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Friday, June 18th, 2021 8:41 PM

6

Entry Open warning in-app when arming the system

When arming my alarm system in home mode with a door open the base station says "warning door open" after announcing that the system is armed.
My house is fairly large so I can't always hear the base station but I definitely want to know that I've armed the system with a door open.  I think the app
(which notifies me that I've armed the system) should also warn me that I've armed the system and that there's a door open.  I turned on text notifications
but it doesn't give any indication that I've armed the system with a door open.

I'd appreciate if the app were enhanced, if the base station is warning me, please send that warning to the app also!

Thanks,
/Ed

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

3 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion, Ed!

I've forwarded it to our engineering team for consideration.

(edited)

10 Messages

I want to add my thoughts about what should be done and why it's needed. Simplisafe, is there any update on this feature?

Software Updates Needed to Prevent Accidental Arming with Open Sensors

While I commend SimpliSafe for its hardware innovations, there exist glaring and critical design flaws in the app and keypad that demand immediate attention. The current software design compromises both safety and user experience, falling short of the standards set by other industry leaders like ADT.

Key Issues:

  1. App System Status: It's concerning that the app doesn't automatically update the system status upon being opened, forcing users to manually refresh.
  2. Arming with Open Sensor: Alarmingly, it's far too easy to arm the system when a sensor is open. This critical flaw in the app and keypad could have serious security implications.
  3. Keypad Feedback: The lack of distinct auditory feedback from the keypad during an arming attempt with an open sensor is an oversight that can't be overlooked.

Feature Recommendations:

  1. Automatic System Status Refresh: An immediate implementation of an automatic system status refresh every time the app is opened is non-negotiable.
  2. Improved Open Sensor Notifications: For user safety, both the app and keypad should proactively and clearly warn about open sensors, requesting user confirmation before arming.
  3. Enhanced Keypad Auditory Signals: A clear and distinct series of beeps or sounds from the keypad when detecting an open sensor is imperative.

Details

Having recently transitioned from ADT to SimpliSafe, there are several commendable features of the new system I'd like to highlight. The cost-effectiveness is immediately apparent, with substantial savings over its competitors. The modular nature of its components makes installation a breeze, and the flexibility to opt for a mere $10/month for video recording as opposed to the $60/month is both economical and practical. I especially appreciate the feature where a video is automatically taken during any system activity and the privacy cover for the camera is a thoughtful addition.

Yet, with my two decades of software engineering experience, certain design choices in the app and keypad strike me as not just perplexing but a pronounced vulnerability for the system. The problem is there are software oversights that may inadvertently leave sensors open, creating a gateway for burglars to break in. This poses tangible risks of theft and, alarmingly, potential personal harm.

The most glaring issue with the app is how easy it is to arm the system even when a sensor is open. The app does not automatically update the system status upon being opened. Instead, it prompts users to manually refresh by pulling down. This design decision is a misstep. When a user chooses to set the system to 'home' or 'away' mode, the app should automatically check and clearly warn if any sensor is open, providing an option to proceed if the user wishes to arm it anyway. This was how the ADT app operated, and rightly so – it's a more user-friendly and safer approach.

Similarly, the keypad exhibits shortcomings. When attempting to arm with an open sensor, it should unequivocally signal this with a distinct beep or series of beeps to prevent arming. Currently, with the keypad located near our garage door, it's all too easy to exit, arm the system, and remain oblivious to any open sensors, especially since the base unit's spoken warnings are delayed and its location is too distant to be audibly effective.

What set the ADT system apart was its immediate feedback on open windows. With it, we never had to double-check each window before leaving. In contrast, SimpliSafe places an unnecessary burden on users to ensure all windows are closed. This can, and should, be rectified with the simple improvements I've described.

5 Messages

3 years ago

Thank you so much!!!  I have tried getting this concept through to the phone support but after various attempts I gave up.
It is a subtle thing but IMO very important.

197 Messages

The keypad will indicate you have a door open, but if you are arming the system from your phone or keyfob, I guess you would not know.  Having a notification sent to my phone would be a good improvement.

Some suggestions are really good.  This is one of them.

5 Messages

3 years ago

Thanks, it has been bothering me for a while!

1 Message

3 years ago

I have several comment and concerns: 1. When arming home or away mode, system should warn any of the devices are open before system can be arms. Also it should tell specific devices are open so it can be addressed.
2. When I armed system or entering the armed system there should be reasonable audible beeping that reminds you that you are leaving or disarm the system. I am missing this features the most.
3. is there any way to adjust the camera lens of door bell to view better coverage.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

3 years ago

hello Modhal,

When arming your system in Home or Away Mode, you do already get a warning when an Entry Sensor is open. But that will not prevent the system from continuing to arm - that is intentional, so you can leave windows or doors open if you want to (for example, if you want to keep a window open to let the breeze in while you sleep).

