Integration of Arlo pro2 to Smarthings - Camera quit triggering to record when ST sends Capture

[RobMo150]

I had this working for a couple of years where I've integrated a driveway sensor to a open/close ST's sensor.   When someone came down the driveway, it triggered the open/close sensor which in turn fired off a custom rule in ST to start 2 cameras recording for 1 minute.    Worked great  UNTIL 2 weeks ago.   No changes were made by me.  I don't know of ST or Arlo updated anything.    I've restarted, rebuilt, deleted rules, added new rules, nothing.   I can see in the ST app for the camera that a "sent Capture Command to porch camera" was sent.   But the camera doesn't do anything.   I've had it in disabled mode, ST mode, armed (on arlo).    Was there an update from either company that might have screwed up this integration?   I can manually trigger the camera in ST to record, but not by a rule.    This really stinks because this was a great security feature.   If I can't find a solution I'll have to rethink my whole setup.     Thanks for any advice.    I did search and went thru this thread just to make sure I didn't miss anyting.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo/Record-without-motion-Smartthings-Arlo/m-p/1531162#M50207

[rscott09]

I just talked to Arlo about getting an upgrade from my present 4000 hub to another hub that works with Smartthings.  After a 10 minute hold while the agent talked to his supervisor the answer came back that Arlo would not offer an upgrade since they are working on a fix to be released soon for the 4000 hub.  They offered to replace my current 4000 hub with another 4000.  Arlo did acknowledge that there were several complaints from other users about the Smartthings Arlo interface problem so I would suggest to keep calling them until this problem is resolved.

[RobMo150]

Keep pushing for it. I annoyed the heck by reviewing in every site I. Oilfield find and facebook and tweets. Anywhere I could post about their broken trust I did. They offered to replace my 4000 with a 4000. I said that’s kind of dumb since they broke it for the 4000. I said I wanted a 5000. They put me on hold and then approved it. By then I’d had a dozen calls and a social media support person from Arlo assigned to me. So keep pushing it. Fix soon isn’t good enough. Fix by xx/xx/xx dated. I posted on several sites last night. You all need to be aggressively posting, tweeting, reviewing. Good luck.

[robweber]

Never posted on here before but after struggling with this problem for months I was both relieved and horrified to find this thread that shed light on what I was experiencing. 

Like everyone else mentioned I have a 4000 series hub with several Arlo cameras linked to Smarthings. I first noticed notifications from motion via Smarthings but no video when I was out of town in Oct. At the time I thought "no big deal" and I'd look into it later. After hours spent trying to re-setup rules and adding/removing devices in Smarthings and Arlo "no big deal" turned into "this is really ticking me off". It just outrageous this was broken and left for dead for months for so many people. Now that we're in the "holiday season" and we get regular package deliveries the lack of video triggers is very frustrating. One of the primary reasons for Arlo at our residence was to monitor package delivery and have video in case of theft. 

I'm still holding out hope for a fix but this thread is not encouraging that will ever happen. At the moment I don't have the time or the energy to badger Arlo for a 5000 hub update but once we're through Dec I'll have to re-evaluate. Thanks to all the users that continue to post updates on here!

[jsnphdrn]

I tried calling Arlo on 12/8 (after a chat was unsuccessful in anything other than "they're working on it"), and had a similar experience to @rscott09 - they asked a manager about swapping the 4000 for the 5000, and said they couldn't do so, but could help me try to get it working.  So, I did the normal steps with them (foolishly thinking that maybe the call center actually had a different plan), but it  still didn't work.  The rep then said that they were escalating my case (again), and would be in contact.  Although I've been told this every time, I never hear from them. 

I've taken to posting negative reviews on Amazon & the Android Play Store.  (I don't really have any other social media, but might have my wife start posting my comments, as she's fairly active.)  We'll see if that gets any traction. 

[jefftb]

@RobMo150 Thank you so much for your persistence in driving this issue with Arlo. We are all benefiting from your diligence.  

I

[RobMo150]

I just received this update

Good Day!

I got an update from our Engineering Team. The fix has been deployed for the SmartThings issue under Base Station VMB5000 and VMB4540.

For VMB4000, it will be deployed next week.
For VMB4500, targeted to be deployed before Christmas

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you!


Best Regards,
Hyazenth Balajadia
ARLO Customer Care Team

MY REPLY WAS:

It’s broken on the 4000.   I believe the other versions work.   So please tell me they aren’t deploying a fix that will break all the versions.   I will cross my fingers that it’s hopefully going to fix it.    

Thanks for the update.   Please let me know the release version for the v4000 and v5000 specifically.    

SO we’ll see if they actually did come up with a fix.   🤞

[rdmickey]

Since it seems the same break caused issues with smart things and IFTTT. I sure hope the fix coming next week fixes both

[Harsh108]

Thank you for your persistence and continued fight. I had three cases with them but still of no avail. Hopefully the firmware push might work. I have done so many changes to my ST account that I am at verge of resetting everything.

Harsh108

[DaWeav]

It's next week so hopefully this will drop any day now. It's to bad they don't have any sort of early adopters, (like you), so that we would know if this update truly fixes this problem.

