Adjusting your SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Camera’s settings is key to receiving just the right amount of alerts for your system, whether you’re at home or away.

Camera Behavior Settings and the 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. 

Adjust the SimpliCam’s® Sensitivity

You might be receiving too many motion detection alerts if the sensitivity for the camera is too high. 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

Two-Way Audio is a great feature to have and use with our cameras, and can help deter potential intruders or bad actors. If you find your Two-Way Audio isn’t working, there are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot it.

Please keep in mind that Two-Way Audio works differently for some cameras when you are viewing a live stream. For the SimpliCam® and Video Doorbell Pro, you will hold down the speaker button when you want to talk and let go of it when you want to listen. For Outdoor Cameras and Smart Alarm Indoor Camera, simply tap the mic icon once to begin talking.

Step 1: Ensure the Microphone is Enabled for your Device

You will need to go into your phone or tablet’s settings for SimpliSafe® and ensure that the Microphone is enabled.

Using iOS:

1. Open your phone’s Settings app

2. Scroll down and select SimpliSafe®

3. Toggle Microphone ON

Using Android:

1. Open your phone’s Settings app

2. Click on Apps and scroll down to find SimpliSafe®

3. Select Permissions > Microphone

4. Set Microphone access for this app to “Allow only while using the app”

*Please note that steps may vary depending on your Android device. 

Step 2: Ensure you Have the Volume Turned up on your Device

Ensure that you have the phone or tablet volume turned up when viewing a live stream or watching a video recording

Step 3: Clean your Camera of any Dust and/or Debris

Dust or debris can cause the microphone or speakers to become clogged on the camera, especially on Outdoor Cameras where they are subjected to the elements. To clean the lens of your camera products, use a microfiber lens cloth or lens cleaner. If you notice larger debris, gently blow away the larger particles or use a soft brush before wiping clean.

Step 4: Make Sure That Mic & Audio is Enabled within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App

You’ll need to review your camera's settings and ensure that Mic & Audio is enabled 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. Tap on the camera you wish to manage

5. Scroll down to General

6. Toggle Mic & Audio ON

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

Step 5: Test your Camera’s Connection

The Connection Check Tool for Cameras is a great way to better understand your signal strength and upload speed from the router to where your camera is located.

To use the Connection Check Tool:

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 camera from the list of available cameras

5. Under “Connection” select “Connection Check”

6. Tap “Start Connection Check” to find your camera’s connection strength

What do my Results Mean?

A good signal strength and/or upload speed means that there is a strong connection between your camera and Wi-Fi network.

A fair or poor upload speed means that you’ll want to reduce your camera’s video resolution. You can do this within the Camera Settings page for your camera in 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 camera from the list of available cameras

5. Tap on Video Quality

6. Choose a lower resolution

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

It may also be necessary to upload your Internet package with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to improve upload speeds. We recommend reaching out to your ISP to learn more about their offerings.

A fair or poor signal strength means your camera may be too far away from your Wi-Fi router. We recommend moving them closer, if possible. If not, you can opt to install a Wi-Fi extender to help bridge the network connectivity gap between the two. You can also move SimpliSafe® to a dedicated network or guest network to alleviate congestion. To learn more about setting up a dedicated or guest network, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or consult with your router’s manual.

Still Need Help?

If you still need help with your camera, don’t hesitate to contact our support team for additional troubleshooting or assistance.

The audio from the Outdoor Camera is designed to come in clearly through the SimpliSafe® Mobile App when reviewing timeline events or watching a live stream. If you find that the audio sounds muffled, dampened, or echo-like, there are a few steps you can take to try and improve your audio experience.

Ensure the Volume is Turned Up on Your Phone

An easy first step is to check the volume on your phone. If the volume on your phone is low or silenced, you may not hear the audio coming out of the Outdoor Camera’s feed when watching a recording or live stream.

Enable the Mic & Audio Settings for your Outdoor Camera

Another quick step to take is to ensure that Mic & Audio are enabled in the Outdoor Camera’s settings. 

You can do this at any time from within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App:

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

2. Navigate to the Cameras tab from the bottom of the app

3. Select the Gear Icon for Camera Settings in the upper right corner of the app

4. Choose your Outdoor Camera

5. Ensure that Mic & Audio is toggled ON

1. If it is not, tap the toggle to enable it

2. Then, click Save to update your selection

Rule out Echo Cancellation

Echo Cancellation issues can occur when your phone is located too close to the camera when recording or live-streaming video. 

To rule this out, we recommend placing the camera and your phone at least 50 feet away from one another, then try live streaming again.

Clean the Outdoor Camera of Dust or Debris

Occasionally the Outdoor Camera might have dust or debris build up on it. To clean the lens of your camera, use a microfiber lens cloth or a lens cleaner. If you notice larger debris, gently blow away the larger particles or use a soft brush before wiping clean. 

Using Outdoor Camera’s Connection Check Tool

Your wireless connection directly impacts the stream and sound quality of your camera. If you have a poor connection, you can encounter pixelation or audio drop outs when viewing recordings or initiating a live stream.

Your Outdoor Camera can run a connection check between it and the Base Station to determine if any improvements can be made to the Wi-Fi connection. 

During the test, the Outdoor Camera will check the upload speed and the signal strength to paint a better picture of what the overall connectivity looks like. If you receive a fair or poor signal in any category, the app will walk you through some steps you can take to improve upon that connection. This could be steps as simple as moving the Base Station and testing the connection again, or more involved steps such as setting up a separate network for your SimpliSafe® System.

Still Need Help?

