Notification on doorbell camera motion detection

My ability to enable push notifications in the Android app is broken - fails with "Communication unsuccessful" error when I try to enable and save.  Support said last week there would be an update in 24 to 48 hours but apparently no update yet, still at version 3.68

However I do get alerts by SMS / text for other events so I would expect I would receive the camera motion alerts by text too.  Others on Reddit have reported the same behavior as me.

Sure I have an Pixel 3a on latest Android and SimpliSafe app versions.  My carrier is GoogleFi.

I did a debug session with one of your support people a few weeks back and they told me there was bug the Android app s/w that would be fixed "in 24 to 48 hours".  There's been one update since then but I still have the same issue.

There are other people on Reddit complaining about the same problem so it is apparently not just me.

@s13n​ agree!!! We can’t sit on our patio if waiting for someone since we can’t hear our doorbell and phone doesn’t receive any notifications!

I've tried to enable push notifications at the system level but it fails - that was the bug support said existed would be fixed. It hasn't been.

I have enabled SMS alerts which I get but never anything for the doorbell camera - motion or doorbell rings.

But there are settings on the camera itself to receive notifications for motion and I don't receive those either. If I go look at timeline everything is there - it's not a detection problem - I just don't get notified.

You didn't, but I have done that myself as well as clearing cache/app data (which obviously also happens on app re-install).  Is there something I need to do to the doorbell device itself, like an update, or hard reset and reinstall to my system?  Although as I mentioned since it seems to be functioning in ever other way.  

While looking at my system settings I also realized I've never had notifications about motion from my other regular camera.  I think I assumed that was because I didn't have the alarm enabled but from what I see it looks like I should be able to get them even when "Off".   That would further suggest as you said it is an app problem.

I'm trying the live support option again.  Will see what they say.

OMG, thanks for suggesting the obvious! Even though I'd done it before while I was on hold I went ahead and cleared data/cache for the app and re-authenticated.  Lo and behold I was finally able to use the push notification sliders and save successfully.  A test of the doorbell gave me both a doorbell ring notification and camera motion notification. I believe I had not tried a re-install or data clear since the updated version came out, I also got a base station update notice yesterday and upgraded.  I didn't occur to me to try re-install / data clear again.  Either way something worked this time.

So this is progress, yay!  However...

a) several additional attempts to get motion notifications failed
b) when I tried to use the option to see video and speak to the person at the door it failed to connect
c) I still cannot seem to get motion event for my regular camera when I set the shutter to open for alarm "Off", unsure if that is supposed to be possible though.

I'm thinking a) might be because of a limit on how often motion events are sent?
b) might be due to SimpliSafe video streaming issues - I did get a notice when trying to even view the video from my indoor camera saying there was a streaming problem on that side.  c) I don't know what is going on here although for whatever reason the camera which is 10 feet from my router is claiming poor upload speed but I'm not even seeing motion events recorded in the timeline.

Hi @Pdohertymom ​, 

Is it just the Video Doorbell that you do not receive push notifications for, or do you not get any notifications at all? I would try deleting and reinstalling the app to see if that retrieves notifications for you.

@YoshQ​ The Video Doorbell was designed to always be active, so it will always send a notification when it detects motion, even if your system isn't armed. If you'd like, you can always turn this camera's motion notifications off in the SimpliSafe mobile app. Navigate to Camera Settings > your camera > Motion Detection and turn them off. This will still leave your system's alarm notifications on.

We also offer the Snooze Notifications feature so your can temporarily turn off your camera's motion notifications for a set amount of time. If it's a windy day, you can snooze your Video Doorbell's notifications so you will not be notified every time it detects motion. You can learn more about this feature in this Help Center article.