Entry Sensor

Overview

Entry Sensors defend your doors and windows. The Base Station will sound a quick chime when a door or window opens while your system is disarmed. Depending on your settings, this can also be set to trigger an alarm.

Entry Sensors are made up of two parts: a sensor (the smaller of the two components) and a magnet. When these are lined up within two inches of each other, the system knows the door or window is closed. When they move more than two inches apart, the system sees it has been opened.

Looking to purchase an Entry Sensor? You can find Entry Sensors available for purchase on our website.

Before Getting Started

Before setting up your Entry Sensor, you will need to install your Base Station.

Prior to placing the sensor, make sure the surface has been wiped clean and has had time to dry.

Additional installation considerations:

• If you are mounting the Entry Sensor to a metal door, we recommend placing a thin piece of cardboard between the sensor and the surface.

• If you are mounting the Entry Sensor to a magnetic door or frame, we recommend that you place the smaller magnet piece of the sensor on the magnetic surface.

This will ensure that your Entry Sensor has the best signal possible to communicate with your Base Station.

What’s in the Box

• Entry Sensor and magnet with mounting plate

• Screws (optional for permanent installation)

Watch the following video for a hands-on installation experience from our team of experts

Troubleshooting

• Entry Sensor Not Responding

• Entry Sensor Offline

• Why Is My Entry Sensor Shown As Open When My Door Is Closed?

• How do I remove my Entry Sensor magnet (the smaller part of the sensor) from the wall?

Related Articles

• How to Rename a SimpliSafe® Sensor

• Entry Sensor Settings and Customisations

• Testing the Entry Sensor

When the system is in an armed state (Home or Away Mode) and an Entry Sensor is triggered, the entry countdown will begin. The entry countdown by default is 30 seconds, however, this can be adjusted at any time within the SimpliSafe® App.

If the system is disarmed within 30-60 seconds of the initial alarm signal, this will be considered a false alarm by our monitoring centre. That means you will not receive a phone call and emergency services will not be requested to your location.

If the system is not disarmed before the time elapses, an alarm will sound. Depending on your monitoring service plan, two things will happen at once.

The Emergency Contacts for your system will receive a phone call from our monitoring centre to verify the status of your home.

During this call you will be required to provide your Safe Word to the agent you speak with.

Please note that providing the wrong safe word, or no safe word will result in a request for dispatch. You won’t be told you got it wrong to protect anyone who may be under duress.

Additionally, missing the phone calls to your Emergency Contacts can also result in a request for guard services to the location that your system is registered to. Click here for more info on how alarms are handled.

We encourage you to save the monitoring centre numbers to your phone. The numbers in which Securitas call you off are 0330 184 0444 and 01908 644505. You can also call Securitas on 0303 330 0369.

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Once saved to your phone, you’ll also want to allow us access to bypass Do Not Disturb and Silent Profiles. This allows for Critical Alarm Notifications to get through to you, regardless of your phone’s volume or profile status.

Test Mode is a great way to test the connection between your Base Station and other sensors. We recommend periodically placing your system into Test Mode to ensure that your sensors are still communicating with the Base Station without any errors.

Placing Your System Into Test Mode

1. Disarm your system by pressing OFF on the Keypad

2. Press the Menu button on your Keypad

3. Enter your Primary PIN

4. Scroll until Test Mode is highlighted

5. Use the right arrow and tap to the right to enter Test Mode

You’ll know you are in Test Mode when you see a circle on the Keypad appear with the text, “Test each device by pressing its button”.

Note: If you subscribe to monitoring, you will receive a robo call from the monitoring centre asking you to confirm you placed your system into Test Mode. If you do not answer – no worries! A voicemail will be left to alert you to the system test, and it will not result in a request for dispatch.

Testing the Entry Sensor

To test your Entry Sensor, open and close protected doors and windows. The Base Station will announce “Entry Sensor” if the test was successful.

You can also press the button on the top of the Entry Sensor to test the sensor’s functionality. This will also result in the Base Station announcing, “Entry Sensor” if successful.

Troubleshooting the Entry Sensor

If you are testing your Entry Sensor and do not hear the Base Station announce, “Entry Sensor”, the first thing you’ll want to do is confirm you can hear the Base Station from the location you’re testing in. You can adjust the Base Station’s volume under the Base Station Settings menu, by selecting Voice Prompts.

As a next step, you’ll want to confirm that the Entry Sensor battery is functioning. The Entry Sensor takes a single CR-2032 Lithium 3V battery and has a life expectancy of up to 5 years depending on placement and usage.

If you are still unable to hear the Base Station announce, “Entry Sensor” it’s possible that there could be an issue with the location of the Base Station, or there is Radio Frequency (RF) interference at play.

Other electronic devices within your home may communicate on similar frequencies, resulting in wireless interference between your SimpliSafe® devices. Because of this, we recommend keeping your Base Station and Entry Sensor at least 3-5 feet away from the following devices:

• Wi-Fi Routers

• Large TVs

• Weather Stations

• Large Appliances (especially in the kitchen and laundry rooms)

• Baby monitors

• Remote Controlled Garage Door Openers

• LED Lights or Christmas Lights

This above list is to give you an idea of what devices may cause interference within your home, and is in no means an exhaustive list of all devices. There may be other devices that output RF or Wi-Fi signals that could impede the connection between your Base Station and SimpliSafe® devices.

We also recommend avoiding placing your Entry Sensor on a metal or magnetic surfaces, whenever possible. If you do need to place the sensor on one of these surface types, please keep the following in mind:

• If you are mounting the Entry Sensor to a metal door, we recommend placing a thin piece of cardboard between the Sensor and the Metal door.

• If you are mounting the Entry Sensor to a magnetic door or frame, we recommend that you place the magnet on the magnetic surface.

