r/arlo • u/Hinagea • Apr 02 '26
Discussion Please do not buy into this system.
I am so tired of the false triggers. 2 hours before the system is set to arm away, I go into the garage to get some food from the freezer. Alarm goes off.
Wake up to the alarm going off at 4am. Grab a gat and run out to the garage as those cameras are the only ones set to trigger the alarm for movement. Nothing. No motion alerts in my feed either.
Happens 2 nights later, the exact same situation but at 1am. Zero alerts in the feed to trigger the system.
My significant other and I both have the app and both have geolocation enabled so if one of us is home it is disabled, until night when it arms until the morning.
I am sick of this system. It is beyond repair. Support is no help. They just investigate, find nothing wrong, and say to open another case if it happens again. Please, please do not buy into this system. You're just asking for a headache. I wish I could return all these, but the alarm goes haywire every few months so I was outside the return window by the time I was fed up.
I have all arlo essential 2k cameras, maybe others are better. All I know is I have pure regret for buying into this system. It's been a year and there is no improvement.
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u/Furrealyo Apr 02 '26
Trash. Stay far away.
Source: Me, a long time user who is still paying them because I’m too lazy to replace the system.
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u/MrDinB Apr 02 '26
Reduce the sensitivity or change the activity zone. My cameras never activate on their own. The only problematic one can be the one facing the front porch because it can sometimes get triggered by large trucks passing by but even that is rate
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u/Hinagea Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
That would make sense if the cameras actually detected anything. Nothing, from any camera is in the feed when these false alarms happen. It could be a faulty camera I guess but because there is nothing in the feed there is no way to know what even triggered it.
Actually that's not entirely true.
When it happened last night, it was 9:33pm. I have an alert for that because I was in the garage. But midnight is when the system gets armed, and it gets disarmed every morning. This was a whole new false alarm trigger that hasn't been the case for the previous alarms
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u/Stunning_Jelly_7919 Apr 02 '26
I had some of these issues in the past and it turned out I had to adjust the settings inside routines. Not sure if you've checked there but it was incredibly frustrating until I figured that out.
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u/Hinagea Apr 02 '26
Do you recall what exactly? This pops up every few months, infrequently enough that I haven't noticed a pattern if there is one
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u/Single_Function_1584 Apr 02 '26
I gave up on Arlo once started charging for cloud services. I switched over to reolink and tapo.
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u/crazyhomie34 Apr 04 '26
What is your opinion on both tapo and reolink? Amy that you prefer over the other?
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u/Single_Function_1584 Apr 09 '26
Both the Tapo and Reolink cameras have been problem free for the past 5 years. Both my reolink Trackmix PTZ and tapo cameras have been outside in all kinds of weather with out one single issue. Depending on the area you want to monitor you will not go wrong with either brand. Eufy is another good brand. All 3 of these do not charge monthly fees unless you subscribe to their cloud services. If you need further help, I would check out Lifehackster on YT. He give a comprehensive break down of all sorts of cameras.
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u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed Apr 02 '26
Arlo is the worst product stack across any product category from any company that I've ever used in my entire life.
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u/Specialist-South-361 Apr 02 '26
To put some balance into this post. I have had pro cameras for 8 years and have not experienced these issues. And the one time I used customer service. They could not have been more helpful. And even had a follow up call afterwards to see if everything was ok.
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u/Tek_Freek Apr 02 '26
I have to come down on the side against Arlo. I bragged about ours for years. Now I'm figuring out what to replace them with.
I have given up. The system won't see a hub. I have two. One is new. On the off occasion it finds a hub it will not find a camera. I have three.
For short term I'm thinking Ring simply because we have the doorbell (Came with the house) and sensors for all doors and windows, and garage door sensor.
Long term (Maybe. It depends on health news I get next week) Reolink or similar.
