Geo-fencing sets to away when home

[IntlAg97]

The issue I'm having is with the geofencing in the latest release (2.2.0_14738) of the Arlo app for Android.

This app is great, but I will have to say that since the latest update, the geofencing auto arm/auto away which was working great for weeks prior (previous version), now sometimes auto triggers away even when at home / not moved.  

I know it's still technically still in beta, but now it will randomly go to away mode when at home where it never did this before in the previous version of the app.  It is not consistent, but mainly within an hour or so of getting back home.  Sometimes it won't ever go back to home, and sometimes it will go to home mode and then back to away, then back home.  Sometimes it works normally.  

If I go into google maps and look at my location (to ensure my phone knows where I am), and into the geofencing mode map and see I'm inside the home area circle, it still can stay at "away".  This is not all the time, but still a bit annoying as I have to sometimes now manually disarm the cameras when I get home.  I'm hoping they can look into the geofencing changes made with the latest android app release.

[jguerdat]

What OS are you using?  I don't use GF but I'm finding that my August SmartLock isn't geofencing well at all recently.  I'm thinking it may have to do with Android 6 and 7's doze mode where apps are suspended during screen off times to save battery.  I've tried using the phone settings, Battery, Battery Optimization to allow August to not be optimized but that doesn't help.  

[IntlAg97]

I'm using Android 6.0.1 on a Samsung Galaxy Edge 7.

This problem happens to happen mainly when I'm coming home. (~80% of the time).

It either doesn't recognize that I've gotten back home, or will go from away to home to away again (all while arriving home).

Even if I go into the app, look at the coverage area and it shows me inside the "home zone", it can refuse to go to home mode if I've just recently arrived.

Oddly enough to your comment about doze mode, it strangely changed mode at 3am the other day while on the charger.  And then back again (flipped to away for a second).  It worked pretty flawlessly in the previous app version.  Be interesting to see what changed with regards to GF in the latest app update.

[rlds]

We are having the same issue since the recent app update.  We have 2 phones included, both Android 6, but since the upate 1 of the 2 phones almost always shows to be away ("Out of zone").  

Sometimes logging out and back in to the app fixes it, but usually not for long as it swtiches back to away mode soon.  The seemed to be working fine until the update.  Increasing the radius from small to large does not help either.  

Let me know if someone figures this out, as the system is not too useful without this feature, as we do not have a regular schedule.  

Thanks,

Russ

[jguerdat]

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IntlAg97 wrote:

I'm using AndroOddly enough to your comment about doze mode, it strangely changed mode at 3am the other day while on the charger.  And then back again (flipped to away for a second).  It worked pretty flawlessly in the previous app version.  Be interesting to see what changed with regards to GF in the latest app update.

---

 We've had similar weirdness with August. It may not detect we're home and then decide we are, maybe hours later. They're working on a beta app only for Android that I've signed up for. I'm not sure what/who to blame - app? OS?

[IntlAg97]

With only one device with the app on it, the system seems to still randomly go to away and then back to home, unprompted, all while at home. Two nights ago it did it at 3am, waking me up. Last night it did it at 1115pm while on the charger. Tonight it did it at 805pm while at home and not charging. It only stays in away mode for a minute or two before reverting to home, but continues to erroneously and randomly go to away while at home.

[pcs0snq]

Mine worked perfect with one device, my iPhone. I added my wifes IPhone and see they have the logic wrong.

Do the developers read these messages??

When both devices are away aka outdide the zone, it should be Armed.
With one OR two inside the fence, it should be diarmed. It's not. It's behaving like they used an AND function. Both have to be in the fence for it to Unarmed. Making it false alarm untill both are home.
Hope they read this and respond and push us a patch.....or is just a site for users to hagle with bugs and best practices???

[IntlAg97]

I certainly hope that the developers read these!

Given I do beta testing on a few other apps, I'm surprised that they put a beta function in a production release app.

Why not have a separate beta version of the app and a complete system for feedback?

Beta seems to be for them simply a tag to use as an excuse for "may not work, so beware" rather than "in testing, looking for bugs and feedback".

I'd be more than willing to do beta testing and feedback, but would hope they would be more responsive.

There now seems to be a disconnect about 30% of the time about whether it thinks I'm home when away and vice versa.

Also, sometimes it shows home (when should be disarmed) and the base station shows "armed".

Is this a problem with the app or base?  I'm willing to bet it's that the app is sending a wrong arm/disarm signal to the base.

At this point, I'm about to stop using GF as it wakes me up with it's random home/away switching in the middle of the night and the random failure to accurately go to the right mode when even the app shows me in the circle.

My personal frustration isn't as much with the hiccups in a beta function, but rather the lack of any feedback for this beta function with the developers.

[JamesC]

pcs0snq,

Geofencing is designed to operate on a "first in, last out basis". This means that if any device is in the Geofencing radius the "Home" mode will enable, and the "Away" mode should only enable when the last device has left the radius.

For this to work be sure the app stays logged in, is running and location is enabled on your devices. If the app is logged off/not running Geofencing will not work.

When using multiple devices, the secondary devices should be logged into the app via shared account through the "Grant Access" feature so that both devices are logged in using the mobile app. Take a look at this article for more information: How do I add and manage multiple mobile devices for geofencing?

If you are having trouble with this, consider refreshing your enabled devices within Geofencing settings. Disable all listed devices, save and then enable the devices again.

Geofencing is still a Beta feature at this time and the engineering team is working hard to improve it. We appreciate any and all feedback related to this feature.

JamesC

[IntlAg97]

It's 1046am and I'm sitting in the middle of my house in my home office and my app alerts me that the system has gone to away mode.

A minute later it alerts me it's gone back to home mode.  This happens about 1-2x a day.

Is there a way to send app diagnostics and would / could anyone look at it to try to solve this?

[JamesC]

IntlAg97,
 
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

[pcs0snq]

Does any user know what the magic step or trick is to get reasonable support on the arlo product? 

I opened a ticket on 10/20 on this problem, Case 27565635 and support has yet to make a single comment back to me. In fact, as a user, we can't even see if support has commented on a case until they close it. All I can do is add to the case or attach things to it.

I also have a Case open on the outside mount (VMA1000) that has a defect. Case 27556904. Same deal on the support, but this one started with a on line report of the issue on 10/19.Seems odd on the mount they can't just say, yea yours is messed up and we'll send a replacement.

On the Gefencing it seems reasonable one of them could just confirm what all of us are reporting ( I think I have read this from 6 users) and let us know they are working with the developers on a fix.

I have seen other comment on support quality, but want to give them a chance before I just return it to Costco. They can build and market cool stuff but the support is looking like a deal breaker to me. 

[Watchalot]

James, I appreciate your advice to call support. I did call and left my phone number, and soonafter, a representative called me back to say he could have a technician configure the IP settings of all 4 cameras in order for the geo fencing to function properly at a very special price of $160.00 USD. Is this a joke or a scam? He also mentioned that since I am an alarm technician myself, he was giving me that price which was reduced to $160.00 for professional courtesy from one tech to another....what kind of bull is this? Does Netgear actually support this ?