Comparison

ADT Pulse ® vs Canary

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

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

ADT Pulse ®4 screens
Canary4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ADT Pulse ® ships an update every 3 months, Canary monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
ADT Pulse ® versus Canary: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterADT Pulse ®Canary
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (850K ratings) — better4.2 (5.6K ratings)
Positive reviews28.1% of reviews32.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings850K — better5.6K
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch
Requires iOS13.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size99 MB158 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperADT LLCCanary Connect

Customer experience

ADT Pulse ®

All ratings851,347 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral2.4%
Negative0.9%
Written reviews263 reviews
Positive28.1%
Neutral6.5%
Negative65.4%

Canary

All ratings5,631 ratings
Positive81.5%
Neutral2.2%
Negative16.3%
Written reviews619 reviews
Positive32.6%
Neutral3.2%
Negative64.1%

User reviews

ADT Pulse ®

From 850K 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

Canary

From 5.6K App Store ratings

What 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

None

ADT Pulse ®

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Canary

Subscriptions5
  • Premium Service3 variants$7.991 Month
  • Professional Monitoring1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Premium Service7 Days trial3 variants$24.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Premium Service$79.991 Year
  • Premium Service7 Days trial2 variants$249.001 Year

Questions

Is ADT Pulse ® free?
ADT Pulse ® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Canary free?
Canary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ADT Pulse ® or Canary?
ADT Pulse ® is rated higher. ADT Pulse ® averages 4.8 out of 5 from 850K ratings, while Canary averages 4.2 from 5.6K ratings.
Do ADT Pulse ® or Canary have ads?
Canary shows ads; ADT Pulse ® does not.
Which is updated more often, ADT Pulse ® or Canary?
ADT Pulse ® ships an update every 3 months, and Canary monthly. Most recently, ADT Pulse ® was updated on November 6, 2026 and Canary on November 1, 2026.

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