Along with the voice prompt, you'll also get a notification on the Keypad screen with detailed info about each sensor.

The Keypad does also produce a countdown chirp, both while arming (in Away Mode), and when a sensor is triggered in both modes.
If you can't quite hear the Keypad from where you're entering, we also have the Wireless Siren - which can relay countdown chirps and door chimes, as well as the main alarm siren.

(edited)

"Enable arming with open entry sensors (less secure)? [ ] yes [x] NO"

There i designed it for you. I just got my garage cleaned out because of this, i mean what is the point of having these sensors if the security system is fine with them being open? This is over three years old ffs.

371 Messages

3 years ago

Hi would it be possible SS to get a notification on phone if an entry sensor is left open when set alarm.

The wife went out today, locked the door, pressed AWAY on key fob and went to drop the kids at school.

When she came in the backdoor was open and she got worried.

What happened here when I played it back was she went out - locked front door, pressed away by being outside the base station called out entry sensor open, the keypad had a warning icon on the keypad but she was already outside.  

What would be great would be a notification to flash up on phone "entry sensor open".
Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Entry Open notification - SS Request

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

Hi dandyDons,

Right, currently the main indicator when your arm with an Entry open is an audible warning from the Base Station - but it's not logged on the Timeline, and therefore doesn't prompt a Push notification. I'll forward your suggestion to our dev team.

- Davey D.
Community Development Manager
SimpliSafe Home Security

371 Messages

Thank you ????

3 Messages

@davey_d​ Notificaitons of open sensors seems to be fairly common and a basic feature of most alarm systems. This will help home owners close all windows/doors prior to leaving, especially for an extended period of time. This is something that we may consider to change to a different service. Please make this a priorty. Thank you! 

@davey_d​ i have a hill home. When i leave through my garage the base station is about 75 feet and two levels away (ie, inaudible, ever). I have a repeater siren in the garage, but it's constantly falling off because everything has to be in range of the base station, hub and spoke style (as opposed to a mesh as with, say, hue.) (Don't get me started on trying to find an optimal location when the base station *cannot* be mounted on a wall!)

Regardless of the speaker, not getting an alert on the phone when literally every door and window to your house can be open is just straight up malpractice. I just got robbed exactly because of this - i left the garage door open overnight, nothing from simplisafe. Luckily the interior door to the house wasn't open - simplisafe would have let that happen, too. What are you guys doing? Is there a response that doesn't just describe the current broken behavior?

(edited)

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@simplisafe249fa5​ I get your frustration, and we do understand the value in having at least a notification on the app. I'll continue pushing with our product team, and hopefully we can get some movement on this in the future.

Also, since you mention experiencing an actual incident, I've requested a call from our Specialist team in case there's anything we can do to help.

742 Messages

3 years ago

I can't believe this doesn't already happen and this has to be asked for but...

Please make the mobile app generate an alarm, a pop up, a confirmation box or SOMETHING to tell you that, when arming via mobile app, there is an entry sensor open. Right now it doesn't unless you manually check the system status. (And even then you might have to manually refresh to see an accurate current state.)

If I'm home and set the alarm I get an audible vocal alert from the base station telling me that there's an open entry sensor. Why on earth doesn't the app give me a giant pop up / confirmation box telling me the same?!

I'm not looking for workarounds for this either - I want this specific functionality that gives me an alert based on a real time status. Feel free to share those work arounds because others might find them useful but nothing short of the mobile giving me a pop up and/or forcing me to confirm I understand there's an entry sensor open is going to work for me.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Have Mobile App Tell You An Entry Sensor Is Open When Armed In A Very Prominent Way That Can't Be Missed

2 Messages

Yes! This seems like a no-brainer, required feature. Needs to ship ASAP. 

2 Messages

2 years ago

When arming the system with a sensor open, the base station will alert you "warning, sensor open." 

However, for example, if I am arming the system from the app while leaving in my car or when I am away from home (say I forgot to do it when I left), there is no way for me to know if a sensor is open. For all I know, my front door could be wide open and I would have no clue.

This seems like a very important feature that needs to be added to the app in the near future.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Sensor Open Notification Needed In The App When Arming!

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

Thanks for submitting your request!

