Arlo has underhandedly decided to sell off their old and outdated cameras on Black Friday to unsuspecting consumers. I am ashamed to say that despite doing my research, I am one of them. While I enjoy the cameras overall, I bought them for smart home integration. Primarily to integrate with google home. Unfortunately, since my cameras are not “Pro” this functionality does not work, and Arlo has refused to change that. These are literally the ONLY cameras in the Arlo arsenal not to have this functionality.
That’s where SmartThings was supposed to come in. All of the Arlo messages boards said to get SmartThings and that would bridge the gap, allowing for streaming to my Chromecast. Well unless I’ve missed a step, SmartThings is proving just as incapable.
The new app is clunky and very limited, but the old app will not function for me. I cannot see how to create integrations between google home and Arlo via SmartThings. Can anyone assist?
Please note that I am not a programmer, I have not written code since I was 13, and I do not have the technical skill set for that type of “fix”
I am using the new SmartThings WiFi hub, on iOS, with a Google Home mini, and the basic (not pro) Arlo Wire Free Cameras.
I would suggest you ask the folks at the Arlo Message boards how that was suppose to work since they have said that. The Arlo cameras have to go through the Arlo cloud for your stream to get to either your phone, Smartthings, or a Chormecast. Video processing isn’t really done on Smarthings hardware parse so. When you tell Google home to lets say “Show me the front door camera” it doesn’t go through smartthings, but reaches out to the Arlo Cloud to display the stream.
Now I guess one could speculate that you could connect your Arlo Account to Smartthings, and then maybe connect Google to smartthings and hope it does some kind of dual cloud hop to get to your video stream. I have my doubts that will work. I also just looked at the google app in Smartthings and there is no section for the camera devices to be allowed to google.
My suggestion would be to try to return it, and get one of the kits that will do what you ask. If you don’t mind me asking what are you trying to use it for. Like Inside/Outside. Front door, back yard. Maybe i can give advise on a cheaper arlo option. The simple fact is that the original Arlo camera system is now several years old so i am not surprised some stuff doesn’t work with it. I would argue that they shouldn’t even really sell that setup anymore. They should have prices down on their higher teir stuff now that they can just drop the price of the pro’s and permanently Discontinue/replace the original Arlo’s
I use it for indoor monitoring and one camera is a patio camera, but I paid $200 for the whole set, so there are no Arlo kits that even come close to that cost.
For indoor use the Arlo Q will beat out all but the Arlo pro 2 except for being battery powered and having the local recording on the base. For outside your options are limited and I agree you will have a problem beating out that price.
My point is simply if the OG Arlo cameras won’t do what you want them to do that is your best option. I can vouch for the Arlo Q as a good camera. I have had it for a few years now and it has been great so far and with the price now ranging from 99 to 130 per camera the price is pretty awesome.