Keep an Eye on Who Comes Calling With a Smart Video Doorbell
Keep tabs on visitors and packages from your smartphone with a Smart Video Doorbell. These security gadgets notify you of visitors and let you talk back through the camera, even if you’re not home.
Look for a device with good video quality and speedy notifications. Some also have advanced detection capabilities, such as person, possum, and package recognition.
Features
Whether you’re curled up on the couch with a book, hard at work in your office or sunning yourself on the beach in the Bahamas, you can keep an eye on what goes down outside your home with a smart video doorbell. With motion detection, these devices send alerts to your phone so you can see who’s at the door and decide how to respond.
If the visitor is a suspicious character, having a recording of Smart Video Doorbell the incident can help authorities track down the culprits who vandalized your property or attempted to break-in. Most video doorbell cameras record either continuously or when movement is detected, and they also store recorded footage in the cloud so you can view it later.
Some models like Ring offer a feature called Bird’s Eye View which uses satellite mapping data to create an image of the path a person took before arriving at your doorstep. This lets you know if they came straight to your front door or went to another window first.
Many of the best Smart Video Doorbells also have two way audio, which allows you to communicate with anyone at the door, such as a delivery driver. This could be useful if you live in a rural area and want to tell them to leave the package with a neighbour, for example.
Design
Whether you’re curled up on the couch, hard at work in the office, or sunning yourself on the beach, a Smart Video Doorbell lets you keep an eye (or ear) on your front porch. Combining a motion sensor with a camera, these devices send alerts to your smartphone when someone approaches your home, helping you avoid the inconvenience and potential danger of opening the door to strangers.
The best Smart Video Doorbells also come with advanced features, such as person, package, and pet detection. Some even have Face Recognition capabilities, which can assign an identity to the person or animal who is visiting your home. These advanced features are a must for anyone who is concerned about the safety of their home and family.
Many Smart Video Doorbells use cloud storage to save recorded video. While this can be convenient, it means that if the doorbell loses its Internet connection, all of its video footage will disappear. Others use local storage, which can be less convenient but offers more security and reliability.
The Netatmo Hello is one of the few Smart Video Doorbells to offer a choice between local and cloud storage, with iCloud providing more security by keeping the footage encrypted and only accessible to users through their Apple devices. It also supports HomeKit, which allows you to use your Apple TV or HomePod speakers as additional doorbell chimes and view the live feed on them.
Installation
Whether your customers are curled up on the couch or sunning themselves at the beach, a smart video doorbell lets them know who’s on their doorstep. They can talk to visitors using two-way audio and receive activity alerts (along with free storage of three hours of event-based videos). They can even deter porch pirates by capturing their faces on camera.
A video doorbell can also help prevent package theft and other types of home break-ins. The Ezviz, for example, features a bright, crisp display and an easy-to-use app that lets you tweak variables like motion sensitivity and shape detection. Its 176-degree view of your front porch is more expansive than that of the average doorbell, and it’s capable of detecting movement around the edges of your property.
More advanced models feature other useful capabilities, such as person, pet, and vehicle detection. They can detect the difference between a prankster and a family member, Smart Video Doorbell and some have face recognition technology to reduce the number of notifications you get from your camera. Some are powered by battery or ethernet, and others are hardwired to your existing doorbell chime. For added security, consider a model that uses local storage and avoids cloud processing to keep your customer’s footage secure. For example, the Netatmo Smart Doorbell uses a microSD card that comes with it to store its recordings. It also doesn’t charge for smart notifications or offer a subscription.
Security
If you don’t have the time to constantly monitor your front door, a smart video doorbell is a handy way to keep an eye on who comes calling. These internet-enabled devices incorporate a camera, microphone and doorbell function in one unit, which allows you to see and speak with visitors from the comfort of your smartphone.
Most smart video doorbells connect to your home’s WiFi and require a subscription for cloud storage (usually starting at £5 per month). Check what kind of encryption and mechanisms the company uses to protect your data, and how long they promise to store your recordings for.
Advanced Smart Video Doorbells have motion detection features that detect person, package or pet movement and can send an alert to your phone when something unexpected happens outside. They may also have night vision capabilities so you can keep an eye on the front of your house even when it’s dark.
Many smart video doorbells have two-way talk so you can greet visitors or ask a courier to leave a parcel somewhere else. This is great for busy people who want to stay connected with their homes when they’re out and about, such as commuters or parents who have kids to pick up from school at different times. The ability to record a visitor’s face and number or name can be useful in catching burglars if they ever make it to your property, too.