Why Are My Arlo Activity Zones Not Working?
Arlo's Activity Zones feature is a fantastic tool for reducing unwanted motion alerts. By drawing specific zones in your camera's view, you can tell it to ignore motion from busy roads, swaying trees, or your neighbour's property. However, if the feature isn't working correctly, it can lead to a flood of false notifications or, even worse, missed events.
This troubleshooting guide will cover the essential requirements and common fixes for getting your Arlo Activity Zones to work perfectly.
1. Check the Core Requirements
Before diving into detailed settings, ensure your setup meets the two fundamental requirements for Arlo Activity Zones to function.
- Mains Power: Your Arlo camera must be plugged into a mains power source. The feature does not work when the camera is running on battery power. This is because analysing specific video zones requires more processing power than the battery-saving PIR motion sensor can provide.
- Arlo Secure Subscription: Activity Zones is a premium feature. You must have an active Arlo Secure (or Arlo Smart) subscription plan for the option to be available and for the zones to be active.
If you don't meet both of these conditions, you won't be able to use Activity Zones.
2. Configure Your Zones Correctly in the Arlo App
Assuming you meet the requirements, the next step is to ensure the zones are set up properly within the Arlo Secure app.
- Navigate to the Right Place: Open the app, go to the Devices tab, select your camera, and tap on Device Settings > Video Settings > Activity Zones.
- Create or Edit Zones: You can create up to three zones per camera. Tap the
+icon to add a zone. Drag the corners of the box to resize and position it precisely over the area of interest (e.g., your walkway, a doorway). - Save Your Changes: After positioning your zone(s), make sure you tap Save. If you navigate away without saving, the settings will not be applied.
- Delete and Redraw: If you suspect a glitch, try deleting all existing zones, saving the empty state, and then going back in to redraw them from scratch.
3. Adjust Motion Sensitivity Settings
Activity Zones and Motion Sensitivity work together. If your sensitivity is not set correctly, it can seem as though the zones are being ignored.
- High Sensitivity Issues: If your motion sensitivity is set very high (e.g., 80-100), the camera can be triggered by significant events even if they are outside your defined zones. Large, fast-moving shadows or car headlights can sometimes be enough to trigger a recording. Try lowering the sensitivity to see if this resolves the issue of getting alerts from outside your zones.
- Low Sensitivity Issues: Conversely, if you are not getting alerts for motion that is clearly inside your zone, your sensitivity might be too low. Try increasing the sensitivity level gradually until it reliably detects the motion you care about.
4. Update and Restart
Finally, ensure all your software and hardware are up to date and have been recently restarted.
- Update the Arlo App: Check your phone's app store for any updates to the Arlo Secure app.
- Check Camera Firmware: The app should automatically update your camera's firmware, but you can check its status in the device settings.
- Restart Your Camera: If your camera is accessible, unplug it from the power source for a minute and then plug it back in. This can clear any temporary software glitches that might be affecting the zone detection.
By systematically working through these checks, you can solve the vast majority of problems related to Arlo Activity Zones not working correctly.