The SimpliSafe App is temporarily unavailable

Thank you for responding, Emily. No, I have not traveled for a few months. Yes, I have a VPN app but not typically used  while on my home network.

I updated my base station firmware, deleted and reinstalled the SS app a couple of days ago but to no avail.

It seems as if this started ocurring after I added a second exterior camera. The 'Unable to Load Cameras' msg started at about the same timeframe. Both issues eventually resolves itself if I wait long enough but it would be really nice to have them work the first time in arming/disarming the system or reviewing the cameras upon an activity alert  ;-)

Ref:  screenshots

Sincerely,

Bob

@bobkoh​ That "Unable to Load Cameras" message you see can also be related to the VPN. To rule this out, if you temporarily turn off the VPN are you able to load the SimpliSafe mobile app and view your Outdoor Camera without seeing either of these error messages?

This is absolutely unacceptable of a solution. As a security company - requiring people turn off their VPN to use your app is not a solution. I already have MFA activated - why do you have this setup to block me from being able to use a VPN? 

Also this must be a new thing, because just the past week or so it's shown me logged out but I thought the "temporarily unavailable" was accurate. Then didn't get a notification my son was home from school and rang the doorbell - so he stayed outside panicking for 15 minutes until he went to a neighbor's house. 

You need to turn this setting back off or let us opt out for our accounts. 

@queenshimmer​ Do you have a VPN installed on your Chromebook? If you do, what happens if you temporarily disable it and then try to log into the web app?

But if you do not have a VPN installed, I would recommend trying a different web browser if you haven't already, or try clearing your browser's cache and cookies and then try logging in again.

I have been a SimpliSafe customer for several years…apparently I don’t deserve a comment from Simplisafe concerning my above issue I posted yesterday!!!!

@charlest the "Real Time Information is Unavailable" error message is generally caused by an unstable internet connection. We recommend first refreshing the SimpliSafe mobile app by pulling the screen down.

But if that does not resolve the issue, we would want to troubleshoot your internet connection. A good first step is to reboot your WiFi router by unplugging it for 30-60 seconds and then plugging it back in. 

It can also help to adjust the location of your Base Station to improve its WiFi connection. The Base Station should be placed on a glass or wood surface, at least 3 feet from the ground. We also recommend placing the Base Station in an open location, as if its tucked away in a cabinet, closet, or near other electronics it can impact its WiFi connection.

My narrative states the steps I took to solve this issue. I’ve pulled down to refresh the app and yes, the message goes away until the next time I set the alarm from my iPhone. I tried rebooting my router as suggested prior to writing the prior statement and that didn’t help. I have a very stable and fast internet connection and use one of the top mesh WiFi systems that give me a stable and upload and download strong signal throughout my home and the SimpliSafe base station is centrally located and is approximately 4 feet off the floor and in fact the base station is approximately 2 feet away from one of the mesh WiFi satellites so I don’t believe the instability of the WiFi signal is an issue and one final note is the base station is not in a cabinet, closet or near other electronics except as said near the WiFi mesh satellite. 

I will say that this issue only occurs periodically when I arm my system from the app

@charlest one last question, do you happen to have any VPNs or ad blockers on your devices? That could potentially cause an issue with the mobile app connecting. But if you do not, let us know and we can get you in touch with our devs for further troubleshooting.