Skip to main content

SimpliSafe reinvents its home security system to make it smarter, more effective

SimpliSafe is already a big name in the smart home security industry, but its design has become dated, sticking out like a sore thumb among modern devices. That’s why the company teamed up with global design firm Ideo to completely redesign its security system. Revealed today at CES, the new lineup is beautiful, powerful, and intuitive.

Known for its work with Apple, Coca-Cola, and more, IDEO has cleaned up each SimpliSafe sensor. Each one is smaller, more responsive, and designed to blend into a modern home. At half the size and with twice the range of their predecessors, sensors can be used more sparingly within the home. Even the larger base station has been given a new look to fit in with other devices like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It’s LED light ring provides users with the system’s status at a glance,while a friendly voice guides users through installations and daily use.

SimpliSafe’s redesign goes much deeper than cosmetic changes. The system has been rebuilt from the ground up to protect against intruders, power and internet outages, crowbars, and more. Everything runs off of twin cellular and Wi-Fi connections running in parallel. If the home phone line or Wi-Fi is disabled, the home can still be monitored. A battery backup in the base station will also keep things running up to 24 hours during a power outage. When an alarm is tripped, SimpliSafe’s SmashSafe technology makes sure the alarm signal reaches the authorities even if the base station, siren, or keypad are destroyed.

For protection inside the home, the Glassbreak and Motion sensors have been finely tuned with precise algorithms. For instance, the Glassbreak sensor is claimed to be able to differentiate between a smashed plate and a broken window. Motion sensors are also tuned to detect people and ignore household pets. When in doubt, users will get an alert that they can review before taking action.

The new SimpliSafe system is available through its website at no increase in price. Ready-made kits range from The Foundation at $229 to The Knox at $539. Custom systems can also be created to fit more unique homes. Later this year, SimpliSafe also plans to release a video doorbell, outdoor cameras, and smart lock, and integrations with Alexa. With all the unsettling reports people hear on the news, there is a lot of interest in making a home feel safer. And SimpliSafe has repositioned itself to help them do just that.

Editors' Recommendations

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
Vivint’s new updates make its smart home system even smarter
vivint doorbell outdoor camera pro updates  lifestyle 1

I've had a Vivint smart home for about 18 months, ever since reviewing the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro and the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro. For the most part, I find them to be incredibly smart and useful. Plus, the integration with Google and Philips Hue in particular up the "whole-home smart home" game when I can unlock my front door and have my lights turn on. This week, Vivint announced updates to the Doorbell Pro and Outdoor Camera Pro, and it's great to see that "smart" extends to the company itself. Let's dive in.
On-device recording
Vivint upgraded all of its camera products -- the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro, Outdoor Camera Pro, and Indoor Camera Pro -- in a pretty significant way. Vivint added on-device recording for 24/7 monitoring for up to 10 days. All that footage is stored on the device, which is significant in one keyway. The previous generation of the cameras streamed footage in real-time from the cameras to a separately purchased smart hard drive. From there, if you wanted to review the footage, it would stream back over Wi-Fi to Vivint's servers, and back to your phone.

Put simply, this can cause a significant hit on your home Wi-Fi's bandwidth. With the new cameras, the footage is stored on a secure SD card locally and only transmitted when it's being streamed or viewed. Meanwhile, onboard AI will continue generating smart clips detailing what happens (people, packages, etc). Plus, aside from freeing up bandwidth on your home network, local recording storage also works even when your Wi-Fi is down. All told, it's enough to get me pretty geeked, so I'll be excited to test these things out. That's the biggest news that covers all the devices, so let's get into each device in particular.
Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro

Read more
SimpliSafe battery life and replacement tips
SimpliSafe bast station sitting on a table infant of a mirror.

SimpliSafe is an impressive do-it-yourself (DIY) home security system that features an ecosystem for managing all equipment yourself, no professional necessary. One of the leading maintenance requests you'll be performing is changing the batteries in the various accessories.

Let's take a look at the main accessories that come with SimpliSafe security packages and what you need to know about the corresponding batteries. With the exception of the base station and keyfob, the user does all battery replacements. Those two accessories require you to contact support to change their power. Lastly, the SimpliSafe outdoor cam can only be powered directly, so there are no batteries to worry about with that device.
What kind of batteries does SimpliSafe use?

Read more
Samsung Home Hub uses A.I. to make your home smarter
Samsung Home Hub cooking screen.

Samsung has been connecting its appliances with the company's SmartThings ecosystem for years, and now we're seeing the culmination of those efforts with the Home Hub. Designed to help you run your home more efficiently, the Home Hub's 8.4-inch tablet brings control of all those SmartThings apps into one central location.

The Home Hub doesn't just create one place for users to monitor their Samsung appliances. It also uses A.I. to deliver a more customized solution for you and your family. SmartThings learns your preferences to make relevant suggestions. The SmartThings ecosystem works with a myriad of products, not just Samsung. Now that SmartThings also supports Matter, the number of products you can connect through the company's Home Hub just got larger.

Read more