Reading an old trade magazine from 1992 said the average home alarm had just 3 sensors.

Found it in a box of my dad's stuff, and it's wild to think about now when a basic package has like 10 points of contact, so what's the biggest jump in system complexity you've seen in your time?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.willow1mo ago

Yeah, @singh.jessica is right about the app being the real game changer. It went from a simple beep at the door to feeling like you're running a tiny mission control center from your couch.

avery_foster3115d ago

Honestly, the jump that broke my brain was when my smoke alarm started talking to my thermostat. Like, a fire starts in the kitchen and suddenly the air conditioning shuts off to stop feeding it oxygen. My old system just made a horrible beeping sound and maybe called a guy. Now it's making tactical decisions. I feel like my house is smarter than I am sometimes, which is a low bar but still.

singh.jessica1mo ago

And now it's all about the app. The biggest jump wasn't just more sensors, it was putting the whole system on your phone. You used to have a keypad on the wall, now you can watch a live feed from your doorbell camera while you're at the store. The complexity went from just guarding doors and windows to giving you a full remote control panel for your house.