Apple HomeKit & Matter Standard Support

Emily has confirmed that the rumors are true in a separate thread. SimpliSafe will continue to stand by its belief integration with other formats and foreign entities are not in its scope. 

Reports indicated SimpliSafe’s resistance against integration with other big manufacturers primarily target the industries effort towards open dialog between other security providers and shareable format standards. For example, Google, Amazon and Apple continues to advance those programs with both the willful and support of those open standards and entities.

SimpliSafe has raised concerns about the widespread presence of inter-operability of multiple brands and their involvement in developing activities. These other companies engage in proliferation related activities that promote inter-operability between each other so the end consumer can enjoy a multitude of options at their choosing. Google, Amazon and Apple’s  activities include sharing apps across platforms like Roku, Firestick, Blink and Nest to name a few.

These companies are disrupting close to 15% of SimpliSafe’s client base, mostly in the United States, as consumers flee to more cross-platform friendly security systems. 

In the light of these recent developments, SimpliSafe recognize and implement strategies to maintain a position as a top tier service, which are to be implemented the SimpliSafe team. SimpliSafe has also adopted a policy to resist cross-platform collaboration, data export controls, and other restrictive measures for entities, and activities linked to cross-platform promotion and proliferation.

It has been reported that SimpliSafe aims to tighten control and oversight within their respective organization and to advance their own security interests in preserving data and video feeds.

The bottom line? Do not expect SimpliSafe to integrate with other platforms as the security standards as set forth by management verifiably prevent such activities. 

Couldn’t agree more with this post. I understand implementation takes time and research, along with much consideration; that being said, for over a year I have been googling this exact topic, and I’m very grateful that someone started this thread and worded it so well. 

For me, it would be a massive relief and provide me with a great sense of security if I were able to have my Simplisafe account connected with my Apple HomeKit. Personally, I’ve decided to purchase additional cameras on top of my Simplisafe cameras so that way I have access to camera footage inside of my HomeKit app. Ultimately, I know that was my decision, but it would have been nice if Simplisafe could have had matter compatibility so I could have avoided making that extra purchase in the first place. 

I’ll continue to hope that more people speak up on this so it’s more evident that a lot of people are looking for this feature.

To the Simplisafe team, I understand that more work and research needs to be put into this in order to make it happen, but if there is any way you can make this a reality, myself and so many others would be beyond grateful. 

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

@davey_d 

But I wouldn't say that we're resistant to the idea of integration as a whole.

You have to admit that your track record so far screams, "We are extremely resistant to the idea of integration as a whole!". You even have a support article called "Does SimpliSafe integrate with other smart home devices?" that shows just how little you integrate with other systems. In summary:

- You can use Google Home or Alexa to turn the alarm on, but not off, and ask which mode (home or away) the system is in.

- You all support August Smart Locks. (And though it's not stated, you don't support any other hardware and your hardware doesn't work with any other services or vendors.)

That's it. End of list. Full stop.

I allow that things could change with Matter but it's a hard sell for you to convince us you're not resistant to integrating with other systems. And by hard I mean nigh impossible but I'm eager to hear you try. :)

I am heavily invested in the Homekit ecosystem and purchase the best kit I can for each category, such as lights, plugs, etc. SimpliSafe is now an outlier and suffers from a self-imposed handicap as it does not work with HomeKIt. Your average consumer does not know what Matter is or Thread, etc. However, by not implementing this standard and making it a reality for your products to work seamlessly with Homekit, you are allowing your competitors to move into your area and steal your market share. People want the least resistance to move to an integrated system.  If you are not careful, people will move to a system that provides that and once done, they will not come back due to the investment they have made. This could be your Kodak and Blockbuster moment if you are not careful........

I've been a paying SimpliSafe customer for 5 years now.  I've been pretty happy with the system overall, but recently I've started replacing a lot of my older home automation equipment with devices that offer local control (for privacy reasons). Local control is the future.  Sadly, SimpliSafe does not allow this nor do they offer any kind of smart integration.

You can get around the lack of smart home integration by using Homebridge or Home Assistant, but because their system is cloud-based you will never get real time alerting -- there's always a delay of 15-20 seconds for each sensor.  The reason Homebridge and Home Assistant even work is because the home automation community reverse-engineered their mobile app.  SimpliSafe as a company did NOTHING to help with that.  So if I want home automations based on entry or motion sensors I have to buy additional (non SimpliSafe) sensors.  So two sensors on each door?  Yeah, no thank you.

-OR- SimpliSafe could adopt open standards to allow customers a choice on how to integrate the system. Abode home security, for example, offers this integration. I not only get an alarm system with professional monitoring like SimpliSafe, but I can also use the Abode sensors for home automation through Apple Home, Google Home, or Home Assistant. And it's all local so when a door or window opens I know immediately.

Anyway, I haven't closed my account yet, but since the price hike recently there's additional motivation to move on to something else, something with smart home integrations and true local control.  If SimpliSafe doesn't start innovating they will become a relic of the past.

