How to Fix Delayed Notifications on Your Anran Security Camera
Receiving a security alert minutes after an event has occurred can defeat the purpose of having a security camera. Timely notifications are critical for you to be able to react to a potential situation, whether it's a package delivery or an unwanted visitor. If you're experiencing a significant lag between motion being detected by your Anran camera and the notification arriving on your phone, you're not alone.
This guide will walk you through the common causes of notification lag and provide a clear, step-by-step process to help you troubleshoot the issue and restore speedy alerts.
## Understanding the Notification Journey
To diagnose the delay, it helps to understand the path an alert takes to get to you:
- Detection: Your Anran camera detects motion.
- Upload: The camera uploads a small data packet about the event to Anran's cloud servers via your internet connection.
- Processing: The servers process this information.
- Push Notification: The servers send a push notification to your smartphone via Apple's or Google's notification services.
- Delivery: Your phone receives the notification and alerts you.
A delay at any point in this chain will result in a late notification. The most common bottlenecks are the connections between your camera and the internet (Step 2) and between the servers and your phone (Step 5).
## Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing Notification Lag
Follow these steps to identify and resolve the cause of the delay.
### 1. Strengthen Your Network Connections
A weak or congested network is the number one cause of slow notifications.
-
Check the Camera's Wi-Fi Signal: A poor connection between your camera and router will slow down the upload of the motion event.
- In the Anran app, go to your camera's settings and find the 'Wi-Fi Settings' or 'Network Information' to check the signal strength.
- If the signal is weak, move your router closer to the camera or install a Wi-Fi range extender to boost the signal.
-
Check Your Phone's Connection: The final delivery depends on your phone's internet access.
- If you are on mobile data (4G/5G), check that you have a strong signal. Weak mobile data is a very common cause of delays.
- Test the notification speed while your phone is connected to a strong Wi-Fi network. If they arrive instantly on Wi-Fi but are slow on mobile data, you've found the source of the problem.
### 2. Adjust Your Phone's Settings
Modern smartphones use aggressive battery-saving features that can delay notifications from apps that aren't actively running.
- Disable Battery Optimisation:
- On Android: Go to Settings > Apps > Anran app > Battery. Select 'Unrestricted' or 'No restrictions'. The exact path may vary by phone model.
- On iOS: Background App Refresh is generally handled well, but ensure it's enabled under Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Also, ensure Low Power Mode is turned off.
- Check Notification Permissions: Ensure the Anran app has all necessary permissions to send you notifications immediately.
### 3. Reduce Motion Sensitivity and Useless Alerts
If your camera is being triggered constantly by irrelevant motion (like swaying trees), it can overwhelm the system with alerts, creating a backlog.
- Fine-Tune Sensitivity: In the Anran app's motion detection settings, lower the sensitivity slightly to avoid triggers from minor movements.
- Use Detection Zones: Draw motion zones to focus only on important areas, like a walkway, and exclude areas with constant movement. This ensures the camera only sends notifications for meaningful events.
### 4. Update and Reboot
A classic but effective troubleshooting step.
- Update the App and Firmware: Make sure you have the latest version of the Anran app from your app store and check for any firmware updates for your camera within the app.
- Reboot Everything:
- Restart your phone.
- Power cycle your camera (unplug it for 30 seconds).
- Reboot your Wi-Fi router.
A full reboot of the entire system can often clear up temporary glitches and restore prompt communication. By systematically working through these steps, you can identify the bottleneck and get your Anran notifications back up to speed.