If you are still experiencing poor audio quality after taking these steps, or hearing a crackling or buzzing sound on your live streams or recordings, don’t hesitate to contact our support team for further troubleshooting.

What is Two-Way Audio?

Two-Way Audio is a feature that works on all SimpliSafe® Cameras. While using the SimpliSafe® Mobile App, Two-Way Audio allows you to hear audio from your camera and speak through it while viewing live streams.

How to Turn On Two-Way Audio

To enable Two-Way Audio, you’ll need to ensure that the Mic & Audio setting is toggled on for your camera, in its respective camera 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. Tap on the camera you wish to manage

5. Scroll down to General

6. Toggle Mic & Audio ON

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

How to Use Two-Way Audio

Outdoor Cameras and Smart Alarm Indoor Camera

To use Two-Way Audio with your Outdoor Camera and Smart Alarm Indoor Camera, simply tap the speaker button. If you press and hold the speaker button like you would with the SimpliCam® and Video Doorbell, Two-Way Audio will not work.

SimpliCam® and Video Doorbell Pro

To use Two-Way Audio with your SimpliCam® and Video Doorbell, press the microphone button in the SimpliSafe® Mobile App while talking and release it to hear what is being said. If you hold the microphone button while someone is speaking to you through the camera, you will not be able to hear them.

Related Articles

• Two-Way Audio Troubleshooting

Overview

The image of your Outdoor Camera Series 2 or Outdoor Camera can be rotated to 180 degrees, in the event you mount the camera upside down. This can be done within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App by navigating to your camera’s settings.

Supported Cameras

The following cameras support this functionality:

• Outdoor Camera Series 2

• Outdoor Camera

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 from the list of menu options

4. Tap on the Outdoor Camera you wish to manage

5. Scroll down to the section titled General

6. Toggle Flip Image 180 degrees ON or OFF as needed

7. Don’t forget to tap SAVE in the upper right corner to save your selections

We understand that as a user, privacy is important to you and you may not want to be recorded or heard when you’re inside your home or business. The Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera has a physical and visible privacy shutter that has an audible click when opened or closed so you’re always aware of any of its changes. When motion is disabled on the camera, no audio or video will be captured and the shutter will remain closed unless you access the camera’s live view, or an alarm system event occurs such as an entry delay, power outage, or alarm is triggered. Unlike SimpliCam®, the Smart Alarm Indoor Camera privacy shutter is controlled by the motion detection on/off toggle under each system alarm state. You get to decide when your camera detects motion and records video* so you have ultimate control of your privacy.

To access the privacy shutter settings, follow these steps:

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 Smart Alarm Indoor Camera

5. Scroll down to Camera Behavior and select the arming state you wish you edit

6. Adjust the Motion Detection toggle which controls the privacy shutter

1. On means that your camera will have the privacy shutter open and will detect motion events.

2. Off means that your camera will have the privacy shutter closed and motion events will not be detected.

*Video recordings available with monitoring plans.

The Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera is a battery-operated security camera designed for indoor use. It’s part of SimpliSafe’s award-winning home security system and features:

• 1536p HD video capture*

• 125-degree diagonal field of view

• Built-in motion detector

• Night vision

• Instant phone alerts

• 80 dB siren

• 2-way audio

• Built-in privacy shutter

• Up to 3 months of battery life on a single charge (based on placement and usage)

You can make adjustments to the camera’s settings and the way it behaves during different arming states by 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 Smart Alarm Indoor Camera from the list of available cameras

Camera Behavior

You can control your camera’s behavior as well as its built-in privacy shutter by changing the motion detection to coincide with your system’s arming state. This means you can now adjust when your camera records as it is directly tied to your system’s arming state. 

For example, if you don’t want your camera to record when the system is set to OFF, but do want it to record when it is in AWAY mode, you can now control these settings.

Motion notifications are determined by your monitoring subscription. You can learn more about which monitoring plans include push or SMS notifications on our Help Center.

Motion Detection

Motion Detection settings control how your camera will respond to motion events, such as someone walking in its view, or a car driving by.

In this menu, you can use the slider to choose the sensitivity of motion detection. We typically recommend setting this to medium. You can also set it to People Only or All Motion to better filter motion events.

Activity Zones allow you to exclude certain areas from motion events. This is good if you want to ensure that motion isn’t detected from a high trafficked area within your home, or want to exclude a window. 

Note, we recommend you never point the Smart Alarm Indoor Camera at a window or entry way. Instead, place it where someone would walk across its field of view like a room or hallway.

Video Quality

Video Quality manages what quality of your streams and recordings will be at. For the Smart Alarm Indoor Camera, you can adjust this to 1536p, 960p, or 640p. The higher the stream, the more bandwidth it will use on your network. So if you’re having trouble streaming at 1536p, you can try lowering the quality to troubleshoot on your end.

Night Vision

The Night Vision setting allows you to see potential intruders or threats in the dark, by using infrared to capture video. This can be toggled to Auto, On, or Off. We recommend using Auto for the most optimal experience, however, if your camera is in a persistently dark room you may want to opt for On for better results.

Status Light

The Status Light for your camera will show you that the camera is online and functioning, at a quick glance. Toggling this off will disable the light on the front of the camera. From within the Status Light menu you can also view the different light patterns your Smart Alarm Indoor Camera can produce, and learn their meanings.

Mic & Audio

The Mic & Audio setting allows you to hear audio from your camera and also allows you to speak through the camera’s mic when viewing live streams.

Siren

The Smart Alarm Indoor Camera comes with a whopping 80dB built-in siren to relay active alarms across your system.