How To Set Up Notifications On Your Arlo Camera

Arlo cameras are well-regarded because of the features they bring at a reasonable price, easy setup, and the wide variety of controls for camera notifications. But how, exactly, do you control those notifications? Especially when you’ve placed your camera in a high-traffic area where the default settings will likely become overwhelming. That’s exactly what this guide sets out to explain. Whether you’re setting up for the first time or just want to make some adjustments for your peace of mind.

Here, we’ll break down the adjustments you can make to your notifications for your Arlo camera or cameras from your connected smartphone or tablet. And, as is the case with all of our how-to guides, how those adjustments work in real-world use.

Here’s how to set up notifications on your Arlo camera

The first step of this process will be to open up the Arlo application on your smartphone or tablet. Then you’ll need to sign in using your preferred method. As shown in the images below, we’re using a fingerprint for quicker login.

Now, you’ll want to ensure you’re on the “Mode” tab using the bottom bar UI. As shown in the following images below. Otherwise, you’ll need to navigate a slew of menus to get to the appropriate notifications setting for your Arlo camera. Then select the camera in question. In the next image on the page, the “Mode” tab isn’t appearing yet. It takes some time to load in the app, as of this writing.

The tab also doesn’t appear if your cameras aren’t live. For example, if all of your camera privacy shutters are active. As shown, the Mode tab was already loaded from a previous session and we’ve selected the “Cat Room” camera. Select the camera that you’d like to access notifications control for, on the Mode tab.

After selecting the Arlo camera you’d like to adjust notifications for, select the mode that you’d like to adjust them for. We’re choosing the default “Armed” mode, but the same adjustments can be made for any other mode. Such as if you’ve got the camera set up to only work when you’re away from home using Geofencing. The rule can be selected by choosing the corresponding pencil-shaped edit icon.

Next, select the “Rule” you’d like to adjust for. We only have motion set up for the camera in question. So we’re selecting the pencil-shaped icon next to that rule. Bear in mind that if you use Geofencing, Arlo will put a persistent notification in your device’s notification shade.

Once loaded, select the pencil next to the rule again to adjust the sensitivity of that rule. For instance, we’ve chosen “Motion” and have set the sensitivity to a level 5, right in the middle. The page will also let you turn on sound detection and adjust the sensitivity for that. Select the “back arrow” icon to go back to the main menu.

Next, scroll down the page to the section labeled “Alerts.” That’s located at the bottom of the Rule Summary menu.

Here, you can adjust whether you receive Push Notifications on your phone or tablet. Or whether you receive Email Alerts. You may also choose to enable both. A green checkmark means that the setting is enabled.

Now, you’ll want to save your changes before moving on to the next step. That can be done by selecting the “Save” option at the top of the app UI.

Once saved, select the three-dot icon at the top right-hand side of the UI.

Next, select “Settings” from the resulting pop-out menu. This will load up the overall settings for notifications for your Arlo camera and any other Arlo notification-sending devices.

Near the bottom of the Settings page, on loading, select “Smart Notifications.”

On the following screen, select the camera you’d like to adjust. You will be presented with a range of compatible “Smart Alerts.”

The alerts are fairly self-explanatory. People, Vehicles, and Animals, for example, allow or disallow notifications caused by those subjects appearing in the video frame. You can also turn off or on “All Other Motion” to narrow down the number of notifications you receive for your Arlo camera. And the same for audio alerts.

Finally, the page contains an option to turn on or off a preview of the event in your Notification pane.

After adjusting the settings to your liking, use the back arrow to go back to the “Settings” page.

Scroll down the Settings page to the “System” segment. Select “Notifications” in that segment, then select the “Go To Settings” option.

The app will take you to the system-level notifications not just for the settings you’ve set up. But for the entire app as that applies to your smartphone or tablet.

The page contains a quick and easy way to turn off all notifications. As well as other settings associated with the system-level UI.

Once those are set up, you can tap to select the “back” arrow icon and scroll the Settings page to the “Notifications” segment. There, you’ll see an option that reads, “Mute Notifications.” Select that.

The “Mute Notifications” option allows for an automatic pause in your notifications without the need to turn them off at the system level completely. Which, by nature, requires you to remember to turn them back on. In “Mute Notifications,” your Arlo camera or cameras will turn back on automatically after a set time period. Pausing is available for 30-minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, or 24 hours.