Your Arlo device appears offline

[cengle]

Your Arlo device appears offline. Please make sure it is powered on and connected to the Internet.  Well it is and this keeps happening.  i can reboot the station and a camera may come back, but not all.  UI have removed the cameras and re-synced them and they work for a few hours and then i am stuck with the same message.

Your Arlo device appears offline

Please make sure it is powered on and connected to the Internet.

I noticed that i cannot find a way to chat with anyone from netgear customer support also. 

[kimbers4]

This is my issue as well. three of my cameras are now offline and they will not sync with the base.

How do I get them back online.

Thanks.

[mercorelli]

I am experiencing the same issue.

[jguerdat]

Restart the base using the power button. Check the LEDs on the base - should be 3 green ones. Make sure batteries are good. Try syncing by pressing the sync button on the base briefly (<1 second). If no go, you may need to reset the base, remove all devices from Settings, My Devices and use the Add Device button on the Devices tab to add the base and sync the cameras.

[cengle]

Yes, thats exactly what i have been doing.  the cameras work for a little bit after that, but eventually return with the same error message.  somthing with the Arlo system or a firmware update has caused this.  

[defygravity]

Same issue here. Just left for a trip and the base no longer connects to the iOS app. Had a friend reset the base for me and the cameras will not maintain a connection.

[stratos]

 Same problem. Had two offline, rebooted the base and one came back. Today rebooted the base to fix one and after the reboot the one offline came online and another camera went offline. 

[jguerdat]

If the reset isn't helping, open a case with support using the Contact Support link at the bottom of these pages.

[cengle]

I have a case open and so far I have not recieved any support that i have not already tried.  My cameras have been working okay for the last 48 hours, but not as good as they once did.  

[jguerdat]

What kind of WiFi signal level is being shown in Settings, My Devices, your cameras?  Weak signal or interference from othe 2.4GHz wireless devices may be a factor.  Is the battery life about the same as others?  If it's worse, that can also point to the WiFi issues.

[akebkake]

I have experienced same problem with both my cameras.

Fresh batteries, restarted base several times, strong wifi signal on both. Made sure I have latest firmware as well.

Works for some time, then keep falling out. Is it something with the latest firmware updates?

[jguerdat]

PITA, but it may be worth resetting the base, removing all devices in Settings, My Devices and starting over again using the Add Device button on the Devices tab.  Support would have you do this anyways.

[akebkake]

Thanks jguerdat,

I tried that too, two times - just keep falling out after a couple of days.

[jguerdat]

You're left with one option that I see - contact support.  You may have bad hardware.

[kimbers4]

I have six cameras, three are now offline. Took a few months for each but the other three are still working perfectly. The three offline will not reconnect to the base.

is it possible for a camera to just go bad and not work.

[jguerdat]

Certainly can be bad hardware but try removing those cameras from Settings, My Devices followed by opening and closing the battery doors, finishing with a resync. Be sure to only press the base sync button briefly - don't hold it. It could also be that the base nneds to be power cycled so do that first. There's always a possibility that resetting the base, removing all devices and starting fresh may be necessary.

[Berit]

Same thing here but mine happened after I changed batteries. Also my batteries that had been lasting 4 months drained within 4 weeks. Is all of this related to the firmware update?

[Target_Acquired]

I am having the same problem. I have 11 cameras, and only two of them are working. I am not happy at all. I have reset the base and I have resynchronize the cameras.

[Target_Acquired]

Hah, I figured it out and it's SO simple!

The cameras that are offline are simply hosed up and can't work because they need a firmware update.

So here's what you do:

First rule.  Don't panic.  

Second rule.  DO NOT "delete" or "remove" any cameras from your base station.  That'll just screw things up.

Here are the steps to follow:

1.  Open the Arlo app.  Make sure your adobe flash plugin isn't dodgy in your browser, because the web app uses flash.  Yeah, I know; the product is obsolete out of the box.  Take that up with Netgear, willya?

2.  Pick a camera that won't come online.  Ensure the following:

-- 2a.  It has fresh batteries.  Really, these things won't sync if the batteries are low.

-- 2b.  Keep the camera within 3 feet (1 meter) of the base station.

-- 2c.  Perform the normal sync process (3 below).

3.  Again, do NOT delete the camera from your system; that's just not necessary!  Instead, follow the normal sync procedure:

-- 3a.  Press and hold sync on the base station.  Get flashing green light.

