Announcing the early-beta release of SafeMonit, a service that provides a simple touch-panel interface for Android/iOS tablets and mobile devices, as well as common automation settings and a more robust intrusion monitoring system with professional monitoring and IP camera support.
Features
Touch-Panel interface (also functions as siren and chime)
This is a limited beta release open to a limited number of users. We are looking for early testers to give us preliminary feedback. After signing up and integrating your SmartThings location, add any comments or questions below.
Yes, the bright red tile on the top left as shown in the screenshot above allows you to disarm the panel when tapped. This way you can mount a tablet on your wall near the entrance, or use your mobile device if preferred. Similarly, you can arm the system using a “Mode” tile. Currently the system is automatically “armed” when you enter “Away” or “Night” mode. Lastly, yes the Panels are protected by a 4-digit pin number that you must enter when any tile is tapped.
You can add an exit delay to the “Mode” tiles. So you would add an “Away Mode” tile and set a delay to whatever you’d like.
The panel can absolutely manage your other devices. That’s primarily what it’s for; it just happens to manage the security options as well. The panels can show devices, weather, modes, routines, camera feeds, etc.
All new users receive a free trial with full access for a month, after which a plan must be selected. If you need a longer trial, just email me at alan@safemonit.com. The plans start at $14.99/month. This includes the professional monitoring. We are considering a lower price plan that doesn’t include monitoring.
A support guide for cameras is in the works. Essentially, we currently support most Foscam-brand cameras. You need to know the IP and port of the camera which you would know from it’s initial setup. Support for more cameras is also planned. There is currently no recording, the tiles only serve as a live feed.
Thanks for the feedback, and let me know if you need more detail on any of the answers.
Does your central monitoring service qualify for homeowners’ insurance discounts?
Also, on your support pages, you’re pointing people towards graph.api.smartthings.com but that’s an outdated URL and will only work for some users.
You’ll want to tell people to login to the IDE at account.smartthings.com to avoid confusion.
Depending on your provider, you more than likely do get a homeowners’ insurance discount for any security system with centralized monitoring such as SafeMonit. It tends to range between a 10-20% discount on your premium (https://www.safewise.com/home-security-faq/homeowners-insurance).
Regarding the IDE link, it’s weird, some people have actually reported that the account.smartthings link doesn’t work for them, and the official docs seem to use graph.api one everywhere (http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/publishing/index.html). If there is a SmartThings rep who reads this, please indicate to us what the right answer is here .
There are plenty of recent threads in this forum that can serve as examples of what happens when someone logs into the wrong shard.
If you search the forum for “shard faq” that should bring you to a useful explanation.
ST staff often unofficially participate in this community forum, but I’m not sure you’ll get a direct confirmation from one of them on your question.
After all, this is a product that takes away from one of their only active revenue streams. There is central monitoring available via SHM and an official integration with Scout, and there’s the ST-ADT hub that also offers central monitoring.
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tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
7
The “right” answer is to, as a developer, make sure you understand the details.
It’s strange, using https://account.smartthings.com on some devices causes my browser connection to timeout. But if that is the new canonical URL I will update the docs accordingly. Thanks!
1 Like
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
9
Yup… But don’t hesitate to review the old “detailed” instructions in the FAQ I link - they are still valid.
i.e., if your customer can login to any of the Shards (e.g., graph.api…) and select their Location from under “My Locations”, that is, at this point in time, the most reliable way to land in the correct place. It is just not the simplest way.
Just a quick update: we recently fixed an issue with our Progressive Web App. The app now no longer redirects pages to Safari. For iPhone users, the app works best when updated to the latest iOS version (currently iOS 11.3).
What is a progressive web app? It’s a simple way to install a standalone app from a website by saving the site to your home screen. It’s the quickest way to get a panel onto your mobile device or tablet.
Now announcing Intercom support for the display panels! You can now communicate between display panels by adding the “Intercom” tile to your panels.
This allows you to place panels at different positions of your home or business (e.g. one in basement and another in master bedroom) and communicate with people with just the press of a button. We look forward to your feedback!
After receiving several requests from customers, we have added support for customizable display panel backgrounds! This allows you to upload your own image as the background for a panel, or select from some provided ones.
You can access the editor from the “Change Background” option in the dropdown menu when configuring a panel.
Hi, I am loving the system so far! We actually cancelled our ADT because this does everything they did, but for cheaper. And the custom panels are way more convenient on my phone than the SmartThings app. Will there ever be support for smoke alarms with the monitoring plan?
Thanks for the feedback Kimberlea! While you can add smoke alarms to your panel, you’re right that it’s not currently being monitored. Others have voiced interest in this feature as well, so we are working on adding it to the monitoring plan.
Yup you get 1 month free, and then it’s $14.99 per month for the entry level security monitoring plan. We are considering adding another much cheaper plan for those that just want the panels and automation features. Let me know if that’s something you’re interested in.
At any rate, sign up for the trial and give the intercom a try. Let me know any feedback you may have. The intercom works on Android devices currently, iOS support is coming soon.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
19
Do you have any details as to what is/will be included in “entry level security monitoring”?
I’m particularly interested if this is UL Certified monitoring, because isn’t that a requirement for home insurance discounts?
My insurer (in California) only offered me a 2% discount (yes 2% … not 20%, unfortunately) for self-monitoring via SmartThings. The customer service agent did not offer any other discount though, even for “professional” monitoring; so maybe that’s a problem with my insurer or California … or their agent.
Monthly monitoring fees may or may not be statistically worth it depending on the risks in your area (risk of burglaries is actually very low in the USA, on average - though peace of mind is priceless to some folks), but if the fee is substantially offset by insurance discounts, then it becomes a “no brainer”.
Except, well, if the discount is that substantial, I would lean towards the ADT Security Hub for SmartThings (higher initial cost, then $15 or $25 for monitoring…). I think it would be difficult to argue it doesn’t offer a distinctly higher level of quality and reputation… …
Here in VA, being UL-certified isn’t a requirement for a discount for homeowners’ insurance. At any rate, we are working on receiving our UL certification for monitoring.
In the meantime, we currently provide a best-effort service to notify you and the authorities in the event that there is an emergency at your household. ADT is also a great option, but requires you to buy a separate hub, and is also more expensive monthly. SafeMonit works with all your existing equipment.
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