Interlinked smoke alarms will use the same optical or ionisation technology mentioned above, so, they're not a type of alarm in their own right. Countdown Timer, both on app and as a widget on home screen. ✔Use it for sports, fitness exercises, games, in the kitchen for cooking or gym. Motion sensors are also effective at monitoring an empty home, but can easily be triggered by pets, bright sunlight and large insects. That’s why using motion sensors alone isn’t advisable. You will often receive more notifications with a motion sensor than you would from a window sensor – and if you receive too many, it’s tempting to shut down the whole system, which rather misses the point.

This is an ideal system for smaller homes – a single motion sensor works up to nine metres – and there are no additional subscription fees for extra features. If you do add a camera and want to save footage, the base contains up to 16GB of internal storage. Pros: Can suit dustier areas, such as lofts, the area near your bathroom or rooms where people smoke. If you're not comfortable with the idea of relying on a neighbour to let you know if your alarm goes off, you could consider a dialler alarm, also called an auto dialler. On test, the 93db siren built into the hub went off without a delay when anything triggered the window, door or motion sensors – as alerts are beamed to your smartphone. Like most of the kits on our list, installation is easy and mostly wireless, although the hub pairs via the ethernet port on your home wifi router to enable a secure connection. The sensitivity of the motion sensors in this 8-piece kit is adjustable to account for pets of up to 25kg and it has a piece of tech the brand claims can tell the difference between false alerts (like a football hitting your front door) and a real break-in scenario. For extra convenience, you get a keyfob that automatically disarms your system when you enter your home.Pros: Good for bedrooms, landings and hallways, and near to kitchens as they aren’t as prone to false alarms from cooking. If you have a large home with a lot of valuables, this might be worth considering. For most people, though, this is rather overkill for their needs. Maintaining your home alarm Setup takes longer than for any of the others on test, but that’s partly because you need to mount the siren on an outside wall. Setting up the Wi-Fi using the Yale app is relatively fuss-free, but you will need to work through several daunting steps to get everything synced. Our advice is to follow the app’s directions carefully and refer to the, admittedly baffling, pictogram manual.

Heat (thermal) alarms detect heat (hot air) instead of smoke. The alarm is triggered when the temperature within the sensor chamber reaches over 58 degrees Celsius – generally when a fire is well established. These are the cheapest and most common types of alarm system, and favoured by around 60% of Which? members.Smart smoke alarms are designed to sound the alarm when they detect smoke, as a conventional smoke alarm would. But the unique selling point of a smart smoke alarm is the ability to send alerts to your phone when there’s a fire. These systems are usually more complex and multi-function, with additional control panels and wired in detectors. It's worth thinking about the kind of area you live in before deciding to get a bells-only alarm. Is there an active neighbourhood watch that gives you confidence that someone will call the police in an emergency? If not, do you have friends and relatives who live close by who you could count on to take action? Wireless devices communicate with each other and other devices without the use of connecting wires. This can be through interlinking by radio or through wi-fi. When an alarm is active it looks similar to an online countdown timer, some information is displayed - the current time, the final time (hour and minute) and also the countdown or remaining time (hours, minutes, seconds), when the actual alarm starts.

Smart functionality allows you to receive notifications on your phone whenever someone enters a room, opens a window or sets off the siren. The kit also works with selected Alexa devices to enable voice control of the system and can be combined with other Ring devices, all of which can be controlled via the Ring app. Give your alarm a title under Alarm name. This will be your alarm message or a reminder that appears on the screen when you start the countdown (optional) Traditional alarms (either bells-only or dialler) are still the most popular, with 57% of alarm owners having one, according to a survey of 3,819 burglar alarm owners in May 2023.Smart alarms will alert you by phone or your tablet if there's a break-in and you can control the alarm from your phone as well. Smart alarms can also be monitored. To prevent problems with low or muted volume on your computer, we suggest you test the alarm before you use it All of the major manufacturers (Aico, FireAngel and Kidde) make smoke and heat alarms that will work in combination with one another and we have tested pairs of smoke and heat alarms from each of them.

When you’re wearing your watch but you’re not actively using your phone, your alarm starts to ring on your watch. If your alarm isn't turned off, your alarm rings on both your phone and your watch. Most sensors can trigger a siren. If you decide to head down this route, be careful where you position them. Identify locations where you will minimise the number of false reports to avoid disturbing your neighbours and thoroughly test the system before you leave it for the first time. How to install your wireless alarm system

Some smart models sound an alarm on your smartphone and through the alarm itself when triggered – this is the most helpful kind of smart alarm. Open/close sensors are for windows or doors. They’re made up of two parts that form a connection when you close the door or window. If the connection breaks – in the event of an intruder opening the door – the siren goes off. With any standard burglar alarm, regular maintenance should highlight and reduce defects, give you peace of mind, and give you more redress if something goes wrong.