‎Unable to control system remotely | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
Dmarien's profile

Monday, October 30th, 2023 2:18 PM

Unable to control system remotely

This just happened to me yesterday. Cottage smoke detector was triggered and no way to turn it off...clicking on the OFF option in the app does nothing...just spins for 10 minutes and goes back to Alarm....clearly a bug in the app.

Edit: cottage is about 400 miles from the city so not driving up just to reset it. It'll have to wait until Nov 3 when I was planning on heading up anyway...unless you fix the app. 

@emily_s 

This post was created from this comment on different post

8 Messages

1 year ago

I guess SS aren't very active in their forum. What a pain...my alarm is still going off after 3 days and still can't shut it off via the app. Clearly a bug in the app or base station firmware....either way, it's a real pain

8 Messages

1 year ago

Ok, I think this is a server side issue vs buggy app or bad base station firmware...and I THINK they may be working on resolving based on new error message appearing in the app when attempting to stop the alarm...says it can't connect to the base station due to server connection error

Community Admin

 • 

5.7K Messages

1 year ago

Hi @Dmarien ,

Apologies on the delay in our response. We have not had any reports of server-side outages over the past week that would affect controlling your system remotely. So there might be an issue with the connection between your Base Station at the location and the service - either through the WiFi or built-in cell*.

Unfortunately we're limited in how we can troubleshoot unless you're actually at the location, as we'd want to investigate the WiFi connection, and possibly move the Base Station around to different spots for better reception. I suggest that in the coming week, when you're able to get there, you contact our Support team. We can help you through the troubleshooting step by step.

Just so you know though, disarming the system wouldn't stop a fire-type alarm. For as long as the detector is actually detecting something, it will keep triggering. Commonly, false alarms are triggered by dust, steam, or other particles that are able to get into the chamber. So it might be a good idea to clean your Smoke Detector with a vacuum when you're there as well!

* As a reminder, cellular connectivity for the Base Station requires an active Monitoring Plan. 

2 Messages

This is totally unhelpful. What if you are not home? How do you stop a false alarm?

8 Messages

1 year ago

It's likely dust or a bug in one of the smoke detectors and that's fine. My issue is that you should be able to shut the alarm off remotely via the app. As for server errors I see messages that MIGHT suggest the issue is on SS's end - I would attach screenshots but I don't see the option to attach in this forum. My Internet is always up and running and is 500 up and 500 down...and the wifi within the cottage is nothing short of brilliant. We've had the internet/wifi in place for nearly 3 years and SS only in place for 3 months. Issue is definitely with SS...either server side or firmware or the app.

3 Messages

I agree and second your thought that this is not about the sensor itself but the ability to shut the alarm off remotely via the app.  The same thing just happened to me last night - smoke detector went off but just got the spinning ring in the app when my wife and I tried to disable through the app on each of our phones.  I can disable alarms caused by a water sensor, entry sensor, or motion sensor from the App without issue but last night it would not let me disable the smoke alarm unless I went to the keypad. 

It would be nice to hear somebody from SimpliSafe weigh in on whether this is intentional or a bug in the software.

1 Message

Agree with all. There is an issue with app. I triggered a test of a smoke alarm and the app registers “alarm”. When I select the “off” it just spins and the returns to the same “alarm” status. This effectively locks me out of the system and I cannot re-arm.  Previously the alarm could be cancelled and the system control returned all via the app. The latest upgrade has a bug. SimpliSafe needs to acknowledge and fix!

2 Messages

This is still an issue 12/24/2023. I also had a smoke detector false alarm (my fault, I hadn't cleaned them recently) which couldn't be cleared from the app.  Same as reported by others, when I selected "off" in the app it just returned to the "alarm" status, and I couldn't clear the alarm and re-arm the system. Why does this matter? Because my house is in the USA and I'm traveling in Europe! I finally contacted a friend, who drove 100 miles round trip on Christmas Eve just to clear the alarm from the keypad in my house so everything would go back to normal and the system could be re-armed. Not cool, SimpliSafe. You have to regression-test your app and firmware when you change them so bugs like this don't sneak into your system. By the way, this issue wasn't due to unreliable WiFi or cellular connection either; I check the system daily and it responds perfectly, every time (when not in alarm state!). Please, please fix this!

8 Messages

1 year ago

C'mon SS...get this done please. Ridiculous you can't make this happen. Absolutely no reason to not be able to reset the system...

2 Messages

7 months ago

So frustrated that this is still an issue. My fire alarm just went off (false alarm) and there is no way to turn it off? We have had to go round every single device…the app didn’t work….why haven’t you fixed this yet??? 

New to the Community? Get started by reading our Welcome Article and please be sure to review our Community Guidelines before posting.