This will ensure that your Entry Sensor has the best signal possible to communicate with your Base Station.

Entry Sensor Alert* enables your Base Station to announce the Entry Sensor by name whenever it is opened. For example, if you open the front door you might hear your Base Station reply with “Front Door Entry Sensor open” instead of the usual chime.

This feature is setup on a per sensor basis, so you can choose which Entry Sensors produce a Voice Prompt and which sensors produce a chime. Keep in mind that the voice prompt for Entry Sensors is only available for the preset list of sensor names. So if you have set a custom name for your sensor your Base Station may be unable to say the custom name of your Entry Sensor.

You can enable this setting at anytime using the SimpliSafe® Mobile App:

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

2. Navigate to the My System gear from the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen

3. Tap on Device Settings

4. Choose your Entry Sensor that you would like to modify

5. Under Entry Sensor Alert, select Sensor Name Voice Prompt

6. Use the toggle to turn this feature on or off

7. Be sure to tap on Send to Base or Save to save your settings before exiting

This feature is currently available on iOS devices as of 10/31/23 and will be rolling out to Android users in the near future.

*Please note: Entry Sensor Alert is only available to users subscribed to our Pro Premium Monitoring Plan.

When your system is disarmed and an Entry Sensor is opened, it will relay a chime to the Base Station to notify you of the potential intrusion. This chime is set to medium by default but can be toggled to OFF, LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH at any time from the SimpliSafeª Mobile App, Web App, or Keypad.

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 Base Station Settings

4. Scroll to Entry Sensor Chime

5. Use the slider to adjust the volume for your Entry Sensor Chime

6. Be sure to click on Save in the upper right corner before exiting

Keypad:

1. Press Menu on your Keypad

2. Enter your Primary PIN

3. Choose System Settings

4. Select Chime Volume and adjust the setting, as needed

Web App:

1. Log in to the Web App

2. Select System from the left-hand navigation bar

3. Under Additional Settings locate Entry Sensor Chime

4. Use the drop-down menu to adjust the volume for your Entry Sensor Chime

5. Be sure to click on Save Changes at the bottom of the screen before exiting

What are Secret Alerts?

Secret Alerts* are private notifications sent to you by specific sensors you designate to be on a special “alert-only” setting. Sensors on this setting won’t trigger a system alarm or chime to the Base Station, but send a discreet notification directly to you instead. All of your SimpliSafe® cameras will also film a short recording so you have footage of what tripped the sensor.

Requirements

• A supported monitoring subscription:

• Pro Premium

• At least one of the following SimpliSafe® Sensors

• Entry Sensor

• Motion Sensor

• Glass Break Sensor

How do I Enable Secret Alerts?

On iOS (Apple) Devices:

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

2. Select My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Choose Device Settings

4. Then tap the sensor you wish to customise

5. Choose Off, Home, or Away from under ‘Alarm Mode’

6. Next, choose ‘Secret Alert’ and then ‘Send to Base’ to save this setting

7. Repeat for each mode, as necessary

On Android Devices:

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

2. Select My System from the bottom navigation bar

3. Choose Device Settings

4. Then tap the sensor you wish to customise

5. Choose Off, Home, or Away from under ‘Alarm Mode’

6. Next, choose ‘Secret Alert’ and then ‘OK’

7. Once you are done, tap ‘SAVE’ on the top right corner of the screen to save this setting

8. Repeat for each mode, as necessary

To ensure that you are notified whenever a sensor triggers a Secret Alert, make sure that you have push notifications enabled.

There may be a point where you need to rename a sensor for your SimpliSafe® System. Renaming a sensor can be done easily through the SimpliSafe® Mobile App, but you can also rename a sensor using your Keypad. The following will walk you through these steps for each platform so you can pick whichever one is easiest for you.

SimpliSafe® Mobile App:

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

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

3. Choose Device Settings

4. Choose the sensor you would like to modify

5. Tap the pencil icon next to Name

1. iOS: Select one of the pre-selected names from the list, or scroll to the bottom and select Custom Name* to input your own name for your sensor

2. Android: Use the backspace button to delete the existing sensor name. Once removed, you can choose a new name from the drop down menu, or type in the empty field a Custom Name* for your sensor

6. Be sure to tap on Send to Base or Save to save your settings before exiting

*Note, Custom Names for the Entry Sensor are not supported by Entry Sensor Alert.

Web App:

1. Log in to the Web App using the browser of your choice on a computer

1. Select your property from the list on the Account Overview page, if applicable

2. Choose Devices from the left-hand navigation menu

3. Click on the sensor you wish to edit

4. A pop-up will appear to the right of your browser

5. Select the pencil icon next to your sensor’s name

6. Enter the new name you wish to use in the field

7. Select the check mark when done

8. Be sure to click on Save Changes from the bottom of the pop-up before exiting to save your selection

*Note, Custom Names for the Entry Sensor are not supported by Entry Sensor Alert. To confirm which names are available, please use the SimpliSafe® Mobile App to rename your sensor.

Keypad:

1. Press Menu

2. Enter your Primary PIN

3. Using the arrow keys, choose Devices and then Open to enter the Devices menu

4. Scroll down to select the sensor you wish to modify

5. Press the right arrow to choose rename

6. Choose one of the preset names from the list using the arrow keys, or select Other at the end of the list to enter a Custom Name*

*Note, Custom Names for Entry Sensor are not supported by Entry Sensor Alert at this time.

The Keypad uses ABC mode for typing. In this mode, you'll cycle through the corresponding characters (numbers, symbols, punctuation, letters) using the keys numbered 0-9 on your Keypad.

*For the '1' key, more characters will appear after 10 presses and in this specific order:

) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ' { | } ~