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How to arm your SimpliSafe system at night

Jon Bitner
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SimpliSafe offers two ways to arm your home security system — Home mode or Away mode. You can also turn your system off, disabling everything except the chime on your entry sensor and panic button. However, it doesn’t offer a Night mode (a feature that can be found on other home security systems).

Because of this, some folks aren’t quite sure which mode is ideal to use while sleeping. Should you enable Away mode, or is it best to leave it set to Home mode? Here’s a closer look at how you should arm your SimpliSafe system at night.

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How to arm your SimpliSafe system at night

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Because SimpliSafe does not offer a Night mode, the general consensus is that you should enable Home mode while sleeping. In fact, this is exactly what SimpliSafe describes as one of the use cases for Home mode on its support page:

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“The SimpliSafe security system has three states — Off, Home, and Away,” reads the SimpliSafe support blog. “Home and Away both mean the system is armed, but different sensors are active in each. Home mode is designed for when household members are still at home, but still want their home secured, like when going to sleep at night.”

When Home mode is enabled, your entry sensor is active, as is your panic button, extra siren, and glass-break sensor. This makes it the ideal way to prevent intruders from entering your home without triggering indoor movements — such as entering the kitchen for a late-night snack or running to the bathroom.

If you instead enable Away mode, your motion sensor and camera will be activated. This is less than ideal for use at night, as it could cause your alarms to trip if anyone in your family gets out of bed and ventures downstairs or into the path of a sensor.

Of course, many of these mode settings can be further customized using the SimpliSafe app, so it’s possible to tailor each mode to your lifestyle. And depending on where your bedrooms are in relation to the rest of your sensors, it might make sense for you to use Away mode.

Is a Night mode in development for SimpliSafe?

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As of early 2023, Night mode is not in development for SimpliSafe. According to a community admin on the official SimpliSafe forum, the “idea for a third armed mode has been submitted, but is not currently in development.”

The admin goes on to say that Home mode is a good alternative for Night mode, as it keeps entry sensors online while disabling motion sensors — preventing intruders from entering while giving you free access to roam inside your home. The alternatives — turning the system off or using Away mode — aren’t recommended, as they either leave your home unprotected or enable too many indoor sensors that could be accidentally tripped.

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Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…
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