Popular home gadget gets burglar-scaring AI upgrade that automatically targets home invaders with surprise defense trick
A NEW upgrade for smart home cameras uses artificial intelligence to scare off burglars.
The update allows them to automatically detect intruders moving – and then sound an 80-decibel siren.
It’s part of a major upgrade for Philips Hue Secure cameras.
The popular range of gadgets includes a mix of wired and wireless cameras (plus an outdoors floodlight camera) that are capable of detecting motion.
But they can also tell apart a person from an animal or vehicle, and can trigger a loud siren.
So don’t worry about your pets setting the sensor off in the night.
“You can now set your cameras or sensors to trigger an alarm automatically,” Philips explained.
“If you have a camera with a Secure plan, you can even choose which type of motion — a person, animal, vehicle, or package — triggers an alarm with advanced, AI-powered alerts.”
There’s the catch: you need to be a Secure plan member.
That’ll cost you $39.99 or £34.99 a year for a single camera.
But many users will see that as a small price to pay for this benefit.
Of course the Basic Secure plan also includes some extra bonuses, including back-to-back video clip recording, activity zones, and a 30-day video history.
And it also bundles in AI-powered people, animal, vehicle, and package detection – which is used for this new feature.
If you want all cameras covered (plus 60 days of video recording) then you’ll want the Plus Secure plan, which costs about two and a half times the price of the Basic plan.
To see if you’ve got the new update, you’ll want to look for version 5.22 on your devices.
You can arm the alarm with a single tap on the Secure tile in your app’s Home panel.
The new update isn’t a fool-proof defense against home invaders – but it might help scare intruders away, or at least alert you to motion.
You’ll still receive regular motion alerts via smartphone notifications too.
And you can use the cameras to view exactly what’s going on, revealing what (or who) triggered the siren.
The update is available right now for both the iOS version of the app for iPhone on the Apple App Store and the Android download on the Google Play Store.
Philips Home Security Plans – the differences revealed
Here's what you get...
Free – $0 per year
- Live streaming
- Light and sound alarms
- Instant motion notifications
- End-to-end video encryption
- Blackout zones
- Video snapshots
- Cameras – All cameras
Basic – $39.99 per year
- Live streaming
- Light and sound alarms
- Instant motion notifications
- End-to-end video encryption
- Blackout zones
- Video snapshots
- Back-to-back video clip recording
- Activity zones
- AI-powered person, animal, vehicle, and package detection
- Video history – 30 days
- Cameras – Pay per camera
Plus – $99.99 per year
- Live streaming
- Light and sound alarms
- Instant motion notifications
- End-to-end video encryption
- Blackout zones
- Video snapshots
- Back-to-back video clip recording
- Activity zones
- AI-powered person, animal, vehicle, and package detection
- Video history – 60 days
- Cameras – All cameras
You’ll need to set up the automatic triggers before they’ll work.
And make sure you choose which specific activities trigger the motion sensor – otherwise an animal, like a pet dog, might activate the siren.