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New features allow smart home assistants to listen for intruders and alert you
We all know that smart devices such as Alexa can play our favourite music, find information and call people among their many features but did you know they can listen out for signs that someone may be trying to break into your home? In a new feature called Alexa Guard unveiled recently by Amazon, it can be set up to listen out for warning signs that something is untoward happening such as glass breaking or whispering. It will then send this sound to you.
Don’t worry though, you won’t trigger it by dropping a cup or speaking quietly so as not to wake the baby; the system needs to be armed first, just as you would set a burglar alarm. This is done using a pre-programmed phrase such as ‘Alexa I’m leaving’ when you leave the house or go to bed. It can also listen for the smoke alarm going off as a safety feature. See more about it here.
It can be a good complement to your security system and also link with other smart devices in your home such as switching lights on and off or linking to your burglar alarm. Of course, an alarm with a speech dialler would be able to alert your phone in the same way if it was triggered.
There are things you need to be aware of as well though with this kind of technology. It’s quite a new development so it’s unclear how sensitive it is or ‘clever’ at recognising the right sounds (you could probably do without it notifying you every time it picks up voices from next door!). As with all internet based technologies, it could be vulnerable to hacking so you’d need to ensure you’d put sufficient password security in place. (It would be ironic if the biggest threat to security in your home was the security system itself!). It’s also not a replacement for ‘traditional’ security such as good locks, a burglar alarm or CCTV but it can add an extra layer that could give additional peace of mind.
If you are concerned about the security of your home, please give us a call on 0800 612 9799 or send us a message using the form at the top of the page.