Please Note: If you are unsure if an alarm event is real or false, you should always treat it as real by evacuating the area and contacting the necessary authorities. Carbon Monoxide alarms should ALWAYS be treated as real alarms.
We hope you never have to experience a real emergency event, but if you do our SimpliSafe system is here to help. Learn more about how your SimpliSafe system responds during an alarm here.
Below you will find guidance for:
What to do after a real alarm
After an emergency event and once you determine the area is safe, there are some steps you can take to further secure your home and family:
- Contact the authorities if they have not been already, and file a police report of the incident.
- Take inventory of anything stolen or broken by noting down all relevant details and taking photos if possible.
- Contact your insurance company to inform them of the event and of any stolen or damaged belongings.
- SimpliSafe customers can save up to 25% on home insurance when you switch to Hippo Home Insurance.
- Check your SimpliSafe cameras for any helpful footage that may have been recorded during the event.**
- Update and confirm system and device settings, such as your Panic Button settings and Duress PIN.
- Order additional sensors and equipment to further secure your home.
- Entry Sensors for all doors and windows to secure all access points
- Glassbreak Sensors for any areas with many windows or where windows were broken
- Motion Sensors to detect human movement inside your home
- Smart Lock to secure your front door and lock
- Panic Button to manually set off the alarm or dispatch emergency authorities* from wherever you are in your home
- Video Doorbell to view and record anyone approaching your door**
- Outdoor Camera to view and record the perimeter of your home**
- SimpliCam to view and record inside your home during an alarm event and when motion is detected**
- Smoke Detector so you are alerted at the first sign of smoke
- CO Detector so you are alerted at the earliest sign of Carbon monoxide in your home—these alarms should ALWAYS be treated as real
- Water Sensor to detect leaks and potential flooding near pipes and other plumbing
- Temperature Sensor to protect your family from being hurt and temperature-sensitive belongings from being damaged in extreme heat or cold
- Keyfob to remotely arm and disarm your system as well as provide a remote Panic Button option
- Extra Siren for additional volume to ward off intruders and ensure an alarm is heard all around your home or by neighbors
- Upgrade your monitoring service for access to Professional Monitoring, video recording, and more.
*Emergency dispatch and 24/7 Professional Monitoring available with select monitoring plans.
**Camera Recording available with select monitoring plans.
What to do for false alarms
Please Note: If you are unsure if an alarm event is real or false, you should always treat it as real by evacuating the area and contacting the necessary authorities. Carbon Monoxide alarms should ALWAYS be treated as real alarms.
If you are able to determine that there was a false alarm, you can follow these steps to cancel the alarm and prevent future false alarms.
Cancelling the Alarm
To cancel an alarm, simply disarm your system by entering your Master PIN in your KeyPad or disarming with the mobile app or Keyfob. If you are subscribed to Alarm Texts, you can also cancel an alarm via text message on your mobile phone.
If an Entry-, Motion-, or Glassbreak-triggered alarm is disarmed within 30 seconds of the initial alarm signal (unless you have change this time span in your settings), the Monitoring Center considers this a false alarm and no further action is needed—you will not receive a phone call and police will not be sent.
If your system is not disarmed within those first 30 seconds, subscribers to our 24/7 Professional Monitoring will receive phone calls to their Primary and Secondary contacts (depending on the type of alarm and your settings)—be sure to have our Monitoring Services number saved to your phone’s contacts so you know it’s us calling: 855-693-4911. Please remember, you will need to provide them with your Safeword in order to cancel dispatch.
You can find your Safeword in your mobile app under the Location Profile section.
Preventing False Alarms
To prevent additional false alarms from happening in the future, you should first determine which sensor triggered the false alarm. In your SimpliSafe mobile app, you can access the Timeline by clicking the bottom right icon on your app’s home screen and in the alarm event you will see the name of the sensor that caused it (pictured left).
Once you know which sensor triggered the alarm, you should determine what caused the false alarm. If you have camera recordings,* you can check the footage from the alarm for any clues, like if a pet set off a Motion Sensor or something was accidentally spilled on your Water Sensor. You can also check the status of each of your sensors, like if an Entry Sensor is open, in the mobile app: Main Menu ☰ > My System > Device Settings.
You can also find many articles here on our Help Center to help you troubleshoot for individual sensor false alarms like the Motion Sensor and Smoke Detector.
You can also enter Test Mode from your KeyPad Menu to test each device in your system and make sure they are connected and working properly. If you are unable to determine the cause of the false alarm or need additional assistance, give us a call at 1-888-910-1215, every day 8:00am – Midnight ET, and we’ll be happy to help!
*Camera Recording available with select monitoring plans.
Relevant Articles:
- Motion sensor false alarms
- How do Smoke Detectors work? How do I prevent false alarms from Smoke Detectors?
- How do I reach the Emergency Dispatch Service or cancel an alarm?
- What's the difference between Test Mode and Practice Mode?
- What to do if you believe you are a victim of a Scam
- What does Professional Monitoring protect against? What happens during an alarm?
- Motion sensor install for pets