[TBacon]

What is the method will Netgear/Arlo use to deploy the fix for the VMB4000?  Is it a firmware update to the hub, or software patch to the mobile app? 

It amazes me that Arlo has taken 3 months to fix this issue and it still isn't deployed for all their devices on the market.

[Harsh108]

agreed, can’t believe it’s taken three months and I think they said it’s gonna be firmware update. I am still hoping it works. Please post your experience here if it works. I have 2 case number pending with them.

Harsh108

[Mavrrick]

Arlo just changed there pricing for Arlo smart cameras and that has made up my mind for what i am doing. I am returning the pro 3 kit and moving to some other solution. That was frankly the last straw.

[Charbo26]

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but my smartthings hub which has been working fine after I replaced my Arlo 4000 hub with an Arlo 3500 hub has now gone crazy. My smartthings hub said it was offline for a couple hours, assumed it was an update, now none of the routines work as expected as they did with my old 3500 Arlo hub.
I use to get recordings from smartthings old app, now it seems those recordings are not even getting triggered by smartthings old app. Perhaps this was arlos solution, to get rid of smartthings functionality. Usingg the smartthings old app it does not work. I'll try with the new app later but from past experience the new app does not allow you to trigger recordings. So perhaps we all just screwed and Arlo does not care. Merry f'n Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.

[aminno1]

Having the same issue right now, haven't changed around any hubs, also not triggering arlo q (which was previously unaffected). Too soon to tell what the issue is, need to troubleshoot, might be a simple restart. Think this was a SmartThings issue and not Arlo this time, will update if I find anything.

[Charbo26]

False alarm, apologies all. Was a smartthings issue. On a more positive note, there were firmware updates for the 5000 and 4540 stations yesterday so hopefully one for the 4000 is coming sometime soon. I think the prior post said before Christmas. Link to firmware release notes is below for those that don't know it.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Firmware-Release-Notes/bd-p/arlo-release-notes#

[mike_pace]

I had the same issue last night.  With the 3500 base, the ST record triggers had been working fine (and maybe still were) but the ST hub went a little berserko.  After a little reading, it seems that turning off the Device Health in the ST app, then do a reset of the hub.  Some said you had to some 15 minute wait between steps, but I didn't.  Seemed to work.  All of the devices which showed "offline" (even though they still worked) came back.

[RobMo150]

I sent a message yesterday asking for 4000 fix update.  No news yet.   

[5ZVP]

I am using a Smartthings Automation that allows me to  use an Arlo Pro2 camera as a motion sensor to turn on a smart light bulb that is also integrated into Smartthings. The Smartthings app allows me to setup this automation. It finds my integrated Arlo Pro2 camera and also my Sengled smart light bulb. I can go through all the step to set up this Automation but when the Arlo camera senses motion it does not turn on the light bulb. I know that Arlo is sensing motion because I am getting notifications from Also yet it does not turn on the bulb. 

I have also tried this same set up in IFTTT and it works, the Arlo senses motion and turns on my Sengled bulb but I want to us the Smartthing Automation because it allow more options than IFTTT i.e. it has a setting to turn off the light after a certain length of time.

[Harsh108]

Any update on Firmware. I know it's the season...but all i remember is Joe Pesci from Home Alone. Just wanted to know how secure we are and if any one had decided to switch camera system, what system would you guys recommend especially going from Arlo to what system for Smart Things integration? Please advise. I am strongly considering. 

Harsh108

[Mavrrick]

I think thi s question really needs to be asked on the Smartthings forums because there are many ways to accomplish it depending on your goals.

[aminno1]

Any word on the update for the 4000 yet?

[Mavrrick]

Well i just ran a test and it is still not working for recordings initiateted from smartthings.

[Harsh108]

I don't really need anything fancy, just what Arlo use to do and record clip and send to my phone when smartthings triggered alarm. However, it's not doing it so i was wondering if anyone had done research on it and already moved to other system. I wonder if Ring has wireless camera system with similar capabilities.

Also, I don't think they have pushed the firmware. 

And, I have been trying everyday to see if the recording works and it hasn't been working. Really starting to get disappointed. 

Harsh108.

[Mavrrick]

The only cameras that have official smartthings support are arlo and the smartthing Cam. Anything else will be a hack. This doesnt mean others can't work but reliability could be an issue

The cameras work really well with the vmb4540 base though. With the new direct access that was enabled the other day i may keep that setup anyways.

[Hoboryan]

While waiting for a potential firmware update, I’ve done the following as a hack. I figured out that the SmartThings mode will still do recording as long as Arlo switches to SmartThings mode after ST switches on the cameras.

For example:

I used to have ST turn on the cameras (while Arlo is in the SmartThings mode) between 12am and 6am. The new firmware rendered this useless (no longer triggered motion detection). The fix is to have Arlo on a schedule to switch to SmartThings mode at 12:01 am (till 6am).

Similarly, my phone is a presence sensor and I used to have ST set the cameras on after I left the house (thus triggering the motion detection in Arlo’s SmartThings mode). The fix is to have Arlo have a wider “Home” radius in geofencing than ST hub. This way ST will turn on the cameras before Arlo switches to SmartThings mode via geofencing.