Camera turning on and off by itself

I have the same issue. My indoor cam should not be opening when the system is set to off or home mode. But it occasionally opens the shutter and lights up, when unprompted in off or home mode. Further, when I go to review the footage of that time, it's "unavailable"

This is very concerning. 

@sgbourdon​ Is there any pattern to when you notice this behavior? When the system is disarmed, the camera's privacy shutter will open and a short recording will be filmed. This is a security feature so there is footage of who is disarming the system. 

If your camera recordings are showing as "unavailable", there may be a WiFi connectivity issue with your camera. I would recommend using the Connection Check tool in the SimpliSafe mobile app to diagnose any potential network issues.

Thanks. I don't know about a pattern, I'll have to watch.

@kaythomas​ When do you notice this happening? Whenever your system is disarmed, the SimpliCam will film a short recording. This is a security measure so you have footage of who disarmed your system. 

Also, if you have your Privacy Shutter set to "Off" when the system isn't armed, it will still record when the camera detects motion. You can check the status of your Privacy Shutter in the SimpliSafe mobile app by navigating to My System > Camera Settings > [your camera] > Camera Behavior > Off/Home. 

The privacy shutter is on and it still opens the shutter and starts recording when off. It is constantly happening so bad that I had to unplug it because I'm so uncomfortable with it occuring. 

@kaythomas​ I'm very sorry to hear this. Outside of disarming your system or alarm events, your camera absolutely should not record when its Privacy Shutter is on. 

If you haven't already, I would recommend resetting your SimpliCam by pressing and holding the pairing button on the top of the camera for 20 seconds. After you release the button, you will be prompted to set it up again.

@jasonfellows456​ From the scenario you describe, it doesn't sound like your camera is behaving as it should. In this case, I recommend resetting your camera by pressing and holding the button on top for 20 seconds. Once you release the button, you will be prompted to set it back up in the SimpliSafe mobile app.

This has been happening to me as well. System set to off. Privacy shutter enabled. Motion set to off when system is off. The indoor camera will randomly open the shutter and the blue recording light starts to flash. No pattern, no explanation. VERY concerning as Simplisafe has access to recorded materials and use the camera for visual verification. 

@nosfiftyshot​ please don't worry; Video Verification only comes into play during an actual alarm event - and the recording is only accessible to that one Monitoring agent who is on the call with you. At no point are SimpliSafe employees able to access your video at will!

But to answer your question with another question. Are you sure there are no other events that could be triggering the recordings? Like if you accidentally press the "Off" button on a Keyfob, that would trigger a recording from your cameras, even if the system had already been off.

I didn't see the notification for the reply, but no. No interaction with the system in its disarmed state. The issue hasn't happened to me in a while though luckily. 

@jhvjr​ Did you happen to disarm your system when you noticed the camera opened its Privacy Shutter and began to record? 

Whenever the SimpliSafe system is disarmed, your cameras will film a short recording so you have footage of who disarmed the system.

We have noticed this happening in our house as well. The system is disarmed for sometime. It suddenly out of nowhere opens the shutter and starts recording and it’s kind of creepy. This is not the usual recording it does immediately after we disarm our system. It happens multiple times when the system is in the disarmed state. Simplisafe, please fix this bug as I see many people are having this issue for a while now. 

@jayp087​ for most of the folks in this thread, it's very likely that the camera is behaving as expected - e.g. recording when there's been a recent arm or disarm, or if one of your sensors is set to Secret Alert. But as Emily suggests above, we recommend a hard reset to force the camera to refresh its programming.

It actually seems like for most of the folks in this thread it’s not behaving as expected at all. I just found this thread because my cameras also have been activating themselves when the system is off and nothing is triggering them to turn on. The cameras are set to be closed when it’s off and no censors are to trigger the camera when it’s off, so it’s very concerning that, seemingly, people at SimpliSafe or hackers are getting glimpses into our homes when they aren’t authorized to. Most of the people in this thread are reporting this same problem - don’t brush away this concerning issue by making it sound like we don’t know how our settings and devices are supposed to work. We do. The only fix is a hard reset? Between this and not resolving a years long request for multiple users to be able to set/disarm with parent/child accounts, I’ll be looking elsewhere for security. 

I’m seeing the same thing. I’m sitting in my home office and I can hear the camera shutter clicking open 10’ away in the next room. The alarm has been off for 3 hours. There are no motion events in my timeline and I have my shutter closed in the Off mode and Home mode. No idea what’s going on but it’s unsettling. After work I’m going to reset it, but if this continues tomorrow after it’s been reset I plan to call support and if necessary exchange the camera. 

@jhvjr​ 

Thank you for pointing out those facts! Same issue here, it’s creepy and unsettling. 

@Lingz ​we understand and we hear you. We are definitely paying attention, and one of the major purposes of this Community is for us to surface potential issues that our internal teams can resolve.

One of those things that we've picked up: There are some instances where the Base Station may need to re-establish its current state - for example, when exiting Setup & Naming Mode, leaving the Keypad Menu, or when a firmware update has been installed. When that happens, the status is reposed on the Timeline. You'll see it recorded in the Timeline itself as perhaps two arms, or two disarms, in a row.

Those events still count towards prompting a recording, an that could be what you've been noticing.

But please know that SimpliSafe keeps privacy as our top priority. We keep your cameras locked down and fully encrypted, so that it is not possible for users to access them without your permission.

@davey_d​  there was absolutely no record for us. That is the first thing I looked at. And no one with access was using that cam at that time. It's so creepy. How are you supposed to address this? 

Davey_D and any other Administrators,

It's great that you hear @Lingz, but what about my previous message? Users continue to point out that there are not specific "events" they are performing that would "trigger" that shutter openings. These are completely random situations. I took the time to provide a long summary of user responses confirming this in my previous message above, yet SimpliSafe has not provided specific feedback to this fact, but continues to try to look for home user "events" that are causing the issue. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but is your support Admin a bot? It would make sense given we keep seeing somewhat standard responses that are not addressing the real common issue. 

Again, we'd all REALLY feel more comfortable, safe and secure if you would address what is clearly a system malfunction rather than a programmed cause and effect. If you're not able to at a minimum acknowledge that we've provided you enough info to support these being "random" shutter openings, then any attempt to continue to resolve this GIGANTIC SECURITY ISSUE on this community support page is worthless and I for one will go another route to get the attention we deserve. I hate to have to be so direct, but this is a SECURITY company. This falls similar to telling your bank that you believe your account has been hacked. PLEASE take this more serious!