I’m adding some door/window sensors, and am having trouble with the app. It typically takes five to ten minutes to sync with the panel. Refreshing (a pull-down gesture on iOS), and even killing and restarting the app, neither can force timely sync.
So I find the only way I can test new sensor installs around the property is to walk back and forth between the location and the panel, over and over again. Which is crazy, because I have the app with me, if only it worked!
I see no practical reason for my real-time app to so often be wrong (reporting inaccurate states of the system and/or various sensors).
Is there a way to force the app (or perhaps the panel, if it is the culprit) to always sync immediately? (like ten seconds rather than ten minutes)?
A guide on sensor activity monitoring in Alarm.com is linked below, with a table of common signals and any special considerations.
Relevant to this, door sensors and window sensors will not report Open twice within 3 minutes. If you open a door 20 times in a minute, ADC will register one open, and a second one 3 minutes later.
There is no concept of a temporary “test drive” mode in Alarm.com regarding that activity monitoring to eliminate delays. There are other potential things such as cellular latency which can influence testing results in the app when opening and closing sensors to test after installation. The best way to verify their functionality is locally there on the panel, using status and chimes, because the panel is the direct point of contact for that sensor.
Testing at the panel is not enough. Once we have verified pairing and hardware function, we have to test connectivity quality across range and terrain. With the app not reflecting the true sensor states, we have to walk back and forth between the test locations and the panel. Or perform the work as a team connected by phones.
There is only one reason I can see for making the app not update in real time: some bean counter projected the cost of some number of frustrated users cancelling subscriptions due to inaccurate app function, against the savings on cellular and server bandwidth costs, and determined a sweet spot. There’s certainly no technical reason for this behavior, or user benefit.
As far as a test mode, this is not needed. The app should simply reflect the state of the system, just as all users expect, and just as every other security system in the world works.
There is only one reason I can see for making the app not update in real time: some bean counter projected the cost of some number of frustrated users cancelling subscriptions due to inaccurate app function, against the savings on cellular and server bandwidth costs, and determined a sweet spot. There’s certainly no technical reason for this behavior, or user benefit.
I won’t lie, I’m in agreement with regard to the at a glance status for door sensors. I don’t know whether zero delay is likely, but a shorter hold on the status would be desirable vs 3 minutes, especially for the use case you are describing.
We have provided similar feedback in the past, since most systems support dual path now status on the back end can be more or less real time.
I think there definitely are functionality factors involved though.
Alarm.com monitors a variety of panels, and the current sensor activity monitoring process was in use when cellular latency was more of a big deal. It still has some impact where wifi or ethernet dual path is not available. I believe there was a genuine difficulty in a uniform experience and expectation across systems.
I think another part of it is to avoid excessive status updates in the event history. This is cited as reasoning for the activated and idle status delays for motion detectors in Alarm.com. This part I think is subjective and more focused on presenting what they believe as useful data to users. I think it makes much more sense for motion detectors, to see recent activity vs trying to gauge motion happening immediately this second in the at a glance status.
Door status is different though and I would love to see the delay shortened. We provide user feedback to ADC, happy to forward it on request.