What are Alarm Texts and how do they work?

Beginning June 13, 2022, SimpliSafe customers subscribed to either Fast Protect™ (formerly Interactive Monitoring) or Standard Monitoring will begin to have access to a brand new feature: Alarm Texts. These SMS messages will be sent during alarm events to all primary contacts associated with your SimpliSafe account, and will provide information about alarm events. We will be rolling this out to all customers over the course of the summer.

With Alarm Texts, users will receive texts when an alarm is triggered and will be able to cancel burglary alarms within the first two minutes or request help through text message. 

Since the messages go directly to the phone numbers provided for your primary contacts, a Safeword is not required to cancel alarms via text. 

And while in Practice Mode after first setting up your system, you’ll receive texts letting you know that an alarm was triggered and what sensor triggered it. Since there is no emergency dispatch while in Practice Mode, you will not be able to cancel these alarms.

Alarms triggered by Panic Buttons, Smoke and CO Detectors, Water Sensors, and Temperature Sensors are not able to be canceled via text in order to ensure safety. Similarly, alarms triggered by entering your Duress Pin will not receive Alarm Texts in order to retain the discretion of the Duress alarm event.

Alarm Texts will be sent from our 5-digit SMS number, 82539. This is the same number that sends the rest of our text alerts. Phone calls from our monitoring center during alarms will still come from our monitoring center phone number, 855-693-4911—make sure to save this number to your contacts!

How do I turn Alarm Texts on or off?

All primary contacts on your account will automatically be opted in to receive Alarm Texts and will receive three initial texts to introduce them to the messages. You can also opt out of Alarm Texts at any time via the SimpliSafe mobile app: Main Menu > Alerts & Notifications > SMS Alerts > Recipient > Alarm Triggered > toggle On/Off.

We don’t recommend replying “STOP” to our text messages to opt out, as this will opt you out of all SimpliSafe text messages in the future.

I’m a Fast Protect™ (formerly Interactive Monitoring) or Standard subscriber—why don’t I have Alarm Texts?

As Alarm Texts are a new feature, some customers will receive this feature before others. But don’t worry—if you’re subscribed to our professional monitoring, you will be receiving this feature! When you do receive it, you will be automatically opted in to the service and will receive three initial messages introducing you to the feature. Make sure to save our monitoring center’s phone number (855-693-4911) to your contacts so you always know when we’re contacting you.

If you have opted out of SimpliSafe SMS alerts in the past by responding STOP to the messages, you may not receive these messages. And if you decide you don’t want to receive Alarm Texts, you can always opt out at any time via the SimpliSafe mobile app: Main Menu > Alerts & Notifications > SMS Alerts > Recipient > Alarm Triggered > toggle On/Off.

What happens if I have more than one primary contact on my account?

All primary contacts on an account will automatically be opted in to receive Alarm Texts and will receive three initial welcome text messages. When an alarm event is triggered, all primary contacts will receive Alarm Texts unless you have chosen to opt out of the texts via the SimpliSafe mobile app.

In the event of an alarm, if one primary contact cancels the alarm but another requests help, the request for help and dispatch of emergency services will always take priority to ensure you are always protected.

Will I still receive calls from the Monitoring Center during an alarm?

Yes! With Alarm Texts, Primary Contacts will receive texts when an alarm is triggered and will be able to cancel burglary alarms within the first two minutes or request help through text message, and your primary contacts will still receive a call from our Monitoring Center as normal. They should also receive their phone calls within two minutes of the alarm.

Is there anyway to make sure I never miss an Alarm Text or phone call?

There are a few options available to ensure you never miss a notification or phone call from our monitoring center in the event of an alarm: Critical Alerts for iPhone users, and allowing calls while your phone is in Do Not Disturb mode from our monitoring center’s phone number as well as Alarm Texts from the 5-digit SMS number.