One of my hobbies is tinkering with home automation, and I even started writing about it a little in a group on Gab back in 2020, but now that I’m blogging here on Substack, I thought I’d make that content a recurring feature here. These types of systems and devices are a luxury item, but the early adopters of any technology pay the premium for its eventual mainstream adoption. And for some people, particularly those who are elderly or who have disabilities, smart home technology can improve their quality of life and allow them to more easily live independently.
I’ll probably write the next installment in this recurring feature about my own setup, and some general advice about planning home automation, but in this inaugural installment, I thought I’d just do a product review of something I’ve been testing recently.1
Securing Your Abode
I’ve long been a user of Simplisafe’s DIY wireless home security products, but recently, in implementing some “smarts” for an older relative’s home, I decided to go with a competitor, Abode Systems, Inc.,2 to simplify the integration of the security system with Apple’s HomeKit / Siri ecosystem. In fact, Abode’s security system appears to be the only DIY wireless security system that works directly with Apple’s HomeKit environment.3 This gave me an opportunity to compare the two systems.
Despite generally playing well with Apple HomeKit, the major thing about the Abode security system that doesn’t work with HomeKit are their security cameras, which can only be viewed on Abode’s own iOS app. Abode has two versions of their security gateway (or hub), one with an integrated camera and motion sensor, called Iota, and one without, but because I’m not a fan of interior security cameras, I went with the camera-less hub, which they call simply, Gateway.4 The camera built into the Iota hub is reportedly HomeKit compatible (I don’t know, as I didn’t test it), but the their wired USB-powered camera Abode Cam 2, is not. The same can be said for Simplisafe’s cameras, though, which are only viewable in their own app, and aren’t (officially) integrated into HomeKit either. The major drawback of no camera integration, besides the inability to view the camera streams in Apple’s Home app, is the inability to use the cameras as motion sensors to trigger HomeKit automations. For example, one could use a camera to activate outdoor lights at night when motion is detected. Abode’s interior motion sensors do work directly with HomeKit, which is some consolation. Abode’s Cam 2 is rated for indoor and outdoor use, while Simplisafe’s USB-powered camera is indoor only.5 Simplisafe offers a battery-powered outdoor camera, which I haven’t tested, but it’s about twice as expensive as their indoor cameras, while Abode’s indoor-outdoor cameras are considerably less expensive than either of Simplisafe’s cameras.
The industrial design of the Simplisafe security hub I find to be superior, with its truncated conical shape, and informative light ring which tells you various things at a glance about its status (blue solid glow for armed, red for recent alarm, rotating amber for performing a firmware update, etc), while Abode’s Gateway and Iota hubs are basically black-and-white plastic boxes, in keeping with the design language of Abode’s other components. If you want to have a light that changes depending upon the status of your Abode system, you need to buy the keypad.
Both systems have a variety of available sensors, but Abode offers three different types of entry sensors. In addition to the usual small surface-mount magnetic switches, Abode also has recessed wireless entry sensors which install more like those used by a legacy wired alarm system, and a “slim strip” entry sensor that can fit in the gap between a door or window and its frame, both offering ways make a wireless security system’s entry sensors less obtrusive. Abode offers both a vibration-type glassbreak sensor which mounts directly to glass panes, and an acoustic glassbreak sensor; while Simplisafe only uses acoustic, which I would think can offer protection for more glass with fewer sensors than attaching vibration sensors to each pane of glass. Both systems have available indoor motion sensors, but Abode also offers a multisensor which includes motion, light, temperature, and humidity, which could be useful for automations using their CUE home automation environment built in to both the Iota and Gateway hubs.6 Simplisafe’s temperature sensor is a separate device, and they don’t offer a humidity or light sensor, though both Simplisafe and Abode have water leak detection sensors available.
Simplisafe offers its own smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, both of which are separate devices, while Abode’s own fire protection solution is a “smoke alarm monitor,” which is a box which detects the sound of a smoke alarm going off, and costs almost as much as buying a smoke detector itself. I didn’t see the value in that, but fortunately, the well-known smoke detector manufacturer First Alert has a combined smoke and carbon monoxide alarm which can be easily integrated to Abode’s security hubs using their built-in Z-Wave support for wireless communication with Z-Wave and Zigbee mesh network home automation devices. Overall, Abode has a more customizable, more open platform, which can even be used as a home automation solution by itself, though I didn’t evaluate its full capabilities.
Simplisafe does have a few products that Abode doesn’t offer, like a wired video doorbell that uses the existing low-voltage AC doorbell wiring for power, but streams video wirelessly to Simplisafe’s app; and a “smart lock” (I’m not interested in connecting my home’s locks to the internet!). Abode has a wireless video doorbell7, which uses its own chime box, unlike the better-integrated Simplisafe doorbell, which can trigger your home’s existing chime.
Setup of both Simplisafe or Abode’s systems is pretty easy for the do-it-yourselfer, with the available sensors adhering to walls or doors with adhesive strips, though I’d have to give Simplisafe the edge for removability, because they use 3M’s Command adhesive strips, while Abode uses die cut pads of more permanent Scotch indoor foam mounting tape. Adding sensors can be done through the Simplisafe keypad or the app, while Abode’s installation is app-centric, with the traditional security system keypad really optional.
