‎History of Sensor Activity | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
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Monday, December 10th, 2018 9:30 PM

History of Sensor Activity

Is it possible to get a history of the entry sensor activity (whenever a door or window was open or closed) irrespective of whether the system was armed or disarmed. I know that we can get the current state of the sensors, but what would be useful is to see when doors/windows are opened or closed on a historical basis, even without arming the system. This was a great feature in the Frontpoint system that I previously had.

Community Admin

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5.6K Messages

6 years ago

@snemmara

At this time, the Timeline event log is only able to record when Entry Sensors are opened while armed, or if that sensor is set to Secret Alert.

(edited)

1 Message

Johnny M.  I am highly disappointed that SimpliSafe lacks this feature.  I left my previous security system and now to find out that SimpliSafe doesn't show history of when a door is opened and closed.  If the sensor sends a chime through the base station it surely can report that to the timeline.  All security systems I know of have this feature including the one I left.

64 Messages

6 years ago

FWIW I find the secret alert setting to work well for this. The truth is that I don't really care about this for all of the sensors, but there are a few for which that is interesting so they are set that way. I was also interested to discover that the secret alert prompts a 20 second camera recording. One of mine is set for the back door so I know if my kid remembers to let the dog out when he gets home. The visual confirmation is nice since our camera looks that way as well.

1 Message

5 years ago

Hello. I'd like Simplisafe to re-evaluate offering this feature. Viewing device activity is incredibly useful and was something we really enjoyed from our Xfinity home system as well. This helped us track the comings and goings in our house real-time and post activity. A scenario could be, someone breaks in the house downstairs and is inside the house when you check the current status of the sensors upstairs. You could walk into a bad situation. Looking forward to feedback.

4 Messages

5 years ago

Just because of this missing feature in the SimpliSafe system, I am planning to switch back to my old home security system. This is a very important feature and I've read several posts where users are requesting SimpliSafe for this feature and user's requests are being ignored by SimpliSafe. How hard it is to program writing activity logs from the sensor to the base unit??? SimpliSafe is taking so long to have this feature and I'm sure it will lose a lot of business just because of this. Such a turn off.

2 Messages

5 years ago

I have been a customer for years, and have recommended SimpliSafe multiple times to friends. Please consider adding this feature and keeping us informed. I am starting to question if SimpliSafe is willing to keep up with competitors, and if they truly listen to their customer base.

1 Message

4 years ago

Agreed. I would love SimpliSafe to have this feature. We used to use Vivint, which had this feature. It was my great!....another level of monitoring, even while the system is turned off. I can't imagine it's that hard to configure...Each sensor is already named and could could be added to the activity log. That's how Vivint did it, at least. I switched to SimpliSafe because of all the accolades, reviews, and recommendations. How did you get all these awards without this feature?...Seems like you're the only ones not to have it.The price is better than Vivint, but the features are lacking. Please reconsider adding this feature.

1 Message

4 years ago

Yes, SimpliSafe, please add this as a standard feature. Secret alerts will give you history (only openings, not closings), but then the base station doesn't chime. Not sure I care about the chime, though. We had xinifty, and it was nice to have with teenagers. Both Liftmaster (garage door opener) and August (door locks) offer this history open and close feature as well.

4 years ago

I am so very sad.  

After typing in search terms ("How do I see activity history on SimpliSafe"), one of the pages I clicked on brought me in here - - - where some people are  mildly complaining  (and rightfully so) about this lacking feature.  

Even though I doubt begging will do good any time SOON (the entry above me was just a little over 2 weeks ago) I'm still gonna do it. . . . . . .

For what it's worth, SimpliSafe:   Please, PLEASE consider revising your system to accommodate your loyal customers.


(So sad.)    ' (

182 Messages

4 years ago

I'm so sorry for your sadness .......

Community Admin

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5.6K Messages

4 years ago

@tschuler33
The Timeline is entirely a Monitoring Service feature, and that data is stored on our website. Normally, Entry Sensors (or other sensors) being activated when the system is disarmed wouldn't send a signal to the log.

A possible workaround is to set individual sensors to "Secret Alert", which would then send logged alerts from the sensor even when the system is disarmed. But that might also result in you getting a lot of unnecessary alerts to your phone.

Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security

2 Messages

@davey_d​ 

It only allows secret sensors, armed & unarmed to have a tracking history. It needs to allow ALL door/window sensors to be tracked. 

1 Message

2 years ago

SimpliSafe, this is ridiculous. Please add this feature. ANd perhaps update the UI from time to time. This just looks like the whole system has no investment at all. 

1 Message

2 years ago

Smile and frown. This is happens when we deal with companies. They decide what features are important or not. I'm a near 40 year IT guy. I remember when we had to beg Microsoft for fixes or features. Then someone came open source and Linux. No more begging Microsoft. IT community developed it owns feature. Anyone could contribute the code.

Like everyone else I just purchased and installed this system. I opened the back door and checked if this event was logged anywhere. I am shocked to find this feature missing. The Vivint guy stopped by my house last week. I told him this system was better. It hadn't arrived yet. Now I'm stuck. Yes every time i open or close my garage, the event is logged. Everytime i adjus my AC temperature, it is logged. It makes no sense. This is standard in nearly every facet of life today. Unbelievable. 

1 Message

2 years ago

Given the fact that this thread has been open for almost 4 years, I am guessing SimpiSafe either just doesn't agree with this cohort of customers or it is too cost prohibitive for them to implement the change.  While apparently it won't do any good, I will add my voice to the chorus.  Coming from another provider, it was a nice feature to be able to go back and see what doors/windows were opened when.  I don't need a secret alert every time ever door/window is opened.  I just need the ability to go back and look at the logs when I need to.  Clearly the SimplySafe base is notified since it chimes.  All we are asking is that it stick that fact in a log.  Users who don't want to see that level of detail could have the option to suppress it.   

1 Message

2 years ago

Yeah this is ridiculous 4 years and no solution. Step up your game

1 Message

2 years ago

I too just switched to Simplisafe and feel tricked. The simple ability to see the history of a sensor should not require the jump from $17.99 to $27.99 per month. 

Community Admin

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5.6K Messages

@timsvitak​ if you upgrade to Interactive Monitoring, you do get activity events as well - that means you'll see when the system is armed and disarmed, as well as Secret Alerts from sensors set to that mode. You'll also be able to get all alerts through SMS, as well as email, and not just through the SimpliSafe app on your smartphone.

But even with Basic App Control, you'll get alarm and error push notifications. For more info, check out our Help Center page here.

With regard to the more granular logging that this thread is asking for - at this time, the system will log when sensors trigger an alarm. But there is currently no logging when they're triggered while the system is disarmed, nor when Entry Sensors specifically are closed.

1 Message

With all due respect, it appears you have been in the Community Admin position for more than a few years. It is obvious your loyalty is to the company. You may do your admin duties very well but as a conduit for user requested features, it does not appear to be in your job description. How do users get their input heard and responded to?

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