Security – Answer Your Doorbell with Your Phone!

Guest post by: Alysa Kleinman, Smart Home Solver

How to Answer Your Doorbell with Your Phone

Answering your doorbell can be annoying.

It always seems like someone rings my doorbell when I’m in pajamas. Other times, I’m away from home and don’t even know that someone came by.

Updating your front porch with a camera is easier and more affordable than ever.

There are so many reasons to have a camera keeping an eye on your front porch, including:

• Safety concerns. Answering the front door can be dangerous if you don’t know who is on the other side.
• Avoid salespeople. If you’re not a fan of answering your front door only to have a stranger selling you something, you can see who is at your porch before answering.
• Answer your door from anywhere. Even if you’re on vacation thousands of miles away, you can use your phone to view and speak with whoever is on your front porch.

If you decide you want a camera on your porch, there are few different types to choose from, including smart doorbells or security cameras.

Smart Doorbells

The great thing about these smart doorbells is that they have a built-in security camera. While they work like a traditional doorbell by chiming when pressed, they also ring your phone and allow you to speak back and forth with whoever is visiting your home using a live video call.

These doorbells are easy to use, and the installation process is exactly like a regular doorbell.

Ring sells the most popular smart doorbells, including some of their newer versions like the Ring 2 and Ring Pro.

SkyBell is another option for a smart doorbell. The benefit of SkyBell over Ring is that it offers free video storage, so you aren’t on the hook for monthly subscription fees. However, it doesn’t have as strong of reviews compared to Ring.

Security Cameras

If you want to keep your existing doorbell, another option is to add separate security cameras. These cameras have a speaker and microphone just like the doorbells, and can send you notifications when they detect motion or sound. This makes it easy to talk back and forth with whoever is at your home.

Arlo sells some of my favorite wireless security cameras. Arlo Pro is weatherproof, so you can use it indoors or outside. It works on a rechargeable battery, making it easy to install anywhere since there’s no wiring.

The company is also releasing a doorbell soon, which will integrate with the cameras.

Taking it a Step Further

All of these devices let you use apps in your smart phone to check on your front porch from anywhere.

If you want to take it a step further, you can connect these to your TV using an inexpensive streaming device, like Chromecast or Fire TV stick. These allow you to stream your front porch’s camera feed right to your TV.

You can even ask Alexa or Google Home to show the front porch, bringing up the security footage with voice control.

As you can see, getting started with this technology is easy and makes your life more convenient. From there, you can add more technology to your comfort level.

Be sure to check out Alysa’s website, Smart Home Solver

Check out this link to one of my posts about security.

A Note from Dianne: 

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, so if you purchase from Amazon after clicking on the link, I may receive some type of compensation.  This will in no way affect the price you pay for your items . . . but hey, I thank you!  🙂