Comparison

Alarm.com vs YardTime

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Alarm.com

Connect and protect your home or business with a unified system. Remotely control security, locks, lights, and cameras, and receive intelligent alerts for crime, fire, or water damage. Automate routines and manage your property from anywhere.

Highlights
  • Remote property control
  • Intelligent alerts and live video
  • Security automation
  • Smart lock and light control
  • Video camera monitoring
  • Two-way doorbell communication
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Keep your home or business connected, protected and one step ahead with Alarm.com. Our technology connects your security, locks, lights, video cameras and more into a single system that protects you from crime, fire, carbon monoxide and even water damage. Our all-in-one app for iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch makes it easy to: • Control your entire property remotely • Know what’s going on with intelligent alerts and live video feeds • Automate your daily security routine and other time-consuming tasks Our Apple Watch-supported features make connecting with home or work as easy as checking the time, with alerts, video clips and a full range of smart controls accessible right on your wrist. Note: This app requires a compatible system and an interactive Alarm.com service plan. Feature availability varies based on system, equipment, and service plan. Visit www.alarm.com for more information. Our smarter home security features include: • Control your security panel, locks, lights and more from anywhere • Get alerts when people enter and leave, or when there’s unexpected activity • Watch live and recorded video from indoor and outdoor cameras • Customize your video alerts to see specific activity only • Talk to visitors through your doorbell camera and unlock your door from the same screen • Use Scenes commands to activate multiple devices with one touch Our smarter business security features include: • Arm or disarm your security panel across multiple locations • Get alerted if the store opens late or an employee accesses a restricted area • Get smarter video alerts that highlight specific types of activity • Automate your lights, locks, thermostats and more • Track and manage access to multiple properties • Buzz open your access control doors from the Doorbell Call screen • Respond to alarm events and alert emergency personnel Dependable in emergencies and helpful every day, Alarm.com is the all-in-one solution for the connected, protected home or business.

About

YardTime

Coordinate with neighbors to manage when dogs are in the yard. Avoid conflicts with a shared real-time status, automated timers, and instant notifications for yard availability.

Highlights
  • One-tap yard status updates
  • Automated timers for yard usage
  • Real-time yard clear notifications
  • Home and lock screen widgets
  • Live Activity countdown
  • Siri and Action Button integration
  • Neighborly conflict avoidance
Features
Read full description

YardTime keeps neighboring dogs from meeting at the fence. If your dog and the dog next door bark up a storm whenever they're both out back, YardTime gives you a shared, real-time yard status so you can take turns — no more changing a group-chat photo to "dog" and hoping everyone notices. One tap tells your neighbors the yard is taken. A timer frees it up automatically. And the moment it's clear, everyone gets a heads-up. WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT • One-tap status — "Let Rex out," and your neighbors know instantly. • Timers that check in — pick 15, 30, or 60 minutes (or open-ended). When time's up you get a nudge to extend or bring them in, and the yard frees itself if you've moved on. No more forgetting to flip it back. • "Yard is clear" alerts — get notified the second it's your turn, and let your dogs out with one tap right from the alert. • At-a-glance widgets — home screen and lock screen show clear or occupied without opening the app. • Live Activity — a countdown on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while your dog is out. • A shared recent-activity feed — who let dogs out and when the yard cleared, the same on every phone in the group. • Hands-free — say "Hey Siri, let the dog out," or map it to the Action Button, for when you've already got a dog by the collar. • A heads-up before your dog goes out on top of a neighbor's — in the app, from Siri or an NFC tag, on the widget, on your watch. Nobody's dogs meet at the fence by accident. SET UP IN UNDER TWO MINUTES Create a group, share one invite link, and your neighbors are in. No sign-ups, no passwords — it's tied to your iCloud. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your yard status lives in your own iCloud and is shared only with your group. No accounts, no ads, no analytics, no tracking, nothing sold. Ever. Built for a few households on a quiet street — not the whole internet.

Screenshots

Alarm.com4 screens
YardTime4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: YardTime at 100% against Alarm.com's 23%. YardTime also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 weeks) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Alarm.com's advantage is ratings volume (141K vs 2) and chart position (#182 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

YardTime holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Alarm.com has 141K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Alarm.com's written reviews are positive against 100% of YardTime's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Alarm.com ships an update every 4 weeks, YardTime every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Alarm.com versus YardTime: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAlarm.comYardTime
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (141K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews22.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings141K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#182 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size443 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlarm.comPATRICK FRISCHMANN

Customer experience

Alarm.com

All ratings141,339 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral2.2%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews1,105 reviews
Positive22.9%
Neutral11.4%
Negative65.7%

YardTime

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Alarm.com

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inconsistent display of system status
  • Inability to update WiFi settings remotely
  • Unexpected resets of user preferences
  • Delayed or missing video recordings

Requested features

4 requests
  • Customizable notification sounds
  • Ability to bypass specific sensors
  • Improved video quality and reliability
  • Integration with other smart home platforms

YardTime

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Alarm.com

No in-app purchases

None

YardTime

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Alarm.com free?
Alarm.com is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is YardTime free?
YardTime is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Alarm.com or YardTime?
YardTime is rated higher. Alarm.com averages 4.7 out of 5 from 141K ratings, while YardTime averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Alarm.com or YardTime have ads?
Neither Alarm.com nor YardTime shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Alarm.com or YardTime?
Alarm.com ships an update every 4 weeks, and YardTime every 3 days. Most recently, Alarm.com was updated on October 14, 2026 and YardTime on September 25, 2026.

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