I already have a home server this was an easy solution for me. 

I can access remotely either via the web or using ZMNinja App

Especially good as Zoneminder is opensource with very active development so always improving!

[parsrgood]

A lot of you are not following the entire thread. If you are monitoring Arlo Cameras on PC you will be forced to getting a  2fa code to log in . After 10 or so minutes Arlo logs PC's out. Forcing you to jump through the hoops again. PC PC PC. Android and IOS apps don't require the constant log ins. I'm out.

[oNeRf]

I'm dumping my Arlo. Craigslist it goes. I thought I could still record locally on a usb without having to activate 2FA, but that's not the case. What a piece of garbage.

[CCNE37]

One of the features that interests me with an Arlo replacement system is the ability to set up a schedule turning various cameras on and off and having different settings (sensitivity mainly) for day and night.

Arlo can do this quite well using various custom modes and a daily time schedule, and the schedule can be changed easily to accomodate things like going on holiday where all cameras are active all the time, whereas when at home I want the indoor cameras turned off so they don't constantly get triggered.

I have asked in this and other threads about other systems and their ability to do this, especially for the more popular systems like Ring or Eufy (which hasn't been mentioned here is recent posts) and got response. Is there anyone who can comment on other system's ability to do this ?

[oillogger]

Linusl, with an IFTTT applet Arlo will alert you via SMS with low battery msg indicating which camera.  Also with any Echo Show and IFTTT applets you can use voice commands to arm/disarm Arlo,  start recording on any camera, and visually see live images from any camera.  Email alerts and notices are set up in your Arlo account.

[Linusl]

Oillogger
Yeah but ifttt offers 3 free applets to run now adays or you have to pay for a subscription to use more.

[oillogger]

IFTTT was great until they got you hooked and then wanted never ending payments.  You would think the MFG would want to support IFTTT to help increase their sales.  It makes their products more useful and desirable for the consumer.

[Matjes]

Is that true that from 30.11 Arlo will stop access to my cameras if i will not access 2FA identification. Is that allowed? I do not need and want that!