‎Camera recording movement even when alarm is turned off | SimpliSafe Help Center
 
jeremymbwilson's profile

Wednesday, October 13th, 2021 4:38 PM

Camera recording movement even when alarm is turned off

Apologies if this has been answered before, but I couldn't find anything on these forums.

I am always the first to get up in our house and I will disarm the system upstairs (on my phone app) and then, after a few minutes, when I go downstairs, one of the cameras often (not always) "detects motion" and records me going downstairs.  Why does it do this when I have disarmed the system ?  I now have lots of clips of me coming downstairs.  

Is there any way to stop this happening ?

As of the time of this post, the Outdoor Camera is currently designed to be active at all times, and does not yet respond to the state of your security system. A Community request thread for this feature can be found here.

1.3K Messages

2 years ago

It's normal, although some don't like it. The point is to have a record of what's going on when the system is disarmed.

If you don't want to be recorded, wait for a minute and a half, whatever it is, until the recording period stops. Far as i know that's the best you can do unless you turn off the camera. That said, I've not tried to defeat it as I rather like that function. One of our cameras points right at the main door and keypad.

Advocate

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594 Messages

2 years ago

I think whoaru99 is spot on that the only way to disable this is to disable the camera entirely. Even if you enable the shutter on the Simplicam, the shutter will always open when the alarm is disabled, enabled, goes off, etc. If you have motion detection turned on for that SimpliCam, as soon as the shutter is up it can detect motion and record.

I get why the functionality exists and I even get why it can't be disabled but for those of us who want more of a balance between security and privacy it's unfortunate we can't enable/disable this functionality. (Even if it's on a per camera basis.)

5 Messages

2 years ago

Thanks @whoaru99 and @Worthing.

I suppose that I can understand the thinking behind it, but there are times when I have been 5 minutes after disarming and it still records me - that, I think, is a little ridiculous.

Simplisafe - if you are reading this, can you give us the opportunity to disable this function.  Or at least give us the ability to remove recorded clips.  I do not like having loads of clips stored of me coming down the stairs rather bleary eyed !

5 Messages

2 years ago

Guessing that Simplisafe do not read this forum.

Would be good to get some kind of input from the company that we have all invested in, but maybe that is too much to ask these days.  Don't really see the point of a forum that the company does not seem to monitor............

Thank goodness for users who seem to care about issues.

Advocate

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594 Messages

2 years ago

They definitely read the forums - you can easily see Johnny M is active in a lot of threads and he is the community manager for SimpliSafe.

You can delete recordings:

- Open your timeline
- Find and select the video you want to delete so it opens full screen (and not just the thumbnail)
- Click on the three dots in the upper righthand corner
- Select Delete video
- Confirm you want to delete

(This information is also available in their knowledge base at https://support.simplisafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052613931-Can-I-delete-recordings-from-my-timeline- which I found by searching "simplisafe delete video" from Google, minus the quotes.)

Yes, it's one at a time for the moment and you can't bulk select and delete. Yes, we've already asked that this functionality be implemented.

As for the ability to disable the function I would suggest starting a new thread in  https://simplisafe.com/forum/customer-support-forum/testimonials-and-suggestions (with a title indicating it's a suggestion/request) for it to get the most visibility.

5 Messages

2 years ago

Thanks @Worthing - I had no idea about that.  Last ime I looked into this, there was no way to delete recordings, so am delighted that we can now do that.  Functionality may be limited, but at least it's there !

Will start a new thread and hope that it gets noticed.

Thanks again.

1.3K Messages

2 years ago

Fair number of previous posts on this topic too.

As I recall SS listened and made a change, albeit a compromise, on this one. I believe the system used to automatically record on both arm and disarm. That was changed a while back, if memory serves, to record only on disarm.

5 Messages

2 years ago

@whoaru99 - thanks.  Suppose that I should be grateful that it is slightly better than it used to be.  What I'd be keen on is an option to turn that on or off in the same way that we can turn motion detection on or off.  My problem is that to stop it recording me as I walk down the stairs, I either have to wait upstairs and hope that the time period has passed, get recorded and then delete the recording (thanks @Worthing for pointing out that we can now do that) or disabling motion detection altogether.

