Alarm.comReviews of alarm.com

It's very unethical and deceptive how they send people a text message as if we are customers or doing business and act like we have an appointment about our alarm? Very desperate measure to try and deceive people into an appointment. I have never contacted them or requested and appointment and today they text and called me for an appointment. I'm not sure how their products or services are or work but their marketing tactics are terrible!

A Great Product Held Back by Poor Software Design** It’s a shame that a company with such good hardware products falls short when it comes to their apps. A perfect example is the Apple TV app on a big screen TV: you can technically view all eight of my cameras, even as smaller thumbnails, but there’s no way to quickly jump to the one you actually need. Instead, the app cycles through them automatically, shifting just one camera at a time, with a minimum of 10 seconds between each shift. With eight cameras, four are effectively hidden at any given moment, and depending on where the cycle is, it can take up to 80 seconds before the camera I actually need to see comes into view. This is such a simple fix, yet it penalizes anyone with a larger camera system. I actually considered buying four more cameras, but switched to Nest instead, since it lets you view and select any camera instantly. Their customer support isn’t great either, but at least the core product works the way you’d expect. **Customer Support Concerns** Unfortunately, technical support doesn’t help matters. I’ve called multiple times specifically about this camera limitation issue, and no one seems to know anything about it — there’s no clear department or person who owns this problem. It’s as if the issue has fallen into a black hole internally. On top of that, extended hold times and callback delays of two days make getting any assistance a frustrating ordeal. **Bottom line:** Alarm.com makes great hardware — I own several of their products — but they don’t give you the tools to actually use it well. Give us the ability to tap a thumbnail to jump straight to that camera — but that only works if all cameras are visible on screen in the first place. Right now, it feels like nobody owns this. It’s as if the Apple TV app was built once and then abandoned, with no team actually responsible for maintaining or improving it. This is a critical flaw, not a minor annoyance. This matters most in an emergency: you’re watching the four visible cameras, don’t see the issue, and have to wait up to 80 seconds cycling through before the camera showing the problem comes up. By then, whatever you needed to see could be long gone. This isn’t a complicated fix — show all the cameras, let us tap to jump to any one instantly — and it’s frustrating that it doesn’t seem to be anyone’s priority. They limit you to viewing only 4 cameras at a time, which leaves you vulnerable to blind spots. **Do not use Alarm.com if you need more than 4 cameras.**

The tech is just limited without paying for services. Super slow response when adjusting temps on the thermostat that were never an issue on nest, a doorbell cam that doesn't notify when movement is sensed (unless you upgrade your subscription) this is a standard feature on a $35 wyze camera with better features over all. I think 10 years ago all of this would make sense, but today it is too easy to install and set up all of these devices and control them through Amazon or Google and get more features without monthly subscriptions. Its a newer house so ill leave everything set up for a bit, but will eventually tear all this junk out and upgrade to better devices. I will say 1 thing, their phone support guy (im convinced its only 1 guy) is a Rockstar and a diligent employee, give that dude a raise.

We're allowed 1,000 video clips per month and after that no more until the next month. I have to shut the outside cameras off at night because they go off every time a bug flies past the cameras. It also picks up vehicle headlights of every vehicle that drives down the street. We've tried adjusting the camera and settings to not do so and then it ends up not even picking up anything. Makes it useless for security if we can't use them at night because of the 1,000 video limit! We ended up getting a ring door to pick up the slack at night because of Alarm.com being useless at night. Would not recommend. 12/31/25 - Edited to add: I have since responded back to Alarm.com request for account info. Am waiting to hear back. 1/3/26 - Edited to add: I heard promptly heard back from Alarm.com on 12/31/25 about how to possibly resolve the issues with my outdoor cameras. Once I contact my service provider to with the information and see if the issues get resolved, I will update my review again.

Alarm.com Apple TV App Review - ⭐⭐ (2/5 stars) Great Products, Disappointing App Experience It's a shame that Alarm.com, despite having excellent security products, delivers apps that fall short on all levels. The Apple TV app is a perfect example of this disconnect. The Four-Camera Limitation Problem If you only have four cameras, you'll be fine. But the moment you expand beyond that, the app becomes frustratingly inadequate. With eight cameras in my setup, I can only view four at a time on the main screen. To see my second-floor cameras, I have to wait 10-30 seconds for the display to cycle through to the next set. Real-World Impact This limitation isn't just inconvenient—it's potentially dangerous. In an emergency situation, when you need to quickly scan all your cameras to identify an issue, you're forced to wait through multiple cycles. By the time you locate the problem camera, whatever triggered your concern could be long gone. Simple Fix, No Action The solution seems straightforward: provide settings to display all cameras simultaneously on a large TV screen, or at minimum, add a quick button to advance between camera groups. This basic functionality would transform the user experience, yet Alarm.com continues to ignore this obvious improvement. The Bigger Picture I was considering adding four more cameras to my system, but this app limitation pushed me toward Nest instead—they understand that users need to see all their cameras efficiently. While Alarm.com's hardware is solid, their software doesn't give you the tools to fully utilize your investment. Customer Support Concerns Unfortunately, technical support doesn't help matters. Extended hold times and callback delays of two days make getting assistance a frustrating ordeal. Bottom Line Alarm.com makes genuinely good security products, but their Apple TV app severely limits your ability to use them effectively. Until they address these basic usability issues, users with multiple cameras should look elsewhere for a complete security solution.

