ADT Pulse ® vs Canary
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Canary
Monitor your home with live and recorded HD video, receive intelligent notifications for unusual activity, and manage security modes automatically. This app also tracks indoor air quality, temperature, and humidity for a healthier living environment.
- Live and recorded HD video monitoring
- Intelligent event notifications
- Automatic arming/disarming modes
- Indoor air quality, temperature, humidity tracking
- Emergency siren and responder connection
- Save and bookmark video clips
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Canary is home security made simple. The Canary app works with our security devices to connect your home to your phone, allowing you to view and protect those that matter most. Monitor your home: Watch live or recorded HD videos day or night. Access Canary’s timeline for a living history of your home. Save and bookmark your favorite clips. Intelligent notifications: When Canary identifies something out of the ordinary, you’ll get a notification with recorded HD video of the event, as well as the option to watch live. Automatic arming: Canary changes modes when you come and go. No complicated keypads or codes to remember. - Away When all members are away Canary monitors for activity and sends notifications - Home When a member is home Canary is customizable. You can set notification and privacy preferences. - Night Schedule Canary to monitor for activity while you sleep. - Privacy Camera and microphone are completely off. Emergency Options: Respond to incidents directly from the Canary app. Trigger the 90 decibel siren, or be connected directly to your home’s local emergency responders. A healthier home: Canary’s HomeHealth Technology™ monitors indoor air quality, temperature, and humidity. It all adds up to a smarter and safer home. Love your Canary? We read and appreciate every single review. Want to suggest a feature? Get in touch! -- Email: support@canary.is Facebook: Canary Twitter: @canary Instagram: @caughtbycanary From time to time, the Canary auto-mode switching feature may briefly access your GPS in order to have high confidence in your location. Battery life is very important to us and we do many things to ensure we use it sparingly. Please be aware that continued use of GPS services running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ADT Pulse ® at 4.8 against Canary's 4.2. ADT Pulse ® also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). Canary's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). On price, review sentiment and device support 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
Both are free to download. Canary sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. ADT Pulse ® asks for nothing beyond the download.
ADT Pulse ® holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ADT Pulse ® has 850K ratings behind it against 5.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 28% of ADT Pulse ®'s written reviews are positive against 33% of Canary's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
ADT Pulse ® ships an update every 3 months, Canary monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ADT Pulse ® | Canary |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (850K ratings) — better | 4.2 (5.6K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 28.1% of reviews | 32.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 850K — better | 5.6K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 99 MB | 158 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ADT LLC | Canary Connect |
Customer experience
ADT Pulse ®
Canary
User reviews
ADT Pulse ®
From 850K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Canary
From 5.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to set up
- 🔒 Reliable security system
- 📊 Comprehensive dashboard and data
- 🌡️ Monitors temperature, humidity, and air quality
- 💬 Two-way audio communication
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent disconnections and offline issues
- 🔍 Poor motion detection and false alerts
- 🕰️ Limited video history without subscription
- 🔒 Subscription required for essential features
- 📺 Slow video loading and playback
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
Canary
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes on launch
- Inability to delete or remove cameras
- Inaccurate temperature and air quality readings
- Inconsistent live view and recording functionality
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to move and reposition cameras
- Longer video history for free users
- Improved geofencing and automatic mode switching
- Better motion detection and person identification
- Easier multi-camera management
In-app purchases
ADT Pulse ®
No in-app purchases
Canary
- Premium Service3 variants$7.991 Month
- Professional Monitoring1 Month trial$19.991 Month
- Premium Service7 Days trial3 variants$24.991 Month
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- Premium Service$79.991 Year
- Premium Service7 Days trial2 variants$249.001 Year









