How to Fix Inaccurate Arlo Person Detection
Arlo's Smart AI, including its person detection feature, is designed to provide you with more meaningful notifications. However, when it starts misidentifying a passing car, a pet, or even a swaying tree branch as a person, it can lead to a flood of false alerts. This professional guide will help you troubleshoot and fine-tune your Arlo system to improve the accuracy of its person detection capabilities.
Understanding Why Person Detection Can Be Wrong
Arlo's AI analyses the shape and movement patterns in the video to identify a person. However, its accuracy can be affected by several factors. The most common reasons for incorrect detections are:
- Poor Camera Angle: An obstructed or side-on view makes it harder for the AI to recognise a human shape.
- Sensitivity Settings: If motion sensitivity is too high, the camera may over-analyse minor movements.
- Environmental Factors: Fast-moving shadows, rustling foliage, or car headlights can create patterns that confuse the AI.
- Distance: Objects that are far away are harder to classify correctly.
Step-by-Step Guide to Improving Arlo Alert Accuracy
Follow these steps to reduce false alerts and ensure you're notified about genuine human activity.
1. Optimise Camera Placement and Angle
The way your camera sees the world is the single most important factor for accurate detection.
- Mounting Height: Position your Arlo camera between 7 and 10 feet (2-3 metres) from the ground.
- Downward Angle: Angle the camera downwards so it has a clear, slightly bird's-eye view of the detection area. This helps the AI get a clear view of the entire human form as it approaches.
- Avoid Obstructions: Ensure there are no major obstructions, like tree branches or wall corners, blocking the camera's view of the target area.
- Avoid Pointing Through Glass: Installing your camera indoors to look out a window will severely impact motion detection accuracy and will disable night vision.
2. Configure and Use Activity Zones
Activity Zones are essential for telling your Arlo system exactly where to look for motion.
- Access Activity Zone Settings: In the Arlo app, go to your camera's settings and find the 'Activity Zones' option.
- Draw Precise Zones: Create zones that tightly cover the areas you care about, such as your front path, porch, or driveway.
- Exclude Problem Areas: Crucially, draw the zones to exclude areas that cause false alerts, like a busy pavement, the road, or a neighbour's garden. This tells the AI to ignore any motion that happens outside of your specified areas.
3. Adjust Motion Sensitivity
Finding the right sensitivity level is a matter of trial and error, but it's a crucial step.
- Locate the Setting: In your camera's 'Motion Detection Settings', you will find a sensitivity slider.
- Reduce for False Alerts: If you are getting too many incorrect notifications, reduce the sensitivity level. Try lowering it by 10-15% at a time.
- Test the Changes: After each adjustment, monitor the alerts for a day to see if the accuracy has improved. The goal is to find a balance where it ignores the "noise" but still reliably detects people.
4. Ensure Smart Notifications Are Enabled
Make sure you have the correct notification settings turned on for your Arlo Smart plan.
- Check Your Settings: In the Arlo app, go to 'Smart Notifications' for your camera.
- Enable Person Detection: Ensure that the toggle for 'People' is turned on. This tells the system to use the AI to analyse motion and specifically alert you when a person is detected.
By methodically optimising your camera's physical placement and fine-tuning its software settings, you can significantly improve the accuracy of Arlo's person detection, leading to smarter, more relevant security alerts.