Arlo - Geofencing - keeps cycling from home and away mode whilst Im at home! Its driving me craz

[mattmairead]

Arlo - Geofencing - keeps cycling from home to away mode whilst I'm at home - sending me a message each time (every 30 seconds or so.  Its driving me crazy!! 

Also im not convinced that the motion detection range is any where near 8M.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Matt

[jguerdat]

Try increasing the geofencing area for home, perhaps to large.  Could also be that your phone's location service is switching between GPS and cell/WiFi location.

[ecliptic1101]

I'm having the same issue with Arlo App notifying me HOME & AWAY MODE. It cycles back and forth too often. 

I read the Arlo representatives response and that's not a great solution. There's going to be more and more people having this issue and this is more of a product improvement opportunity. 

FOR EXAMPLE -- since I have a base station and my phone is usually connected to wifi -- can't my phone alert the base station I'm at home and ping it that way to let it know that I'm home? Also, I have it set to the large radius option in the Geo Fencing setting and that still doesn't work. 

Again - the response provided by the rep was not a good response. But, I guess I can also interpret it as it is what it is and that's how the product works and we aren't going to change it. Can I hear a response from the pricipal product team? Because, this is a customer experience for both the product and support. Which ultimately comes down to us not using the product and us telling other people not to use the product. 

I also have NEST and will easily switch back over to them. I don't care if I pay more. I've already spent $1000 with Netgear for something that isn't working great. It works...meh - okay. I'm looking for a better customer response from NetGear. 

[JamesC]

ecliptic1101,

From your description it sounds like your mobile device may be losing GPS signal. When you notice it cycling between home and away, does your mobile device indicate that it is also cycling location?

JamesC

[Shermanarlo]

That is probably what is happening to me, losing gps signal
Is there anything I can do about this?

[jguerdat]

If you're losing the GPS signal, that's a location or phone problem. Other location settings can also use cell tower and WiFi location to aid accuracy so be sure to use that.

[Jeffhtg]

I have a galaxy s8 with wifi scanning & bluetooth sanning both on. location method is set to high accuracy.

It is retarded that Arlo has this problem considering I have a flagship phone. They should know these problems would exist... that is people in their homes would not have good gps signal. They should know we want to use these devices in our homes to protect them. They should come up with a better solution!

[Enigma007]

I too am having this same issue on a Galaxy S7. Arlo is constantly telling me that Im away from home when I havent even moved my phone and Im sitting on my couch... Im not losing GPS signal or any connectivity for that matter...When the issue occurs I immediately check my GPS position and also open Google Maps (and Arlo) to check where I am on the map and my phone is still sitting fine within my home location. I have high accuracy set for my phone's location settings as well. I dont have any third party apps tied into Arlo either... I only have geofencing enabled and Im seriously starting to get upset about this simple geofencing task failing every hour or so on me... I already spent good money on one Arlo Q and I also have two Arlo Q Plus units on their way to me in the mail because until this geofencing thing syatyed driving me nuts, I was super thrilled with these Arlo cameras; but because of this Im getting ready to just return all of them at this point. Im an IT professional and I consider myself an expert with this type of technology. Ill give Netgear the benefit of the doubt to post some other solutions soon or explain to me how an Android's phone settings somehow need to be tweaked to resolve this...but I've tested everything I can think of already and the problem persists. Ive even tried making the Arlo app un-optimized for battery settings (so that the Arlo app could chew up all the battery it wants to keep checking my location or whatever it needs to do, and to no avail, Arlo still tells me Im AWOL from my home). Netgear, as some others pointed out so eloquently; you folks really should consider adding a secondary method in the app thay can allow customers to enable an alternate geofencing method to have the phone disarm the camera in the presence of certain network objects or pings...How about if the phone is connected on the same WiFi network (SSID) that the Arlo devices are living on...and when the phone and Arlo's see each other locally (just like when you firstrun the Arlo camera discovery and setup for the first time) then enable the Home geofencing mode...or how about when the phone is home and can ad-hoc ping the Arlo cameras right next to it, then enable to home geofencing?... something, anything. ***This issue is creating so many false-positives for me and obviously others using Arlo, that it increases the risk that we get desensitized and stop paying attention to these spam alerts, and then the cameras purpose to prevent issues in realtime by using motion alerts and recording etc then inherently becomes useless. Right now as I write this my phone is blowing up with Arlo alerts and its 1:32 AM for me...is it an intruder, or is it Arlo imagining Ive left my home again? I dont know...because Im done checking on it lol...hope its not a real intruder though. Come on and help us figure this out Netgear, please and thanks! PS- for giggles Im going to set my Arlo geofence to a LARGE radius and test it oer Netgear's comment; but Im so confident that this isnt the issue that Im willing to bet you folks over at Netgear for an Arlo Q unit. How does that sound?! 😉 Please say yes.

