Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

Schedule Not Being Followed

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Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

Is anybody suddenly having trouble with their schedule not being followed?  I thought at first it was some sort of time zone glitch because my camera schedule seemed to be an hour or two off, but I haven't carefully followed it.  Today, though, my cameras are all still on after 11 a.m., when a couple of them should disarm at 8 a.m.  My base is set for Eastern time zone, but it doesn't seem to be working quite right.  Since I'm not usually awake at 8 a.m., though, I'm not sure this is happening regularly every day or the exact same way every day.

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JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

A new version of iOS has been released. Please visit the App Store and update to the latest version and let me know if you are still experiencing this behavior.

 

JamesC

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26 REPLIES 26
jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

A quick thing to try would be to simply restart the base.  Sounds like something is confused someplace.  Be sure the schedule is still set the way you expect, of course.

Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

I unplugged and replugged the base with no change.  I haven't tested down to the exact minute, but it seems that my cameras may actually be armed part of the time, even though the cameras' statuses show as disarmed and the mode is showing as disarmed (at times when my schedule should be set for armed).  It seems to be all messed up, at least as far as the statuses that are showing in the iOS app.

Tocker30
Apprentice
Apprentice
I am having a similar issue. My night mode will turn on at the appropriate time, but it will not turn off when it is supposed to. I have to manually change it. Seems to defeat the purpose of a schedule
Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

I just checked my cameras at noon, which is the time when one of them is supposed to disarm.  The camera was still armed at 5 minutes before noon, and it was disarmed at 5 minutes after noon. I'm about to think that my cameras are still actually working on the correct schedule, but the camera status shows disarmed all the time, and the mode that is being shown for the whole system is apparently showing disarmed all the time.  The only thing I can think of that may have contributed to the confusion is the fact that I'm using an IFTTT recipe to disarm the cameras as I am approaching the house after I have been gone.  Maybe after the cameras are disarmed in that way, the status doesn't want to go back to showing what it's supposed to be showing.  After being disarmed in that way, I obviously have to go back and put them back on the schedule or they will stay disarmed forever, but I have, indeed, been doing that. 

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Bearscreek,

 

You indicate you are using the iOS app to view the mode for your cameras. Do you notice the same behavior when viewing from the web client? Is the incorrect mode only being displayed when viewing from the iOS app?

 

JamesC

Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

I really don't use the web client very often. However, I just now did, and it looks right, but I had adjusted the settings in the iOS app to be correct earlier. I'll have to look at it tomorrow after my schedule has changed at some point and see what things look like. 

Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

It does look like my modes and all are showing up correctly in the web client, but they are still wrong in the iOS app.  I would suspect the cameras are arming correctly per the schedule but aren't showing correctly in the app.  They do seem to be armed when they're supposed to be.

devotchko
Luminary
Luminary

I am experiencing exactly the same behavior; modes changed with the iOS app show as being updated, but whatever mode was set with the desktop app supersedes it. Only way to really change modes using iOS is to close the app completely, and relaunch it, THEN the modes set in the iOS app "take'. I was told by CS they would be contcating me (don't understand why when it would seem the problem is on their end with the software?) but still haven't heard back.

devotchko
Luminary
Luminary

UPDATE:

 

Netgear finally got back to me regarding my issue of the iOS app not changing modes or showing the modes correctly (modes remain at whatever was set through the desktop app only). Their suggestion is to do what I have been doing for the past month to solve this issue, namely to kill the app and restart it. Doesn't seem they are treating this as a bug in their software. Thanks, Arlo!

Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

Well, it must be a bug, since it just recently started behaving this way. It used to work just fine. 

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

I have escalated this issue and it is currently being investigated by the engineering team. Please private message me the case number you have open with support. I will review the case and escalate accordingly.

 

JamesC

Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

Thanks, JamesC, for your attention. I, personally, haven't opened a support ticket for this because I suspect there are several users with the same problem and it will eventually be dealt with. Hopefully, the tickets already open will be enough to get it fixed.

defilade
Apprentice
Apprentice

I had this issue also - the iPhone app showed "disarmed" but the cameras were on and recording. Next time I'll check the web app to see what status it shows.

ac5
Aspirant
Aspirant
I am having the same issue and have been talking to technical support. Thanks goodness for this forum because I got more information from this post than i have from their technical support.
I also noticed that my iOS apps were saying my cameras were armed and my web client says it wasn't so I couldn't figure out if my camera were armed or not. I called them and they said that doesn't happen. I have noticed this several times during the day.
I guess according to this blog, I should go with what the web client says and disregard the iOS app. Hopefully they will get this fixed soon.
ac5
Aspirant
Aspirant
Case number 27171464
ac5
Aspirant
Aspirant
If you check the Arlo apps forum, there are other customers with the same problem
JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

ac5,

 

Thank you for the case number, I will review your case and provide any additional feedback that I can. This issue is still being investigated by engineering.

