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Outdoor Camera Motion Tied to Alarm System Armed State (Home/Away/Off)

I have my Outdoor Camera monitoring my driveway. During the day, it records lots of video of family members and delivery people. I know I can use the app to turn OFF motion detection to prevent all this video. It would be nice if there was a way to enter the time of day that I want to record motion detection. That way I could turn OFF motion detection from 7am until 8pm, and just record video between 8pm until 7am. Its the night time I am most interested in recording unwanted visitors.  Adding a Motion OFF or Motion ON time would be an easy way to do it.

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It would be great if the motion detection could be enabled for only certain modes (e.g. only "away") like the indoor cameras. 

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 Indoor camaras can be set to sense motion and record when the system is set to home or away, and not sense motion or record when the system is off.  It doesn't appear this can be done with the outdoor camara's.   Very annoying that this feature is not available.   When kids play in the yard or we're doing yard work the outdoor camara's are constantly recording and draining the battery, so one has to disable all the outdoor camara's and then remember to enable when we put the alarm on at night or when we leave the house.  This is poor design and a safety issue as not everyone in the family uses the app to arm the system, and we generally set the alarm from the keypad at night.     

PLEASE FIX THIS!! We should be able to arm our home security and disarm our home security in one step without having to enable and disable our outdoor camara's throughout the day. 

And just to note, I bought 2 RING Camara's that seem to perform this function fine.  Only problem is I don't use their monitoring.  May considering changing over to Ring if SimpliSafe can't fix this issue.

Anybody else have this issue or figured out a workaround?  

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Outdoor Camara's continue recording when Alarm if off.

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I just turn the outdoor cameras off if I'm going to be outside for a long period of time as I want the outdoor cameras to be ready and on at all times. The indoor cameras are a different story as I'm home I want them off and they are but I agree maybe it would be a good idea to have this as a feature to add for someone like you who would like them to be off when you turn the system off but for me it's not a problem as I got the solar panels to keep them charging and if we are outside for awhile I just go in app and turn them off

Former Community Admin

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Hi @nfiore ,

Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, currently, the Outdoor Camera is designed to be active at all times. But we do have a pending request to tie the camera to the system's armed state, just like the Indoor Camera. If the feature is implemented, we'll update the thread here.

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@davey_d​ well that's awesome to know, I am the creator and admin for simplisafe security and cameras owners group and simplisafe caught on camera on Facebook and I get this question quite a bit so should I tell them this may be in the works or no because this is a deal breaker to a lot, not me as if I'm going to be outside for awhile I just go in app and shut them off.

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Hi Davey, any update on this requested fix?    Since this seems to be a fairly popular request for over a year now, might the developers give their user community an indication whether this is on the schedule at some point for update, or if they're just not interested?  

Perhaps you can my merge post with the those of the same topic in the Thread you note above.  

Thanks much, 

Community Admin

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Hi @nfiore, 

I've merged your posts into this thread. At the moment, the Outdoor Camera is still designed to be active at all times. Right now, we don't have any updates about tying your Outdoor Camera to the system's armed state. When we have an update, we'll let everyone know here.

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Add me to the list that says camera should be able to be tied to alarm status. 

Additional request there should be a switch in the app to disable all cameras for a period of time, so like when you are mowing the grass you don't have 75 videos of yourself and your mower walking or driving across the yard. should be options for the amount of time and ability to set a custom time.

Former Community Admin

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@krstrick​ that latter suggestion at least is already being implemented. Our app team will roll out it to all users soon.

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@davey_d 

When can we adjust the behavior of the outdoor cameras based on arming mode? I just got 4 of these expensive cameras and I turned off notifications to avoid getting 100 push notifications to get through when I mowing my lawn. This wasn’t the reason I got the cameras for.

I saw that this post started already over a year. It shouldn’t be a too complicated request since this is already implemented for the indoor camera.

Please let us know if this issue is going to be implemented or not. And if yes, when can we expect it?

