Security Systems

An alarm system is a different product from a collection of sensors, and it is worth being clear which one you want before you spend anything.

Sensors and a HomePod give you notifications. A door opens, your phone tells you, and an automation can turn on a light. That is genuinely useful and it costs very little.

An alarm system adds the things that make it an alarm: a keypad or fob so somebody who is not you can disarm it, entry and exit delays so the door can be opened without immediately screaming, a siren, a battery and a cellular backup so cutting the power and the broadband does not defeat it, and — on the professional ones — a monitoring contract with somebody who responds.

Apple Home’s part in this is the Security System accessory: a tile with Home, Away, Night and Off, which you can put in scenes and automations. Arming the alarm when the last person leaves is the automation worth having. The system underneath is doing the actual work.

Four systems are listed here and none has a verified Amazon UK listing. All four are bought direct, through a dealer, or through an installer.

The four

Hub with the camera built in: Abode iota

The Abode iota puts a 1080p camera, a motion sensor and a 93 dB siren into the hub itself, so one unit on a hall table is the brain and the camera. The starter kit adds a door and window sensor and a key fob.

The same system without the camera: Abode Smart Security Kit

The Abode Smart Security Kit is the camera-less version — hub, sensors and a fob, with cameras added separately. It is the cheaper way in and the more flexible one, because the hub can go wherever it works best on the network rather than wherever the camera needs to point.

Scale, from Germany: EIMSIG

The EIMSIG Security System (3rd generation) is a German system whose claim is that it was designed to integrate with Apple Home from the start rather than bolted on afterwards. It brings up to 90 sensors into the Home app from one system, which is far beyond what the consumer kits here handle.

Professionally installed: Resideo ProSeries

The ProSeries 7 inch All-in-One Panel is a professionally installed panel from Resideo, sold under both the Resideo and Honeywell Home names — a 7-inch wall touchscreen acting as keypad, hub and automation controller. Apple Home support depends on the configuration, so confirm it with the installer before signing anything.

What to check before you buy

Whether you actually want an alarm. If nobody but you needs to disarm it and you want to know when a door opens, sensors are the cheaper and simpler answer.

Insurance. If the point is a discount on your policy, the insurer will care about certification and professional monitoring, not about HomeKit. Ask them what qualifies before you choose a system, because a self-installed kit usually does not.

Cellular and battery backup. An alarm on Wi-Fi and mains alone is defeated by the consumer unit and the router, which are usually inside the front door.

Monitoring, and what it costs. A siren annoys the street; a monitoring contract sends someone. That is a monthly cost and the real difference between a noise-maker and a security system.

What arms it, other than your phone. A system that can only be disarmed from your iPhone is a system that traps a guest, a cleaner or a member of the family without one. Keypad or fob.

A home hub, and where the automations live. Apple Home arms and disarms it; it should never be the only thing that can. Keep the system’s own controls working.

The four systems in the directory are listed below.