[ecliptic1101]

I would recommend reading Enigma007's post in our thread. He says it very well. I firmly agree that you Arlo developers need to take into consideration on how their product and app communicate to validate the presence of the user's location. Obviously, this is an issue for many users and for those who are working within the IT industry. 

This would be a silly and sounds like a workable fix within the code on how it verifies a users presense at home and away. The reason this is a hot topic is that this is an important feature and simple. But because it's not being addressed as a flaw in Arlo's code and it's an issue with the user's phone then that's where I draw the line and quit a product and spread the word not to buy said product. 

Again -- my Nest camera doesn't have this issue and geo fencing works great! I'm trying to help Arlo. I've made an account and have taken the time to write to you guys twice. When does development or engineering care what customers think?  Let me guess...until it impacts the bottomline...and it will. 

Please forward our concerns to development's product manager. 

[cricenog]

I'm having the exact same issue, has anyone found a fix? I like arlo and have purchased multiple cameras, not a fan of Nest but if I need to switch to have geofencing work it might be something to consider. Anyone know if this issue is logged with engineering? Thanks!

[Mikeonz]

I too have a Galaxy 7 with high accuracy location set and geofencing keeps switching from home and away so it's unusable..

[JamesC]

Mikeonz,

Engineering is currently investigating this issue. I will post an update when I have more information.

JamesC

[SallyC]

---

JamesC wrote:

Mikeonz,

Engineering is currently investigating this issue. I will post an update when I have more information.

JamesC

---

Thanks, JamesC, for bringing this to their attention. I also have this issue with my Galaxy S6.  It also is set to high accuracy with wifi scanning.  I recently installed a Nest Protect Smoke and CO detector which seems to have no problem using my phone to know when I'm home or away, but Geofencing on my Arlo app goes back and forth while I'm sitting in the same chair.  I finally stopped using it so it would be nice to get it fixed.

[Rickenator]

I have a similar issue. iPhone 6 running IOS 10.3.3

After I have been home for a few minutes the system rearms. When I look at the map in settings for geofencing, it shows me a few blocks away and then it shows me quickly moving back home where I am and then it disarms the system again.

It’s as if once you move away from the app to another app or the phone screen goes off, you start to drift away from where you really are.

I only have my one phone registered to this account.

[ecliptic1101]

Hi There, yeah - we're all screaming about how silly it is. If you read more through these threads of the cycling issue, we hate that arlo's app is working "by design." it's a flawed design. The app should be "smart" or "logical" enough to know when you are home by "pinging" the base station that we have or notice that it's using the local wifi and lease out its local IP. The developers claim that it's our phones dropping the local wifi and switching to gps mode. Unlikely, because there have been tests where I have even turned off my gps and over the air connection. I have had a reply from someone from Arlo who said this was rolled up to the developer team. 

[mikepl]

Same here. Samsung Notes 5 on same wifi network as arol (same band - 2.4 ghz). Location service is High Accuracy with wifi scanning on and BT scanning off.  GPS location history shows same location (xx degree yy' zz.zzzz" N, aa degree bb' cc.cccc" W) from 1.5 hours ago til now and my arlo cycled between home and away at least 4 times.  So if Arlo quries my location, it would have been the same during the time it switches between home and away mode.  According to the location service, arlo is one of the apps that had recent location requests.

[djsassan]

Add me to the list.  

I have been dealing with people from Arlo since March.  It is now the end of July, and the issue is not resolved.  I have spent $1,000 with Arlo since November.  Geofencing was GREAT until March, when an update was done on either Android or on the Arlo app.   This thing works randomly, on/off as it wants to.  Beyond frustrated, beyond annoyed.  What a great concept, what a great idea, but what a failure in execution. 

I have dealing directly with an engineer in this time, and I appreciate the individual attention.  But, the item is a failure, point blank.  I am an IT professional as well, and if I released a product for use, and it were to perform like the Arlo...... would be looking for my next job.

This is unacceptable, and the lack of response is disturbing.

Arlo, ball is in your court now.  

[mattmairead]

I've had enough! The number of notifications I receive due to the geofencing issue is rediculous and I've stopped checking the alerts thus renering the sysytem useless.

I've notified Maplins that I'm returning the Arlo 3 Cam Kit and expect a full refund of £359.99.

Netgear you have had plenty of time to sort this out and can see you only losing more customers if this continues.

Good luck!