None of those options particularly appeal.  Just want a simple way for us to choose whether it continues to record once the system has been disarmed or not.

Great forum, though - thanks both for all of your help and advice - much appreciated !

Advocate

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594 Messages

2 years ago

@whoaru99,

That was changed a while back, if memory serves, to record only on disarm.


Assuming https://support.simplisafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029594152-When-does-the-camera-record- is still accurate you are correct:

The SimpliCam camera records during the following events:


  • Alarms

  • Disarming your SimpliSafe system

  • Camera Detected Motion

  • User Triggered Recording

  • Secret Alerts (When Enabled)

  • User Initiated Test of the SimpliSafe system

  • Duress Alarm

  • Silent Panic button

  • Entry Delay (After entering your home while the system is alarmed)

  • Power Restored





Huh. If you had asked me before you said anything I would have sworn I had heard the privacy shields activating for arm and disarm but I just tested arming in home and away they privacy shields only pop open when you disarm.

Yet another thing I just noticed, and I am really surprised by it, is that you can cancel the countdown after you hit 'Away' on the keypad without entering a code?! Am I being overly concerned or does that seem like it could be abused?

7 Messages

2 years ago

Ditto for me. It should NOT record if the system is OFF.

>>it seems as if the only way to disable the camera recording when you are home, is if you turn off motion detection in the camera settings in the SimpliSafe app. 
>>you have the option to have the shutter closed when the system is in “home” or “off” mode, but it still activates & records if motion detection is on. 
>>however, if motion detection is off, will it still record when in “away” mode?? I think it won’t, which defeats the purpose of the camera if the alarm is triggered, right?

It’s confusing.

SimpliSafe, please address this issue. 

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Community Admin

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4.8K Messages

@tammied13​ sorry to hear about this. It does not sound like your camera is behaving correctly. That is, assuming that you're talking about the Indoor Camera, where the armed state is bound to the shutter setting.

So yes, when the shutter is set to closed in Home Mode, it should not be initiating recordings from motion. If the system is armed in Home Mode, the only times you should be getting a recording would be when someone disarms, and when there's an actual alarm.

I would actually recommend that you reset that camera by holding down the button on the top for 16 seconds. When your release, it will reboot, and you can set it up again through the SimpliSafe app.

But if we're talking about the Outdoor Camera: at this time, that particular model is active at all times and does not respond to the armed state of the system.

1 Message

@davey_d​ YES why cant you make the same options available to the Outdoor Wireless Camera. If I turn the system off this Outdoor Wireless Camera should be Off, as in not detecting and recording motion... I find this camera useless without being able to turn its motion detection off when by turning the system off. Same with the Doorbell. Make it so i can change the settings with system state specific choices, just like the indoor wired cameras. 

Community Admin

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1.2K Messages

@travis_b​ We have submitted this feature request to our dev team. Once we hear any news, we will provide an update in this thread.

In the meantime, I would recommend enabling Snooze Notifications for when you would not like to receive motion notifications. You can learn more about Snooze Notifications in this Help Center article.

3 Messages

7 months ago

Hello all, I was having the same issue with my Simplisafe indoor camera, I was able to figure out why when in off mode the motion sensor on the camera was activating and in turn opening the shutter and recording. If you have any secret alerts set up in your system while the system is in off mode and that particular sensor you have set up to send you a secret alert when that sensor is tripped will activate the Simplisafe indoor camera. I had a secret alert set up for my motion sensor in off mode and this was causing the issue. Go to your device tab and disable all the secret alerts for when the system is in off mode and this will correct the issue. It makes sense as behind the scenes since you have a secret alert set up that is actually an alarm event when that sensor is tripped, hence the camera activation.

5 Messages

2 months ago

Outdoor camera: Its a basic feature to have motion detection off while security system is disarmed. It sends waste alerts while my kids are outside during the day time. Moreover, these motion detection, recording, sending alerts, etc. consumes camera battery which is SAD :(.  

Community Admin

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1.2K Messages

@sailwal100​ This feature request has been submitted to our dev team, but at this time we do not have any news from them. If we get an update, we will let everyone know in this thread.

Our Snooze Notifications feature may be a workaround for you right now. With Snooze Notifications enabled, you can pause receiving notifications from your camera for a set amount of time. You can learn more in this Help Center article

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