One minute review
Originally founded in the USA in XNUMX, SimpliSafe sells a range of home security products designed to be simple to install and use. These include indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells, and smart locks that can be purchased online. The SimpliSafe SimpliCam Indoor Security Camera is just one of the intuitive products in their growing line.
SimpliSafe offers homeowners a professional home security surveillance service on top of its systems, "without long-term contracts and at affordable costs." Partly new to the UK, the company recently rebranded itself, so I was really looking forward to trying one of their latest products at home.
I tested the SimpliCam indoor camera to see how well it worked and how accurately it alerted me to potential intruders or tampering. I wanted to see how easy it was to use and install, and if it could give me peace of mind when I was away from home. I'm not terribly interested in having an indoor security camera in my home, but I wanted to see if the SimpliCam was as easy to use as other indoor cameras I've tried before, like the Ring Indoor Camera and Y Camera.
Keep scrolling to find out how SimpliSafe SimpliCam was installed in our home, then head over to our best home security camera guide for more comparisons.
SimpliCam SimpliSafe review cost and availability
- List price: €XNUMX / €XNUMX
- Available in the US and UK
It's not the cheapest indoor security camera you can buy online, but the SimpliSafe SimpliCam is a reasonable price for an indoor camera with a very stylish design and smart features. Sold in the US (opens in a new tab) and in the UK (opens in a new tab).
You'll need to subscribe to a SimpliSafe plan to make full use of the recording feature and for enhanced control, though you can opt-in or out at any time. The terms and conditions and costs of these plans change in the US and UK, depending on the plan you choose. In truth, the emergency response works differently in the two countries.
When installing your camera in the US, you should expect to pay $3 per month for instant access to up to 5 days of recording and storage, which allows you to add up to 24 airplane cameras. A standard plan costs around €7 per month, providing help from professional monitoring agents. The highest plan with 27.99/XNUMX monitoring and police dispatch costs around €XNUMX per month.
If you're setting up this camera in the UK, you can expect to pay around £XNUMX per month for a standard recording plan that includes unlimited recording, thirty days of storage and up to ten cameras. A more complete professional surveillance plan with camera recording, guard intervention and police intervention costs €XNUMX per month.
The specifications of our SimpliSafe SimpliCam review unit
- Price: €99 / €XNUMX
- Subscription plan required: Yes
- Wi-Fi Configuration: Yes
- View range: One hundred and twenty degree field of view
- Live HD video and audio alerts: Yes
- Optional recording plan: from €XNUMX per m / €XNUMX per m
These specifications are exactly the same for the US and UK SimpliSafe SimpliCam models.
SimpliCam SimpliSafe exam design
- Internal microphone
- privacy shutter
- High Power Infrared LED Cut Filter
In terms of aesthetics, SimpliSafe comes in a clean and simple style in a navy blue and orange box. Inside the box you will find the camera, the lanyard and a set of basic instructions. Finished in black, the camera has a minimalist style and the base that you can hold it on is attached as a part of the design.
I've had indoor cameras finished in white, but I find this black design more sensibly concealed in a room; although the blue light that signals that the device is on is quite bright. The camera comes with a stand; There are no screws in the box to secure the camera to the wall, but it's one thing that could certainly be done simply with your tools, if you wanted.
The camera setup was simple. I simply removed the cap that protects the end of the micro-USB cable and slipped it through the holder. You will need to use your plug to set it up as none are included in the box.
The camera was already attached to its base, so I just had to find an acceptable location with a flat surface to rest it on, with a power outlet nearby. The fact that it's not wireless limits where you can put the camera, though on the plus side you won't need to charge it when it runs out of battery. I ended up tying it up on a sideboard, in front of the back door.
I've moved it around the house a bit, testing it on a bookcase and also on top of a fireplace, which seemed to work well in terms of stability and getting a good view of the rooms in my house.
SimpliSafe SimpliCam exam performance
- Live streaming and video and audio recording
- Wi-fi connection (two with four GHz)
- Two-way talk and night vision.
The camera doesn't have an "on" switch, so I got an alarm saying "Your camera is now ready to be set up." You'll find all the instructions to get started in the Simplisafe app, as soon as you plug it in.
Once I downloaded the SimpliSafe app on my iPhone (it's compatible with Android and iPhone), I had to connect to my home Wi-Fi, have the camera scan a QR code on my phone, and sign up with my email address to create a account. After going through the passkey verification process, I was able to set up fingerprint and facial recognition to log in quickly and securely.
There are a selection of security plans that you will need to subscribe to in order to use unlimited recording and video storage (described above). I chose the basic plan that offers unlimited recording and thirty days of storage. Up to ten cameras can be added to this plan, which would work well if you wanted to use it as part of a complete home security system. For those who want to use voice assistants like Alexa, they will need to sign up for the Professional Monitoring Pro Premium plan.
In the app, you can instantly access live HD video streams from your camera, whether you're at home or not. The camera won't follow an intruder around the room, so you're somewhat limited when it comes to being able to see the entire room. However, cela vous donne a one hundred and twenty degrés diagonal vision shampoo, ce qui, je pense, fonctionne bien pour mettre en valeur la moitié de la pièce — ou, par exemple, si vous avez ciblé une zone telle qu'une porte dérobée to observe.
With motion detection, the camera will capture any movement or noise in the room and send an alarm to your smart device. It comes with built-in motion detection algorithms that are calibrated to detect the unique heat signature of humans, so you won't get unnecessary alarms, say, if a book falls off the shelf or a pen falls into the ground. floor.
After adjusting it to focus on the back door, I was able to start monitoring the comings and goings. I used it over a month period to catch any action. When the camera detects motion or sound, it sends an alarm to your smart device and also starts recording a short clip that you can then view on a timeline in the app. These can also be downloaded or shared, if you want.
Once set up, the alarms would go to my phone when someone walked past the camera or entered the room. A useful feature of the app is the privacy shutter, which allows you to open and close the camera shutter remotely. This meant that I could turn it off when we were at home, preventing me from sending alarms every time someone passed by. The only drawback to using this button is that you have to remember to turn it back on later. The app also sent alarms when my internet connection was poor, so I could adjust accordingly.
I also tested the efficiency of the alarms when I was away from home. I asked a family member to stand in front of the camera and timed how long it took me to hear an alarm on my phone. Of course, you need a good phone signal to pick up an alarm, but I was quite impressed with how quickly the alarm came through. I was then able to access the app and view the video recording and access the live footage. I could also press the record button to start recording myself live.
In terms of image quality, HD images are clear enough to see what's going on. As mentioned, there is a button to record live images, but I would have liked a button to capture still images as well. If you wanted to capture a picture or the room, you had to take a picture manually.
The app has a basic layout and it is simple to tap view live to view live images. However, it took me a while to figure out what the control icons do in the app. The clock icon took me to a timeline of previously recorded animated sequences, for example. Videos captured at night when light levels were low are recorded in black and white. While partly clear, they are evidently not as clear as shots captured in daylight.
You could use the mute button to mute or unmute the sound coming from the live stream. Above is the microphone control for two-way talk; This meant you could simply tap it to use the camera's built-in microphone to chat with anyone on the other end, hail an intruder, or wave at the canine.