SimpliSafe to use AI to ID prowlers, call police before a break-in

Home security company SimpliSafe is expanding its offerings with a new live outdoor monitoring service called “Active Guard Outdoor” and an upgraded Outdoor Camera. Building on the company’s 24/7 live guard protection for indoor spaces, Active Guard Outdoor allows agents to address potential threats before they reach doors or windows.

The system employs a multi-layer approach to detect and assess potential threats. The process starts with the camera’s onboard AI, which detects motion and distinguishes human activity from other sources, such as animals or environmental factors. If human activity is confirmed, the information is sent to the cloud where AI compares the person against the homeowner’s saved profiles of familiar faces. If the person doesn’t match any of the profiles, a third layer of AI analyzes the person’s behavior to determine if it appears suspicious or out of the ordinary.

When this automated system determines the person is unfamiliar or their behavior is atypical, it alerts a SimpliSafe agent and gives them access to the camera’s live feed. If the agent verifies a threat, they’ll use the camera’s two-way audio to communicate with the individual, activating the security system’s sirens, if necessary. The company says that’s typically enough to warn off most intruders, but that its agents are authorized to contact local law enforcement if the situation escalates.

SimpliSafe

As with SimpliSafe’s current professional monitoring service, live outdoor protection users have complete control over which cameras SimpliSafe agents can monitor and when, and all captured video is securely encrypted and inaccessible to monitoring agents once an incident has been reviewed and closed. Users can also easily create and delete familiar-face profiles in the SimpliSafe app to ensure alerts stay accurate and relevant.

SimpliSafe is offering two service plans for Active Guard outdoor protection. The Overnight plan, priced at $49.99 per month, provides monitoring during nighttime hours when many homeowners feel most vulnerable. For those seeking round-the-clock protection, the 24/7 plan is available at $79.99 per month. Both of these plans include SimpliSafe’s standard indoor monitoring services, offering customers comprehensive home security coverage under a single subscription.

In a previous review, we identified SimpliSafe Essentials as one of our favorite DIY home security systems, and this new service seems poised to strengthen that position.

Updated, October 15, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect that SimpliSafe is now offering its Active Guard service. This story was originally published when plans for the service were announced on April 23, 2024.