smart home security

Secure your home with tags and sensors

Once you’ve got a camera, you can purchase motion or contact sensors, too

Asecurity camera is the ideal starting point for your home security system, but even the most advanced cameras have their limitations. A camera can only look out for activity in one specific room or location, and even cameras that have a night vision mode can only see things a few metres away once it gets really dark. You could buy additional cameras to cover other areas – but with high-quality cameras costing £120-£200 each that can quickly turn out to be very expensive.

But cameras aren’t the only security option available for the smart home. Once you’ve got a camera you can also purchase a number of other security devices, such as motion sensors that can detect movement even in dark rooms, or contact sensors that can tell when a door or window has been opened. As well as helping to monitor areas that might not be easily visible to a camera, these sensors are generally a lot cheaper, so you can buy several to cover different rooms around your home.

Security matters

Like a security camera, a motion sensor or contact sensor can connect to your home Wi-Fi network and send an alert to an app on your iPhone if it detects any suspicious activity. But while you can generally buy any camera and quickly set it up to work with your iPhone, these other types of security sensors rarely just work on their own. In most cases they are specifically designed to work in conjunction with other devices made by the same manufacturer.

If you own Netatmo’s popular Welcome camera (£199) then you can use the Welcome to control additional ‘tags’ that monitor doors and windows (and also the company’s forthcoming Security Siren). The tags are well priced – just £90 for a pack of three – but they don’t work on their own, so do you have to budget for the Welcome camera as well.

When you’re starting from scratch, the cheapest option is probably to buy a starter kit that includes a number of different security devices. If you don’t already own a camera, you could consider D-Link’s Smart Home Security Kit, which costs £215, but includes a security camera along with an ear-splitting siren, and one contact sensor for a door or window. Panasonic really goes to town here, offering a range of kits that contain different combinations of security cameras, sensors and sirens. Prices start