Alarm.com Responsiveness and App Suggestions

Sorry in advance if this post is a bit long. I was a Vivint customer for 1 day until I sent in a Notice of Cancellation and picked up a DIY system from SuretyCAM. I liked the GoControl 2.0 panel they installed, but couldn’t be a customer of theirs after reading the contract horror stories. As an IT geek, I think what really put me over the edge was being able to use the 2GIG GoControl 3.0 panel as soon as it comes out. I love staying on the cutting edge! Anyways, back to the original questions.

  1. Using the new Vivint Sky app (which I believe is still powered by alarm.com but I could be wrong) I noticed that when I’d send a command it would respond in the house almost immediately. Z-wave door locking and unlocking would happen within a second or two and the thermostat status was always up to date. The thermostat commands did take a second or two longer (maybe 2-4 seconds), but still happened pretty quickly. When I switched to the Alarm.com app I noticed that things happen a bit slower. I timed sending lock and unlock commands and it’s about 10 seconds. When I go into the thermostat settings, the app shows “Updating thermostat data” for about 10 seconds before refreshing, and changes usually take 7-10 seconds to go through as well. I was trying to figure out if the delay was related to going back to the version 1 GO panel or possible communication issues. I did also notice that the Vivint panel connected to the internet, and wasn’t sure if commands were being sent over the internet and maybe that was why it was more responsive.

Any tests I can run to make sure I can’t improve the times?

  1. Suggestions for Alarm.com iPhone app
    Besides arming and disarming our alarm, the most used functions are unlocking the doors and changing the thermostat temp. It would be great if you could customize the order of icons at the bottom of the app to display what you commonly use first without having to go to More…

I’d like to be able to send door lock and unlock commands without confirming that I’m sending them first. Some people may want this, but it’d be great if it’s a user setting that you can have it just quickly send the command.

Don’t hate me for saying this, but my wife and I did really like the look of the Vivint Sky app. When you were on the home screen you could Arm away / stay and access all of your door locks with a simple swipe to lock or unlock. It was very easy to disarm the alarm and unlock the door while getting out of the car and walking to the door. With the alarm.com app I have to launch the app, go into the arming menu, disarm, go to the more… menu, go to locks, choose the door, tell it to unlock, confirm and then wait. It’s usually faster to unlock the door with the code. It would be great to have another user definable home screen where you put all of your most used functions.

Does anyone know if alarm.com allows custom iPhone app development to interface with their service, or if you have to use their app?

Even though the Alarm.com app isn’t as quick as the Vivint app, I am way happier being a SuretyCAM/Alarm.com customer and not feeding the evil machine!

I can only speculate here because I haven’t had a chance to use a Go 2.0 panel myself but the Go 2.0 panel has built-in WIFI, the original Go!Control panel does not. Did they connect the Go 2.0 panel to your broadband Internet connection? If so, broadband is faster than cellular - remote commands through broadband usually have lower latency than through cellular. I usually see cellular take around 10 seconds while IP takes 2 or 3 seconds. Of course, it depends on your broadband connection.

The good news is that 2GIG is about to release an IP bridge product for the Go!Control that lets you do dual path communication with Alarm.com (cellular and broadband at the same time) just like the Go 2.0 and upcoming GC3 have built in. It’s a wired Ethernet device you plug into your router that communicates with the 2GIG Go!Control panel via the 900MHz transceiver used by TS1’s and image sensors.

Dual path communication with Alarm.com is a very new feature that Vivint gets a jump on since the Go 2.0 has WIFI.

In regards to your app suggestions, Alarm.com should be releasing a big iPhone app overhaul soon. I actually thought it would be released by now so I’m not sure what the delay is. A preview version of it somehow made it’s way into the image at the top of this blog post, although it may have changed since then.

Alarm Evolution

I don’t know if all your requests are addressed in the new app but I know that it does let you organize by what you use the most. Alarm.com takes their app very seriously and I think/hope you’ll be happy with it as it evolves.

They do not let you develop your own app, you have to use theirs. I definitely fall on the side of wanting an open API to interact with Alarm.com but it’s a sticky issue since they monitor security and life safety devices. I think it will happen eventually but I’m not holding my breath.

Ryan,

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, the 2.0 panel connects to your wifi connection and I was speculating that they may have been using the internet for more than just the video, but wasn’t sure. Do you know timing on the IP bridge being released?

I’m glad to hear that an updated app is around the corner as well. It’s definitely understandable that they want to keep their system closed for security reasons. I wasn’t sure if they gave Vivint special API access since their new app looks way different than the version they used to provide. I’m excited to see the new update when it hits.

Thanks again!

I don’t have a release date yet but we’re finishing up beta testing now so it just depends on how long it takes to manufacture these things.

Alarm.com does have a remote integration API as it would be necessary for even their own app to work, it’s just not a publicly open API. Only approved strategic partners can use it on a case by case basis. I think they should eventually open the API to the public but making a secure, robust and complete public API for a security and life safety system is a much larger development effort than just sharing it with strategic partners.

Got it! Any chance of a customer getting in on the beta testing too?

I heard today the new Alarm.com iPhone app has already been released to the app store and we’re just waiting for approval from Apple before it’s available for you to update. I don’t have spare IP bridges with which to let customers beta test.

That’s great news on the app, I’ll keep an eye out for it once Apple approves it. If you hear any timing updates on the IP bridge let me know. Thanks again!

Hopefully Apple hurries up and approves the update. It’s been a suspenseful week waiting to see it hit my update list.

I hope so too. As far as I know it’s still under review and I’ve heard it can take a week or two so it should be any time.

I heard the new iPhone app should be available for update now. I have an Android though so I don’t see it. The Android release is coming in a few weeks.

I can confirm that there is a new iPhone app, version 3.0, that was released on May 15th. I don’t have a 2Gig system (yet), so I can’t report on any of the changes.

It sure did come out on May 15th. I’m glad, because I was checking my phone for updates multiple times per day once I knew it was just waiting for Apple to approve :slight_smile: The upgrade is a very nice upgrade to the previous version. When I get home it’s 4 quick taps to disarm and unlock the back door, much faster than having to hunt through various menus. I’m going to test out responsiveness and post an update on the Schlage lock status with the new version as well.

Any update Andrew? Ryan any word on the IP Bridge?

As far as I know, there’s still no word on when the IP Bridge will become available.

The IP bridge should be available with next firmware release. Currently I think that’s slated for mid August. It’s been delayed once or twice already now so it could be delayed again. We’ll see.

Scott, since the upgrade it seems like the Schlage locks status updates a lot more accurately. There are still a few times where I’ve found that the app lock status was different than the actual lock state, but I’ve been a lot happier with the experience.

The new Android app has finally been released and is available for update now on the Google Play store.

"The new Android app has finally been released and is available for update now on the Google Play store"

ADC v3.0 is slow and buggy. Live video screens are smaller, and you still can’t delete image sensor images from app as far as I can tell (still requires website logon)

I wish I had backed up the other version of the app. I would reinstall if I could.

I get these a lot…

Really? I’ve only been using it for a few days now but so far I’ve been very happy with 3.0. The main difference is it takes me fewer taps to do what I want to do so it saves time. It definitely looks more modern. I haven’t seen any increase in error messages. I see what you mean about the live video window though. It won’t fill up the whole screen. Just curious, are you on iOS or Android?