The Frontpoint Security App: 9 Really Cool Features

Home security is just an arm’s length away with Frontpoint Security’s top-rated mobile app. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy to stay connected to your home from anywhere—unifying your security system, connected devices, and more into a simple, reliable, and smart experience.

The app, available for download on the Android and Apple stores, enables homeowners and renters to intuitively control their security systems and other smart-home features with a single tap, whether you arrive at work and realize you forgot to lock the front door, or you need a way to easily unlock it while your hands are full with groceries. Compatible with every smartphone or tablet, people can secure their homes, dim the lights, view alerts, watch real-time videos, and even answer the door whether they are on vacation, at work, or simply relaxing in front of the TV.

But with seemingly limitless customization options and so many features, it can be difficult to know where to start! Let’s examine some of the most useful capabilities of Frontpoint Security’s mobile app that make next-generation smart-home security possible.

Just got comfy in bed and realized you forgot to turn off the downstairs lights? Or maybe you stayed late at work and dread coming home to a dark house? Frontpoint’s mobile app enables you to brighten or dim your lights at will from wherever you are.

It’s also useful for reducing energy expenditures and expenses. About 12 percent of the average U.S. household’s annual energy bill is consumed by lighting. And with Americans spending about $130 million a year on wasted energy, the ability to remotely turn off lights you accidentally leave on can add up to significant savings. You can also program and name customized “scenes,” such as “energy saver” or “make it look like I’m home,” that turn various lights on or off at the touch of a button or via a schedule.

Light controls are displayed on the app’s home screen, making it simple to control lights individually or all at once. Incidentally, this feature of course also applies to doors—enabling users to lock or unlock them remotely to meet their needs.

One of the main benefits of smart living is the ability to easily access home systems remotely. If you own an automated thermostat, you can use Frontpoint’s app to control it, saving more energy and money off your electric bill. Simply enter the “Thermostat” menu and tap into your home’s heating system to command it to work less when you’re not home—and tap it again when you leave the office for a warm welcome when you get home. You can also raise and then lower the temperature on the A/C before you walk through the door on a hot summer day.

The largest share of energy used by U.S. households—a whopping 42 percent—is attributed to heating and cooling systems. To make thermostat control even smarter, Frontpoint also offers Smart Schedule Activity Patterns. This feature enables users to optimize thermostat settings by tracking their home’s day-to-day activity patterns through data reported over time by their home security system. With this increased insight, users can schedule their heating and cooling systems to run more efficiently and save real money.

Frontpoint’s app keeps users informed about security problems and other events at their homes. Users can elect to receive mobile alerts any time a home security system component is triggered, activated, or deactivated. These instant notifications enable you to act quickly in case of an emergency. If your system includes cameras, you can immediately check the real-time video feed to see what’s happening and notify authorities. And these systems will also alert a monitoring service who can call authorities if an alarm is triggered and you don’t say there is not an emergency.

Since Frontpoint’s Smart Door Locks enable 50 different entry codes for family members and trusted guests, notifications can also let you know exactly who is coming and going from the house. Users can customize the notifications they want to receive through the app to avoid “alert overload”—enabling, disabling, and adding new notifications on a single screen.

Selected notifications tied to motion sensors, door/window sensors, environmental sensors, and other equipment might include:

• Kids arriving safely home after school
• Someone arrives at or leaves the property
• Unusual activity, such as water leaking through pipes
• Doors or windows that are left open
• Smart lights left on for a long duration
• Failing to arm the system
• Someone turns off the system, including notification of who did it
• When someone is approaching a restricted area of the home or if they open something like a liquor or medicine cabinet

Frontpoint’s app also makes your smart security system’s history easy to review. It keeps a complete log of system and alarm events associated with all users on your account—outlining what time doors were opened, when an alarm went off, which user turned the alarm on and off, and much more.

Home security comprises the core of Frontpoint Security’s innovations, and the mobile app doesn’t disappoint. It enables people to view real-time video through the home screen from Outdoor, Indoor, Premium Indoor, or Slimline Doorbell Cameras installed throughout a property. It also lets users watch video clips that are recorded any time motion is detected, with the cameras triggering instant email, text, and/or push notifications so you know to check for unusual activity.

The clips are organized according to date so you can view them at any time. If an actual break-in occurs, this high-quality footage often provide the only clues the police have to the identity of the perpetrator.

