Hey Siri or Hey Google, ARM ARLO CAMERAS - How come we don't have this feature yet? It's Dec. 2

[FrankdeJong]

I would love the ability to use Arlo with my Homekit automations ("when last person leaves house, turn off lights, arm Arlo", etc.). I know arm/disarm is available in the Arlo app itself, but I want it to work together with all the other smart gadgets in my house.

This has never officially been supported, but I know that prior to 2-Factor-Authentication being implemented for Arlo, some enthusiasts managed to make it work through Homebridge (attached is an image showing proof of that). So this means it's technically possible, and it must certainly be possible for the Arlo engineers themselves. 

So I'm wondering why this simple - but super powerful- functionality has never been made available. There have been multiple discussions about this in the past, but they all died about 2 years ago, so I'm wondering if there maybe are some new answers?

[FrankdeJong]

Hi FrankdeJong,

We appreciate your feedback. The suggestions made here are noted and will be passed along to the development team.

[JessicaP]

Hi FrankdeJong,

We appreciate your feedback. The suggestions made here are noted and will be passed along to the development team.

[LoneStar1776]

"Hey Siri or Hey Google, ARM ARLO CAMERAS"
- OR- 
"Hey Siri or Hey Google, DISARM ARLO CAMERAS"

How come we don't have this feature yet? It's Dec. 2021

[JBinAussie]

And here we are almost 6 months later and nothing has happened. Why is this so difficult to implement?

[Srikp14]

I believe arming the cameras/base station through Apple homekit is a must-have feature. I am not sure why it is not available only in the Apple ecosystem. It is available on google and amazon. 

[mrterrycook]

This remains the single greatest deficiency in the Arlo Homekit integration. Please put some priority on this long-ignored function.

[winzilla]

Still no news on this end, extremely frustrating considering that the geofencing does not work reliably at all if you have mire then one person living in the household. I seriously will rethink to change to another brand if this basic must have feauture will not be available soon. 

[jcrain]

You are right @winzilla.

Despite Arlo saying they have fixed the auto-log out issue with the iphone app, I still find that both my phone and my wife's phone is randomly logged out after just a week or two, which means geofencing does not work reliably.

She would happily trash the lot of them but the cost of replacing a 10 camera system is prohibitive. Homekit looked like a neat workaround, but that was a false hope.

[miguelcma]

It's a shame that after 6+ years this is still not possible.

It's a shame because Arlo supports Homekit for the image stream, which would be the hardest part. And it works pretty well. In fact, everything works pretty well on Arlo, except this single thing.

You say that you'll add support for it and then nothing happens.

I'm most probably getting rid of ALL my 6 Arlo cameras due to this, and move to another brand.

Please understand this, Arlo: WE-REALLY-NEED-HOME-KIT-ARM-DISARM-INTEGRATION. Did you get the message?   I'll say it again: WE-REALLY-NEED-HOME-KIT-ARM-DISARM-INTEGRATION.

[kaycee7485]

There is still no update. 

I‘m sure that it won‘t take too long anymore until most people will switch to other cameras like Eufy etc. It‘s a joke how Arlo ignores the community and never provides any feedback. 

[BrookeN]

Please follow the troubleshooting steps within the link below:

https://kb.arlo.com/000062777/About-Arlo-Routines-Modes-Rules-and-Automations

[miguelcma]

lol BrookeN ?

Are you kidding me?! You're just pasting a URL of the documentation that doesn't say anything about Homekit.

Dude, we know that you can arm/disarm through your app. We need it through Homekit. This is the discussion here!

Seriously, please do not pull the wool over our eyes. We need a solution. We pay tons of money for your system and we just want a proper integration with Homekit. Really.

[Srikp14]

This is not what this thread is about. We need Arlo cameras to be armed/disarmed through Apple Homekit. It is high time now as Google and Amazon already have this feature for Arlo cameras. I am not recommending Arlo to any potential buyers unless this feature is added. I will consider getting out of the Arlo system as well.

[miguelcma]

I'm getting rid of my Arlo cameras (6 mine and more than 20 in all my companies) and moving to another brand really soon, due to the lack of Homekit full integration (automations).

The only thing that Arlo says for years and years is "We appreciate your feedback. The suggestions made here are noted and will be passed along to the development team.". Bla bla bla. This is unacceptable.

[mthwbchn]

I found a partial workaround for this. I’ve set up HomeKit notifications for “when nobody is home”, for each Arlo camera, via the Status and Notifications item in the Accessory Settings panel. Then I disabled the option for the Arlo app to notify me (in iOS Notification settings for the Arlo app), and set my cameras to Armed mode. Now I get HomeKit notifications of movement when the family is out. I presume this uses more battery power to leave the cams armed all the time. Any other problems with this approach?

[hjbergmans]

Has anyone found a solution to the Arm/Disarm though Homekit issue?

[JwC70]

If they had 4k cameras I would