Unable to rename/change shared original Arlo camera's names in my separate Arlo 2 Pro account.

[ant]

Hello.

In my old Arlo 2 Pro account (newer and a few years old), I'm unable to change/rename shared original Arlo camera's names in two different iPhones (12 mini and 11 Pro Max with iOS v15.2.1). These original Arlo cameras are in the other account hence the granted shared access to avoid paid subscriptions with more than five cameras for each base station.

When changing their names in iOS app with Arlo 2 Pro account, they don't change. They do change if I do it in 64-bit W10 Pro's Firefox v96.0.1 web browser, but those name changes don't show up in iPhones' Arlo's iOS apps with Arlo Pro 2 account logged in.

I tried uninstalling, redownloading, and reinstalling iOS app. Same for shutting down and starting up iPhone to reboot it. If I use the old original Arlo account with their original Arlo hardwares, then I can see their name changes. I just don't see the changes in Arlo 2 Pro account's shared cameras.

Is anyone else having this problem too? They all have the (new/lat)est updates. I'm just physically switching and renaming original Arlo cameras connected to the original base station via an Arlo Pro 2 account.

I really hope I don't have to take the high cameras down to resynch since that's very annoying. 😞

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. 🙂

[jguerdat]

Any naming for an account that was granted access has to be done on that account. Changing names on the master account doesn't reflect to cameras that were granted access to another account. 

[ant]

jguerdat: I already changed their names in ALL accounts (changing original granted shared Arlo cameras' names in an Arlo Pro 2 account). 😞

[jguerdat]

I think you misunderstand although I could be wrong (I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken).

On the account where you see the cameras that were granted access (NOT the primary account for those cameras), edit the names in the camera settings. They were assigned the same names as those used in the primary account initially but will not auto-update the name when the primary account changes the name. As the user who was granted access to those cameras, you must edit the names yourself to match.

[ant]

I was changing the granted accessed cameras in the other account. Here's how it is laid out: Original Arlo (original base station and its cameras from early 2015). I gave access to the newer account that has Arlo Pro 2 base station and its cameras. Both stations are using free setups (no paid subscriptions) with their five maximum cameras for each account's base station. When logged into Arlo Pro 2 account (a different e-mail address), I'm unable to change the granted original Arlo cameras' names.

[StephenB]

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@ant wrote:

I was changing the granted accessed cameras in the other account. Here's how it is laid out: Original Arlo (original base station and its cameras from early 2015). I gave access to the newer account that has Arlo Pro 2 base station and its cameras. Both stations are using free setups (no paid subscriptions) with their five maximum cameras for each account's base station. When logged into Arlo Pro 2 account (a different e-mail address), I'm unable to change the granted original Arlo cameras' names.

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What happens if you change the names in the original account?  

[ant]

StephenB: They do change correctly in original account.

[StephenB]

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@ant wrote:

StephenB: They do change correctly in original account.

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Ok.

So the issue is that you can't then go in a change the camera names  from the friend account?

[ant]

StephenB: Yup!

[StephenB]

Maybe unshare, and then send a new invitation?

[ant]

Dang it. I made it worse after deleting and then reinviting. After I log into the create e-mails' invitation links (https://my.arlo.com/?registrationToken=...), I get "We are sorry, the database service is currently down. Please try again." error. So, I can't see the old original Arlo cameras anymore for now. 😞

[ant]

I see this is a known issue from https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-2/database-service-currently-down-message/m-p/1849371 thread, but I want to REUSE my old existing Arlo e-mail address. Argh. 😞

[ant · Accepted solution]

Finally! It works after a few more attempts and thinking. The only differences this time:

1. In my iPhone 12 mini (iOS v15.2.1)'s Arlo iOS app, removed the pending shared invitation and resend it to the same e-mail address.
2. Logged out iOS app.
3. Went to my PC, open that invited e-mail, and clicked on its link in Firefox v96.0.2 web browser. Used its log in option and not create option. Logged in with its usual 2FA. Saw no DB error message this time and finally saw all my shared cameras with their correct names!

Wow, that was a pain in the butt. I wonder if Arlo fixed it, or I got lucky?