Most smart home security systems come complete with their very own app, which you can use to control your home security system from your smartphone. But what exactly do these apps offer? And is an app the best way to monitor your home security?
In my opinion, the answer is yes. Exactly what is offered varies from app to app, but here are ten features of smart home security apps that prove they’re the absolute best option for monitoring your own home security.
With an app, you can monitor your home security from anywhere
As long as you have access to cellular data, you’ll be able to check on the security of your home from your app. Exactly what you can see differs from app to app, but with Safely Team’s app, Safely Connect, you can see whether the system is armed, check if windows or doors are open and see the data collected from the dual function sensors amongst many other things. The Safely Connect app even has a holiday mode option. When holiday mode is activated you’ll get regular notifications telling you everything is okay at home!
If a sensor is triggered your app will send you an alert
When one of the linked sensors that make up your smart home security system is triggered, for example when movement is detected or a door or window is opened, you’ll get an alert straight to your app. This allows you to act quickly to rectify any home security issues. Without an app, this kind of quick response would be impossible, and it would be hard for a monitoring team or any friend or neighbour whose attention a noisy alarm attracts to get hold of you.
Alerts and notifications from an app can help you improve home security
But home security apps aren’t just about fixing things that have already gone wrong. With a smart home security system like Safely Teams you also receive alerts about things that could cause problems, so that you can rectify them before there’s an issue. Safely Connect tells you when there’s a window or door open letting cold air in and causing a security risk, for example, and prompts you to close it.
You’ll never have to wonder if you armed your system or locked your door again
We’ve all been there – you rush out of the house in a tizzy, thinking about five things at once, you’re late for work, you might even have odd socks on, and then, ten minutes into your commute you think, ‘Oh no! Did I arm the security system?’ or maybe even, ‘Did I lock the door?’
With a smart home security app you can not only check whether or not your system is armed, but also arm the system with just a couple of clicks if it turns out it really did slip your mind earlier. With some smart home security systems such as SafelyTeams you might even have a Smartlock. If that’s the case, you can lock your door from your app too. Plus, with SafelyTeam you can see if any windows or doors that have contact sensors on them are open! So, while a smart home security system can’t make you more organised in the morning or stop you over sleeping, it can lend you an awful lot of peace of mind.
Even with a linked alarm system, an app will tell you exactly where a problem is
Linked alarm systems activate all alarms when a single sensor is triggered. They are useful because when several loud alarms are going off they’re very hard to miss! A linked system makes sure you and your family are notified of an emergency ASAP, and linked systems are usually thought of as better than the alternative. In fact, linked heat and smoke alarms are now required in all new UK properties. Of course, problems can arise when you are trying to work out what set your alarm system off in the first place. Those problems are solved by smart home security apps, which tell you exactly which of your linked alarms triggered the others. With Safely Team’s Connect app, each of your sensors can be labeled with the room that it’s in too, so you’ll know with just a glance that your alarms were triggered by, for example, the heat alarm in your kitchen.
An app-linked system can provide safety and security for the whole family
We all worry about our family when we’re not with them. But when you can keep an eye on your home, you can also keep an eye on your family. With Safely Team’s app, you can set up the system so you receive notifications when family members (for example your kids) get home and use their personal code or RFiD tag to disable your smart home security system. That way you can be sure your children are safe without impinging on their privacy.
Some apps allow you to control multiple home security systems easily
With Safely Connect, you can control more than one smart home security system from a single app. That means that if you have multiple properties with smart home security systems from Safely Team you can get all the data about both properties on your phone, arm and disarm both systems, and much more. This is a feature that’s unique to Safely Team, and it makes juggling multiple systems incredibly easy.
An app can deliver many smart home insights
Just like a smart watch gives you ongoing health insights, a home security app gives you insights about your home, its security, and in turn the safety of you and your family. As well as telling you when a sensor is triggered, apps like Safely Team’s can tell you when rooms need ventilation to avoid dangerous levels of volatile organic compounds, can alert you to dropping temperatures and suggest closing windows or doors, and even remind you to carry out regular system maintenance like changing batteries and testing alarms.
A smart home security app is crucial for third party integration
One of the great advantages of a smart home security system like the systems offered by Safely Team is that you can integrate other smart home appliances into it. That means you can do things like linking a smart thermostat, and set the heating to come on when the dual-purpose sensors in your home detect that it’s getting chilly, arm and disarm your system through voice commands using Amazon Alexa, or set smart bulbs to switch on when the front door is opened. All of this is usually controlled through an app. In the case of Safely Team’s system, you can set rules like these (and many more, depending on your smart home’s capabilities) in the Rules and Scenes area of the Safely Connect app.
Share control with as many users as you like
Using an app in conjunction with a smart home security system allows you to carefully share control of that system with everyone in your household and beyond. You can add as many users as you like on Safely Team’s app, giving them various levels of control and access. You can even use the app to assign everyone a unique code to be used on your Safely Team keypad, so they can arm and disarm your home alarm system, with you notified of exactly when they do either.
These are just a few of the features a smart home security app gives you access to. To find out more about the possibilities of a smart home security system from Safely Team, all controlled through the Safely Connect app, check out the Safely Team website.