Yale Smart Alarm

Verdict

A vast improvement over the company’s previous alarms, the Yale Smart Alarm is well-priced, has a wide range of sensors and control options, and is a simplified yet powerful app. With default settings, it’s a simple alarm system to set up and use, but there are deep configuration options that give it flexibility, including the ability to split the system into Security Zones (effectively giving you multiple alarm systems for the price of one).

Introduction

Yale is no stranger to the DIY alarm market, having had a range of products (smart and dumb) in the past.

Now, with the Yale Smart Alarm, the company has a new smart security system built to work with the Yale Home app (home to its smart locks) and compatible with a wide range of sensors.

It has some very flexible configuration options, excellent sensor choices, and a simple app. For the first time, Yale now offers cellular backup for a reasonable £5 per month, too.

Kits and sensors

• External siren included in starter kit
• Additional sensors available separately
• Kit is expensive compared to Ring offering

As with most alarm systems, the Yale Smart Alarm is available in starter kits, with additional sensors available separately. The Yale Alarm Starter Kit (£399.98) consists of an Alarm Hub (required for all installation), an outdoor siren, one motion detector (pet friendly), two window/door contacts, and one keypad.

If you’ve got a bigger home, the Yale Smart Alarm Premium Kit (£499.99) gives you everything that the standard kit provides, plus there’s a dummy siren box in addition to the real one, an extra window/door and motion sensor, and a keyfob.

It’s nice to see external sirens included as default, as they’re a good visual deterrent and show that the home is alarmed.

These kits are a little expensive compared to the competition. The Ring Alarm (2nd Generation) has cheaper starter kits, and while these don’t have an external siren, adding this component is still cheaper than Yale’s kits.

Extras are available, including a pre-break-in sensor, which looks like the standard window/door sensor, but is also triggered by shocks and vibration, such as someone trying to kick in the door or smash a window.

The Yale Button can be used as a doorbell or panic button. For outdoor use, there’s a motion sensor and window/door contact, so you can cover external spaces, sheds or garden gates.

A smoke detector, developed with Fire Angel, adds additional protection, although this isn’t suitable for use in a kitchen where you’ll need a heat detector instead.

Pricing is similar to the competition, and there’s enough range to fully cover a house. Generally speaking, it makes sense to have a contact sensor on every accessible door and window, and motion sensors to cover hallways.

Installation, features and performance

• Simple, wire-free installation
• Highly configurable app
• 4G backup

Yale has been through a process of moving its disparate apps into one place, Yale Home. Now the app for controlling Yale’s other smart devices, including the Yale Linus smart lock and the Yale Smart Safe, Yale Home is also the home of the Smart Alarm.

Using the Yale Home app, I followed the wizard to get the Alarm Hub up and running first. This acts as the brains of the operation, and all security sensors and devices (up to 100) connect through it. This hub can be installed on a desk or mounted to a wall, depending your preference.

There’s a handy set of cable routing guides at the back, so you can keep both the power and Ethernet cable tidy. Not that you necessarily need Ethernet, as the hub is also compatible with Wi-Fi.

I prefer Ethernet, as it’s more reliable, but Wi-Fi at least means that you can install this device in places you can’t easily get a network cable to.

Once installed, it’s a matter of following through to install the sensors you have. Again, it’s an easy process, and the wizard also tells you how to install each device. All of the sensors that I tested could either be stuck in place, using the provided sticky fixers, or permanently screwed into the wall.

Sensors are powered by CR123A or CR2450 batteries, which should last a couple of years under normal use.

Then comes the configuration of the system, which can be as simple or as complicated as you require. Starting out, the Yale Smart Alarm works and acts like pretty much every other alarm system, such as the Ring Alarm.

That is, it has three main modes: armed, armed home and disarmed. The difference between the armed and armed home modes comes down to how the sensors work.

For each sensor, you can select what it does in each mode, choosing from Alarm (the alarm is triggered as soon as the sensor is tripped); Entry delay (the countdown timer is started when the sensor is tripped); Notifications only; and off.

For example, you could have a front door sensor set to trigger a countdown when you’re away from home but have it trigger the alarm immediately when in home mode, as nobody should be home.

