Geofencing

[hardingr2000]

I now have geofencing on my app. I turned it on yesterday and my battery consumption for Arlo went through the roof. I do not have it turned on today and Arlo is still the big consummer of the battery. Yesterday Arlo did not report very many recordings (maybe 10 at the very most).I am home today and have it disarmed. What can I do?

[jguerdat]

I had geofencing turned on yesterday on one camera and all seemed well - no dramatic drop of battery. Maybe a base restart and/or camera battery door opening and closing to reset the camera(s)

[hardingr2000]

I should have been a little clearer. The battery consumption occurred on my iPhone. The Arlo app was the high consumer. It is my guess that the process of checking the location of the smartphone on some predetermined schedule is what consumes the battery. Netgear needs to publish how the geolocation process works and how it affects battery usage.

[Good2U]

Isn't geofencing a bit too high tech?  Frankly, I can "geo-fence" like this:  When my phone is connected to my home wi-fi, I'm "home" and when it's NOT, I'm "away".  No need for location services that drain the battery.

[hardingr2000]

The reason I thought geofencing was a good idea is that I don't have to fumble with my smartphone to disarm my system as I approach my house. I like to turn Arlo off (disarm) before it starts recording my arrival and notifying me of something I am already aware of. 

I would still like to know if the location service functionality of geofencing is the reason for the drain on my battery. I would imagine it will also increase the data usage charges on my AT&T cell phone plan as it must transmit my location while on the road via my 4G cell phone connection.

[jguerdat]

Can't speak for iOS but my Android phone didn't deplete the battery and I'm using the High Accuracy setting which would potentially drain the most.  Sounds like an iOS issue.

[hardingr2000]

Does your Android device provide a battery usage percentage by applications?

I know iOS (Apple) has been having problems with battery consumption by applications. I would think that if the usage of the location functionality by the Arlo application is the same whether installed on iOS or Andriod device, then a similar depletion of the battery would be seen on both devices. Maybe I have not set something up correctly or maybe it is that, while I am at work, the connectivity to wi-fi at the office comes and goes depending on where I am in the building. I guess it is possible that Arlo or the location services application is constantly trying to determine my location because of this. I wish someone with more information on how this works would chime in to this discussion.

[JamesC]

I have escalated this topic to be reviewed by the Beta team. We appreciate the great feedback you have provided and encourage you to continue to do so throughout the Beta process.

Thank you for your contribution,

JamesC

[jguerdat]

---

hardingr2000 wrote:

Does your Android device provide a battery usage percentage by applications?

---

Yes, Android shows which app is ducking battery by viewing the battery stats.

[WazzoJ]

---

Good2U wrote:

Isn't geofencing a bit too high tech?  Frankly, I can "geo-fence" like this:  When my phone is connected to my home wi-fi, I'm "home" and when it's NOT, I'm "away".  No need for location services that drain the battery.

---

This is really a much better solution, I hope Netgear will take notice of this and add the feature.

[hardingr2000]

The issue with Arlo knowing you are home by checking to see if you are connected to your home wi-fi is the distance between your phone and your wi-fi. Certain places around my home/property are outside or just at the border of connectivity. Therefore my system would be turning on and off more frequently for me than it might be for you or someone else. Your idea is a good option for Arlo to have though.

I would like geofencing, if it doesn't drain my iPhone battery, because it would arm and disarm my system when I was outside the motion detector sensor range, therefore eliminating me as a recording. Right now I have to fumble with my iPhone (not a good idea while driving) as I am approaching home or leaving to deal with it.

[Spridell]

I just started using Geo Fencing on my Android.

One thing I noticed is that the ARLO app HAS to be running in the background for it to work.  If you close your app it WILL NOT work anymore.    Thus pinging your location a lot and depleting your battery.

Now i know there is a way around this because I am also using Dropcam cameras with geofencing and that app does NOT have to always be running in the background for it to work.

[Wehttam]

I found many interesting about geofencing https://applidium.com/en/news/whats_geofencing/. It may anwer your questions.

[hardingr2000]

Based on the information in the https://applidium.com/en/news/whats_geofencing/ link, geofencing uses cell tower and wi-fi to determine location.

In my case, while at the office where wi-fi is available, but where cell service is intermitant, might I expect excessive battery consumption as my iOS/geofencing functionality bounces back and forth between access to cell tower triangulation and wi-fi in an attempt at determining my location?? Or is my excessive battery consumption a function of my iOS being almost constantly attempting to establish cell tower service? 

[Broilerman]

I can't seem to get the arlo app to access my GPS unless I open the app. Really like the WiFi idea. Seems alot easier.

[oillogger]

I also agree with WazzoJ about using the connection to your WiFi as a way to arm or disarm the Arlo system as also being my desired method.  Having said that there are some with a poorer WiFi network range that will end up setting off their Arlo before their phone/tablet was detected their WiFi network.  My WiFi blasts a ways outside my Home so this is not an issue for me. WiFi arming/disarming would still work for me if I had the original Arlo cameras mounted outside since I can connect to my WiFi network as far as 100-200 feet away from my home.

