Cameras

We are committed to protecting our customers' privacy and sensitive data just as vigilantly as their homes. First, you control what cameras and when live agents monitor your location. Agents only have access to outdoor-enabled cameras during a motion event that occurs during your subscription service hours when your system is armed. In addition, we use industry-standard physical, technical, and administrative controls to protect the confidentiality and security of biometric information which includes requiring agents to pass extensive background checks and work in a secured location. 

Learn more about our privacy and data policies:

• SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection Privacy Supplement

• Privacy Policy 

• Privacy Promise​

SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection notifications are push notifications you will receive after an event has been reviewed by one of our expert monitoring agents. You can decide which SimpliSafe® verified outdoor events should trigger push notifications - such as Common Activity events or Person on Property events.

There is a difference between Camera Motion Notifications and SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection Notifications. Turning on Camera Motion Notifications allows the SimpliSafe® Mobile App to notify you when your camera detects motion. SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection Notifications are push notifications you receive after an event has been reviewed by one of our expert monitoring agents or our advanced AI. With SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection, you can refine when you would like to receive motion notifications, on a per-camera basis.

Camera Motion Notifications for SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection

When you enable SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection for the Outdoor Security Camera Series 2 or a Video Doorbell Pro you’ll have a new set of Motion Detection settings available to you.

You can access this in the SimpliSafe® Mobile App by navigating to My System > Camera Settings > and choosing your camera that’s enrolled in SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection.

Motion Detection Settings for Cameras Enrolled in SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection:

• Always on

• This will alert you when people are detected via motion events for this camera

• Only while unmonitored

• This will alert you when people are detected via motion on this camera, only when your system is not armed or when you are not within your monitoring window (overnight plans via Pro subscription)

• Off

• This turns off camera motion push notifications for this camera, so you will not receive any notifications for motion events

Setting up Push Notifications for SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection

To set up Push Notifications for your SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection service:

1. Open the SimpliSafe® Mobile App on your phone or tablet

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Tap Notification Settings

4. Choose Push Notifications

5. Scroll down to Outdoor Protection

6. Toggle the settings ON or OFF as needed

7. Select SAVE in the upper right corner of the app to save your selections

Note: You must be logged into the SimpliSafe® app in order to receive push notifications on your device

Setting up Email Notifications for SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection

To set up Email Alerts for your SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection service:

1. Open the SimpliSafe® Mobile App on your phone or tablet

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Tap Notification Settings

4. Under ‘Other Alerts’ select Email Notifications

5. Tap on Customize Outdoor Monitoring Emails

6. Toggle the settings ON or OFF as needed

7. Select SAVE in the upper right corner of the app to save your selections

Note: Email alerts for SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection will only go to the email address of the primary account holder.

Familiar faces help professional monitoring agents determine who should be allowed on your property. For example, you may want to create a familiar face for an in-law, a neighbor, or a dog walker. Our expert monitoring agents are trained to use familiar faces to identify a match when the system is armed and SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection is active and will only engage with unknown individuals.

Quick Tips for Uploading Images to Familiar Faces

• Each profile you create should be for a singular person and utilize their real name. Do not create generic profiles, such as “Delivery Driver” or “Babysitter” and use different photos of different people.

• Ensure the image is clear or sharp, blurry images may result in a “No Faces Detected” error

• Ensure that the photo is taken portrait style, with the subject's head facing straight forward.

• If the head is at an angle in any direction, it could result in less accurate matching by AI or our monitoring specialists

• Try to avoid using images where the subject is wearing a hat or sunglasses, or has their face obscured in any way

• To start, we recommend about 3-5 photos per familiar face to help build a profile of the individual for AI or our monitoring specialists

When fully charged, the battery is designed to last for up to 3 months. And since the life of the battery is completely dependent on usage and settings, there are several methods that can be used to maximize the battery of your camera and keep your home protected 24/7.

Camera Location

Your camera is activated by a motion sensor for accurate alerts. If your camera is in the vicinity of a high-traffic area, like a busy road or sidewalk, the motion sensor will be triggered more frequently for unnecessary movement, which can cause the battery to drain. 

If your camera is in a high-traffic area:

• Reposition the camera so that its field of view does not include the busy road or sidewalk. You can also set up Activity Zones to avoid monitoring these areas. 

• Make sure there are no tree branches or large plants obstructing the camera's view.

• Be sure to mount your camera 6 - 8 feet above the ground, with the lens facing downward at a 30-degree angle. 

Camera Settings

There are multiple settings that can be adjusted to help extend the battery life of your camera. To access these settings in the SimpliSafe® Mobile App: 

1. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

2. Select Camera Settings from the list of menu options

3. Tap on your Outdoor Camera

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Battery-saving settings

• Lower your camera’s motion sensitivity setting to Default or Low. This will impact how frequently the camera is triggered. 

• Enable People-Only Detection to ensure your camera is only capturing humans, and is not unnecessarily triggered by other moving objects or animals. 

• Set up Activity Zones to control the areas that the camera will monitor. This is helpful if there is a high-traffic zone in the view that you do not need to monitor.

