Get more out of your Arlo security cameras

If you use Netgear's Arlo security cameras, you are probably a very happy customer, as their rating of 4.3 on Amazon.com would suggest.

I have used them at home for well over one year, having two setup outside and two inside. There are plenty of out-of-the-box configuration options - schedules, sensitivity, video quality, recording length, notifications, etc.

With notifications, you can essentially have the Arlo app notify you on your smartphone or have it email you. I have both enabled and it certainly is handy. The notifications are almost immediate - we are talking 2-3 seconds from when motion is detected. Impressive.

One issue I had, though, is that I was getting a lot of notifications. My outdoor cameras are mostly armed, whereas my indoor cameras are only armed overnight. Most notifications I get are not urgent and simply allow me to be aware of what is happening in and around my home - people visiting, kids moving, etc. Overnight activity outside my home, however, is very different - I want to be woken up when there is motion detected.

This is where I was a bit stuck - Arlo doesn't really cater for this, neither does using a service like IFTTT by itself. My solution was to combine Arlo with Stringify and IFTTT.

I've got my system configured now so that if it's night time, I will get a phone call if one of my outdoor security cameras detects motion. Very handy!

I didn't need to change my Arlo schedule or configuration at all, I just left that as is. What I did need to do was to setup two Stringify "flows" and two corresponding IFTTT "applets" (for my two outdoor cameras).

Stringify is needed as I wanted to have a condition to only call me during night time. IFTTT was needed as it has the VoIP calling service.

Here is the Stringify flow for my front door camera:

And here is the corresponding IFTTT applet:

And here is how it seamlessly works together (yes it's dark... it's night time!):
Note - the LIFX light flashing is simply a separate IFTTT applet.