[oillogger]

The Arlo app having to be always active checking your location for the Geo-Fencing mode to work makes sense since there has to be a way for the system to actively know where you are located at all times for fairly quick arming and disarming.  I have changed the location services for my phone to only use celluar and WiFi to see if that drains my battery as much as with GPS services also.  I will do a quick test to see if the arming/disarming works well enough for me without GPS services.  I will also test to see if my Arlo will arm and disarm with the app apparently "off" by not being displayed as open.  I would like to know the results for others and any suggestions.

[oillogger]

When you are in an area of poor celluar reception your phone has to transmit with more power to communicate with the cell phone tower.  This kills your phone battery.  Try switching to airplane mode or some battery saving app that will automatically switch to airplace mode while at the office.  Then your location will be determined only by the available WiFi signal.  Location accuracy for the Arlo to arm/disarm is not an issue when you are over a mile away from your Arlo system.   Sometimes I get three days out of a fully charged battery with my phone.  Put me in an area with poor celluar reception for about 8 hours each day and I have to charge my phone every night.

[hardingr2000]

How do you control whether Arlo uses GPS or not? In iPhone "Settings" for Arlo there is Location which I currently have set to Never and Cell Data which I have turned on. Set this way is Arlo going to use cell and wi-if for determining where I am?

[oillogger]

I went into the master control of the phone under location settings.  I have an Anroid phone and the mode selections available were GPS/WiFi,/Celluar for high accuracy, WiFi/Celluar for battery saving, or GPS only. I assume the GPS is the battery killer.

[Spridell]

---

oillogger wrote:

The Arlo app having to be always active checking your location for the Geo-Fencing mode to work makes sense since there has to be a way for the system to actively know where you are located at all times for fairly quick arming and disarming.  I have changed the location services for my phone to only use celluar and WiFi to see if that drains my battery as much as with GPS services also.  I will do a quick test to see if the arming/disarming works well enough for me without GPS services.  I will also test to see if my Arlo will arm and disarm with the app apparently "off" by not being displayed as open.  I would like to know the results for others and any suggestions.

---

Dropcam also uses geo-fencing and it DOES NOT have to be always active for it to work.

Must be code that ARLO uses that requires the app to always hve to be running in the background.  

[oillogger]

As I figured, the Arlo app has to be on to continually know where you are located in order to arm/disarm the Arlo system correctly.  Detection messages do not require the Arlo app to be opened since they are pushed down to your phone via WiFi or cellular.   To test Geo-fencing I left the house with my Arlo app not opened but set in Geo-Fencing mode.  The location setting were on battery saver of determining location only by WiFi and cellular.  GPS was turned off.  My Arlo Q did not arm until I opened the app three miles away.  While away I had my wife go where the Arlo Q was located and allow it to detect her.  I got an alert of motion detection within 3-5 seconds.  Once I got home I had to wait about a minute before I got an alert saying my Arlo Q was disarmed.  I checked and the GPS on my phone was still disabled.  Yesterday with GPS enabled the system armed and disarmed much quicker.  The bottom line is for Geo-fencing to automatically arm/disarm your Arlo system you always have your Arlo app open.  Also you can save your phone battery by disabling the GPS but be aware you may have a slight delay and wait until your Arlo system disarms.

[oillogger]

Spridell, apps in general will automatically check for updates, alerts, messages, etc. without being opened.  You may not have a app opened but the app is never completely inactive.  There are still some functions are still operating unless you forced the app to stop. It appears the Dropcam app may have location reporting still working when closed.  I suggest forcing the Dropcam app to stop in your phone settings and see if your Dropcam will continue to arm/disarm correctly.

[Spridell]

---

oillogger wrote:

Spridell, apps in general will automatically check for updates, alerts, messages, etc. without being opened.  You may not have a app opened but the app is never completely inactive.  There are still some functions are still operating unless you forced the app to stop. It appears the Dropcam app may have location reporting still working when closed.  I suggest forcing the Dropcam app to stop in your phone settings and see if your Dropcam will continue to arm/disarm correctly.

---

If I go to my apps and hit close ALL apps, Dropcam will still work even after I close, Arlo will NOT. I have to go in and sign in again to arlo for GEO to start working again.  Now when you close the Arlo app it automatically signs you out.  Dropcam DOES NOT.  So thats something they need to write into their code and fix.  

[oillogger]

Spridell, Your Dropcam app is still running in the background when closed and never allows you to easily sign out of your account since it has to continually report your location.  Go into your phone settings and force your Dropcam app to stop.  It probably will stop them.  I rather have the ability to log of my account out by closing my account instead of having to force it to stop.  The constant reporting of your location does consume some battery power.  With the Arlo you just close the app and your not logged in saving a little more battery power.  With the Dropcam it not so easy in. The H-U-G-E thing I did not like about the Dropcam is having to pay for the ongoing script for cloud storage.