Non-rectangular activity / privacy zones?
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When defining activity zones or privacy zones, am I limited to stretching out a rectangular shape?
I'd like to be able to set up a three-sided shape (with a diagonal) to cut off one corner of the camera view, and it's awkward to do that with rectangles 
If it's not possible at the moment, I suggest that it should be on the list of requested features.
Edit (some time later) - it looks like I can do this by dragging just the corner of the zone, and create a shape with sloping sides. 
I'm sure I tried this before and it moved the whole edge of the zone. I guess I wasn't accurate enough when dragging.
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Hi,
Thank you very much for your feedback and case sharing, and glad to hear the feature of the Tapo camera can meet your inquiry. You can enjoy the functions of the camera now~
Best Regards
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@Solla-topee i recently received the firmware update 1.2.9 on my brand new (1-month old) C420 cameras, and I'm having a strange issue: after a few hours, the definition of the Activity Zones just disappears!
Worst yet, in the previous version (with rectangular activity zones), not having a zone meant the whole area was monitored; now it means nothing is monitored! So now, every few hours, the cameras become useless...
Is this something someone had reported yet? I have a support ticket opened with the Portugal branch of TP-link (which seems to be progressing very slowly, all I got was recommendations to reset the cameras and try a different phone...), and I'm glad to provide any info through here or with any English-speaking person if it speeds things up.
I'm trying to avoid returning the cameras altogether (since they're still in warranty period)...
thanks
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Hi @AcacioPN
I'll keep an eye on this as well.
Having non-rectangular activity zones is a great feature, but I suspect that I'm still getting motion notifications from outside the zones (although no recordings). I'm progressing that issue with @Solla-topee in a separate thread.
I see that privacy zones still have to be rectangular, which makes them awkward to use.
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Hi,
@docdunning
About the motion notification issue, please refer to the suggestion in the thread "Duplicate repeated notifications of same event".
About the Activity Zone disappears issue, please confirm if you switch the Home mode and Away mode on the Tapo app>Cameras page.
The Home/Away mode are two different sets of settings for the camera detection feature. You can tap the button to quickly apply the preset settings to the camera when you are home or away, and if you have switched the Home or Away mode on the Tapo app, the motion detection settings preset in the mode will overwrite your current settings.
How to edit Home and Away Mode for Tapo camera?
If you have not switched the Home/Away mode on the Tapo app, it's suggested to send the following information to support.forum@tp-link.com with the email title 'Forum ID 616486+ Tapo Camera model+ motion detection activity zone disappears', and then our support will continue to help with your case.
1. Model number and MAC address of the Tapo Cam.
2. Tapo App version.
Best Regards
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Solla-topee wrote
About the Activity Zone disappears issue, please confirm if you switch the Home mode and Away mode on the Tapo app>Cameras page.
In am using home/away. I define the activity zones in each mode, and apply the setting accordingly. I have been doing it for a few weeks, and since I got firmware 1.2.9 it loses the definitions even inside the modes.
If you have not switched the Home/Away mode on the Tapo app, it's suggested to send the following information to support.forum@tp-link.com with the email title 'Forum ID 616486+ Tapo Camera model+ motion detection activity zone disappears', and then our support will continue to help with your case.
1. Model number and MAC address of the Tapo Cam.
2. Tapo App version.
I will do that, but only after testing with firmware 1.2.11 that I se just came out. Otherwise you may simply ask me to test it and everyone will be wasting time.
thanks!! 😊
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Hi,
Thank you very much for your attempt, and you can update to the latest firmware to test first.
By the way, please note that the Home/Away mode settings won't sync if you change your phone to log in to the Tapo app. You will need to reconfigure the Home/Away settings if you log in to the Tapo app with a new phone.
Best Regards
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i have updated the firmware and things changed, but are still not good. Now how are things:
- accessing the sounds of the cameras themselves (cogwheel icon) the activity zones are still defined
- in the Away mode, for that camera, no activity zone is set - it disappeared!
I just went in front of the cameras and the green light turned on on both (as expected), but no recording or alert occurred in either! one of the cameras actually says "activity detected 5 days ago" when I park my car in front of it every single day!
Guess it's time to send that email. I'll keep you posted.
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Hi,
The problem is there are Motion Detection and Activity Zone settings configured but the camera doesn't detect motion within the activity zone now from your description.
You can set the Wake-up Sensitivity and Motion Sensitivity to high and then check if the camera will detect more motions.
And if you want the activity zone configured all the time, please note to edit the home&away mode to set the activity zone for your cameras.
I see your email(TKID230802429), and our tech team will follow up on this case.
Best Regards.
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@Solla-topee thank you for your follow up. Just letting you know I answered the email, and I'll be eagerly waiting for the answers. Right now the only camera in my setup that is working is a C500 (the only wired one) and it's clearly a limitation in what I need at my home... That, and I fear it stops working with a firmware update as well - I paused auto update because of that!
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Hi,
It's no problem to pause the Auto Update feature on the Tapo app, and you can pay attention to the Me>Firmware Update page on the Tapo app if you want to check if a new firmware is available.
And our tech team will help you to locate and solve the issue reported.
Best Regards
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