Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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philipchua
Star
Star
having read few topics. i really want to be able to disable siren. while browsing on the phone app one can easily accidentally click on the siren which will scare the hell out of the people, you can imagine what will happen to elderly at home. can this be done?
39 REPLIES 39
Edd_solo
Aspirant
Aspirant
I don’t have a button to manually turn on/off the siren. I have an Arlo Pro, iPhone app version 2.4.7 can some body help me? I need to be able to turn off the siren from my mobile device. Thanks
Edd_solo
Aspirant
Aspirant
I don’t have a button on may app to manually turn on/off the siren. I have app version 2.4.7 for iPhone. I need to be able to turn off the siren from my mobile device. How can I add the siren button option???
Edd_solo
Aspirant
Aspirant

My app doesnt show the button to manualy turn on/off the siren. I am using Arlo version 2.4.7 for iphone 7 plus IOS version 11.2.6.  I need to be able to turn off the siren from my mobile device. Can someone help me with this matter?

 

thanks.

pc2k17
Hero
Hero

The siren button was moved. In iOS it's a small grey bar near top of the app. Swipe down on it to show the siren button.

ehongyu
Tutor
Tutor

This new version is a disaster for me!

 

My home was invaded three days ago. While I was able to receive the alerts and saw the burglars in the camera, I just couldn't find the damn alarm bell anymore. Not to further delay the reaction, I had to call the police instead. Although police came to my home 10 minutes later, the burglars were already gone and the damage to my home is done. The new design is so counter-intuitive and I had to search internet afterwards to find out what the hell is going on. The UI designer is an idiot!

pc2k17
Hero
Hero

The siren button was moved because many people complained that they kept activating it by accident, or at minimum they were hitting the button by accident. To protect against accidental alarm button taps, they moved the button to a slide down menu. This change was done several versions ago of the app and several months ago. When the change was made it was documented under the "Whats New" section in the google and apple stores. My advice is to turn off auto-update of your phone apps. This way the next time there is an app update you can go and read what's new before installing. This way you stay on top of the changes.

ehongyu
Tutor
Tutor

I guess a possible reason why some people made mistakes in the old version is due to the vague meaning of "turning-on alarms". They might thought that is equivalent to making the alarm ready/active while in fact it's turning on the siren. I think this could be better handled by the pop-up window with a meaningful wording like the curren version or something like gradually increasing of intensity of noise .

 

Therefore, I still think the radical redesign of the UI to replace an important feature with a clueless bar is pretty bad.

pc2k17
Hero
Hero

I guess it depends on how you use the system. I don't use the siren at all. Seems pointless to set off a siren inside if the cameras are outside and doesn't make sense to me to set off a siren after someone has already broke in and is walking around your house. I have a real security system (arlo cameras just enhance what I already have), so if anyone opens or breaks a window or door in my home they are met with 300 decibles of make you deaf real quick fury, plus the outside monitoring company automatically alerting the police. The arlo siren isn't needed for my setup.

 

However, since you do use the siren, you might want to set up your mode/rules to automatically set off the siren when the cameras detect motion. That way you won't have to open the app and turn the siren on manually.

ehongyu
Tutor
Tutor

There are about two minutes between the moment my outside camera caught the thiefs jumping into my yard and the moment they crashed my glass sliding door to enter my house. Between these precious two minutes, if I could have turned on the siren, they at least had to think twice whether to break in or not. Anyway, I am a software developer with UI development experience, so I have to rant a little here.

ehongyu
Tutor
Tutor

The camera usually can be triggered by quite a few false positives in daily routine, like mailman or birds, so it's next to impossible for me to create a simple rule to automatically activate siren, and I have to rely on manual turning on the siren after reviewing alerts.

steve_t
Master Master
Master

I limit my siren activation to cameras/motion detectors inside my house. Using cameras situated outdoors seems like a bad plan

ehongyu
Tutor
Tutor

It'll be too late if you only have indoor cameras becaues the villains can break into your home without any advanced warning. In my case, the sliding glass door crashed by burglars alone is worth $600 dollars.

steve_t
Master Master
Master

Have outdoor cameras as well but just don't have rules for those ones that false trigger set off the siren.

My outdoor cameras turn on lights inside and outside the house at night time and the indoor cameras trigger the siren when we're not home (and of course they record)

ehongyu
Tutor
Tutor

I didn't mean to use outdoor camera to trigger the siren because the false positives can be annoying. Actually I have always relied on my outdoor cameras to trigger push and email alerts to my phones so I can inspect the events quickly. I've configured my cameras to reduce the number of false positives to a bare minimum, like a couple each day so I am not bothered by them. Actually this configuration worked beautifully initially as I was able to see the burglars two minutes before they entered inside of my house while I was away, but the story turned ugly when I couldn't find the old siren button in the Arlo app anymore due to the new design. I was totally pissed off when I came back home to meet the police and saw the crashed glass door and other damages that the burglar left behind.

 

On the other hand, @steve_t you provided a good idea to use the alert to trigger light. I could add a few Arlo lights inside the house that can be triggered by the outside camera to simulate human turning on lights after hearing noise. Hopefully it can add a little more deterrence to the burglars.

steve_t
Master Master
Master

Just be aware that if you get the Arlo Security Lights, they have a lux sensor in them and the light won't turn on if there is  ambient light