⚠ ATTENTION SIMPLISAFE TEAM!! ⚠ Please take notice that you have unhappy customers with profound dissatisfaction and deep concern regarding your upper management not putting cross-platform integration in your scope. Their frustrations stemmed from SimpliSafes' refusal to work on cross-compatibility with popular home systems. 

In another thread, one customer (user handle: StephenAbby) quoted "The lack of action on adoption of popular standards and the appalling lack of customer support is utterly unacceptable." He continued to write "My loyalty as a client and continuous on-time payment every month have been met with an alarming lack of support and concern from SimpliSafe. This speaks volumes about the lack of leadership."

This user is clearly upset. And this one example represents many SimpliSafes' customers. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Today, more than ever, YOUR customers have access to a multitude of popular platforms (HomeKit, Matter, Apple, Alexa, etc) that work with eachother. Unfortunately, SimpliSafe does not provide direct integration and/or information sharing across platforms. Often, these other systems (HomeKit, Matter, Apple, Alexa, etc) provide attractive new features and benefits for operations and user friendly functions, but SimpliSafes' lack of integration is creating a bad vibe with your company. Furthermore, HomeKit, Matter, Apple, Alexa, etc are multibillion dollar companies who do not have an overwhelming anxiety about privacy or cross system sharing. Some people are even speculating if SimpliSafe is using the "privacy concerns" as an excuse for not wanting to develop and adopt to popular standards.

Customer dissatisfaction is arising as a result of the shortcoming from your business, and it tends to be expressed via feedback resources like this board, surveys and reviews. Your business will not succeed if your customers are dissatisfied. A product is considered poor when the quality of the product doesn’t correspond to customer expectations.

SimpliSafe, please pay attention to this thread. When customers reach out to your support team but don’t get a resolution for their issues, they will take their complaints elsewhere- mostly to the public. These negative feedbacks factor into the growth of your company, so make sure you handle them correctly. At the same time, negative feedback isn’t all that bad. You can use their comments to validate product issues and prioritize which problems to focus on first. As you know, dissatisfied customers who have a negative experience with a company or its products are likely to churn if they are not satisfied with their resolution.

So why did I write this reply? Its because we all want your company to be proactive in identifying product issues to reduce customer churn. Don’t wait for customers to point them out for you.

Just sayin'

This is very unfortunate. I just purchased and setup about $1500 worth of SimpliSafe equipment. I really love it, but it was an oversight on my part to not check whether a modern company was utilizing common standards. Fortunately I'm still within my return period and have all of the boxes saved.

All I can say is wow.

I pulled the plug on SimpliSafe. It was a net loss of time and money but made zero sense not having it hooked up to my home automation. I believed it when they said it was coming. Shame on me for that one. Switched to Abode and running everything through apple HomeKit now. Lesson learned. 

I can sympathize. I am also ~ $1,500 invested into the proprietary ecosystem, but unfortunately I am well past the return window. I also believed Simpliesafe Sales when they told me Apple Homekit support was coming soon. That was over a year ago. As of time of writing, there is no indication that it really will materialize. Shame on me for believing them.

I agree with most of what is stated here. I understand security with a security system needs to remain an utmost priority, however it is also true that integration is essential. By SimpliSafe abstaining from these evolving standards they actually are encouraging users to use a homebridge solution with could be argued to compromise the very security they claim to promote. Of course that is a decision made by the user, but to not integrate with the largest growing smart home platform is a blatant miss and stirs some regret in having chose SimpliSafe and dissuades simplisafe from being an easy recommendation to others.

I've been a SS customer for many years - since fairly early in the v1 system.  I don't remember how long, but when I started with them they didn't have cameras or doorbells.  Anyway, I bought the whole system for two houses, and my parents also bought for their house.  Now I'm building a new house and thinking through home automation and smart home features.  

Now that I'm learning that SS will not integrate with any of the other systems, I'm definitely rethinking my allegiance to SimpliSafe.  If nothing else, if I'm downstairs and someone comes to the door, I want to see who is there, and the SS app isn't really fast enough for that to work smoothly.  Putting the video on the TV would be great, and even better if I could remotely unlock the door at the same time.  

SimpliSafe, please wake up and see the world around you!  I want to be loyal, but I'm moving into the world of a smart home and home automation.  If you aren't there I will have to find someone who is.

I too invested $1500 in the Simplisafe system assuming it wasn’t an entirely closed ecosystem, thank goodness I’m still within the return window. Bummer though because I was excited about the SimpliSafe security equipment. 

I've been a longtime Simplisafe customer and have used Homebridge to integrate Simplisafe with Homekit after the CEO's promises of Homekit integration never materialized. 

This spring Simplisafe changed their authentication which broke my Homebridge Simplisafe/Homekit integration...  thus basic triggers like a SimpliSafe water sensor turning off the water in my house (Flo by Moen system) no longer works, among many other automations.

I agree with this post…please integrate with Apple HomeKit.