Smart DIY home security system manufacturer SimpliSafe just announced it will give select customers early access to its new Live Guard Outdoor Protection service. This subscription combines AI technology and a live team of monitoring experts to keep an eye on the perimeter of your exterior property 24/7. If an agent sees an unknown person they can speak with them directly, trigger the camera's siren, and even priority dispatch police to deter crime before it enters your home.
This first-of-its-kind live outdoor security monitoring relies on AI and facial recognition. Like Google's Nest Cam you can create and delete profiles of friendly faces such as family, friends, and neighbors within the app. Just arm the cameras you want to use the alarm service and they'll tap into advanced AI to detect when someone approaches the property and checks to see if the person matches any of the customer’s saved profiles. This ensures that you only receive alerts for unknown visitors.
Suppose a person doesn’t match any of your saved profiles? In that case, an expert monitoring agent can use the camera’s live video to confirm any imminent threat and deter potential intruders by speaking to them in real-time using the camera’s two-way audio and triggering sirens.
The new Live Guard Outdoor Protection services hopes to give you even greater control of your privacy. You select which cameras SimpliSafe agents monitor and when the system is armed. That means monitoring agents only have access to the videos you need them to. All live and recorded videos are securely encrypted and can't be accessed by monitoring agents after an event has been reviewed and closed.
Live Guard Outdoor Protection is currently available to qualifying SimpliSafe customers through the Early Access Program which you can find at SimpliSafe.com. However, it will be available to all customers later this year. This service is part of SimpliSafe’s Fast Protect Technology which aims to provide the fastest detection, deterrence and prevention from a home security system. Extending its protection outside the home can definitely help achieve that.
In our SimpliSafe review, we found that the security system is an affordable and approachable option with snappy response times. However, we did note that some of the features locked behind the monthly $23 Interactive plan should be made available on the Standard plan. Whether or not the upgrade to Live Guard Outdoor Protection is also worth the price is something we'll investigate if and when we get to try it.
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