Arlo Pro VMS4430 - Fire HD8 will not get notifications

[oillogger]

My Arlo Pro will provide notifications of detection for my Nexus 7 tablet and my cell phone.  I am unable to receive notifications on my Amazon 2016 Fire HD 8 tablet.  The app is installed on the Fire HD 8 and I an make configuration changes, create modes, and arm/disarm my Arlo Pro system.  Is there some trick to get notifications on my Fire HD 8?

[TomMac]

Does the fire HD receive pushes from other apps  ??

[oillogger]

My wife gets Twitter and Printrest alerts on her Fire HD 8.

[TomMac]

Older Kindle Fire WAS supported back in 2015 ( very early 2106 ) and then the app was not updated and would fail

( messg was " your device isn't connected to the internet " )

It could be the app is just not 100% compatible as tho it is android, Amazon has the shell locked down pretty well

[jguerdat]

You could enable email notifications instead.

[oillogger]

I fully understand your answer and believe Amazon likes to lock down their modified version of Android.  My wife's Fire HD 8 gets Twitter, Pinterest, Weather Bug, GMX.com, and Duolingo alerts so this is quite doable.  It appears Netgear needs to update their app for their customers.  "Older Kindle Fire WAS supported back in 2015 ( very early 2106 ) and then the app was not updated"  Apparently, Netgear has known about the issue for quite some time and the Amazon tablets have a nice slice of the tablet market so Netgear is not serving their customers well by not updating the Amazon version of their app for notifications.

[oillogger]

Email alerts would not work for all of the alarm modes I use.  Currently I have my Arlo Pro on mostly 24/7 in the Schedule mode.  At night the siren is activated with both email and alerts activated.  At night we are getting about one alert at night every two weeks and we are slowly adjusting the system to greatly improve upon that.  During the day the siren is deactivated with email alerts turned off and alerts turned on.  This way all activity is recorded unless we are staying outside when our Arlo Pro is temporarily in the Disarmed mode.  Since we utilized multiple email accounts, including our children at their request, it would be a nuisance for all including our children to utilize email alerts during the day as there would be about 4-8 alerts a day.  With the notification alerts only during the day my wife and I are the only ones receiving the notifications and we already expect 95% of them since we are the ones being detected.  My wife has to rely upon her Fire HD 8 tablet since their is not a Arlo app available for the version of Android on her phone and it cannot be updated.  The way we are utilizing our Arlo Pro allows us to record all comings and goings around our home without causing an unnecessary commotion and the video information is always available if needed.  Normally less than one minute of video is recorded per day. 

Bottom Line: It sure would be nice if Netgear would get around to updating their Amazon app to provide notifications for the newer Fire tablets.

[oillogger]

Email alerts would not work for all of the alarm modes I use.  Currently I have my Arlo Pro on mostly 24/7 in the Schedule mode.  At night the siren is activated with both email and alerts activated.  At night we are getting about one alert at night every two weeks and we are slowly adjusting the system to greatly improve upon that.  During the day the siren is deactivated with email alerts turned off and alerts turned on.  This way all activity is recorded unless we are staying outside when our Arlo Pro is temporarily in the Disarmed mode.  Since we utilized multiple email accounts, including our children at their request, it would be a nuisance for all including our children to utilize email alerts during the day as there would be about 4-8 alerts a day.  With the notification alerts only during the day my wife and I are the only ones receiving the notifications and we already expect 95% of them since we are the ones being detected.  My wife has to rely upon her Fire HD 8 tablet since their is not a Arlo app available for the version of Android on her phone and it cannot be updated.  The way we are utilizing our Arlo Pro allows us to record all comings and goings around our home without causing an unnecessary commotion and the video information is always available if needed.  Normally less than one minute of video is recorded per day. 

Bottom Line: It sure would be nice if Netgear would get around to updating their Amazon app to provide notifications for the newer Fire tablets.

[jguerdat]

Fwiw, email notifications are on an individual basis while push notifications are on or off. The only way to change that behavior is to check the phone/tablet settings and verify that the Arlo app has notifications enabled. I doubt seriously it's this setting but it's worth a check.

[oillogger]

Been there done that before the first posting....thanks for suggesting it.

[oillogger]

To insure there is no misunderstanding, I am a fan of Netgear products and currently own a Netgear Arlo Q, Arlo Pro four camera, CM500 modem, as well as a r7000 router.  My statements here are to hopefully correct the short comings of the Netgear products that are needed by my family.  It is apparent Netgear does listen to their customers as I have experience with the Arlo product line.  First the Arlo, then the Arlo Q with higher resolution geofencing, and AC powered, followed by the Arlo Q Plus with the onboard memory storage and wired capability, the Arlo Pro that eliminates purchasing expensive batteries and with onboard memory storage, the skins/camouflage, baby cam, and action cam.  More of the customers desires were being provided as each new Arlo product was released.  Kudos for Netgear for their improvements but they really need to update their Amazon app for an issue that seems to be ongoing for about one year affecting quite a few customers.

[fuzzypixel]

Since Amazon doesnt support google services on their Android operating system fork the app needs to be updated to work with the push notification system which Amazon uses for its devices and looks like it hasn't been.

[oillogger]

fuzzypixel, please restate your post so as to be more clearer.  I think I know your point but would like to be sure about it.

[fuzzypixel]

Just trying to explain the likely reason why there app doesn't receive notifications. Nothing can be done until they start supporting Amazon's way of sending notifications.

[jguerdat]

Or Amazon supports the standard Android method.

[oillogger]

Amazon does not necessarily have to support the Android standard since the impact is minimal for them in comparison to Netgear's exposure as this will not usually be a deal breaker for the Amazon tablet purchaser.  Netgear on the other hand creates the apps for Apple, Android, Amazon, etc. so their customers will want to purchase their Arlo products therefore the impact to Netgear is a very direct one.  If some of the customers cannot use Netgear's Arlo products effectively and conveniently then their Arlo sales fall off.

[jguerdat]

Probably not because of Kindle issues. Same thing with Windows phones - probably not gonna happen. You have to pick your battles somewhere.

[oillogger]

It is never a battle for the customer to fight as the customer is not bound to a particular product line and is always free to move at will on to a competitors product.  It is a battle for Netgear to maintain their customer base and to continue to grow their market share so it is always in Netgear's best interest to resolve as many of the issues as possible.  From what I have seen with the Arlo product line Netgear has addressed most of the customers concerns and needs.   Maybe they will soon find my issue important enough to take care of.  Netgear will never know about any issues unless you bring them up and state the importance of to the customer as I have here.  Hopefully Netgear has listened.

[JamesC]

oillogger,

What version of Android is running on your kindle?

JamesC

[oillogger]

My wife's Fire HD 8 is updated to the latest version of android available from Amazon which is Fire OS 5.3.2.1.