• Use Standard Night Vision mode instead of the Spotlight feature.

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Charge the Camera’s Battery Fully

Charge it Completely

If the Outdoor Camera’s battery is not completely charged, it will give the appearance of draining quickly. The Outdoor Camera’s battery takes up to 6 hours to charge completely. When the battery is charging, you will see a blinking white light. You’ll know the battery is fully charged once all 3 lights are illuminated and no longer blinking.

Use the Correct Power Adapter

The Outdoor Camera’s battery requires a USB power adapter with an output of 5.0V, 1.5A+. Failure to use the correct power adapter can result in the battery not charging completely. 

A list of power adapters that fit this requirement are:

• The SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Security Camera’s adapter 

• The Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera’s adapter

• Most cell phone power adapters

If you don’t know the output of your power adapter, most models will have it printed on the device itself, as seen in the image below.

If you are using the correct power adapter, make sure that you are plugging it into an outlet directly in a wall. Using a USB power strip or USB power hub may not supply efficient power to charge the battery. 

Loss of audio to your camera feed can be caused by a dip in the Wi-Fi connection strength to your home network. When there is a poor connection, our devices will prioritize video over audio to best ensure the safety of your home.

If your camera loses audio frequently, you may want to consider taking some steps to improve the Wi-Fi connection, such as adjusting the position of your camera or installing a Wi-Fi extender near the camera. You can also take a few steps to improve your overall signal strength.

You can also toggle audio recording on and off in the SimpliSafe® mobile app by navigating to:

1. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

2. Select Camera Settings

3. Choose your Camera from the list of available cameras

4. Toggle Mic & Audio ON or OFF, as needed

1. This setting should be toggled ON by default

If your camera feed continues to lose its audio after taking the above steps, we recommend resetting your camera. You can find the steps to reset each of our SimpliSafe® cameras in the Help Center articles below:

• How to Reset the Outdoor Security Camera Series 2

• How to Reset the Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera

• How to Reset the Wireless Outdoor Security Camera

• How to Reset the SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Security Camera

• How to Reset the Video Doorbell Pro

If the issue persists or you need further assistance, please contact customer support. We'll be happy to help!

The Video Doorbell Pro sends you two different types of notifications. You will receive a Doorbell Press notification when someone presses the button on your doorbell, and a Motion Detection notification when the camera registers motion. 

Customizing Motion Detection Notifications

The Motion Detection notifications you receive from your Video Doorbell are fully customizable. You can change the sensitivity of the doorbell’s motion sensor, choose between People Only and All Motion notifications, and use Activity Zones to ignore motion in specific areas of the camera’s view.

You can customize your Video Doorbell’s Motion Detection notifications by taking the following steps in the SimpliSafe® mobile app:

1. Tap the “Cameras” icon at the bottom of the SimpliSafe® app

2. Choose the gear icon in the upper right corner to get to Camera Settings and select your Video Doorbell

3. Tap the arrow button (>) next to “Motion Detection” and toggle “Motion Notifications” on

4. To change the sensitivity of the Video Doorbell’s motion sensor, navigate to “Sensitivity” and use the slide bar to choose between Low, Medium, or High

5. To choose between “People Only” or “All Motion”, navigate to “Motion Type” and pick your desired setting 

6. If there are any areas within your Video Doorbell’s view that you do not want to receive notifications for, go to “Activity Zones” and select the areas you do not want to be notified of* 

7. Tap “Save” in the upper right corner to save your settings

Please note that Activity Zone selection only works during the day*

If your Video Doorbell’s notifications are on, but you are not receiving push notifications on your device, visit this article about troubleshooting push notifications for more help.

The Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera and SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Security Camera both come with a privacy shutter, which is a metal cover that will physically conceal the camera’s lens. When the privacy shutter is on, your camera will not record any motion. 

If your privacy shutter is open when your settings say it should be closed, or closed when it should be on, follow the steps below. 

Check Your Settings in the SimpliSafe® App

First, check your camera’s privacy shutter settings in the SimpliSafe® App to ensure that they are configured correctly. 

To Check the Smart Alarm Indoor Camera’s Settings

1. Open the SimpliSafe® App on your phone or tablet

2. Select My System from the navigation menu on the bottom of the screen

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Choose your camera

5. Under Camera Behavior, look through the Off, Home, and Away modes

1. If you want your privacy shutter open, the Motion Detection setting should be on

To Check the SimpliCam® Indoor Camera’s Settings

1. Open the SimpliSafe® App on your phone or tablet

2. Select My System from the navigation menu on the bottom of the screen

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Choose your camera

5. Under Camera Behavior, look through the Off, Home, and Away modes

1. If you want your privacy shutter open, the Privacy Shutter setting should be off

Change Your System’s Armed State

Arm or disarm your SimpliSafe® System into a different state, and then turn it back to your desired state. 

Reset Your Camera

If adjusting the armed state of your system did not help, reset your camera next. You can find the steps to reset the Smart Alarm Indoor Camera and reset the SimpliCam® Indoor Camera in our Help Center.

Still Need Help?

If your camera’s privacy shutter is still not responding correctly after taking the steps above, please contact our Support team for additional assistance.