Abode

Dumbest app ever

Very easy to use but it need to support apple watch and need to have widget to quick change system status

System down transformer heated up and is discolored no power.

I have been using the Abode app for a few years now. I’ve been happy with the price, service and stability of the system. There are two things that would improve the app to a five star for me: 1) change the UX and naming to be more clear between “Standby” and “Home” This seems trivial, but no matter who I train to use this system, including myself, everyone always mistakes home for standby. In other words, when arriving home and turning off the alarm system, the natural tendency is to press the button marked Home. As in, “I am now at home.” However, this changes the alarm to the “stay” condition, so doing this will just make your alarm go off when you walk into the house! 2) I tend to do self monitoring when I am home, and enable the more expensive monthly monitoring when I go on trips. This is a great feature and is the primary reason I went with the Abode system. However, you cannot make this change directly. You have to use the website. Again, it is simply more confusing than necessary.

If you don’t subscribe to one of their monitored plans (Standard or the more expensive Pro plan), then you only receive notifications with no useful info (“An event has occurred” is not very informative - was it a door opened, a motion sensor triggered, glass breakage?) When I do attempt to subscribe to the lower cost Standard monitoring plan, the app and their web interface always directs me to the more expensive Pro plan. I can’t sign up for the lower cost Standard plan. Based on some of the other reviews regarding the monitored plans, it appears that paying for a monthly subscription is an even bigger waste of money than what I spent on their hardware.

Good

My camera keeps switching offline. I guess I need to play with it more🤷🏾‍♂️

Changing the WiFi on the app is extremely difficult. I have a masters degree and my husband has a doctorate and we can’t figure it out.

So frustrated with this system

I bought the alarm four years ago when it didn’t require a subscription. Unfortunately, it’s now $220/year to get notifications on your phone. That kind of bait and switch is usually a sign of a company that’s in a pricing death spiral, so probably best to look elsewhere for a security system. We’re replacing ours later this summer. Notice that in the developer’s response claiming that you do get notices without subscribing, they don’t mention what those notices say. The notice says “An Event Occurred”. That might be a water alarm caused by a broken pipe or it might just be a momentary network glitch (which happens regularly and isn’t their fault). All meaningful information is blocked unless you pay for a subscription. If you go into the app, the information about the alarm is blocked behind an offer to become a subscriber. No subscription=no information Don’t just take my word. Sort reviews by most recent and see how many others within the past year say the same thing.