64 Messages

Yes, this needs to be added. Even when I'm working in my office or at night we may arm the system in home mode from our bedroom using the app because we forgot while we were downstairs, we can't hear the base station and just the other day it said our backdoor sensor was open (it wasn't, but I've noticed sometimes the sensors get "confused" and think they are still open) but it wasn't noticed until the next morning when there was the warning icon on the keypad.

1 Message

1 year ago

So more than two years has gone by and those of us who primarily use the app or fobs still don’t have a simple push notification to let us know of an open sensor?  Cmon…make this simple tweak happen please. 

4 Messages

9 months ago

I keep checking this thread in the hope this issue will be fixed. I might then consider buying this system. It seems like a critical point to me. A burglar alarm sounding is too late - they are in the house by that point. A reminder to shut the window would help ensure the alarm never needs to activate!

1 Message

8 months ago

Wow...I am looking to get a new security system and was seriously considering this one. Then I stumbled on this thread that is three years old. This is a huge oversight that should have been fixed a long time ago. Many reasons for why were already stated by others. My Comcast/Xfinity system has given me warnings for years and required me to manually bypass open sensors before arming. It would be too easy to ignore (or not hear the warning), especially if set from the app. 

This does not speak well for the ability of this company to respond to feedback in a timely and meaningful way. 

10 Messages

I agree. The system is very good overall. But then there are little things like this that are not only annoying, but circumvent the system entirely. As a software engineer, this seems like a fairly straightforward  fix to me. Davey D above has replied to some users, and seems to be forwarding suggestions like this to the dev  team. Maybe Davey D can revisit this item with the team again? 😊

1 Message

7 months ago

I have been a simply safe user for years and never knew of this obvious flaw until it happened to me today. 

More disappointing is the apparent lack of urgency or even basic recognition by simply safe that this is a serious flaw. 

Why have an app if you can't verify that your home is secure? Given your are marketing a "security system" I would think this would be your top priority. 

Given how long this problem has been documented can it be that your development team is not aware of this issue at this point?

10 Messages

It seems that it's just not a priority at all for them to fix this. Davey D who seems to be an employee of SimpliSafe said the forwarded the initial change/fix request from 2021 to the development team: "Thanks for the suggestion, Ed! I've forwarded it to our engineering team for consideration." There are two other similar responses from him to others asking for it to be fixed.

I submitted another formal request to their team seven months ago via their chat feature. They said they would pass along. I included a copy of what I gave them at the top of this thread.

It's obvious that they either do not have the engineering resource to fix, or they simply do not care to keep us safe (pun intended).

7 months ago

Got robbed because of an open entrance (garage) that Simplisafe just silently ignored. For three years it's been "forwarded to the engineering team for consideration" and then just dies. I even got a follow up from "CEO Escalations" (? it's anything but) and....same thing (forwarded to the "Product Team" for them to ignore, that's all folks). As far as I can tell, this is an undocumented behavior that obviously runs counter to peoples' expectation and assumptions given their experience with other systems.

Why is Simplisafe so intransigent? This is a big deal, I'm out ~$3500 worth of tools because of it, and there's no way I'm the only one. Given this is a 3 year old issue and Simplisafe has repeatedly done nothing to fix it, I wonder if it will take a class action lawsuit to get them to fix their product.

Forwarding this to eng/prod is a waste of time, somebody needs to actually follow up and explain to them how positively fubar this is, and follow up and drive it until it's complete.

7 months ago

Got robbed because of an open entrance (garage) that Simplisafe just silently ignored. For three years it's been "forwarded to the engineering team for consideration" and then just dies. I even got a follow up from "CEO Escalations" (? it's anything but) and....same thing (forwarded to the "Product Team" for them to ignore, that's all folks). As far as I can tell, this is an undocumented behavior that obviously runs counter to peoples' expectation and assumptions given their experience with other systems.

Why is Simplisafe so intransigent? This is a big deal, I'm out ~$3500 worth of tools because of it, and there's no way I'm the only one. Given this is a 3 year old issue and Simplisafe has repeatedly done nothing to fix it, I wonder if it will take a class action lawsuit to get them to fix their product.

Forwarding this to eng/prod is a waste of time, somebody needs to actually follow up and explain to them how positively fubar this is, and follow up and drive it until it's complete.

6 Messages

5 months ago

This is crazy... You're claiming it's by design that an alarm system will continue to alarm when for example the back door is open. Allowing a thief to enter the house. Just because I might like some cool breeze at night!!!

The alarm should alert in all modes and not allow the alarm to be set without first by-passing this sensor.

HOW CAN I TRUST THIS SYSTEM if it's not going to check and notify that all the sensors are closed.

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