 

JamesC

defilade
Apprentice
Apprentice

Just to add some color to this...I have a "night" mode that runs from 8pm-6am then it's disarmed during the day as long as we're home. What I find is that in the morning, the system stays on night mode past 6am, and it correctly shows "night mode" in the app. To get it off night mode I have to change the mode manually. But at night the problem is different - it correctly changes to night mode at 8pm, but it continues to show "disarmed" in the app.

Schorschi
Prodigy
Prodigy

defilade wrote:

Just to add some color to this...I have a "night" mode that runs from 8pm-6am then it's disarmed during the day as long as we're home. What I find is that in the morning, the system stays on night mode past 6am, and it correctly shows "night mode" in the app. To get it off night mode I have to change the mode manually.


I think you're misunderstanding the Night Vision setting on a camera's Settings page. It is a user-configurable setting, not a (passive) status indicator.

 

When Night Vision is turned on (manually by you) on a camera's Settings page, you merely allow the camera to go into Night Mode when the lighting conditions require it. That is, the camera's infrared LEDs on the front of the camera under the lens will turn on and illuminate the scene and allow the camera to record "visible" footage, even though it may be pitch black to the human eye.

 

When lighting conditions are sufficient (i.e. during daylight), Night Mode is not needed to record visible footage, so the camera records without turning on the infrared LEDs, even though Night Vision may still be turned on for that camera.

 

If, however, you actively turn off Night Vision on a camera's Settings page, you take the camera's ability to turn on the infrared LEDs away, and in case of a motion event in low-light conditions, the recorded footage will be black, because you disallowed the LEDs from turning on by turning off Night Vision mode.

 

In general, you want to enable Night Vision mode on all cameras, since otherwise you won't see anything in the recorded footage if ambient light isn't sufficient.

 

In some special cases, however, turning off Night Vision mode makes sense. For instance if you place a camera indoors behind a window, if Night Vision was activated, and the lighting conditions were so low that the infrared LEDs were to turn on, they'd reflect in the glass pane of the window and blind the camera, rendering the footage (mostly) useless. Though, the other problem in this scenario would be that motion detection would not work through glass with the Arlo Wirefree cameras, but one could use a second camera placed outside as a trigger for the camera inside. The inside camera would have to have Night Vision turned off in this scenario and one would have to make sure that a separate (constant?) light source would be provided to illuminate the scene without requiring the infrared LEDs of the recording camera, since they'd never come on (as Night Vision would be turned off for that camera).


defilade wrote:

But at night the problem is different - it correctly changes to night mode at 8pm, but it continues to show "disarmed" in the app.


I'm not understanding this.

 

What is showing disarmed? Is the Disarmed mode active after 8 pm? Is the running man icon associated with your camera grey after 8 pm, which would indicate the camera is disarmed? If so, then it sounds like you need to adjust your mode that is active after 8 pm (and/or your Schedule), so that the running man icon is black, indicating that the camera is armed.

 

defilade
Apprentice
Apprentice

Schorschi - I appreciate the well-meaning advice but when I say "night mode" it has nothing to do with IR night vision.

 

I simply have two custom modes that I created: one called "day mode" and one called "night mode". The reason for this is that I get more false positives from motion during the day, so my motion sensitivity settings for day mode are significantly lower than for night mode.

Schorschi
Prodigy
Prodigy

Ah, I see.

 

It's the problem with the iOS app displaying the current status incorrectly.

 

Odd, that it would stay in your night mode past its scheduled "shift" change at 6 am. And the running man icon (not in the iOS app) shows the camera being active past 6 am too?

 

Are you sure your schedule is set up correctly? I've never experienced a problem with a mode being incorrectly set by the schedule.

ac5
Aspirant
Aspirant
I have found that I can only trust the mode setting if I am using a laptop or desktop and not a mobile device. If you are using a mobile device and it is on a mode not scheduled, you can do 2 options. One is check it on your computer and not mobile device. The other is I have found if I completely shut off th Arlo app on my mobile device and restart it, the mode will display correctly.

So I think your cameras are in the right mode, it is the mobile app telling you the wrong thing
Bearscreek
Apprentice
Apprentice

I agree. I think it is just the mobile app reporting things incorrectly, which means you just can't trust what it's saying. I haven't really tested everything 100%, but I think most of my scheduling is working correctly. I just can't trust what state the mobile app is telling me things are in at any given time unless I shut down and reopen the app. It hasn't always been this way, though. 

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

A new version of iOS has been released. Please visit the App Store and update to the latest version and let me know if you are still experiencing this behavior.

 

JamesC