Getting there from fresh install. ADT Smartthings app and configuration advice sought. Iris orphan needing to get to speed

You have a couple of options for creating your security setup:

  1. ADT professional monitoring. Nothing can beat this, they have a special setup with ST, runs locally, no UPS required, a nice panel and so on and so forth. However it does not have separate actions for each mode. It has an added advantage that it can make calls to you and also send a SMS to single number, push notifications and I think it can also play messages over an audio player.
  2. You can SmartThings own SHM solution, it has a nice nice UI and can do most of what you need with the exception of entry, exit delays and you can cannot have separate actions or rules for different modes. It can turn off the alarm and not other things using the UI like you mentioned. You can supplement SHM with SHM Delay which provides a way to use it with keypads and adds an extry and exit delay. A little bit of reconfiguring required for this setup but it has lots of documentation to walk you through it. SHM can send you a SMS to a single number, push notifications and play messages on an audio player (like Sonos or Bose). The new ST app has a different version of SHM from the Classic app. It’s advisable to use the Classic app since it has more features and SHM Delay works with the Classic SHM.
  3. You can use a Intruder Alert with Actions. It does not have the fancy UI freedom as ADT and SHM and is designed as a SmartApp, install it, configure it and forget about it. But it can do what you’re looking for including Extry and Exit delays, it doesn’t turn off other devices when the alarm is turned off (it has a neat feature to turn off all alarms when a single alarm is turned off, like a cascade). It also allows you to create separate actions and notifications including SMS to multiple numbers, Push Notifications and announcing over a Text to Speech (TTS) device like Amazon Echo. You can pair this with another app like Lock User Managment (LUM) to create users and use Keypads to arm/disarm or change your hub modes.
  4. You can use ADT Tools as outlined above by Mavrrick which is also very popular solution for ADT integration.

For all but the ADT solution a UPS is recommended for your hub and internet modem/router to ensure that you have connectivity with the ST cloud since all other solutions run in the ST cloud and it’s a good practice anyway so that an electricity outage doesn’t leave your house Automations ms security disconnected. Lights may not work but your security and automation should work. Some folks also like to add the WiFi router to the UPS if you have WiFi devices and leads to a more satisfied experience when using SmartThings.