- Since I reviewed SimpliSafe
a year and a half ago,
a bit has changed.
There's a new camera,
new monitoring features, new pricing,
even a new logo.
With all of that change since our last review,
it's time to dust things off
and take another look
at this DIY security giant.
SimpliSafe recently sent us a kit including
some of the new exciting gear,
like the smart alarm indoor camera.
So in this review,
I'll take a closer look at what's changed
and what you could expect
from a SimpliSafe home security system.
Before I jump into my review and testing,
let me catch you up on some of these changes.
Inflation comes for us all,
including SimpliSafe.
The brand hiked up their prices over the last year
but thankfully it's not a dramatic jump.
What used to be the Interactive plan
is now the Fast Protect plan.
Now, this is the tippy top
of the monitoring food chain
that gets you all that this DIY security brand
has to offer.
SimpliSafe still has its self-monitoring option
for around $10 a month which mainly revolves
around video recording and storage.
The security equipment has also seen a price hike,
packages now range from $250 to $700.
Speaking of equipment,
SimpliSafe debuted new gear in 2023.
There's the Smart Alarm indoor camera.
It's similar to its predecessor
but has a built-in battery
that lets you move it
to spots unreachable with a cable.
It's also got a privacy shutter and...
(alarm beeping)
- [Derek] Hello, this is Derek
with SimpliSafe Security Monitoring
on a recorded camera audio stream,
is everything okay?
- This feature kicks in when things get serious
and it allows a real live monitoring professional
to drop in through your camera's live feed
and check on you.
It's not just helpful for home invasion either,
those real human peepers
can confirm a problem like a medical emergency
or a fire better than any AI can.
More on that in a little bit.
Along with this new camera,
SimpliSafe has added a new combination smoke
and carbon monoxide detector
that can differentiate between smoke
and burning food
and can send your phone alerts through the app.
Even the motion sensor got an update
and now has a pet mode
for bigger pets over 50 pounds.
Now, this is more of a high-level condensed look
at what has changed.
To get the latest updates,
check our written review on safewise.com
that I've dropped below.
(calm music)
For this updated review,
I conducted the best test
I could think of for a home security system.
I went out of town.
I mean, after all,
isn't that what home security systems are for?
Watching your home while you're away?
For a full week our house was empty,
except for our house sitter
who stopped by once a day to feed my cat.
I instructed our human friend on how to arm
and disarm the system when they came by.
They didn't wanna be featured on camera
but they did have some feedback
about using the system.
- [Sitter] The SimpliSafe system was super easy
to use while pet sitting.
I liked that it was just a four-digit code.
When I armed the system before leaving at first,
I was nervous I wouldn't leave
the house fast enough.
I thought I'd set off the false alarm,
but the keypad was right by the door
and its display system showed a countdown
that gave me enough time not
to feel rushed while I walked out.
- Though I was hundreds of miles away,
I was able to relax knowing that my house,
my cat, and my friend were in good hands.
Before we left, I dove into SimpliSafe's app
to make adjustments to the system
and the notifications it sent me.
I adjusted the siren duration
and exit delay time,
so our sitter had plenty of time to get into
and out of the house.
I tweaked the notification setting,
so I got texts when the system sensed anything,
including motion and status changes.
Whenever our sitter stopped by,
I got a text and a push notification
that the alarm had been triggered
and the system was disarmed.
I was able to jump into the app
and check on the camera feed in real time
or watch a minute-long clip later.
Thankfully, these clips are pretty much
the same day to day.
Our sitter comes in, our cat greets them,
and the sitter goes off to feed the cat.
They ask not to be shown on camera.
So instead, here's a clip of us arriving home.
(door clacking)
(cat meowing)
- To be honest,
there wasn't much more to the test beyond that.
The system worked as expected
and it was simple enough to introduce
to someone who was completely new to it.
I was able to keep tabs on the camera and the app,
check the system status,
and change it in case our friend forgot
to arm or disarm it.
So let's talk turkey.
Here are my biggest takeaways after setting up,
going out of town,
and having this system in my home for nearly a month.
(calm music)
Like any home security system out there,
SimpliSafe has its strengths and weaknesses.
So here's what I liked
and what I didn't like about SimpliSafe.
