Heard about Smart home security but thought it was a little beyond you? Would you like to keep your home secure with smart devices but not go all in for complete smart home security set up?
There’s a way to do it without spending too much time or money with smart home security measures.
Just get some smart devices that connect with your smartphone, that’s what.
For instance, you can make your front door a connected experience, by allowing yourself smartphone notifications, a two-way communication, as well as capturing video of everyone who comes to your door.
As John R. Delaney puts it,
“The only bad thing about a video doorbell: The knock-knock jokes fall flat because you already know who’s there.”
Take the Ring Video Doorbell 2, for instance: It’s a wire-free device, connects with WiFi at home, and it has Alexa, and IFTTT (If This Then That) enabled. The device provides you with a photo and video resolution of 1080p, night vision, a two-way audio communication, and stores everything on the cloud. It comes with built-in microphones and speakers and a way for you to keep your home secure.
Here are a few tips to make the Ring Video Doorbell 2 work to help provide you with basic smart home security:
Setup a Separate WiFi Network at Home For Ring Devices
Burglars and thieves are a smart bunch nowadays, with an ever-growing repertoire of skills — from basic breaking and entering to WiFi networks hacking. If you are going to connect your home security devices with your WiFi network at home, you’d want to be smart about it.
It helps if you can create a second Wi-Fi network from your router since it’s worth separating your smart home devices from the normal network you’d use for devices like phones, tablets, and laptops.
Should you have a security breach through your smart home device, this might limit access to other information on your network and prevent yourself from data theft along with anything else that’s going to be lifted.
Manage Motion Alerts & Devices Like a Pro
If you use the Ring Video Doorbell 2, you’ll also get an app along with the kit. Have alerts open as full-screen video on your mobile (you can set this up through the app, in settings). You also get to preview titles in the Ring App which means that you’ll be able to open your Ring app and instantly see visuals from your last alert.
With almost the entire range of Ring devices, you have the ability to manage your motion notifications. Remember that you can turn off motion sensor notification even if any movement is still being recorded as video.
Further, you can also select the zones that you want motion detection active for — exclude areas that are usually safe but still have plenty of traffic, for instance. You also get a friendly wizard to help manage motion sensor detection, alerts, chimes, and more.
If you are at home, you might want to switch off motion detection. But what would you do if you are leaving for work or if you aren’t going to be home for a while? Turn on motion detection on schedule (specify times and days that motion detection goes on when you are not going to be around).
Finally, don’t forget to snooze your motion alerts if you are going to throw a
party, expecting guests, or when you are loading the car.
Get Smart & Control Other Smart Home Devices With IFTTT Applets
The Ring range of products comes with built-in support for Amazon devices using Alexa voice commands. It can also control other smart home products using IFTTT applets if the other devices are compatible and interoperable.
Using IFTTT can open up another range of experiences, smart home automation, and provide you with several different wants to automate your home security
For example, Ring connects to Phillips Hue allowing you to control lights (switch off, dim, or raise luminosity). You can have lights flashing when the doorbell rings. Or have lights on when motion is detected.
Or you could also log an entire series of doorbells into a spreadsheet automatically. Would you like to receive a phone call when motion is detected at home while you are out and about? That’s possible as well.
Here’s a full range of what’s possible with just Ring and IFTTT
Of course, the Ring Video Doorbell 2 also works with Alexa. You can Illuminate and send announcements to Echo devices when visitors press your doorbell button or when motion is detected. In short, you can see, hear and speak to visitors with select Echo and Fire TV devices as well.
Looking for some serious home security setup? Do you want to add a smart layer of security to your home? Get in touch for a consultation with us now.