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alarmcompanyrefugee

1 Message

Smartphone app without subscription?

Hello all, considering buying into SS but wanted some confirmation re: functionality.  I don't want 24/7 call center monitoring ala ADT, but would want to be able to control/monitor myself via smartphone.  Do I have this ability without paying SS a monthly fee?  I.e. can I get push alerts to my phone without the subscription?

Basic App Control is available for all users in the United States, even without a subscription. As long as your system is connected to WiFi, you'll be able to arm/disarm your system remotely, receive notifications for alarms, and even view 7 days of Timeline events. For more info, check out the Help Center Article here.

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davey_d

Former Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

Your feedback is always appreciated, Captain11!

To clarify, our devs are always testing new stuff, and that includes experimenting with different service plans that we'll sometimes offer to a random selection of new customers.

But our current lineup is still the $14.99 Standard Monitoring Plan, and the $24.99 Interactive Monitoring Plan. If and when we change it up, we'll let you know.

And don't worry, if you're already on an existing Monitoring Plan, we won't be taking anything away.

- Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security

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captain11

6.6K Messages

@Johnny M good to know but how would a new customer know that the 14.99 plan is still available? In my humble opinion, the 24.99 total command interactive plan is the only way to go, and is the choice of the majority of systems I have placed, including daughter, her inlaws, two brother-in-laws, 4 former coworkers etc.

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sevensiamesecats

2.2K Messages

Note that this new plan does not include cellular backup.  And the implication is that it does not provide remote control of the system.

Still it sounds like it may be some of what so many have been asking for.

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simplisafe_admin

Community Admin

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1.8K Messages

Hi all,

This experimental plan is only available to select new customers of ours, When purchasing a new system, the plans listed are the options for the free month of monitoring included with the order. Later, when trying to activate their new system, they will see three options to select the Interactive Monitoring plan, the Standard Monitoring plan, or to activate the free month of service that was included in their order. That being the case, all of our customers will still have the option to select our Interactive or Standard plans while only a select few will have the option of testing out this new experimental plan.

While this new plan does not include a cellular backup as @sevensiamesecats mentioned, and does not include 24/7 Professional Monitoring, everything else from our Interactive Monitoring plan is included. This means that customers on this plan will have the ability to control their system remotely.

SimpliSafe Social Team
SimpliSafe Home Security

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captain11

6.6K Messages

@Team S, thank you for the expanded, more clear explanation but still doesn't address the disadvantage a "lucky" new customer is placed in if selected to see this new "hybrid" plan.  When I worked for over 25 years at a medical device company, I and many others of the sales organization mgt team discouraged marketing experimentation on uniformed customers. Why? First, from an ethical basis, and then, from a company P&L perspective.

For me personally, the issue would be moot, as coming from ADT almost 9 years ago, the 24.99 interactive plan was, then and now, the best value in the industry, period. The reality is however not all customers feel as I do.  Continue to "experiment" at your own peril, SS.  If you feel the need to experiment, use focus groups instead. In those the potential or existing customers know what they signed up for.  This topic, btw, reminds me of something ADT would be inclined to do, and as you know me, that is not meant as a compliment by any stretch of the imagination.

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kiranbharwani

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Hello,

Any idea on when this experimental plan will be rolled out to others if at all? Looks like this is what I am looking for as well.

Thanks.

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sevensiamesecats

2.2K Messages

According to the response to my post, above, they say that the control functions in the app would be usable.  So you would just use the app to set the system to off (I wouldn't, the noise will encourage the invaders to leave more quickly).  And you would call the police using, I don't know, your cell phone maybe?

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esentry

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I have been researching options to replace my Smartthings ADT system that is going EOL later this year and was strongly considering SS until I started looking into the monitoring options and came across this discussion. I would like to chime in with my vote for making the self monitoring option available to all customers. I might in the end opt in to monitoring as I did in the past with ADT, but I will not buy a new system that becomes a paperweight without that option. Others are of course entitled to their opinions and SS has to put in place a business plan that works for them, but other systems offer non-monitoring and very low cost monitoring options so it is clear SS is feeling that competitive pressure. I just hope they make their decision before I have to pull the trigger.

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kdbkar1

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I am sooooo glad I found this thread but I'm bumming at the same time. Based on reviews, SimpliSafe has for me been a definite pick to purchase when we move into our new home but after reading this I'm putting on the brakes! This is a non starter if I have to pay full price for monitoring just to arm/ dis-arm the system on my phone or receive simple alerts from door or water sensors.