The app lets users adjust settings on their cameras and take advantage of any pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities for better views of a scene. You can also view a camera’s video footage on your TV screen through an app that can be downloaded through Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, enabling four simultaneous views in high definition.

As police departments nationwide crackdown on false alarms, Frontpoint’s app helps homeowners and renters avoid inconvenience and fines with a “Smart Signal” feature that allows them to confirm or cancel alarm signals immediately.

When an alarm is activated, a pop-up appears on an account user’s phone with a picture prompt. Homeowners can quickly check video footage from their home security cameras to investigate the source and then either select “Cancel Alarm” or “Verify” to send the police. This ability to confirm alarms in real-time is especially critical in cities that require alarm verification to initiate police response.

For more information on preventing false alarms, read our blog post!

Geo-Services are a feature that instructs your home to automatically perform certain smart actions based on your location. Here's how it works: by enabling Geo-Services on your Frontpoint App and allowing it to use your smartphone's location, you allow the Geo-Service "rules" you apply to specific places to automatically take effect any time your phone crosses the "geofence," an invisible ring around the property. Users can create multiple geofences that each maintains its own set of rules, and every user on the account can customize their specific fences as well. 

For instance, you can set your Geo-Services to send arming reminders and turn off the lights if you leave your home’s geofence, and create another geofence at your office that commands your home’s smart thermostat to automatically adjust to a comfortable temperature when you leave for the day. Some people also like to create rules that pause indoor security cameras whenever they are within their home's geofence to prevent unwanted recordings.

More than 34 million Americans provide unpaid care to family members aged 50 or older. These caregivers typically support aging parents who often wish to live independently in their own homes. And the caregivers are often employed parents themselves who can’t be physically present much of the time.

The Frontpoint app can be linked to a separate home security account, and additional sensors in an aging parent’s home allow users to ensure their loved one’s wellbeing. For instance, alarm sensors on a medicine cabinet door can generate an alert if it isn’t opened by the time medicine should be taken, or if it’s opened unexpectedly. You can also check in on an elderly relative’s cameras to ensure they are ok if they aren’t answering the phone. And if there is an emergency—such as a slip and fall—you can communicate with your loved one via the two-way audio features in the cameras, plus they can send a signal for help with a panic pendant.

Frontpoint’s app has long allowed users to create “scenes” that control several smart home features at once with a single tap of a finger. But recently, the app was upgraded to take advantage of the new “Shortcuts” feature from Siri, Apple’s friendly robotic helper—enabling users with Apple devices to trigger scenes with a voice command. The Shortcuts feature works with any compatible device with iOS12 installed, including iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches. It even works with CarPlay-enabled vehicle dashboards, enabling you to voice-control your home from the road.

Simply create default scenes for different scenarios, such as a “sleep” scene that arms all of your home security system’s perimeter sensors, turns the lights down, and locks the door. The app enables users to customize what each scene is called and how it controls alarm and smart home devices. Then set up a Siri voice command to activate the scene.

You can also use Shortcuts to combine Frontpoint actions with other commands, integrating your smart home's useful abilities with other technology you use every day. For instance, you can incorporate your "sleep" scene into a "Good Night, Siri” shortcut that not only follows the security system’s settings but also sets your iPhone's morning alarm and activates its "Do Not Disturb" mode.

Not an Apple user? Never fear. A Frontpoint system can also be voice-controlled through smart hubs like Google Home or Amazon Echo.

Frontpoint also offers an app for Apple Watch that makes controlling your smart home as easy as lifting your wrist. Simple interactions will control the security system, locks, lights, garage door, and thermostats. The watch will also receive alerts about important activities.

Frontpoint’s mobile app is loaded with useful features that make using a home security system simple and convenient. It’s become an indispensable tool for many of our customers, enabling them to check on their homes and loved ones from anywhere, control smart devices remotely, and respond quickly to emergencies. Users can also access their security systems through Frontpoint’s mobile website, my.FrontpointSecurity.com.

And as smart technology continues to evolve, Frontpoint is constantly adding new app features—helping homeowners and renters take smart-home living and security to the next level.

Frontpoint keeps families safer and more connected in their everyday lives. We've been revolutionizing the home security industry for over a decade. And we're just getting started. To shop DIY home security systems, check out our Security Packages. If you have questions or would like to discuss a quote, contact us at 1-877-602-5276.