Cameras

Overview

Night Vision is a feature that allows the camera to use infrared technology to see in low-light conditions. This setting is especially helpful for capturing camera footage at night, or if your camera is located in a low-light setting such as a basement or darkened room.

Supported Cameras

• Outdoor Camera Series 2

• Night Vision is locked to Standard when the camera is enrolled in SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection

• Wireless Outdoor Security Camera

• Video Doorbell Pro

• Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera

• SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Security Camera

Turn Night Vision On or Off Using the SimpliSafe® Mobile App

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Tap on the camera you wish to manage

5. Choose Night Vision

6. Adjust the Night Vision settings as needed

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

Camera Placement Tips for Night Vision

We recommend ensuring that your camera is not pointed towards or near a wall, ceiling, or flat surface underneath. Large surfaces like this reflect IR light and wash out the remaining video (see the image below for an example of this). If the camera is on a shelf, place it near the edge to avoid obstructions. Additionally, confirm that the protective film has been removed from the camera lens. This should have been done during the installation process, but sometimes this step can be missed and interfere with your camera capturing footage adequately!

Related Articles

• Night Vision Troubleshooting for Cameras

There are a few reasons why your SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Camera may not be able to detect motion. Most commonly you may need to adjust the Camera Behavior Settings to allow the privacy shutter to be open during arming states (Off, Home, Away), but it could also be the placement or settings of the camera that prevent motion from being detected. The following article will walk you through some steps to take to get motion detection working again for your SimpliCam®.

Camera Behavior Settings and Privacy Shutter

Your Privacy Shutter will only be open and detect motion when you set it to “Open” for an arming state (Off, Home, Away) using the Camera Behavior Settings. 

To Open or Close Your SimpliCam’s® Privacy Shutter:

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Choose your SimpliCam® from the list of available cameras

5. Under Camera Behavior at the top of the settings page, select an arming state (Off, Home or Away)

6. Toggle the Privacy Shutter Open or Closed, as needed

7. Choose SAVE in the upper right corner to save your selections

Camera Placement and Motion Detection

We recommend placing your SimpliCam® on the edge of a shelf or ledge, at least 4 feet off the ground. Additionally, avoid pointing the camera directly towards doorways or windows. The camera motion detection works best when a subject walks across its field of view, versus towards the camera. 

Verify Push Notifications are Enabled

It’s possible that your camera is detecting motion events, but you just aren’t receiving the notifications on your phone when they occur. 

As a first step, check the SimpliSafe® Mobile App timeline to verify that the camera is indeed recording motion events. Once you have confirmed that, you’ll want to adjust your system’s Notification settings to allow for push notifications. 

Note that when a motion event triggers a push notification - your phone/camera will enter a one-minute quiet period where subsequent motion detected by the same camera will not trigger additional push notifications for that time frame.

Adjust the SimpliCam’s® Sensitivity

In some cases, motion may not be detected if the sensitivity for the camera is too low. By default the SimpliCam® is set to Medium, however, this can be adjusted at any time within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App.

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Choose your SimpliCam® from the list of available cameras

5. Tap on Motion Detection

6. Adjust the slider to Low, Medium or High - as needed for your camera

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

The Video Doorbell Pro chimes through the Base Station, which has four different volume settings: Off, Low, Medium, and High, with Medium as the default setting. This setting can be changed at any time using the SimpliSafe® Mobile App.

Using the SimpliSafe® Mobile App:

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Tap on your Video Doorbell Pro

5. Scroll down to the Doorbell Chime section

6. Tap on Base Station Chime

7. Adjust the slider here to Off, Low, Medium or High

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

You can also receive push notifications whenever a visitor rings your doorbell. Use the toggle on the Video Doorbell Pro settings menu to toggle Visitor Notification ON or OFF as needed. Once you toggle it, be sure to choose SAVE in the upper right corner to save your selections.

In a normal state, a blinking or flashing blue light indicates that the Outdoor Camera is sending data, specifically actively livestreaming or recording to your timeline.

In very rare instances the Outdoor Camera may become unresponsive after reconnecting its power cable or recharging the battery. You may see the LED on the camera start to flash blue - indicating that the unit is actively attempting to send data - but in-app behavior will highlight that it’s not allowing live streams or sending recordings to your timeline.

To troubleshoot this, you’ll need to remove your camera from your SimpliSafe® system, then factory reset it. Once reset you’ll add the Outdoor Camera back to your system. We also recommend that you ensure that your battery is correctly installed in your Outdoor Camera before proceeding, as well. 

Note: It’s important to download any recordings from your SimpliSafe® App before taking the steps below.

Removing the Outdoor Camera From Your System

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Tap on the Outdoor Camera you wish to remove from the list of available cameras

5. Scroll to the bottom and choose X Remove Camera

Resetting Your Outdoor Camera

1. Locate the pairing button on the backside of the Outdoor Camera

1. This is the smaller, circular button on the backside of the camera

2. Press and hold the pairing button firmly, using both thumbs if possible for 30 seconds – or until the camera chimes

   1. If the camera does not chime at any point during the 30 seconds of pressing the button, let go and hold and press the button again for another 30 seconds

      

3. You’ll know that these steps were successful as the Outdoor Camera will begin to flash white

Reinstalling Your Outdoor Camera

Once the Outdoor Camera has been reset, you'll need to reinstall it using the steps below.

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

2. Choose the three-bar menu in the upper left corner of the app

3. Select Add Device or Camera

4. Choose Outdoor Camera from the list of available products

5. Follow the in-app prompts to add your Outdoor Camera back to your system

Still Need Help?

If you are still having trouble after performing a reset on your Wireless Outdoor Security Camera, please contact our support team for further assistance.

You can remove a camera from your system in a few easy steps within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App.

We recommend that you download recordings from your system's timeline before removing the camera from your system, to ensure you preserve any video you may need in the future.

Remove a Camera from the SimpliSafe® Mobile App:

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Tap on the camera you wish to remove from the list of available cameras

5. Scroll down and choose X Remove Camera

Video recordings are only available to users who are subscribed to select monitoring plans. If you do have a monitoring subscription and are not seeing videos from your cameras on your timeline in the SimpliSafe® Mobile App, you’ll need to ensure that “Motion Events” are turned ON within the motion detection settings.

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Choose the camera you wish to make changes for

5. Select Motion Detection

6. Toggle Motion Events ON 

7. Click Save in the upper right corner to save your settings before exiting

If your SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Camera encounters an error that cannot be resolved by normal troubleshooting, performing a factory reset on the camera may be necessary. 

To reset the SimpliCam®, you’ll first need to remove it from the SimpliSafe® Mobile App.

To remove the SimpliCam®

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

2. Select My System from the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.

3. Select Camera Settings.

4. Choose your SimpliCam®.

5. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Remove Camera.

After removing the SimpliCam® from your system, you can reset it.

To reset the SimpliCam®

1. Locate the pairing button on the top of your SimpliCam®.

2. Press and hold this button for 20 seconds.

3. When you release the button, the SimpliCam® will begin to reboot.

1. After a minute the light on the camera will be a solid yellow, and 30 seconds after that you will see a flashing white light, prompting you to set up your camera again.

Once the reset is complete, you can add your camera back to your system using our installation guide. If you cannot set up your SimpliCam® after resetting it, please contact our Support team for additional help.