These errors can render your home security system practically useless

Three things matter most when it comes to property value: location, location, and location. However, this applies to more than real estate.

A home security system is only as good as what your cameras can pick up. Careful placement can be the difference between capturing footage of a thief’s face or your dog relieving himself. Tap or click here for the best place to place your home security cameras.

To secure your home, it is not enough to install a bunch of cameras. Here are the home security system errors that make you less secure.

deactivate the notifications

We understood. Notifications can be annoying. Do you need a warning every time someone comments on your social media post or a new spam letter hits your inbox? Do not hesitate to extinguish these inconveniences. Tap or click here to control your notifications.

When it comes to your home surveillance system, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is disabling notifications. Or you train yourself to ignore them, and then you won’t know when there’s a real emergency.

You can make a few tweaks to reduce those camera alerts if you’re constantly bombarded. We’ll show you how below.

For simplicity : Leave the notifications of your surveillance cameras activated!

Do not adjust motion sensitivity

Motion sensitivity determines how your camera reacts to what it sees: does it record or ignore? Do you really need images of squirrels or leaves blowing in the wind?

You can change how much or how little your camera records. Not only will this save you storage space for your recordings (whether local or cloud-based), but it will also reduce the number of notifications you receive (see above).

You can usually find controls to adjust motion sensitivity in your security system app. It can go by different names, so let’s review some of the more popular options:

Adjust camera sensitivity with SimpliSafe

• Open the SimpliSafe app and press Cameras at the bottom of the screen.
• Press the gear icon at the top right of the screen.
• Choose the camera you would like to change.
• Picking out Motion detection and make your adjustments Sensitivity.

Adjust camera sensitivity with Ring

• Open the Ring app and press the gear icon for a camera.
• Faucet Motion Settings > Motion Sensitivity.
• Adjust it slide to make your adjustments.
• Faucet to safeguard once you have finished.

Adjust camera sensitivity with Arlo

• Open the Arlo app and tap Fashion.
• Select the camera you want to adjust.
• In the Armed section, press the pencil icon.
• In the Rules section, press the pencil icon of the ruler you want to modify.
• Tap the pencil icon next to Motion is detected.
• move it slide to decrease or increase motion sensitivity.
• Faucet to safeguard.
• Faucet Edit mode.
• Faucet Do.

Adjust camera sensitivity with Nest

Google’s Nest app doesn’t have sensitivity settings, but you can adjust Activity Zones. We have instructions for this in the next section.

Do not adjust activity zones

An activity zone is an area that your camera focuses on. You can configure different zones for each camera. This works great if you have neighbors. You don’t need your camera to record them when they are in their yard. You just want to focus on your own property in this case.

Think about the front of your house. Do you want your camera to record every passing car or every person using the sidewalk? No.

Again, adjusting this setting will reduce notifications and save storage space.

Setting Activity Zones with SimpliSafe

• Open the SimpliSafe app and press Cameras at the bottom of the screen.
• Press the gear icon at the top right of the screen.
• Choose the camera you would like to change.
• Picking out Motion detectionthen scroll to Activity areas.
• Tap the grid areas so they are grayed out and the camera will ignore movement in those areas.

Adjust Activity Zones with Ring

• Open the Ring app and press the gear icon for a camera.
• Faucet Motion settings, then Modify zones.
• Adjust the camera’s field of view by dragging the dots in the colored box.
• Faucet to safeguard once you have finished.

Adjust Activity Zones with Arlo

• Open the Arlo app and tap Fashion.
• Select the camera you want to adjust.
• Faucet Activity areas.
• Press the more icon in the upper right corner.
• To resize the activity area, drag the corners of the area.
• Press and hold in the activity zone to reposition it.
• To customize the name of the activity zone, press the pencil icon.
• Enter a name for the activity zone and press Do.

Adjust activity zones with Nest

• To note: You must have a Nest Aware subscription to create a zone.
• Open the Nest app and select your camera.
• Faucet Settings and select Activity areas.
• Faucet Create area +.
• Rotate your phone to landscape mode. Tap and drag inside the area to move it.
• Drag any of the eight points around the edge to change the shape of the area.
• Press the pencil icon to name your area.
• Click it tick to save, then press the new tick to save the area.

RELATED: 3 secret uses for your home security system

Don’t ask anyone for help

It’s nice to accomplish something on your own, but a helping hand can make setting up your home security system much easier and safer.

If you have to use a ladder to mount a camera, you’d better ask for help. Imagine being up there using one hand to adjust the camera angle and the other to view footage and make adjustments on your phone. It’s downright dangerous!

Have one person stand on the ladder to adjust the camera while the other keeps an eye on the phone and directs the angles from the ground. Having a second pair of eyes is an advantage even if you don’t use a ladder.

Not using SimpliSafe to secure your home

So now your cameras are in the right places and recording the right things. Who watches the bad guys while you’re at work or sleeping? What happens if you lose power or Wi-Fi? Not to mention the fires, floods and other disasters that surprise you.

Our sponsor, SimpliSafe, is an award-winning home security system, so you know it’s built with the latest technology you want to keep your family safe. But what really sets SimpliSafe apart are its people: highly trained security experts who are always there for you when you need them most.

When you need it most, SimpliSafe is there 24/7 with experts trained not only to dungeon you safe but to make you feel sure. It’s one of the many reasons US News named SimpliSafe “the best home security of 2022.”

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