SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Camera is not Detecting Motion

There are a few reasons why your SimpliCam® Wired Indoor Camera may not be able to detect motion. Most commonly you may need to adjust the Camera Behavior Settings to allow the privacy shutter to be open during arming states (Off, Home, Away), but it could also be the placement or settings of the camera that prevent motion from being detected. The following article will walk you through some steps to take to get motion detection working again for your SimpliCam®.

Camera Behavior Settings and 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. 

Verify Push Notifications are Enabled

It’s possible that your camera is detecting motion events, but you just aren’t receiving the notifications on your phone when they occur. 

As a first step, check the SimpliSafe® Mobile App timeline to verify that the camera is indeed recording motion events. Once you have confirmed that, you’ll want to adjust your system’s Notification settings to allow for push notifications. 

Note that when a motion event triggers a push notification - your phone/camera will enter a one-minute quiet period where subsequent motion detected by the same camera will not trigger additional push notifications for that time frame.

Adjust the SimpliCam’s® Sensitivity

In some cases, motion may not be detected if the sensitivity for the camera is too low. 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