I have been their largest residential video customer for quite some time. I run 30 cameras for 10 years now. I do not recommend using any Alarm.com video related products. The reason is that they go out of their way to insert software into the cameras that will prevent you from looking at the video feed. By design they will shut off after two minutes, but in reality its more like 15 seconds. Whether two minutes or 15 seconds, it is ridiculous to not be able to view video from a video camera. I have brought this issue up with high levels in the company verbally and in writing, for which there is only a handful of employees, probably less than 10. No answer was ever given other than that's how they want it to be and they aren't going to change it. Year by year their products get worse in many ways, I I think they really want to improve the products, but they just don't have the right people to make it happen.

My RBM alarm was fitted in 2014 and I was happy with it and the service. RBM were taken over by ACT (Advanced Consumer Technology). A new control panel made by Alarm.com was installed. The new system is quite good but it's in need of further development. When the RBM system got a fault their monitoring centre was alerted and they would telephone me and arrange an appointment to fix it quickly. ACT don't do this. When a battery failed a few weeks after installation (not impressive) the system started bleeping every hour and I had to call ACT to get them to come out to replace it. The hourly bleeps got a bit irritating after a few days. I am surprised that the batteries weren’t all renewed when the new panel was installed. The battery problem was not serious this time because I was home when the fault occurred. But if I had been away the fault would have continued so my house could have been completely unprotected, depending on the fault. Not good. I phoned ACT and pointed this out. A rather surly and arrogant technician said "RBM must have had a lot of time on their hands". When someone presses the doorbell you have to 1.tap the Alarm.com icon, 2.tap the bell icon, 3.tap End Call, 4.tap Saved, 5.tap the top image before you can see the image of the caller on your phone’s screen. When someone presses the doorbell and I tap the icon on my phone it tells me my postcode and the date and today’s temperature range. This is of no use. Giving me redundant information instead of the iimage I need quickly is irritating. The menu tapping sequence is not intuitive but I eventually discovered this illogical process. Sometimes I get a different menu of irrelevant options. Last time the delivery person had left before I had got through the procedure. Unfortunately the image doesn’t appear on the control panel screen in the house which it should. I just get the irrelevant time, date and weather. Another obvious and irritating problem. The chime is too quiet. The volume is not adjustable. A call to ACT informed me that it had been set to maximum loudness. There are no relay contacts in the doorbell, panel or chime to operate my existing chime which has the ideal loudness. It’s in the hallway and can be heard all over the house. The Alarm.com chime needs mains power and there is no conveniently sited mains socket in the hall so the chime is in the kitchen. I cannot hear the chime when the kitchen door is closed. I phoned again and asked what could be done and the same surly, aggresive technician said I could buy an (expensive) extra chime and use a (non-existent) free socket, or carry my phone with me around the house. I have lost count of the number of icons and what they mean. I wish they would dump the obscure icons and replace them with the relevant word. When I press “live” nothing happens, I just get a greyed out image and have to tap the bell icon to see the clear image. The date and time is displayed but the lettering is light grey on dark grey in such tiny letters that I need a magnifying glass and a dark room to read them. If I press “Actions” I don’t get a menu of available actions as expected but the word “disarmed” and “cancel”. The external bell box is just a dummy so neighbours and passers-by will not be alerted to someone breaking into my home and burglars will not run away at the sound of a siren as they probably would otherwise. Also the absence of response from non-existent alarm siren could give burglars the impression that they have not been detected. Thus it offers little deterrent, possibly even encouragement to continue breaking in. Burglars will soon realise that the box is a dummy. The original RBM box was not a dummy. Losing that deterrent is a retrograde step. Burglars who get in the house may be picked up by the indoor camera but I would much rather stop them getting in, in the first place, than having a video of a thug in a hoody with mask and dark glasses that would be of no use to the police. Having broken-in, my house would then be open to anyone. I got two alerts on the PIR watching my patio door. I called ACT. They said it could be a spider walking over it and they would disable the sensor. I nervously took a chance and left the house empty for two more days. When I got home I looked for evidence of a spider and found none, but the PIR fell off the wall in my hand. Perhaps the PIR was faulty or just loose hence giving false alarms. I asked for the PIR to be upgraded to a camera PIR as it was looking at a patio door. The technician who installed it, Adrian, was polite, helpful and professional. He has now replaced all the batteries.

I work for an installer, and the service is not great. The only part of the service that works with any degree of reliability is remote arm/disarm and notifications of such. Video, including the doorbell is just the worst. We stopped selling the cameras entirely due to infant mortality, constant disconnects, poor video quality and the sudden discontinuation of products like the SVR-122. The thermostats, particularly the T3000 are just glorified e-waste. The terminals are fragile and fussy, and they are consistently unreliable. Rules for Z-Wave devices don't work more often than they do, and LiftMaster services are down anytime someone actually needs to let someone in. The access control system is just a web-based IEI/Continental system, it's old hat. The System Enhancement Modules are a gargantuan pain in our collective rear end. CONSTANT failure to communicate notices despite good cell signals, locking up and taking the keybus offline, and Z-Wave board failures galore. If all you want to do is arm/disarm remotely it's good, but everything else is so badly implemented I wish they never did.