Matt

[JamesC]

If after exhausting the troubleshooting mentioned in this thread above you are still experiencing an issue with Geofencing, I encourage you to contact the Arlo Support team and log a case. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link: Arlo Support Team

JamesC

[ecliptic1101]

James,

Why can't you forward this thread to the support manager and make them aware of this community driven thread that already explains the situation. Since we already paid NetGear -- why can't the support team then start logging the issue and reach out to the end-users via email instead of putting the entire burden on us?  You are the product and the community has responded that there are issues with GeoFencing and we have already made suggestions -- what else does support need from us for you to open up a case that benefits this group?

[JamesC]

ecliptic1101,

The issues discussed here have already been escalated to the engineering team and they are currently investigating this topic. It wasn't my intention to suggest that the issue had not already been raised. Opening support cases for each individual experiencing the issue provides engineering with more data. My post above was made to encourage users to open support cases. I can always assist in opening cases if you're having trouble.

JamesC

[Chiel_Gorgon]

Hi all,

I experience the same. I also just logged a case for this.

In short the issue: 

While geofencing is activated and 'detection' circle (the green circle) set to large, the app keeps cycling between home mode and away mode, so detecting my Android phone to be in and outside the large green circle.

My Android phone is always set to highest GPS accuracy and I experience this behavior only with the Arlo app. Any other app like Google Maps, or the app "Home Security Camera - Alfred" continuously detects my location perfectly and very precisely, even when I am inside my house.

Of course my phone is fully updated and I use the latest version of the Arlo app.

What I think is causing the issue:

Apparently the Arlo app works with an -as I call it- uncertainty blue circle around the blue dot that represents my location. I see this blue circle is varying in size and sometimes it is as large as the green circle, probably hence detecting the phone to be outside the green circle zone.

I do not know why the Arlo app is using this 'uncertainty' blue circle, but this seems to be causing the issue. Why is it varying in size? Why using this blue circle around the blue dot at all?

My suggestion; skip the 'uncertainty' blue circle and just use the blue dot (like Google Maps) and when the small blue dot is within the green circle zone, Arlo should be in home mode, when the small blue dot is outside the green circle, Arlo should be in away mode. Then we can also all use the middle or small green circle. The large green circle is really far too large... 😉

You could also have a look at the free app "Home Security Camera - Alfred", this one is doing a very good job in using the location for geofencing. Maybe there are some ideas in there that can be used to improve the Arlo app, especially regarding geofencing / detecting the location?

Truly hope this can be solved soon, as this seems to be an issue with multiple other users and makes geofencing quite useless.

[Chiel_Gorgon]

OK, I received on Friday 4 August immediatly response from Netgear Support with some suggestions to try:

* Set WiFi settings

* Change battery management of Arlo app

I tried the suggestions and tested it over this weekend. It might have improved a bit, but the issue is still persistent; it keeps cycling between home and away mode while the phone is on the same location within the green home zone circle.

Those were the suggesions:

- GPS or location services are turned on.
- Please make sure that your mobile device is connected to the 2.4 GHz network of your home router.
- WiFi is always on on your mobile device.
- Make sure that if your phone goes to sleep mode it is still connected to WiFi.

Something else that causes issues with Geofencing is the battery management of mobile devices.
1) Go to the settings, this is something you can adjust on the home screen so it is wherever you save it. If you deleted the icon, drag down the top of the screen, then drag it down a second time, in the upper right is the gear icon that takes you to settings.
2) Go to "Device Maintenance".
3) Click on "Battery".
4) To the right of the circle with your percentage in the middle, click on the "Battery Usage" button.
5) In the upper right are the three dots, click on that and select "Optimize battery usage".
6) Where it says "App not optimized," click on it and select "All apps".
7) Scroll to Arlo, and turn it off.
😎 Restart your phone.

Finally Support provided an article:

https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/android-basics-disable-doze-app-standby-for-individual-apps-0...

[Crozier]

Something else that causes issues with Geofencing is the battery management of mobile devices.
1) Go to the settings, this is something you can adjust on the home screen so it is wherever you save it. If you deleted the icon, drag down the top of the screen, then drag it down a second time, in the upper right is the gear icon that takes you to settings.
2) Go to "Device Maintenance".
3) Click on "Battery".
4) To the right of the circle with your percentage in the middle, click on the "Battery Usage" button.
5) In the upper right are the three dots, click on that and select "Optimize battery usage".
6) Where it says "App not optimized," click on it and select "All apps".
7) Scroll to Arlo, and turn it off.
😎 Restart your phone.

On the Android Battery Management App; you also need to activate the App power saving by clicking "DETAIL" and then disabling Arlo from the auto power save. 

I'm having the same issues with Geofencing, only double as my wife's phone also runs the Arlo app and is set to Geofencing. We both get false alerts. Both running latest android

[Rickenator]

Has anyone heard of any progress on this issue?