How to Fix Delayed Unifi Protect Notifications
Timely notifications are the cornerstone of any security camera system. When a Unifi Protect notification for motion or a doorbell ring arrives seconds or even minutes late, it can render the alert useless. If you're experiencing this delay, the issue typically lies within your network, the Unifi Protect controller, or your mobile device's settings.
This guide will provide a step-by-step process to diagnose and resolve notification delays in your Unifi Protect system.
## Step 1: Analyse Your Network Environment
The journey of a notification from your camera to your phone is complex. A delay at any point in the chain can slow down the entire process.
Controller and Internet Connection
The Unifi Protect controller (whether it's a Cloud Key Gen2+, UDM Pro, or UNVR) is the brain of your system. Its connection to the internet is critical.
- Check Controller Health: In your Unifi dashboard, check the CPU and memory load of your controller. If the CPU load is consistently high (more than 80%), it may be struggling to process video and send alerts promptly. This can happen if you have many cameras or overly sensitive motion detection settings.
- Internet Upload Speed: Your controller needs a stable, low-latency internet connection with sufficient upload speed to send notification data to the cloud and then to your phone. Run a speed test from a computer on the same network to verify.
- Local vs. Remote Latency: Are notifications delayed only when you are away from home (on a mobile network) or also when your phone is connected to the same local Wi-Fi as the controller? If the delay is only on mobile data, the issue is likely with the remote connection or your mobile carrier.
Step 2: Optimise Unifi Protect Settings
Misconfigured settings within the Unifi Protect application can lead to processing delays or an overwhelming number of events that bog down the system.
Fine-Tune Motion and Smart Detections
- Reduce Motion Sensitivity: If your motion sensitivity is too high, the system gets flooded with insignificant events (like leaves blowing), which can create a queue and delay important alerts.
- Refine Motion Zones: Ensure your motion detection zones are drawn tightly around the areas you care about. Exclude public streets, busy footpaths, or trees that move in the wind.
- Use Smart Detections: This is a key feature. Instead of using generic motion detection, configure your alerts to trigger only for "Person" or "Vehicle" detections. This offloads processing to the AI and dramatically reduces the number of events the system needs to handle, leading to faster notifications for what truly matters.
Check Notification Settings
- Review Alert Schedules: In the Unifi Protect app, under
Settings > Alerts, ensure you haven't accidentally configured a schedule that silences notifications during certain times. - Update Everything: Make sure you are running the latest versions of the Unifi Protect application on your controller and the Unifi Protect app on your mobile device. Updates frequently include performance improvements.
Step 3: Troubleshoot Your Mobile Device
Sometimes the delay isn't caused by Unifi at all, but by how your smartphone handles notifications.
Disable Battery Optimisation
This is a very common cause of delayed alerts, especially on Android devices.
- Android: Go to
Settings > Apps > Unifi Protect > Battery. Set the battery usage to "Unrestricted". This prevents the operating system from putting the app to sleep to save power. - iOS: Go to
Settings > General > Background App Refreshand ensure it is enabled for the Protect app.
Check 'Do Not Disturb' and Focus Modes
Ensure that the Unifi Protect app is not being silenced by any 'Do Not Disturb', 'Sleep', or 'Focus' modes you may have configured on your phone. You can often add specific apps as exceptions to these modes.
By systematically checking the path from your controller to the internet and finally to your phone, you can identify the bottleneck and restore the speedy, reliable notifications that make Unifi Protect an effective security tool.