Can't Add Homekit on VMB4000r3 Q&A thread

[markjericho]

I successfully setup my 4 Arlo camera for Homekit this morning while at home. They appeared within the Homekit app just fine and I could pull up my live streams. Now that I am not at home, all of the Arlo cameras say "No Response". All of my other non-Arlo Homekit devices are working just fine. Also, if I open the Arlo app, all of the carmeras are online and working properly. However, the Arlo cameras don't seem to want to work within the Homekit app when I am away. Yes, I do have celluar turned on as well as Backround app refresh. Anyone else having this problem?

[sean7512]

@The_Ricky Did you link the motion sensor to the camera somehow in the Home app or did you just turn on notifications on the sensor and then you sometimes get a picture?

[The_Ricky]

@sean7512 In the Home app, I went to the Camera sensor settings, and then I turned on Status & Notifications.
I have the main camera at to always send me notification at any time.
Because at the beginning I was getting more notifications with the picture previews, I turn off notifications on the Arlo app for the mode.
I emailed Arlo about the notifications preview issue. If by any luck Arlo tech can help me fix it, I'll report back

[jhoney]

Does Home Kit report your Arlo system as being and “unauthorized accessory “ like it does for mine?  If so, that could be the issue.

[Kabbachi]

The posted solution for uncertified accessory error is not working. Come on Arlo team when are releasing an update/ fix for this issue?

[Skychief]

I have found a fix for my situation (HomeKit would not find Arlo at all). It was the way I had the Arlo base connected to the internet. I used a Netgear WN3000RP repeater with a LAN outlet to which the Arlo base was connected. After having tried almost everything I plugged my IKEA bridge into the Netgear repeater and guess what: HomeKit stopped working while everything else worked fine. So I connected to Arlo base directly to the router via LAN and the base is found by HomeKit. ...After so many hours of resetting everything.

So the way the Arlo base is connected seems to be a factor for HomeKit! Hope I can help someone else with this.

[ASUpilot]

This is absurd. Same issue. Restarted HomePod base, deleted and loaded Arlo app on my iPhone, restarted and rebooted Arlo base and discovery continues spinning. I was better off before HomeKit was added.

[jonesaus]

i still cant add to homekit, get the unauthorized accessory error.

i have had a support case open for this for a few weeks now, just keep asking questions without offering a solution.

this morning i woke to find an email asking me if the base station was doing an update when it went offline.... not once during the ticket did i say anything about the base station going offline...

feel like i am getting the run around....

[VanDeZee]

Hello All.. I have just succeeded connecting my Arlo Pro cameras do Homekit after experiencing No base station found during discovery for homekit. I have performed several actions as requested by Arlo Support and recommended by forum peers (Reset Arlo, reinstall all cameras, test on different iOS products). So for me, the Arlo Base was only discovered, when I moved the Arlo base to connect DIRECTLY to my Internet router. It was previously connected to another router at home and despite working properly (I could access cameras, setup base station), Homekit discovery was not working within Arlo App (everything else was working in Arlo app.. except this).

So when I connected to my cable modem router, discovery worked, I could configure HomeKit, and everyting is working fine.

Hope this helps for others with same Discovery problem.

[Elvi]

I have tried everything discussed in this thread with no results. The conclusion is clear: Arlo can be added to HomeKit on only one device. I first added it to iPhone without any problems but adding Arlo subsequently to iPad did not work. I removed Arlo from iPhone and could now easily add it to iPad, it was not possible to reinstall on iPhone. Arlo needs to communicate this fact and rework its app so that we do not have to waste time and increase our frustration with this issue.

[Slimhaven]

I think Arlo is scared Eufy is going to dent their business as it is almost identical and will work with Homekit soon. Half the price of the Arlo's. I am tired of the Arlo engineers not doing their job and fixing the problem. They have always had issues working with one thing or another and this is no different. Not ready for primetime seems to be their mantra. I have ten Arlo Pro's and they will be dumped when Eufy proves it works with Homekit. I am very tired of dealing with Netgear and their issues.

[Hoity-Toity]

I was really expecting a patch to fix this problem within a few hours of hundreds of people here reporting the problem.  I am appauled that here we are WEEKS later and there is still no firmware or software update to fix this.

My next products will not be from Arlo that's for sure.

[Nhott]

For those who have gotten past the uncertified accessory screen; what is your setup? Also for those like me who can't get past the screen? There has to be something in common that tech support can't find. please be specific. Additionally please be sure that you in fact have a VMB4000r3 in device info.

Network setup: Orbi with Arlo connected to satellite

iOS version on main device: 12.4

Beta Software for hubs: Latest TVos 13 beta on 3 apple TVs

Beta iOS Software: 1 iPhone and 1 iPad

Arlo App: running on all 3 devices above

Other unsupported accessories: Homebridge

[rohanking]

Im having the same unauthorised accessory issue. I’ve also logged a support ticket, mostly just so there’s a record. Today I checked the arlo app to discover the setup HomeKit option has been removed altogether. At least now I’m not tempted to press it?

[jonesaus]

Elvi,

That is how HomeKit works. You add it to your phone, and you access that home via other devices signed into the same iCloud account. So no need to also add to your iPad, as it should already be there.

[mikebalboa]

I’m having this same, “Uncertified Accessory” problem. Is there a fix in the works? 