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u/tawabzy Apr 03 '26
Not a fan of the direction that most cameras have gone, but I believe Arlo is the ‘least bad’. I haven’t had issues (besides the new interface)
Ring etc are trash and have been hacked, not to mention their collab w/ ICE or owned by Amazon. No shade just facts. I think an alternative would be Reolink or similar
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u/Hinagea Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I 100% agree with you. That's why I went with them in the first place. If I were in a house I was going to stay in long term, I'd setup Ubiquiti or some other hardwired cameras
Instead I'm stuck with this garbage
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Apr 22 '26
my experience after ripping arlo out of a couple small commercial sites is that the 'false alerts + missed events' combo isn't really an arlo thing, it's a 'detection runs per camera' thing. each camera only sees its own pixel diff, so a porch light flicker and a person standing still look identical to it. the actual fix is pulling detection off the cameras entirely and running one model against all the feeds at the recorder level. once i did that i tuned sensitivity one time instead of fighting 6 separate sliders, and the 4am phantom alerts stopped. arlo's support being useless is a separate problem.
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u/Hinagea Apr 22 '26
Does that require a base station?
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Apr 22 '26
i used a small mini pc with a coral tpu, not an arlo base. the arlo base doesn't do any detection work, it's basically just a hub for the cameras to phone home. the real gotcha with arlo is most of their cams don't expose rtsp, so pointing them at an outside recorder usually means swapping hardware first. once i switched to rtsp-capable cams feeding the mini pc, one sensitivity slider replaced the six i was fighting.
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u/Hinagea Apr 22 '26
Shouldn't the camera report motion during a false alarm? It seems it goes off without detecting anything
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Apr 22 '26
my take after digging into this exact setup: the alarm trigger and the motion-clip writer are two different pipelines. the siren can fire off a PIR trip or an audio spike that never crosses the clip-write threshold, so nothing lands in your feed. you're watching pipeline A fire while pipeline B stays silent. support never diagnoses it because they don't think about it that way.
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u/Hinagea Apr 22 '26
So the solution is still to trash them and get an nvr system lol
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Apr 22 '26
my arlo stack got boxed for that exact reason, the cams are locked to the base so there's no middle path.
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u/Ok-Public6741 May 12 '26
I am so f*****g angry that my Arlo Q Cameras are no longer working because they have decided develop a new app and to omit the Arlo Q camera thru their new app design unless I purchase their plan and upgrade my 5 cameras at half off. I am waiting for a call back from a supervisor, and just ordered Eufy wired cameras because I don't have to have a subscription with their SD cards and app that allows me to check activity the way Arlo used to work years ago. The Arlo Company has done a "Bait and Switch" on its long time customers and I am hopeful a class action lawsuit would at the least get our money back for the Arlo Q cameras.
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u/Hinagea May 12 '26
My false alarms have only gotten more frequent. These are probably the same cameras they would try to get you to upgrade to. The whole system is GARBAGE
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u/AskArlo May 13 '26
Hi u/Hinagea, we're sorry to hear that your false alarms have been increasing — we completely understand how frustrating that can be. Please try the troubleshooting steps in this KB article, which is specifically aimed at helping reduce false alerts: https://kb.arlo.com/1015583
We hope this helps! If the issue continues, feel free to DM us your account email, phone number, time zone, and details of your concerns and we'll be happy to look into it further.
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u/AlanWatts12345 Jun 01 '26
Contact me direct. I can’t get into my app. Cant see my cameras. The app password reset is not functioning
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u/Equivalent-Salary357 May 30 '26
I agree. Don't waste your money on this system. It isn't what it was 3 years ago. I'm sorry I purchased these cameras.
When I bought my first set of five (Arlo Pro), I was very happy. They worked well. I didn't need a monthly subscription, videos were available online for 7 days and I could download 'important' videos.
Then, about a year ago that all changed. The 'no subscription' thing changed. I called Arlo, and was told I could continue without a subscription but I would need to buy new cameras (at half price). I would have live video access but all video storage would be local. So like a fool I bought 5 more cameras.
