[APP][Pro][Deprecated] Arlo - Security Camera

pls enlight me…

Only the VMB4000 supports arm/disarm at the moment.

@Jamie When do you plan to resume work on the app?

Hi Jamie,

Are there any plans on making it compatible with Arlo Pro 3 ?
It would very much be appreciated.

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I don’t want to spend my free time on an app which will stop working in a couple of months and there is nothing I can do to stop that from happening. (see the posts above re : 2FA).

So its unlikely ill be spend any more time on this app, unless news about the 2FA changes.

Is there no workaround? When I connect Arlo to IFTTT I get a notification that I need to confirm, this I only need to do once. How is that different on homey?

Ill try and explain.

There is no official way to talk to arlo camera, the only people who know how to communicate with the cameras are people who work and are paid by the company who make arlo (formally netgear) Arlo, the only documentation on how it works is on a hard drive in the Arlo office somewhere. They have full control on how they operate or when it asks for security etc. They created the IFTTT app, the iphone app, website, etc.

I was able to figure out what the website was doing, backwards engineer the security, authentication, requests, listening into a mqtt through a websocket etc, then figure out the nuances by trial and error … lots and lots of trial and error. You can see from the first change log items even figuring out that you must have a base station to send certain request to keep a connection alive took a while . And then hook up action in my ‘homey app’ to the library I created which does arlo actions.

I can only backwards engineer things I can see … ie. Things from the website. Supporting 2FA is a pain, but possible (see my alexa app) and if it was JUST that then we could figure something out. Normally once a device is authorized then we can call it normally, this is how I imagine their apps and IFTTT work, BUT Arlo are introducing 2FA is a incredibly stupid way for the web site, where every single time you login - you need to re-authorise.

Its very black and white. the website requires that 2FA be used for EVERY request then thats how the homey app will have to work. And if I do that with the app - they app is completely useless - you would have to enter your 2FA every time you want to check any device.

This is not a debate there is nothing I can do about it. If you disagree with their approach you could make a thread/post on their forums. But unless they change the way this works … this app will die when 2FA is forced.

To follow up on my previous post, when you backwards engineer an app, the company changing or patching their product and you work no longer working is a known risk. This is why projects like this are supported by the community rather then athom because they are unsupported by the products company. I am upset but something which breaks my app is not unsurprizing. (It happens all the time and normally we try and adjust). However
spending time adding new devices and feature to an app which we all know is going to stop working soon seems like a giant waste of my time when I could be working on other apps.

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@Jamie Thanks for the update! I think it’s time to stop using the arlo app in homey, no use to create a bunch of Flows that I need to rebuild by the end of the year.

I’m in the same place, i’ve removed most of my camera flows. But I also use them as motion sensors for my lights, so I need to find another device to replace them with.

Its why i’ve taken the time to work out how to access devices from Alexa in Homey. - Plan is to see if I can at least keep some of the feature alive in Homey that way.

I also use my cameras as a motion sensor, before you’re app I used a flow in homey and a IFTTT script to do that. The bad thing is that sometimes there is a second delay. Maybe I need to use this solution again now.

So I got this review of the app :

image

Is anyone able to confirm whether app is now broken and needs to be removed… or whether Maaike de Munnik-Kaasenbrood decided to just give a 1 start review with out following the instructions?

Mine is working fine…

oeh ouch :wink:
I couldn’t find this community thread so post the question/remark as a review, my bad.
I deleted the review, as it is still unclear where the problem exactly lies… I’m getting stuck at step #2 of the instructions (how ironic).
My Arlo settings do say that 2 Step Authentication is turned off, and of course I would like to turn this on again / Arlo is requiring it by the end of the year I think.

hmm I just read [APP] Arlo - Security Camera so maybe I’ll just give up on this effort… as Arlo will enforce 2FA.

Hi everyone,

new to the Homey community and this is my first post here. Taking my first steps with different setups. So please be kind =)

Using the Arlo app (in Homey) I noticed that whenever I ask Homey to send a Telegram picture from my Arlo cams, ie the Snapshot. The photo is not a fresh snapshot. The timing seems to be at least 30 minutes or more. I tried in the Arlo app (in Homey) to change the seconds for the snapshot (default is zero seconds). But this doesn’t seem to do any difference.

My Arlo’s are on a schedule for tracking during evening, night and early morning - set with the Arlo app (not Homey). Would prefer that the Arlos are not active during daytime or when I’m home.

I’m thinking on disabling the schemes I have and set a flow logic with schemes from Homey, but I usually want basic operating functions to be from the legacy app / system, so that if my home automation for any reason fails - I don’t have a complete hard stop on everything.

Any guiding tips to set me on the right track ?

Hey,

Best to share your flow so we can get a full understanding of what you are doing.

But I think I get it, its a common misunderstanding about how the Arlo Cameras work I think is causing your issue.

When you ask arlo for its latest picture, it does just that - sends you the last picture it has cached.

So we first need to ask the camera to update its picture, notice how I said … I ask it. It will then tell me when it has finally updated it. So there are lots of little actions required - Think about it like when you order something online. First you buy it, then they confirm it … then they send it … then it arrives finally you get to open it and see the picture you ordered.

So its a two step/flow process …

  1. You need a flow to ask to refresh the picture. Use the flow action of the camera “request new snapshot”.
  2. You need a flow which triggers when you receive the new picture (snapshot) Use the flow trigger/when on the camera “When new snapshot become available”.

I hope this solves your problem.

Thanks Jamie for commenting on my post.

So I couldnt for the life of me find any way to ask for a Snapshot, only the Notify when a new snapshot is available. Noticed a bit up in this forum that there are test versions out, so I think I managed to grab the latest available (ver 2.4.301 ) and now I got the ability to do a Request.

So setup a basic two step flow, first flow when motion is detected - > request new snapshot from that camera. And the second flow, once a snapshot is available, send snapshot picture over, for example telegram. This still doesnt work for me. When I “test” I get green check marks on the first flow but then nothing. If I test the second flow, I get green check mark and a picture is received on telegram as requested. But it’s not working on its own, I see that I have movement, but nothing triggers.

Can you confirm I have the latest working version ( 2.4.301)?
Or am I still misunderstanding the logic here?

The only thing I can think of is that your already recording … you can’t ask a camera to take a photo if it’s already recording a video …

I’ll try and see if I can get similar flows working

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I received this email earlier in the week

Two-step verification is an added layer of account security to verify that it’s really you, even if someone knows your password. By the end of the year, Arlo will require all users to enable two-step verification. We strongly encourage you to enable this feature now for added security.

Once enabled, Arlo will authenticate your identity with a security code delivered by text message or email to a trusted device. Once authenticated, Arlo will verify your identity anytime you sign in with a new device, to prevent unauthorised users from accessing your information.

Just a reminder, once “2FA” becomes required, this app will stop working. Unless Arlo implement a proper industry standard 2FA, which they have no intention of doing so - this app can not ever be updated to work.

I’m already looking for another system, because by the end of the year I will replace all my arlo cameras unless they change their mind and not force people to this.

The 2FA we as nest/Google users also got shuved up our troughts. After this your smarthouse takes one step back. A pitty to see that all these big compagnies makes smart home intergrations a pain in the ass