Geofencing, sometimes doesn't register exit of geofence

[fbnoise]

I have a really simple geofence setup, been running for a few weeks. Owner of a company wants office filmed while they are not in the office. Mostly works, but due to some circumstances, I'd like for it to work 100% of the time if I can figure it out.

User enters geofence: Profile 1 set to hold, camera shuts OFF.
User leaves geofence: Profile 2 set to hold, camera turns ON.

In that few weeks, there have been exactly 2 instances of Blue Iris not registering when the user exited the geofence, so Profile 2 (camera ON) was never engaged. BI logs showed the user's geofence entry, but never an exit.

One instance, I was there when the user left and Blue Iris was reporting their phone was still in the geofence. I called the user, had them open BI app on their phone, and it immediately started working correctly (it put the user back outside of the geofence and camera came on as it should).

Anyone else experience this? User is on iOS app with an iPhone X. Seems like it's an app/iOS location services issue and something worth sending to the developer but I thought I'd check here first.

 

[slabbel]

Yeah, hit and miss for me too. Also running on iOS and similar configuration activating additional cams when we are out.

 

[oldman]

I'm on Android and I occasionally find that the Geofence isn't registering with Blue Iris. Sometimes I think it's just the Android phone not doing it's geofence thing and other times it reports exiting Geofence, but BI doesn't change.

I found the same solution as you stated, that usually works. That is, make sure the BI App is running or started on the phone. Not sure this is a BI problem or just problems with the Geofence implementation on the phones. I know I have read other users having issues with geofencing not working consistently with other apps as well.

Some things to consider:
App must be running for Geofencing to work either in background or currently active. Also GPS services must be on and not disabled to conserve power. Background Apps can be bumped out due to various things going on in OS.

To make sure apps are running in the background, you can:

- Giving the apps a higher memory priority (so that they will not be killed when system memory is low)
- Whitelisting the applications in phone's power saving features, task killers or hibernation programs
- Enabling a persistent notification to keep the program's services running in the background.


There are also discussions that Geofencing needs a WiFi connection. Testing wifi connectivity is not always reliable since some phones will drop wifi when not in use.

Of course all of this can vary depending on the OS version of the phone.

 

[looney2ns]

Write support, he can't fix it if he isn't aware of folks issue's.

 

[fbnoise]

Write support, he can't fix it if he isn't aware of folks issue's.

I always ask around here first before potentially bothering him.

Background Apps can be bumped out due to various things going on in OS.

I think oldman hit the nail on the head. iPhone X has only 3GB RAM (Apple really needs to bump this up, probably will on next iteration of phones) so it probably gets pushed out if the app isn't opened in a day or two. Wonder if there is a way to keep an iOS app from falling out of RAM? I guess I'll go ahead and just send some feedback on it in case.

 

[Nick Tran]

I am experiencing the exact same issue with my iPhone X, iPhone 7, and iPhone 6.
Quite annoying.

 

[fbnoise]

I am experiencing the exact same issue with my iPhone X, iPhone 7, and iPhone 6.
Quite annoying.

He said he was looking into it, but it would help if you could send the developer some feedback so that he knows more than one person is having the issue. Here's the email: support@blueirissoftware.com

Ken's response:

It "should not" be necessary for the app to actually be running on the phone for geofencing to work. The iOS is supposed to "wake" the app. I will do some testing on my own as well.​

 

[looney2ns]

He said he was looking into it, but it would help if you could send the developer some feedback so that he knows more than one person is having the issue. Here's the email: support@blueirissoftware.com

Ken's response:

It "should not" be necessary for the app to actually be running on the phone for geofencing to work. The iOS is supposed to "wake" the app. I will do some testing on my own as well.​

You need to send emails to support from within BI on the about page and follow the directions, or he will most likely ignore the email.