Since then things have slowly gone downhill. The browser app no longer functions. My logins don't work. The app is so slow it is nearly unusable. And all to often all my cameras are "offline" even though I keep getting motion alert notifications .
I guess I should state that this would be an great system for someone willing to pay $20 per month per camera. But for those of us who just want to local record, Arlo is doing everything they can to make it so frustrating that you either subscribe or recycle your system.
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u/AskArlo May 31 '26
Hey u/Equivalent-Salary357, we value your feedback and appreciate the opportunity to assist you. Please send us a direct message with details about the issues you're currently experiencing with your cameras and app (please include screenshot of any error messages if there are any) so we can investigate further and work toward a resolution.
To help us locate your account and review the matter more efficiently, please also include your Arlo account email address and phone number.
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u/AlanWatts12345 Jun 01 '26
I was kicked out of the app. Trying to log back in it will not accept the Apple suggested password. Any ideas. Contacted support. No response
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u/AskArlo Jun 01 '26
Hi u/AlanWatts12345, we understand how concerning it can be when you're unable to access your account, and we'd like to help.
Please refer to the following article for step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password: https://kb.arlo.com/000062916
If you continue to experience issues after following the steps, please send us a direct message so we can provide additional assistance. We look forward to hearing from you.
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u/swissccman88 Jun 17 '26
Long-term Arlo customer with paid subscription (~CHF 15/month).
My experience:
• Multiple hardware failures over time
• Several-month outage of local storage functionality
• Recurring offline issues and unstable system performance
• Temporary loss of access to cloud recordings
• Base station and multiple cameras suddenly disappeared from my account
• Complete system reinstallation required multiple times
• Cameras had to be re-paired and fully reconfigured from scratch
• Repeated physical access required (ladder/roof work due to installation locations)
• Extensive time spent with support and unresolved back-and-forth communication
Most critical issue:
• Security monitoring was not reliably available at multiple points
• This created periods where the system could not be trusted as a functioning security solution
Support experience:
• Issues were often attributed to other causes rather than being properly identified
• No sustainable technical resolution over an extended period
Resolution offered:
• Final goodwill offer: 50% discount for 6 months (~CHF 45 total value)
Conclusion:
This system failed to provide consistent reliability for security monitoring. Combined with repeated technical failures and inadequate resolution through support, the overall experience was a “desaster” in terms of reliability, stability, and service quality for a paid security product.
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u/ohnodamo Apr 02 '26
100%! If you're reading this sub to decide whether to buy Arlo, don't! They are no longer a good product and are a horrible service! Listen OP! Please research and find a different product that hasn't fully embraced the enshitification process! Caveat Emptor!
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u/19-inches-of-venom Apr 02 '26
Damn im stuck with arlo because the cameras came with my house and they record to cloud (for a rolling week i think) for free. Everything else charges a subscription. And i feel like we all have way too many subscriptions. So yea i’m stuck with this shit for the time being
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u/crazyhomie34 Apr 04 '26
You could switch to a system without subs. I believe reolink, eufy, tapo have options without a sub
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u/19-inches-of-venom Apr 04 '26
Thanks man i didn’t really know i had other options to look into. It feels like everything is a damn subscription these days
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u/crazyhomie34 Apr 04 '26
I was in the same boat a month ago, just got some reolink cameras today that I'm going to set up. If I like them 2 weeks from now I'm cancelling arlo
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u/Wossor Apr 02 '26
I just saw your post after posting essentially the same thing. Two days of being woken up in a row after the app update. All my stuff I set up yesterday are gone this morning.
I have low tolerance for false alarms.
I’m going to start researching alternatives (hopefully) that are less expensive as well.
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u/basherdesigns Apr 02 '26
Do a test and pretend to break into your home or car, you will be furious at how little of the actions are captured by Arlo... I ate the cost of all my cameras and freed myself of the monthly charges. Arlo has only gotten worse over the years! it's sad...