One peculiarity of Abode’s setup process is that even after sensors are added, they need to be enabled individually in each security mode (home or away). This gives Abode the edge on flexibility of setup, but is an unexpected snag for those expecting the sensors to be active immediately once they’re added to the system (I had to call support to find out why the door sensors weren’t triggering an alarm). Another aspect of Abode’s setup I found annoying is that, by default, the gateway beeps whenever it’s arming, whether for away or home mode. I don’t think it makes sense to have a countdown delay and a full minute of beeping before the system arms if you’re home about to go to bed! Fortunately, Abode allows you the flexibility to adjust the volume of the arming beeps to your liking, or (as I did) turn them off for home mode.
Simplisafe has one big advantage over Abode, however, in that the system uses voice prompts to tell you which mode you’re in. Activating Home mode, for example, triggers the base station to say “Simplisafe On… Home.” Turning the Simplisafe system off triggers the voice prompt “Alarm Off.” Other kinds of status changes and faults produce other Simplisafe voice prompts. Having a verbal cue about changes to the system is much more helpful to people with vision problems than color changes on the Abode Keypad. Abode is majority-owned by an Italian company, Nice S.p.A., and it seems as though they prefer to minimize the amount of language localization they have to do.
Both Simplisafe and Abode’s systems have a test mode, but for Abode, you must call the monitoring center to have the system put into test mode for a specified amount of time, while with Simplisafe, you can enable test mode yourself, and the monitoring center calls you to let you know they’ve received the test mode signal. With Simplisafe, you can also end test mode yourself, rather than having to wait for a prearranged amount of time to expire.
Both Abode and Simplisafe have available remotes which can be used to arm and disarm the system, in addition to doing so from their respective smartphone apps. I prefer the user interface design of Simplisafe’s remote, because it’s slim, and features three recessed buttons in a row, so if you know what order the buttons are in (off/disarm at top, home mode in the middle, and away mode at the bottom), you don’t really have to even take it out of your pocket to use it. The Abode remote’s buttons are arranged in quadrants on the top half of its chunkier key fob remote, and unlike Simplisafe’s remote, which clearly labels each button as Off, Home, and Away, the Abode remote has no text labels on its buttons (again, presumably to save having to internationalize the labels), but instead uses enigmatic embossed black-on-black icons of a dot (home mode), a dot with a circle around it (away mode), an “X” (off/standby), and a plus “+” sign.8 The plus sign on the Abode remote is an optional button that can be used for a panic button, but because it’s on the face of the remote, along with the other buttons, it seems as though it’d be too easily accidentally triggered. Simplisafe’s remote has a dedicated red panic button along its top edge, which can sometimes also be triggered accidentally if carried in a pocket with the panic button pointed down, but since I’ve taken to carrying it around in the small change pocket of my jeans with the panic button facing up, I’ve not had any further problem with triggering it accidentally. Both companies offer a dedicated separate panic button device, and Abode’s panic button is red.
Although I’ve been evaluating these systems for their compatibility with Apple’s HomeKit, both Simplisafe and Abode work with Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Voice assistants (for those who want to use that sort of thing). Overall, Abode is a strong competitor to Simplisafe, offering greater customization and integration with third-party devices, but for overall ease-of-use for those wanting just a well-designed wireless security system, Simplisafe still does what they do best.
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None of the products I’m reviewing are sponsors, or were provided for evaluation, or even recommended to me for review. I researched them, and purchased them myself, either for my own smart home setup, or for my relative’s.
Not to be confused with Adobe Systems, the famous and easily typoed developer of Photoshop and Acrobat PDF technology.
It’s been possible to integrate Simplisafe with the HomeKit environment, using the open source Homebridge project, but it’s not easy, and currently, this unofficial integration is broken in my smart home setup due to a change in authentication by Simplisafe. I chose the Apple HomeKit ecosystem for my relatives’ project because they didn’t already have an Amazon account, but did have an Apple ID, because they have iPhones. I’m also most familiar with HomeKit, because that’s what I’ve used as the smart home environment in my own home.
Iota seems like it would be best for a small apartment or dorm, where there aren’t too many doors or windows to protect.
Simplisafe used to offer a weatherization kit for their indoor cameras so they could be mounted outside, and which worked well, but they discontinued that once they released the pricy outdoor camera.
As I have been doing my home automation programming in HomeKit and other hubs, I didn’t have occasion to evaluate Abode’s CUE programming environment, but Abode having that available on their hubs, along with built-in support for Zigbee and Z-wave third party wireless devices, gives the Abode security system the potential to be an all-around home automation solution, and is a key difference from Simplisafe for those who are looking for that capability.
Abode previously offered a video camera which was powered by the doorbell wiring, but it has been discontinued.
In the case of my relative’s installation, to accommodate their vision problem, I modified the Abode remote by applying some plastic “jewel” stickers of different sizes and colors to the buttons, to make them more easily distinguishable by feel (smaller red and amber “jewels” for away and home mode, respectively, and a larger green “jewel” for off/standby). [UPDATE: The build quality of the Abode key fob was pretty disappointing. The first three key fobs we had failed all within about a week of activation, becoming unresponsive despite being able to remove and add them back to the Gateway. The fourth time’s the charm, we hope…]