For each mode, you can select the entry and exit delays (how long the alarm waits before arming and disarming) to suit your needs. These delays apply whether or not you’re using the app or the keypad.

With its default settings, the alarm will not arm if a sensor is open. From the app, you can see which sensors are open and choose to override and arm; from the keypad, you just get a failure. However, there’s an option to override this and force the alarm to be set in the app, plus an option to quickly alarm the system on the keypad without having to enter a PIN first.

Cleverly, contact sensors can be set to Final Exit mode, which means as soon as a sensor is closed, the alarm skips the count-down period and turns on the alarm.

That’s actually very clever. With all of the options turned on, I can have my front door open, hit the Away button on the keypad to start a countdown, and then, when I close the door, the alarm turns on immediately. With the Ring Alarm, the contact sensors have to be closed before the alarm can be turned on, which can be annoying at times.

Controlling the alarm system through the keypad is easy, too. With clear buttons to arm away, arm home and disarm the system using the PIN created when the alarm was installed.

Users can be created, each with their own PIN for use with the keypad, or direct access to the app. For each user, you can choose when they can access the alarm, with choices of Always, Recurring (only during certain days/times, which is good for a cleaner), or Temporary (the code expires, which is handy if you’ve got people doing work in your house).

Users are controlled in one place for all Yale devices, so you can give a user access to your smart locks at the same time.

For the main people in your home, keyfobs are probably a better choice, as they’re quicker and easier to use than either an app or the keypad.

Via all control methods, I found that the alarm was quick to respond, both to arming/disarming requests and when a sensor was activated, triggering the alarm to go into countdown or just sounding the loud siren.

As well as controlling the alarm as one, the Yale Smart Alarm supports up to four individual Security Areas. Areas contain a set of sensors that you choose, and sensors can only belong to one Area.

As Areas have their own Arm, Home and Disarm settings, they’re effectively smart alarm systems of their own. So, why bother? Well, in many cases, the three modes don’t quite cover everything. For example, it can be difficult to alarm an outdoor office with one system.

In a typical alarm system, the Home mode would typically have downstairs contact sensors armed, as a night-time mode. With a home office, you’d need to use Home mode for your outbuilding and couldn’t have indoor sensors armed, as opening the front door would set the alarm off.

By having a separate Security Area for the office, you can arm and disarm it separately from your home. Likewise, you could arm a bike shed separately from your main home. That’s incredibly powerful, and I’ve not seen an alarm system that can do this. Such a complicated setup would normally mean multiple alarm systems.

Controlling a Security Zone is easy from the app, as you can clearly see the zones listed. From the keypad, you have to select which zone you want to arm first, and so must remember which zone is for which area. Even so, this system’s level of power and flexibility shouldn’t be ignored.

Previous Yale alarms that I’ve reviewed have required an internet connection, but not the Yale Smart Alarm. Now, with the subscription (£5 a month), there’s 4G backup, so the alarm will continue working even if your internet goes down. That’s extremely well priced for internet backup, with Abode and SimpliSafe charging more; Ring charges more, although it’s hard to compare directly, as its system also gets you unlimited cloud storage for your cameras. With Yale, cameras are charged separately.

Combined with the integrated battery, which will last for up to 12 hours on a single charge, 4G backup means that your alarm will keep working even in the event of a major internet outage and power failure.

That’s as far as Yale goes, and it doesn’t offer any monitoring options at the moment, although professional monitoring is a feature coming soon.

Integration with other Yale products is neat, with an option to disarm the Zones of your choice when you unlock your smart lock. There’s no option to arm a zone when a lock locks. I understand this restriction as there are few times when you’d want this to happen, and the danger would be that the alarm would be set at random times, such as when locking up for the night.

Although Yale’s newer locks support HomeKit, the Smart Alarm does not, which is a shame. Nor does it support Matter.

Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integration are both available, providing voice arming and disarming, with each Security Zone appearing as a different device. I could use the alarm in routines to a degree: it’s possible to set the alarm using an Alexa Routine, for example, but it can’t be disarmed.

This is a restriction that Alexa has on all security devices and seems outdated. Why shouldn’t I be able to disarm the alarm automatically if, for example, I unlock a third-party smart lock such as the Ultion Nuki Pro?

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