8 Pro 2 cameras on a 4000r3 base

[Elvi]

I am aware of that but Arlo does not work that way. I am assuming that Arlo does not make use of Apple’s iCloud. Consequently, one cannot set up a HomeKit hub for Arlo since I take my iPhone with me when I leave and I cannot add Arlo to iPad or Apple TV. Additionally, one cannot launch (e.g. arm or disarm) Arlo from HomeKit. Arlo’s IT folks have launched this in a hurry without thinking it through. This is going to cost Arlo some (potential) customers unless they take action very rapidly.

[AncientGeek]

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@Elvi wrote:

I am aware of that but Arlo does not work that way. I am assuming that Arlo does not make use of Apple’s iCloud. Consequently, one cannot set up a HomeKit hub for Arlo since I take my iPhone with me when I leave and I cannot add Arlo to iPad or Apple TV. Additionally, one cannot launch (e.g. arm or disarm) Arlo from HomeKit. Arlo’s IT folks have launched this in a hurry without thinking it through. This is going to cost Arlo some (potential) customers unless they take action very rapidly.

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Arlo does use iCloud to store some data, but not video.  Home Kit hub is an Apple system.  It is open for other vendors to add their products to it.  We don’t set up “a Home Kit hub” for Arlo, we add Arlo to the Home Kit system which includes a Home Kit hub we set up on the Apple side of things.  The Home Kit hub can be a an iPad or Apple TV.  I use Apple TVs for my Home Kit hubs.  It is true that we cannot arm or disarm Arlo systems via Home Kit.  Reportedly Apple doesn’t allow that action for the camera device type...which is silly, of course.

Given that most customers likely owned Arlo well in advance of this attempt at Home Kit integration, I suspect any exodus will be out of overall frustration with Arlo software failures in general....too numerous to mention over the past four years...some pretty catastrophic.

[Curtterp]

I do not have the Unauthorized error anymore. I did have it at first, but when Arlo fixed the issue with not being able to see anything outside of WiFi, that error went away.

My troubleshooting procedure was trying to solve for the outside of the WiFi issue. When I tried and failed to add Arlo to HomeKit several times at the start. When I was looking around HomeKit, I had several "temp-***" homes added. I believe that those were trying to add to HomeKit from the Arlo App on my iPhone. I did delete those but had it pop up again several more times.

What I did was totally remove ALL Homes from HomeKit, basically taking it back to nothing. I then created a new home in HomeKit, and all of my Homekit devices did show up to install, including Arlo. I proceeded to add the devices back while in HomeKit. My thermostat and Garage door opener had codes to scan, and Arlo was added when I was in the same room without a code. I added all the camera's (I have 5) to HomeKit and added the cameras to as favorites to show up in the home screen. A couple of days later, Arlo started working in HomeKit outside of my WiFi (I think that Arlo either forgot to flip a switch or forgot to add a certificate somewhere). Then I noticed that the unauthorized message was no longer in HomeKit.

I do have a couple of machines with the new beta OS installed, and I got a message that recordings through Apple will work when everything is updated to the new OS. So that feature will work once Apple releases the new OS in September, but I can view the Cameras and hear the audio from HomeKit.

I would suggest that if you still have that unauthorized message, delete all homes from Homekit, then setup a new home. Added Arlo through HomeKit, NOT the Arlo app. Hopefully, that will solve everyone's issue (other than the video recording not available yet through HomeKit). Yes, it is a drastic step, but when Arlo didn't have something ready, it screwed things up.

[rohanking]

I wish this worked for me. After removing my home (extensive) HomeKit configuration and painfully re adding all my accessories, groups and automation I still had the same issue.
I’m really not sure how you can add the arlo base station to homekit directly? Where did you obtain the homekit code from?

[Curtterp]

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@rohanking wrote:
I wish this worked for me. After removing my home (extensive) HomeKit configuration and painfully re adding all my accessories, groups and automation I still had the same issue.
I’m really not sure how you can add the arlo base station to homekit directly? Where did you obtain the homekit code from?

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Arlo just appeared in Homekit with my other accessories. I don't remember if it came up directly on the new home page, or under add accessories page, but I had a page that did show all the accessories that I had added before.

[Nhott]

I decided to jump on the iOS beta on all of my devices. Now the error makes more sense. The hub isn’t passing the correct information back to homekit.

[petrosb]

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@rohanking wrote:
I wish this worked for me. After removing my home (extensive) HomeKit configuration and painfully re adding all my accessories, groups and automation I still had the same issue.
I’m really not sure how you can add the arlo base station to homekit directly? Where did you obtain the homekit code from?

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Removing the Home from Homekit and re-adding everything, simply because Arlo cannot get its act together, is not an acceptable solution. There are just too many things on my Homekit to reconfigure from scratch. Even just resetting the Arlo base station to factory defaults and re-adding the arlo cameras should not be an acceptable option to anyone. I am going with no Homekit on Arlo for now, until the fix the problem. My next purchase will not be Arlo, however...

[ASUpilot]

I agree.
Arlo worked for me the first time and it stopped sensing after I renamed the cameras - Arlo couldn’t think of transferring the names - so I removed the accessory thinking it would work again.
I am not deleting my home and starting from scratch when I have garage doors, locks, thermostats, light bulbs, light switches connected just because Arlo can deliver a good product.

[lundoctor]

Stopped working and can no longer add basestation to homekit

cameras no responsive so removed basestation from homekit and no longer can add back, spins and does not find basestation

i give up for now

spent 20 hours trying to reconfigure. 

will await a fix from arlo

[jonesaus]

my base station just did a firmware update, and now there isnt even an option to turn on homekit....

is this Arlo's solution? just pretend like it was never supposed to support homekit?