Former Community Admin

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@ChrisChris​ the Indoor Camera is bound to the armed state of the security system via the Privacy Shutter setting, so it's a different implementation. Our engineers would need to start fresh with other camera models.

When I have news of progress, I'll let you know.

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This is a feature we need for outdoor cameras.  When the system is off, and we’re outside in the summer on the patio we can’t have 5+ hours of useless footage. Please tie the camera active state to the armed mode. 

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I purchased three of the outdoor cameras to add to my system.  The inability to define the behavior according to the arming state of the system is a serious weakness.  I have indoor cameras already, and I made the incorrect assumption the outdoor cameras would have the same ability.  Alerting all the time is a waste of battery for my purpose and also irritating if the push notifications are on.  Please consider this feature on the next revision of software.  At the moment I am forced to manually disable motion sense on each camera when disarmed - and hope I remember to turn back on when arming.  

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I’m shocked SimpliSafe hasn’t listened to their customers with this. Please tie outdoor camera to alarm status! 

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Any update on this important feature of the outdoor cameras? I echo the sentiment by many other posts that it genuinely FEELS like simplisafe is not taking this request seriously.

Making various posts that say “we aren’t working on it now, but doesn’t mean we won’t fix it in the future…” for over TWO YEARS is incredibly frustrating for customers. 

A meaningful update about an expected timeline for this feature would be much appreciated. 

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@richardrwick​ THIS RIGHT HERE. Simplisafe needs to start listening to their customers - this is ridiculous. 

Former Community Admin

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Hello @richardrwick ,

We currently do not have news on the feature that ties the Outdoor Camera to the system's armed state. When we do, we'll let you know.

But we have already rolled out the ability to snooze notifications, for times when you or your family are going to be outside and don't need motion notifications. You can learn about that feature here.

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Wireless outdoor camera should have a feature to disable motion detection while the SimpliSafe system is off (disarmed)—similar to the indoor camera—to improve battery life and avoid excessive notifications, for example, when doing yard work.  

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Disable outdoor camera while system is disarmed

Community Admin

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Hi @dibaggioj​, 

This is a popular request, so I've gone ahead and merged your post into this thread. This request has been passed along to our devs; when there is an update, we'll let everyone in this thread know!

In the meantime, we do have the Snooze Notifications feature that allows you to temporarily pause motion notifications from your Outdoor Camera. You can learn more about this feature in the Help Center, here.

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Emily, do you have an update on this?

(edited)

Community Admin

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Hi @dbuck7​, 

This request has been submitted to our dev team, but at this moment we don't have any updates. When we have news about this feature, we'll let everyone in this thread know!

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I don’t want to receive motion notifications when in OFF mode. 

if I’m grilling, I get a notification every time I walk in and out. And if my family is hanging out on the porch, I don’t need a million notifications. How can I make motion detection only operable in HOME or AWAY modes?

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled How to disable outdoor motion notifications when in OFF mode?

Community Admin

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Hi @Cameron, 

The Outdoor Camera was designed to be active at all times, so currently you cannot disable its motion notifications when the system is off. However, this is a popular request, and it's been submitted to our dev team. If/when this feature is implemented, we'll provide an update in this thread.

In the meantime, we do have a Snooze Notifications feature that allows you to turn off the Outdoor Camera's motion notifications for a set amount of time. You can learn more about this feature in this Help Center article.

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My situation is similar.  I only need to receive notifications when my system is armed in HOME/AWAY modes.  It's pretty baffling that this isn't already an option.  Why would most people want to receive notifications when they've disabled their security system?

Night time motion sensing to prevent break in attempts prior to the alarm being triggered or physical damage being done to my house is really the only reason that I need a security system at all aside from my insurance company requiring it so if customizing notification settings isn't rolled out in the near future then I'll very likely be leaving Simplisafe.

Let's go, guys, it's a very simple change to your software, you can do it!  Give the people what they need.

