Comparison

ADT Pulse ® vs Brinks Home

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

Head to head
About

ADT Pulse ®

Control your home or business security and automation system remotely. Manage cameras, lights, locks, and thermostats, and receive alerts for peace of mind. Arm or disarm your system, adjust settings, and set custom automations from anywhere.

Highlights
  • Remote system arming/disarming
  • Control lights, locks, and thermostats
  • View live surveillance camera feeds
  • Receive security and arrival alerts
  • Set custom automations and schedules
  • Remote door lock/unlock
Read full description

The ADT Pulse® app allows you to control your home or business security and automation system from virtually anywhere. Using your iOS device, you can manage your home or business security system, surveillance cameras, lights, locks, thermostats and more! With a tap or swipe you can easily help protect what matters most to you, and enjoy an additional level of peace of mind. With ADT Pulse, you can: • Arm your system before you leave your home or business from virtually anywhere in the world. • Turn on your lights right from your app before you arrive at home or work. • Ensure you have turned off small appliances after you leave your home directly through the app. • Lock and unlock your doors remotely to allow the dog sitter or others to enter your home when you’re away. • Receive alerts when your children arrive home from school and view live video to check in on them. • Adjust your thermostat or put it on a schedule that fits your life. • Set up custom automations and schedules with vacation modes for the ultimate amount of control for your home! To use the ADT Pulse app, you must be an active ADT customer and subscriber to ADT Pulse interactive services.

About

Brinks Home

Control your home security system and smart devices remotely. Arm or disarm alarms, manage lights, thermostats, locks, and view live camera feeds from anywhere. Receive real-time notifications for security events and daily activities.

Highlights
  • Remote alarm control (arm/disarm)
  • Smart device management (lights, locks, thermostat)
  • Live and recorded video monitoring
  • Real-time event notifications
  • Geo-fencing automation
  • Energy management features
Features
Read full description

Complete Smart Home Control in One App Manage your Brinks Home security system and smart home devices with just a few taps. Convenient and easy to use, our app allows you to monitor automate, and customize your home’s security, temperature, lighting, and more—all from the palm of your hand. Total Control at Your Fingertips Tap into the app whether you’re upstairs or uptown. Powered by Alarm.com, the Brinks Home Mobile App goes beyond basic security, allowing you to: • Arm and disarm your system. • Receive notifications for system events. • Quickly verify or cancel an alarm. • Lock and unlock your doors. • View video from your cameras. • Adjust your thermostat. • Manage home automation rules. Stay Connected From Just About Anywhere Receive alerts to see who’s at the door and check your cameras for a live look at what’s happening at home. If you forgot to arm your system you can do it on the go—and set up automatic reminders to let you know. Focus On What’s Important Enjoy peace of mind knowing your smart home system is working for you 24/7, backed by our always-on professional monitoring. Manage Your Account & Update Settings You can also manage your Brinks Home account, make a payment, view your bill, and more through the app.

Screenshots

ADT Pulse ®4 screens
Brinks Home4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Brinks Home at free against ADT Pulse ®'s subscription. ADT Pulse ®'s advantage is ratings volume (851K vs 20K) and review sentiment (28% vs 17%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for ADT Pulse ® against 4.7 for Brinks Home. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ADT Pulse ® has 851K ratings behind it against 20K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 28% of ADT Pulse ®'s written reviews are positive against 17% of Brinks Home's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ADT Pulse ® versus Brinks Home: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterADT Pulse ®Brinks Home
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (851K ratings) — better4.7 (20K ratings)
Positive reviews28.0% of reviews — better16.5% of reviews
Number of ratings851K — better20K
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size99 MB380 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperADT LLCMonitronics

Customer experience

ADT Pulse ®

All ratings851,347 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral2.4%
Negative0.9%
Written reviews257 reviews
Positive28.0%
Neutral6.6%
Negative65.4%

Brinks Home

All ratings20,380 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.4%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews266 reviews
Positive16.5%
Neutral9.8%
Negative73.7%

User reviews

ADT Pulse ®

From 851K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Reliable system
  • 👍 Easy to use app
  • 🔒 Provides peace of mind
  • 🚀 Convenient remote access

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Connection issues with app
  • 🐛 Slow camera feed loading
  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 💰 Expensive service

Brinks Home

From 20K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 🔒 Provides peace of mind
  • 👍 Great app and system

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
  • 🔍 Poor customer service
  • 💰 Expensive and not worth the cost
  • 🕰️ Long wait times for support
  • 📱 App is not user-friendly

Bugs and requests

ADT Pulse ®

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App unable to connect to security system
  • Camera feeds frequently going offline
  • Arm/disarm functions not working reliably
  • Notifications not working as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to view full video history
  • Geofencing for automatic arming/disarming
  • Tighter integration with smart home devices
  • Faster app response times

Brinks Home

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Cameras not recording properly
  • Frequent false alarms
  • App connection issues
  • Inability to manage account details in app

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize recording settings
  • Longer video clip duration
  • Automatic arming/disarming schedules
  • Two-way communication for cameras
  • Improved mobile app navigation

In-app purchases

None

ADT Pulse ®

No in-app purchases

None

Brinks Home

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ADT Pulse ® free?
ADT Pulse ® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Brinks Home free?
Brinks Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ADT Pulse ® or Brinks Home?
ADT Pulse ® is rated higher. ADT Pulse ® averages 4.8 out of 5 from 851K ratings, while Brinks Home averages 4.7 from 20K ratings.
Do ADT Pulse ® or Brinks Home have ads?
Neither ADT Pulse ® nor Brinks Home shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ADT Pulse ® or Brinks Home?
ADT Pulse ® ships an update every 3 months, and Brinks Home every 3 months. Most recently, ADT Pulse ® was updated on September 24, 2026 and Brinks Home on September 22, 2026.

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