-- 3b.  Press and hold sync button on the stubborn camera.  Get flashing blue light.

-- 3c.  They'll sync.  Should be fairly fast.

4.  You're probably not done yet.  Log on to your account in the Arlo app in your desktop web browser (I have no idea if the mobile app works the same; maybe somebody can test it and report here).

5.  In the Arlo App, go to Settings/My Devices.

6.  Your stubborn camera should be connected now and if it needs a firmware update, it will probably have a red triangle ! icon next to it.  Click it.

7.  Next to the "Device Info" row near the bottom of the screen, you'll probably see "Update available".  Note the firmware release (that's the camera's currently-loaded firmware) and click it.

8.  Now you'll see an indicator saying the new version of firmwar that's available.  At this writing, the new version is 1.2.7730.  Click it and confirm the firmware update.  Note:  You must do this.  There is NO other way to get your camera working again.

9.  The camera will take about 2-3 minutes and there'll be a lot of excited light-flashing on the camera.  Let it run.  Don't move the camera out of range from the base station.  Don't try doing more than one camera at a time.  Don't do ANYTHING while the firmware update runs, or you'll brick your camera.

10.  When the firmware update is done, the camera may need a little cajoling to rejoin the family inside of the Arlo application.  Or it may come right back online without any complaints.  You can try a "live view" from the devices tab.  If that doesn't work, or if the camera takes excessively long to show a live view, you might try going into the settings for that camera and try using the zoom or video test settings.  I've had a couple of cameras that seemed to jump right back into the family after I played around with them in the settings.

Root Cause:

Here are the possible root causes for cameras going offline like this.

*  Camera's batterys were dead when a camera firmware update came through. 4 of my cameras had the most current updates, but 7 did not.  2 of the cameras needing firmware had dead batteries, but some needed firmware and did not have dead batteries.  One little outlier had dead batteries but it looks like that little guy had been able to get the firmware update without trouble, probably a few days before the batteries died.

*  Some other problem prevented the camera firmware update from coming through to all cameras in a timely fashion.  Too far from the base station, Halloween spirits blocking the transmission path, they smelled somebody cooking steak and went on strike out of jealousy, who knows.  Then a later base-station firmware update came along and broke the backleveled cameras.  Ouch.

It's all conjecture at this point, but so far my cameras seem to be online.  I'll keep an eye on them in the coming days, but in the meantime I guess this technology needs more hand-holding and technical understanding than originally expected.

I hope this helps at least some of you.

[Target_Acquired]

Okay, an update:

I've had a couple of cameras decide to go offline again, but I was able to re-sync them with the base station.  Not sure why they're doing that.  Maybe one of these firmware updates messed up with the communications.  

I've moved my base unit a bit farther from my wall.  We'll see how it goes.  If necessary, I'll get a really long LAN cable and set the unit about 8 feet up in the air and even further away from the exterior wall (all concrete in my part of the country).

[Berit]

Dude, you are awesome. I tried doing your earlier instructions using my app and it said the camera was linked to the base but not the internet. Also the other cameras all showed battery life left. The offline camera doesn't even show a thing for the battery. Just thought it was odd. But the app didn't allow for a firmware update. I'll try on the laptop next. Thanks again, you rock.

[Target_Acquired]

Which browser are you using?

Firefox wouldn't work for me.  Switching to Chrome (just for this task) got everything to work.  Adobe Flash is managed and updated internally in Chrome, but not in Firefox.  Not sure if that's the issue, but for me Chrome worked when Firefox did not.

I probably should have more clearly stated that in my prior post.

[Target_Acquired]

I also had to reboot my base unit and refresh my browser for one of the cameras. Not sure which action fixed that camera but the camera came back online after that.

[referee77]

I am having the same issue.  I have 4 cameras...one camera continues to "Go Offline".

I have tried all of the suggestions in this post.  I have reset the base station, reset the cameras, removed them all, added them all, etc., etc.  I have VERY strong WiFi throughout my house. I have moved the camera to different locations in the house.  I have moved the non-working camera to a location where a working camera was located.  All firmware is up to date.  All batteries are fully charged.  Needless to say -- I think I have exhaused all options.

I can always get the camera back up and running -- but after an hour or so -- it goes offline again.  It's always the same camera, no matter where it's located.  I even setup the camera right beside the base station, and after about an hour -- it goes offline again.  This sucks!

[JamesC]

referee77,
 
Please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. If you have any additional questions/concerns feel free to private message me. I would be happy to help.

JamesC