As technology continues to advance, our homes are becoming more and more integrated. And almost nowhere is this more apparent than in the field of home security. Long gone are the days of CCTV camera recording onto tapes, house lights on timers or double locking your front door when you leave the house. As the smartphone moves ever closer to the center of our lives, in this article we look at few unique ways to use your smartphone for home security.
Live streaming digital CCTV cameras
Over the last few years, CCTV cameras have become a staple of the home security industry. CCTV cameras of old used to record to tapes or hard drives located in the home. Advances in technology now mean that CCTV cameras now record straight to the cloud, making them more secure and allowing for almost unlimited recording space. But the digitalization of CCTV also means that you can now live stream coverage of your home straight to your mobile phone. This can help give you peace of mind and the ability to check your home any time you want.
Use your old smartphone as the camera
You can make home security system that uses smart phones on both the sensor and monitoring sides. This is a great way to continue getting value out of old phones you might otherwise sell, recycle or leave in a box in the garage. There are few free iPhone and Android apps, like Presence, that can be used for both sensing and monitoring. You can use your old phone as the sensor and your current phone as the monitor. It works on very simple principle, the sensor phone in your home detects motion and sends video of what triggered the alert to the phone you’re carrying. You can use as many old phones as you like. For instance, you could set up phones to look out the window at your driveway and front door, check out the backyard or monitor several rooms in the house. It’s very easy to set up the system and it’s free.
Control the lighting in your home
One of the best burglary deterrents can be to create the illusion that you are home. Traditionally this was done by using timers to turn your lights on at certain times of day. However, the introduction of smart technology now means that everything from TVs to the lighting in your home can be controlled from your smartphone. You can even turn on the lights in different zones in order to create the illusion that you are walking from room to room in your home. The benefit of this over a traditional timer is that you can vary the times that this takes place and the lights which are used. This prevents anyone observing your home from becoming familiar with the pattern, just like in the opening scene of Home Alone movie.
Electronic locks
Another area of the home being transformed by technology is the front door. We’re constantly seeing new types of electronic locks. These come in a number of different varieties, from those using a digital keypad to those using an electronic key. There are also now a number of android mobile controlled door security locking systems on the market. Using a dedicated app you can now lock and unlock your home with a swipe of your finger, so no more treks back to the front door just to double check you locked the front door. Electronic locks also provide you with a log of times when your home has been accessed, meaning that you can monitor the comings and goings too. Finally, many electronic locks also offer features such as auto-unlock, meaning that your front door will automatically open as you approach.
If you think that your home is safe and that you don’t need a home security system, please check out our article Why you need home security system?