Community Admin

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Hi @Clayton2​, 

We have submitted a request to our dev team to bind the Outdoor Camera to the state of the alarm so that motion events will only be triggered when the system is in Home or Away Mode. When we get any news from them, an update will be posted in this thread.

In the meantime, I would recommend enabling Snooze Notifications to turn off motion notifications when you don't want them.

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Agreed - I have a camera covering my garden. I don’t need to be notified of my family using the garden whilst we are in. Having a outdoor covering the front of my property would be unviable, as every pedestrian walking past would trigger an alert. 

Add my vote to this feature. Seems obvious that camera functionality inside and out should be similar. 

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The software for monitoring outdoor cameras needs to be modified to allow the same options as the other cameras so they can be turned off when the ststem is off. I can’t sit on my patio with getting a notification every time I move. This is not a camera design issue it’s a monitoring software issue and I’d bet most of the code is already written if appropriated from the other camera coding snippets and tweaked a little…a relatively quick fix SimpliSafe! We know you can do it!  As it is, we have to separately turn on both the camera and the alarm system— very user-unfriendly. Please provide a software update quickly; I see elsewhere this issue has been raised since at least last year.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Outdoor camera monitoring software update

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It really feels like the outdoor camera should be tied to the alarm state optionally, or even just put on a simple timer/schedule for motion alarms/notifications. A simple daily schedule would eliminate all the noise and make it so much more useful. 

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This thread makes me wonder if SimpliSafe actually listens to its customers.

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It would be a great product enhancement to allow an off or privacy shutter setting when the alarm system is off just like the hard wired cameras. It drives me bonkers when the kids run in and out of the house 30 times a day and my phone is dinging non-stop and stacking dozens of notifications one after another. When the system is armed I do like to know who is coming onto our property. Thank you for allowing me to share my improvement idea.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Privacy Shutter for Wireless Cameras

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If you are talking about the outdoor camera then you will have to do what I do when we are going to be outside for awhile or doing yard work and thats to turn off motion and notifications under that camera in app. Just have to remember to turn it back on when you need them to be on. 

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@64bighorn While not what you are asking for, SS did put in a "snooze" feature where you can shut off  your motion settings for 30 minutes or 60 minutes. I use the feature when my lavwn service shows up. At least in my case, the 1 hour snooze is all I need.

Former Community Admin

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@64bighorn​ thanks for chiming in! I've added your comment to this thread for the same request.

In the meantime, as the Captain mentioned, we do indeed have a Snooze Notifications feature already available. You can find it on the notification itself.

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Adding to the two years of requests to have the outdoor camera connected to a specific alarm mode or to have a set time for notifications to be set. After getting only 15 seconds of my truck being stolen from my driveway and having to request my neighbors for more footage, I don't see the value of the outdoor camera. I can't get notifications all day long while my kids are playing in the driveway or coming in and out of the front door, but I do want to be alerted and I want an alarm to go off if there is activity at my front door or in my driveway from 11pm - 6am. I don't see why this is such a difficult ask for the SimpliSafe engineer team and why this hasn't been corrected. The outdoor camera is a complete waste of money until this feature is added and I would drop SimpliSafe in a minute had I known it had these limitations. Unfortunately, I've invested over $500 in my system so I'm stuck. I have little hope considering this thread started over 2 years ago.

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Another request for tying exterior cameras to alarm state as best case scenario. 

A less satisfactory solution would be scheduling camera motion detection on/off - less satisfactory because if I’m out and my alarm is on, it would be helpful to know if someone was trying to deliver a parcel or otherwise reach me. If the motion detection was simply scheduled, my alarm could be on but I wouldn’t be getting the notified that someone was at my house. 

Any update on progress with this please? Otherwise my 4 exterior cameras are going back and I’ll look into other suppliers. 

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Update from dev team on this please?

Community Admin

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@jonnielewisfilm​ We currently do not have any updates from our dev team on this request. Once we get any news from them, we will let you all know in this thread. 

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