The equipment that makes up your system,
how it alerts you and the monitoring watching
over your system,
even the amount of time you take to enter
and exit the home,
it's all up to you.
This makes SimpliSafe a great option
for folks who are just dipping their toes
into the wide world of home security.
It's an affordable,
low-commitment way to find out whether
or not you like having a security system.
There are no contracts required
and you can cancel or change your service
whenever you'd like.
You even get the option
of having professional installers set up your system.
In that time that our sitter armed
and disarmed the system and walked inside,
I was able to drop in
and see everything live on camera,
and all by the side of a pool.
The camera has a two-way talk feature
that let me talk to them directly
through the app too.
Hey, this is what the two-way talk sounds like.
The equipment, the notifications,
the app all worked in concert
to deliver a pretty seamless experience
while I had the system in my home.
I didn't have to sit around
and wait for the camera to buffer,
nor did I get any false alarms
or calls from the monitoring center
that something terrible had happened.
The Smart Alarm indoor camera strikes
that delicate balance between privacy and security,
but once the alarm triggers,
it captures a 60-second clip.
Along with that privacy shutter
its battery capacity is another improvement
from SimpliSafe's early indoor cameras.
While I left it charging during
the majority of my tests,
it can continue working even after it's unplugged.
So if you wanna move it to the other side of the room
or if an intruder unplugs it,
this little guy will keep on recording.
The clips I recorded were clear
and easy to share with myself
for this video too.
But the Live Guard compatibility
is the biggest highlight of this camera.
(alarm blaring)
All right, here we go.
It kicks your camera into emergency mode
and allows a live monitoring pro to drop in
and talk through it.
When I tested this feature,
my alarm sounded for about 30 seconds
before a SimpliSafe agent logged in.
(alarm blaring)
(alarm beeping)
- [Derek] Hello, this is Derek
with SimpliSafe Security Monitoring
on a recorded camera audio stream.
Is everything okay?
- But judging by the blinking light on the camera,
I'm guessing he could see me long before he spoke up.
He asked me for my name
and our system's safe word,
then disabled the alarm.
- [Derek] Is everything okay?
- Yes, hi, I'm just testing the system.
Overall, the whole process took around
a minute which feels pretty fast
for an alarm to trigger,
the camera to start recording,
and the agent to act.
As far as I'm aware,
this is a unique feature to SimpliSafe,
and I hope it'll help a lot of people.
Bye, Derek.
- [Derek] Bye bye.
- While I had a good experience with SimpliSafe,
there are still some blind spots
that miss the mark for others,
there's no option for guest access
in the SimpliSafe app.
While this may not be an everyday problem,
it would've been really nice
to have in my situation.
Here I have a regular guest stopping by
while I'm gone.
Instead of giving them the pin code
or making one for them,
I could have just given them access
to use our app temporarily
while they were watching our place.
If you're using SimpliSafe
to guard your business
or you have a home with a lot of people who come by,
this one might be a drawback.
While you can program multiple pin codes
into the keypad,
you're limited to only four.
This is less about access
and more about tracking who comes in
and out of your space.
With those unique codes,
you're able to know who's stopping by
and who's leaving.
I live in the middle of a small city
so this one was less of a problem for me.
But if you live in a rural area
or an area with spotty cell or internet service,
SimpliSafe isn't always reliable.
While the system has cellular backup
for when your Wi-Fi drops,
it costs extra and that isn't much help
if your cell signal is weak.
If you're looking for a security system
that folds seamlessly into your smart home,
SimpliSafe isn't a strongest choice out there either.
It does work with Google Home and A-L-E-X-A,
once you connect it to either of those smart speakers,
you can arm and disarm the system.
But for folks on the HomeKit train,
you're still left behind.
And automations feel pretty weak
with the existing systems it does work with too.
This has been a weak point
for SimpliSafe for a long time,
but it is slowly changing.
The brand now works with August Locks, for example,
but it still trails behind other DIY security systems
like Abode in third-party compatibility.
As we all know,
the only constant is change,
but SimpliSafe has always been affordable,
customizable, and low commitment.
It's a solid choice for security newcomers
when I made this first review,
and it still is today.
If you wanna learn more about SimpliSafe,
check out reviews, how-tos,
and other resources in the description below.
Thanks for watching and stay safe.