Outdoor Cameras

If you are subscribed to a residential or business Pro Plus or Pro monitoring plan, you'll have additional options to manage your camera settings for SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection within the SimpliSafe® App.

If you wish to temporarily turn off or disable Active Guard Outdoor Protection for a specific camera on your system, you can do this anytime from within the SimpliSafe® App.

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

2. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Select Camera Settings

4. Tap on Outdoor Protection

5. Toggle the camera(s) off, as needed

6. Tap SAVE in the upper right corner of the app to save your selections

Our expert monitoring agents are trained to understand the difference between a visitor and a potential intruder - monitoring for any unknown persons when a motion event occurs. Where permitted, agents can also use automatic face matching during an event to avoid false interventions.

You can create familiar faces for people you know within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App. After obtaining the individual's consent, you may tap and hold on to the thumbnail labeled “Face” within an event on your timeline to create a new familiar face or add the image to an existing one. It’s important to note that if you are creating a familiar face for a minor, you must have consent from their parent or guardian before proceeding.

Creating more familiar faces will help our agents distinguish between known and unknown visitors, and reduce false alarms or excess notifications to the Primary Contact. 

If you choose to opt out of Automatic Face Matching, you can delete your facial recognition history from 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 Location Settings

4. Scroll to the bottom and tap ‘Automatic Matching’

5. Turn off Automatic Matching and tap on SAVE to save your selections

6. Go back to Location Settings, you will now see an option to “Delete History”

   1. Note, this option is only available once Automatic Matching is turned off

7. Tap the trash icon to delete your facial recognition history

The Familiar Faces feature is a great way for professional monitoring agents to know who should be allowed on your property. For example, you might want to create a familiar face for an in-law, neighbor, or maybe a dog walker. Our expert monitoring agents are trained to use familiar faces to identify a match when your system is armed and SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection is active - and will only engage with unknown people or familiar faces that are not allowed on your property.

Before creating a familiar face, you are required to have explicit consent from each person. If you create a familiar face for a minor, you must obtain consent from their parent or guardian. If someone revokes their consent, it is your responsibility to honor that request and delete their familiar face from within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App.

Familiar Faces profiles 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. You can find more tips for uploading photos to Familiar Faces on our Help Center.

The following article will walk you through the process of creating a Familiar Face, deleting one, and modifying it.

Creating a Familiar Face

You can create a familiar face within the SimpliSafe® Mobile App either by using footage from a motion event, or using the Add Familiar Face option and uploading an existing photo of an individual to create a familiar face.

Using Footage from a Motion Event to Create a Familiar Face:

1. Choose the Timeline tab at the bottom navigation bar

2. Select a Motion Event where face clips were detected

3. Tap on the video to enter the detection log

4. Tap on the profile icon with a plus sign in front of it next to a face detected within the timeline of the video footage

5. Follow the on-screen prompts to create a familiar face or add it to an existing one

Create a Familiar Face using the Add Familiar Face button and Uploading a Photo:

1. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar, then select and tap Familiar Faces

2. Enter the person’s real name

1. Do not enter a nickname or a description of the person in this field

3. Tap the plus button under “Uploaded Photos”

4. Allow access to your photos for SimpliSafe® when the pop-up on your device prompts you to do so 

5. Choose a photo to upload that features a single person’s face

1. Do not upload a photo that has multiple people in it

2. Do not upload a photo that does not have any faces

3. Do not upload a photo that is of low quality/grainy

6. Preview the photo and tap Add to Familiar Face

7. Your photo is now added to the familiar face, and you can exit and return to the menu 

Deleting a Familiar Face

You can delete a profile for an individual if you no longer wish to grant them access to your property, or if the person should choose to revoke their consent for SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection’s Automatic Matching

To Delete a Familiar Face:

1. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

2. Select Familiar Faces

3. Tap on the person’s profile that you wish to edit

4. Click on Edit in the upper right corner of the app

5. Scroll down to the bottom and choose Remove Familiar Face from Address

6. Confirm this selection by choosing Delete Familiar Face

Modifying a Familiar Face

You may need to modify an existing familiar face for one reason or another, such as if Automatic Face Matching assigns a face to the wrong person. You can easily change this at any time within the familiar faces section of the SimpliSafe® Mobile App.

1. Choose My System from the bottom navigation bar

2. Select Familiar Faces

3. Tap on the person’s profile that you wish to edit

4. Tap the X icon on a photo you wish to delete

5. Choose Save in the upper right corner of the app to save your changes

6. Next, go to the Timeline tab and choose the Motion Event where the individual was detected

7. Tap the profile icon with a plus sign in front of it to enter the familiar faces creation screen

8. Follow the on-screen prompts to either create a new familiar face or add it to an existing one

Related Articles

• Tips for Uploading Photos to the Familiar Faces Feature

Subscribers to the residential or business Pro Plus, Pro, or Core plans with a Smart Alarm Indoor Camera have the benefit of professional monitoring intervention when break-ins happen inside the home. This technology, known as intruder intervention, allows SimpliSafe® professional monitoring agents to see and speak to intruders, stopping them in their tracks within your home. 

SimpliSafe® Active Guard Outdoor Protection builds upon intruder intervention, working to deter intruders outside of your home by allowing professional monitoring agents to use your Outdoor Camera Series 2 to see and speak with unknown individuals. This is designed to deter potential intruders and prevent crime before it happens.

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.