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

Add me to the list of people who think this is a required feature. We are out in our garden and on our deck all the time - and the cameras are recording everything we are doing even though the alarm is off. I really don't want that. When the alarm is off I want the cameras off. Just like the inside cameras. The inside cameras are off when I am at home - I want the same option with the outdoor cameras. The privacy issues are just the same. And also the battery issues. There is no way I'm charging up the battery every 4 days so I can have hours of footage of my family's private buisness on simplisafe. For now I have taken the batteries out of the camera. I only put the batteries in when I leave and want the cameras on. So I have to keep installing and uninstalling the camera batteries. Obviously this is undesirable. 

Totally agree - should have been considered an 'essential feature' at the outset.

I sometimes get in excess of 50 (yes fifty!) notifications on outdoor camera motion detection per daytime - when our home alarm system is off.

What bugs me is that during this time, the camera must wastefully  consume power and record footage etc.

On the very rare occaisions when I have my phone screen active, there's a notification PLUS an option to sleep for 30mins.

Wht can't *this* be activated within the app? (with additional per-device scheduling?)

How are we looking on this topic, @Simplisafe?  Looks like the people want to disable the camera notifications when disarmed!  Give the people what they (we) want!  Is this in the works?  Can we have an update?  It cannot be that hard to change the software.  Let's go dev team, you can do it!

I recently upgraded to the new generation with a video doorbell.  I like having notifications for motion, but the settings are all or nothing.  This is one of the features i was really looking forward to take advantage of, bit i had to turn it off. I noticed when the family is at home, I get motion notifications all day.  These are distracting and not needed.  I need a setting that turns turns off notifications for motion events when the the alarm system is off, but when the alarm system is set for away or home, then I do want the motion event notifications.   Would love for this to be an option on the next firmware update.  Thanks

Just upgraded to the new generation with two video doorbells.  I opened a new conversation on this same topic a few days ago, and I was directed to this feed.  I am disappointed this same comment was started two years ago and still no option for this feature.   

There should definitely be a feature in the SimpliSafe app which allows us to disable camera notifications WHILE WE ARE AT HOME AND THE SYSTEM IS OFF.  I get notifications on my phone and tablet and watch, and my partner’s phone and tablet EVERY TIME I walk in/out of my patio door (dozen’s of times per day).  And I am having construction done in my back yards, and I’ve been getting scores of notifications on all devices for the past two days.

SS needs to improve the MODE controls (OFF - HOME - AWAY) and/or notifications and recording of the Doorbell and Outdoor CAMS.

I have a Doorbell camera and Front and Back yard cameras. We are retired and have a backyard pool and Jacuzzi and significant landscaping in the front yard.  (FYI, we live in San Diego County)

THE PROBLEM: I cannot turn off or control the cameras with the SS OFF, HOME, AWAY mode functions like can be done with most other sensors. We use the backyard a lot, every day, for extensive periods of time. We CONSTANTLY get “Motion Detection” notifications from the camera, even in LOW sensitivity.  The same with the Front yard; we do a lot of maintenance there, and it constantly is sending notifications from both the doorbell and camera when we are working.

Why can’t we control the camera MODEs (independently) like the other SS sensors ??? I want to control modes and turn the cameras OFF, when we are home.

When we are HOME, in the evening, in the pool or at night, I may want the doorbell and front camera active but the backyard off because we may swim or Jacuzzi or just sit on our deck, reading, eating and enjoying our GREAT SD weather.

When we are AWAY, I will want all cameras active. WHY can I not control this like all other devices. This is a BIG issue for me and my wife!!!

We do not want to be monitored in our backyard when we are at home.  Let me decide when the camera is ON and when I can turn it OFF, by using the app or keypad modes. I would think there are many SS users who would want this feature. I feel that SS should make this a high priority upgrade.

Does anyone know if SS is working on this or is there some other means to control the cameras other than going into settings each time and turning them on/off or removing them, which is a very time consuming and inefficient method. It seems to me that SS could easily provide this feature with some SMOP (simple matter of programming).

Craig S

Can we please reach out to the dev team for some sort of indication as to whether this is being worked on or not?

”we’ll post here when there’s an update” isn’t really a good enough answer. 

Surely someone can confirm if it’s being worked on at the very least?

I was going to purchase a system, but the lack of this functionality, along with ability to have time based notifications is a complete failure as far I as I can see. And the fact this request has been ongoing for two years with no real update is appalling and to me indicates no real development is ongoing. A shame as otherwise this looks like an interesting system.

Please add this function! Thank you. 

Like the OP, I only want the camera to record motion when I've armed the system. Is there a plan to make this possible via a setting? Disappointing that it doesn't do this already.

(If this exists, I can't find it.) The Issue: if I want to turn on notifications for every camera, I have to do it for each one; we have 3.

The Idea: I want to create custom settings, such as the following: When system is OFF, I will not get notifications when a camera detects motion. If the system is on HOME or AWAY, I will get notifications of motion from any camera that detects it.

In other words, my custom settings will NOT require me to turn notifications ON or OFF for each of my 3 cameras every time I go away or go to sleep. I keep notifications OFF for all cameras when we are home and will be doing things outside. Having to go into settings for every camera and change notifications is a big pain in the arse. 

The devs have been ‘considering’ this feature request for 2 years. Is it coming, or is it not? Please ask them that question and let us know what they say.

we know it’s not currently being developed from your previous posts, but surely it can’t be that hard to get a definitive answer on whether it’ll be developed in the future or not?

Response on my above post please. @emily_s 

Well, somehow I got diverted to a thread about camera firmware (.15 to .18), which is also an issue I have. However, I still am waiting for a reply about tying the camera notification on/off to the Home and Away settings. Is the Dev Team working on this, thinking about this, or ignoring this? A little info, pease.