Why would I purchase a security system that advertises no contract but forces you to essentially purchase a full price month to month fee for simple mobile app functionality? Perhaps a lesser fee to self monitor around $7.99 a month would be more appropriate? Until then I think its best to put my wallet back in my pocket and see if SimpliSafe will adjust their pricing packages.

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jwen

6 Messages

As Johnny M said above, there is an experimental (beta) plan called "Self-Monitoring with Camera Recording".  Some people were talking about this on reddit around that same time as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/simplisafe/comments/lhp0u2/simplisafe_selfmonitoring_plans/

It looks like there is a self-monitoring plan coming (maybe) for $10/month.  Who knows if that cost will stay, but it's pretty close to competitors (Abode is $6/month, Nest Aware (for video recording) is $10 - $12 / month).  If this plan comes out and they add Geofencing for arming (at least alerting us), I'll likely start looking at purchasing this system to replace my Nest Secure.

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jwen

6 Messages

As Johnny M said above, there is an experimental (beta) plan called "Self-Monitoring with Camera Recording".  Some people were talking about this on reddit around that same time as well.

It looks like there is a self-monitoring plan coming (maybe) for $10/month.  Who knows if that cost will stay, but it's pretty close to competitors (Abode is $6/month, Nest Aware (for video recording) is $10 - $12 / month).  If this plan comes out and they add Geofencing for arming (at least alerting us), I'll likely start looking at purchasing this system to replace my Nest Secure.

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kwumail

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Wow, this is discouraging.  I was about to push the button to purchase a system from SimpliSafe, but reading the comments about how you can't even do a basic thing like arming/disarming the alarm from your phone or getting notifications if your alarm system is triggered on the app without a subscription is alarming (no pun intended).

Being able to arm/disarm and get notifications of your alarm sounding (without cameras, since I already have an alarm system) are the BASICS of any app.  If I have to pay a subscription just to do those two things, it makes me wonder how much other things are going to require a subscription to actually use this system.  I think I might be looking elsewhere for an alarm system.

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worthing

765 Messages

@kwumail

This thread is old old old. There was a recent change to the SS plans and now everyone, even without a plan, can arm/disarm their system via the app. Near the bottom of the page at https://support.simplisafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023809972-What-are-the-service-plan-options- they describe the features available w/o a service plan:

- Live video feed of your cameras from the SimpliSafe app
- System timeline showing up to 7 days of history in the app
- Control your system from your phone with the SimpliSafe App
- View and change system and device settings
- Lock and unlock Smart Lock via app

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bythesea973

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Only for Gen 3 products. Gen 2 is out of luck.

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kwumail

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@Worthing, what about notifications?  Do you get the notifications on your app (not camera notifications, but alarm notifications when one of the sensors are triggered by someone opening a door or window)?

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ssgoodguy

6 Messages

I aready tried those basic features but still no control of it. I spend more then 1 hour on the phone wtih them and still no luck. So, I have no idea what is going on.

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davey_d

Former Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

Hi ss1195,

Is it that you're getting errors when you try to control your system on the app, or are the options just not available at all? If the first one, there's likely something going on with connectivity of your system.

Do you have your system already linked to WiFi? Without a subscription, that would be the only way your system can connect through the app. You can do that from the Keypad Menu.

- Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security

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ssgoodguy

6 Messages

Hi,

My system is connected to WIFI whole time ever since I received it (gen. 3). On the wepapp all the features are locked and on phoneapp, after I hit declined "30 days free trial" and hit "yes" there is no next step. Seems like it need to be unlock the features from your end, I updated firmware for base station with latest firmware and tried hard reset and uninstalled/reinstalled for phoneapp. I just simply stuck on activate page and no other option.

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worthing

765 Messages

@ss1195

Call support. (I know, I know, no one wants to hear this.) A similar issue has been reported on https://www.reddit.com/r/simplisafe/ before and the person called support and support was able to fix it from their end.

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worthing

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@kwumail

I don't know - I have a monitoring plan so I can't test for you.

@Johnny M,

With self-monitoring (ie; no paid monitoring plan at all) does the system send push notifications to the mobile app when an alert/alarm is triggered? That functionality is not explicitly listed on https://support.simplisafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023809972-What-are-the-service-plan-options- but I don't want to assume it's not available.

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