Frustrated by Netgear Arlo Notification Lag?
A key feature of your Netgear Arlo security camera is its ability to send instant motion alerts to your smartphone. These timely notifications allow you to react quickly to whatever is happening at your property. When there's a significant delay or lag between an event occurring and the notification arriving, it can defeat the purpose of having a smart security system.
If you're tired of receiving alerts seconds or even minutes too late, you're in the right place. This guide will help you understand the causes of Arlo notification lag and provide practical steps to make your alerts as close to real-time as possible.
Common Symptoms of Notification Delay
You're experiencing notification lag if you've noticed any of the following:
- The push notification on your phone arrives several seconds or minutes after the motion actually happened.
- When you view the recorded clip, you can see that it started recording too late, completely missing the person or vehicle that triggered the event.
- Instead of arriving in real-time, you receive a large batch of notifications all at once.
- The app itself is very slow to load the live video stream after you tap on a notification.
- There is a noticeable difference in timing between the push notification you receive and the corresponding email alert.
- You can see clear motion in the camera's view, but sometimes no notification is sent at all.
- Alerts arrive promptly on one device (like a tablet) but are consistently delayed on your primary smartphone.
How to Fix Netgear Arlo Notification Lag
Notification speed is a chain of events: the camera detects motion, uploads the video, the cloud server processes it, and sends a push alert to your phone. A delay can happen at any point in this chain. Let's troubleshoot.
1. Optimise Your Wi-Fi Network
The most common bottleneck is the connection between your Arlo system and the internet.
- Check Upload Speed: Your internet's upload speed is critical. It determines how quickly the camera can send the recorded video clip to the Arlo cloud. Run a speed test. You need a stable upload speed of at least 1-2 Mbps per camera.
- Improve Signal Strength: A weak Wi-Fi signal to the camera or the Arlo base station will cause significant delays. In the Arlo app, check the signal strength for the problematic camera. If it's low (one or two bars), try moving the camera closer to the base station/router, or move the base station to a more central location in your home.
- Reduce Network Congestion: If other devices on your network are heavily using the upload bandwidth (e.g., online gaming, video conferencing, cloud backups), it can slow down your Arlo system. Try to minimise this, especially during times you need reliable alerts.
2. Adjust Camera Positioning and Motion Sensitivity
Sometimes the lag is perceived because the camera is not detecting motion early enough.
- Optimal Positioning: Arlo cameras are best at detecting motion that moves across their field of view, not directly towards them. Position your cameras so that a person would walk across the detection zones.
- Adjust Motion Sensitivity: In the Arlo app, go to the camera's settings and run the 'Motion Detection Test'. You may need to increase the sensitivity level so that it picks up movement earlier, giving the system more time to process and send the alert.
3. Check Arlo App and Device Settings
The way your modes and rules are configured can impact performance.
- Video Quality: While higher quality video is better, it also creates larger files that take longer to upload. If your upload speed is limited, try reducing the video quality setting for one camera as a test to see if it makes notifications faster.
- Reboot Your Arlo System: A simple reboot can often clear up temporary glitches. Unplug your Arlo base station from power, wait 30 seconds, and plug it back in. You can also restart your cameras via the app settings.
4. Rule Out Phone or Operating System Issues
The problem might not be with Arlo, but with your mobile device.
- Disable Battery Saving Modes: Aggressive 'low power' or 'battery optimisation' modes on both Android and iOS can delay push notifications from apps to save energy. Ensure the Arlo app is exempted from these settings.
- Check Notification Permissions: Go into your phone's settings and ensure the Arlo app has all the necessary permissions to send notifications, run in the background, and use mobile data.
- Test on Another Device: If you have a tablet or another phone, install the Arlo app on it and see if the notifications are faster there. This can help you isolate the problem to a specific device.