ADT’s monitoring service is essential to watch over your home 24/7. However, the monitoring service comes at a subscription fee of $45.99 per month for the basic Secure Home Package. As a result, you may be wondering whether you can use ADT without monitoring services to secure your home.
You can use ADT without a monitoring service, but you’ll not get full equipment usage. Depending on the manufacturer, ADT’s pulse and command panels can still operate in self-monitoring mode. However, this might not be the case with old ADT models.
In the rest of this article, I’ll discuss ADT features that can still operate without a monitoring service. I’ll also cover the ones that need a monitoring service to function. Stay tuned!
ADT Alarms
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in their article, more than 1.1 million burglaries happen yearly. An excellent way to protect your home from these burglars is by installing alarm systems like the ones provided by ADT.
However, will these systems work without the monitoring service subscription?
The control panel for ADT’s alarm system may work without the monitoring service. However, it’s worth noting that this shouldn’t be taken as a guarantee that all ADT alarms will work without the monitoring system.
While most ADT alarms should work with self-monitoring, the equipment’s age and the manufacturer can play a role.
If you’re unsure whether your ADT equipment will work without monitoring, it’s best to check with the manufacturer or your local ADT dealer.
ADT Cameras
You can’t use ADT cameras without a professional ADT monitoring service. Most functions of these cameras rely on monitoring to capture, store, and analyze data.
ADT cameras function by recording footage on the cloud. Without a monitoring service, the footage will not be backed up, and you won’t have access to it.
In addition, the Smart Home Video service provides live streaming of your ADT cameras. This means you can view a live feed of your camera’s footage on your phone, tablet, or computer.
The service also allows you to review past footage and download it to your device. However, you’ll need to sign up for ADT’s monitoring service to get these features.
Some of the ADT cameras you’ll encounter that need a monitoring service are:
- ADT Pro HD Security Camera: It uses two-way communications to produce high-quality HD images through software-enabled video analytics.
- ADT Pro HD Indoor Security Camera: This is the camera version specified for indoor use. However, its features remain similar to those of the outdoor version.
ADT Door Locks
ADT’s smart door locks rely on ADT Pulse for operation. ADT Pulse provides a whole lot of gadget options. All gadgets that operate under the ADT pulse use Z-wave technology to connect to the ADT pulse gateway.
Some of these features include the ability to remotely lock and unlock your doors and setting up alerts that notify you when someone locks or unlocks your door. You need to have an active monitoring service subscription with ADT for these features to work.
ADT App
The ADT app is available for both Android and iOS devices. It’s a free app you can download from Google Play Store or App Store.
The app allows you to arm and disarm your system and view live footage from your cameras. However, you need to have an ADT monitoring service subscription to use these features.
You can also use the app to create rules and schedules. For example, you can set your system to disarm itself when you arrive home or arm itself when you leave.
The app also allows you to view past footage from your cameras and download them to your device.
In short, the ADT app is only useful if you have an ADT monitoring service subscription.
ADT Home Automation
ADT’s home automation features allow you to control your lights, thermostat, and small appliances from your phone or computer.
However, these features won’t work without ADT’s monitoring service. They need a monitoring service to function because they rely on the ADT Pulse gateway to connect to your devices.
Some ways you can use the ADT’s home automation features to make your life at home easier include:
- Lights: You can turn your lights on and off, as well as create schedules and rules.
- Thermostat: You can view and adjust your thermostat settings and create schedules and rules.
- Small appliances: You can turn your small appliances like your coffee maker and TV on and off, as well as create schedules and rules.
- Cameras: You can view live footage from your cameras and review past footage.
Other Devices That Can Work With ADT
You may be wondering whether you can use devices from other companies like Amazon and Google on your ADT equipment. The good news is that you can actually use devices from other companies with your ADT system.
In 2020, Google entered a deal with ADT, agreeing to buy 6.6 percent of the company’s ownership. This was a good deal, especially for people who wanted to use Google devices with their ADT system.
Now that Google owns a piece of ADT, it’s likely that we’ll see more integration between the two companies’ products in the future.
After the purchase, Google’s Nest services became available on ADT’s devices. This means you can use your ADT equipment with devices like:
- Google Nest Cam Indoor: This is a wired indoor camera you can use to keep an eye on your home. It has motion alerts, night vision, and snapshot recording.
- Google Nest Cam Outdoor: This is a weatherproof outdoor camera you can use to keep an eye on your outdoor home environment. It has features similar to its indoor counterpart.
- Google Nest Hello: This is a doorbell used to see who’s at your door and even talk to them. It has a vertical field-of-view, night vision, and HDR.
- Google Hub Max: This gives you voice control over your ADT devices. You can also use it to view camera notifications about your home’s security.
The benefit of using Google’s smart home devices is that they can still work with ADT’s monitoring service. Thus, you don’t have to worry about losing any features or functionality if you use devices from other companies.
Final Thoughts
ADT’s monitoring system ensures you can get all security and smart home automation services. Therefore, you’ll get limited package services if you try to use ADT without monitoring. Moreover, the app will not be as useful as it could have been if you had a monitoring service subscription.
