Uk support not good
Company does not seem to want to support uk customers.
Completely Opaque
Our alarm has been beeping for almost two hours now. The app gives me no clue as to what is wrong. I have re-started it several times. Still no alert message - one sensor has a low battery. I remove the battery but there is no way to take the sensor off line other than to delete it entirely. Still no clue as to why the hub is beeping. Re-start for the fourth time. It beeps twice & is finally silent.
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Smooth and reliable
This app is alway reliable and user friendly. Well designed!
Good, nearly great
I have been using the Abode app for a few years now. I’ve been happy with the price, service and stability of the system.
There are two things that would improve the app to a five star for me:
1) change the UX and naming to be more clear between “Standby” and “Home”
This seems trivial, but no matter who I train to use this system, including myself, everyone always mistakes home for standby.
In other words, when arriving home and turning off the alarm system, the natural tendency is to press the button marked Home. As in, “I am now at home.”
However, this changes the alarm to the “stay” condition, so doing this will just make your alarm go off when you walk into the house!
2) I tend to do self monitoring when I am home, and enable the more expensive monthly monitoring when I go on trips. This is a great feature and is the primary reason I went with the Abode system. However, you cannot make this change directly. You have to use the website. Again, it is simply more confusing than necessary.
There are two things that would improve the app to a five star for me:
1) change the UX and naming to be more clear between “Standby” and “Home”
This seems trivial, but no matter who I train to use this system, including myself, everyone always mistakes home for standby.
In other words, when arriving home and turning off the alarm system, the natural tendency is to press the button marked Home. As in, “I am now at home.”
However, this changes the alarm to the “stay” condition, so doing this will just make your alarm go off when you walk into the house!
2) I tend to do self monitoring when I am home, and enable the more expensive monthly monitoring when I go on trips. This is a great feature and is the primary reason I went with the Abode system. However, you cannot make this change directly. You have to use the website. Again, it is simply more confusing than necessary.
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Always sort reviews by “most recent” to watch for bait and switch
I bought the alarm four years ago when it didn’t require a subscription. Unfortunately, it’s now $220/year to get notifications on your phone. That kind of bait and switch is usually a sign of a company that’s in a pricing death spiral, so probably best to look elsewhere for a security system. We’re replacing ours later this summer. Notice that in the developer’s response claiming that you do get notices without subscribing, they don’t mention what those notices say. The notice says “An Event Occurred”. That might be a water alarm caused by a broken pipe or it might just be a momentary network glitch (which happens regularly and isn’t their fault). All meaningful information is blocked unless you pay for a subscription. If you go into the app, the information about the alarm is blocked behind an offer to become a subscriber. No subscription=no information Don’t just take my word. Sort reviews by most recent and see how many others within the past year say the same thing.
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Response from developer
You still get notifications to you phone with or without a plan. For detailed notification, these are included under the standard plan which starts at $6.99 per month, or $69.99/year. This has been in place for a number of years now.
HomeKit guy here
The app does have a very smooth interface. I’ve found It’s using this app in combination with the Apple Home app that allows me to go a bit deeper on certain automations in settings which you just can’t do on the HomeKit side alone. Everything sinks automatically (except for cameras) from the Abode app to HomeKit. (I don’t use Abode cameras). When you do need to jump over to the Abode app and check on something or set up a new device it’s seamless and easy. I currently currently have 12 devices/sensors in my set up with the top model “Abode Security System hub” which has built-in battery back up and ethernet port. Love the keypad way nicer than Eufy or anything else I’ve seen her used in the past. I do wish Abode would adopt all four options as in HomeKit “Home, Away, Night, Off” like Aqara has. Five stars on not just the app but Abode overall. If you’re in HomeKit and need a security system this is the no-brainer go to.
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Excellent but why no support for 24 hour clock
Please make it possible for reporting to use or have option for 24 hour clock.
Non functional security service
We’ve attempted to use Abode for a year and have had every failure imaginable. We’ve contacted support which will troubleshoot the issue after the fact but then within a week a new issue will come up. The fobs don’t work. The cameras constantly loose connectivity. Even if the cameras have connectivity half the time you can’t see play back despite paying for 24/7 monitoring. Or you can’t scroll down to rewatch footage without it freezing. Humans walking up to the door won’t be captured despite person/pet monitoring being turned on. The list goes on. Ultimately you cannot have peace of mind using this system since it is constantly failing, needing troubleshooting or just straight up not recording. 0/10. A complete waste of money and time. If you are looking for a security system that records 24/7 when you pay for 24/7 monitoring then I would not use this system.
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Response from developer
Hi There We would like to look into the history of this - if you can update this to include a ticket reference number so we can locate we will reach out.
No live video being recorded
I am not one to write reviews but for those who are looking in to a security system which provides uninterrupted 24/7 paid for service with alerts, then Abode is not for you. The main issue is that an exterior camera will show a live feed, and at times send an alert to a cell phone showing recorded movement, but more often than not, the feed is entirely lost and if you are not at home to reboot the camera you cannot get the camera back on line. In other words, while away for an extended time with no one home, you lose the security coverage being paid for. What’s most alarming, is that even if you can see a live feed which implies the camera is “working”, it is not as movement does not trigger a recording with a cell phone alert. Customer service, although polite, has not been willing to change out hardware or find a fixable explanation. The cameras start recording a movement when pixels are activated, so it’s either a hardware or software issue.
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Response from developer
Hi There We would like to investigate this further for you, but cannot with the details provided here. If you can update the review to include the ticket reference number we can look it up and assist.
Do NOT use Abode Security.
I purchased an abode system to secure my home a few months back and installed it directly after. I immediately had issues. 1 of 3 Abode Cams I ordered didn’t work right out of the box. 1 more stopped working within 24 Hours. They sent me two more. Again, 1 didn’t work at all, the other worked for a week, and then again, failed. While I was a paying subscriber for their monitoring, my Abobe system stopped responding to my door sensors at all. I set the alarm, opened the door, and nothing. No notifications. No alarm triggered. I have no idea how long it wasn’t working. Each time I’ve interacted with abode support, they were next to no support. The features that are pictured in the Self Monitoring sections of their website don’t accurately reflect the product they deliver either. They show the user receiving a detailed notification about events happening in their system; however, that isn’t the case. With the self monitoring, users only get a generic message stating that an event occurred with no further detail. The notifications for “self monitoring” do not help someone monitor their home using an expensive security system. They just serve as another notification on the phone. Im not sure how this company hasn’t been hit with a massive class action lawsuit on behalf of its customers, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.
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