This is My Favorite Smart Doorbell Feature

• AI can improve video doorbell notifications for specific object detection by customizing which alerts are sent to your phone.

• Some smart doorbells can use artificial intelligence to distinguish between people, packages, cars, pets and more.

• Companies like Eufy are using local hubs to perform facial recognition and deliver more personalized and detailed notifications without the need for cloud processing.

Video doorbells serve many purposes. One feature stands out from the rest for me, making my video doorbell a superstar piece of my home security system: the use of artificial intelligence to detect faces and other objects in footage.

Artificial Intelligence Doorbells Strengthen Your Notification System

AI (artificial intelligence) is a term used by everyone these days, but video doorbells use the technology for a very specific purpose. Most video doorbells these days offer some form of AI that will provide you with more detailed notifications, information, or recording capabilities.

For example, you can tell certain video doorbells to only record images when a person or package is detected and ignore everything else (cars, pets, fallen leaves, etc.).

Not only does the doorbell use this to save storage space, but it can also be used to send you targeted notifications like “a person has been detected on your doorbell” or “a package has been detected on your doorbell.” These notifications can help you know what’s going on outside your front door without even having to leave the office.

Find Out Who (Or What) Is at the Door

When it comes to notifications, knowing who or what is at my door is the best part of having a video doorbell. When I see a doorbell notification on my phone while I’m waiting for a package, I know if I need to get up to open the door.

There are a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood, which leads to a lot of animal triggers on my doorstep. Frankly, I don’t need to get up from my desk while I’m working to check if a cat has crossed the camera’s field of view. However, if I am told there is a package outside, I usually get up, meet the delivery person and pick it up.

Another great function is knowing when guests will arrive. Similar to the package situation, if I’m expecting guests I can ignore the animal notification but pay attention to the person/car notifications. This allows me to know when guests are out and sometimes open the door for them before they ring the doorbell.

This part was a little weird at first because some guests wondered how I knew they were there without honking the horn or ringing the doorbell, but most got used to it after a while.

AI notifications only get more in-depth from here. right now I have Wyze Video Doorbell V2 on my doorand I previously had the Arlo Wired Doorbell for several years. Artificial intelligence offers many additional benefits in the Wyze doorbell.

I can switch separate boxes for both registration and notifications for people, pets, vehicles, and packages. I can also toggle separate recording and notification settings for crying babies, barking, meowing, talking, glass breaking, or gunshots.

Because Wyze improved this feature, I can have some categories saved and not notified. Some make notifications but do not record them, while others both record and notify. Being able to drill down to this level of detail allows me to reduce unnecessary notifications, ensuring that I only see the notifications that are truly important to me. I can also choose to record everything, but I don’t want my phone to ring every time there’s movement or sound, which is a pretty cool feature.

As Artificial Intelligence Gets Smarter, Doorbells Will Also Get Smarter

Wyze is one of the few companies (currently) that can perform facial recognition using the power of artificial intelligence. Other companies doing facial recognition include Eufy, ecobee, RingAnd Google.

This feature is pretty simple to use, but I can only speak firsthand about the implementation in the Wyze ecosystem. If I have a compatible Wyze Cam Plus subscription, I can schedule “familiar faces” through the Wyze Video Doorbell V2’s notifications.

Doing this not only lets me know if someone is at my door, but also WHO at my door Is my wife coming home? Did your mother-in-law come to visit? The annoying neighbor I don’t mind talking to while I’m working?

Being able to identify these different names and faces is one of my favorite features in my video doorbell. The information collected can be really useful. For example, I don’t need to unlock the door for my wife because our smart lock does it automatically and she can get in.

However, if I expect my mother-in-law to show up and see a generic notification saying “person detected”, it could just be a package or a door-to-door salesman. When I see my mother-in-laws’ names appear on the notification, I know they are here and it’s time for me to open the door.

This just scratches the surface of the more advanced AI feature some video doorbells offer. A few years ago, having such technology in a doorbell would have been unheard of. More and more companies are now implementing this. I can’t wait to see what additional AI features we have in doorbells in the coming years.

You May Have to Pay for AI Features

Now let’s get to the part of AI that no one likes: subscriptions. Sometimes. My Wyze Video Doorbell V2 requires a $2-per-month subscription for AI notifications, and my Arlo device before that had an $8-per-month fee. Fortunately, not all companies require you to pay them monthly for this feature.

For example, Reolink offers Free person and package detection in video doorbells. That’s a pretty big deal if you ask me. Person and packet detection are the two most used features of my video doorbell, and the fact that Reolink offers it for free is a compelling reason to buy into the company’s ecosystem.

Eufy gives you the same free AI detection option, but the company requires you to do so Has HomeBase system for it to work. However, while HomeBase is an additional upfront cost, using this system actually allows you to localize your entire video stack.

HomeBase can accommodate up to 16TB of hard drive storage and locally store all of your recordings from all compatible Eufy cameras; This means your footage won’t be sent to a cloud service. Plus, it does more than free AI detection services; It processes AI images locally rather than sending them to a cloud provider. Eufy’s solution has among the best out-of-the-box native and free AI and storage options of any video doorbell I’ve seen.

But those who like to tinker may also want to consider: Home Assistant. While the Home Assistant AI doorbell setup is a little more cumbersome, all operations are handled locally and you have much more control over what happens. There isn’t a lot of tutorials for this, so you may have to figure most of it out on your own.

If you want to take advantage of Home Assistant for AI doorbell notifications, the following options are available: there are some videos to point you in the right direction.

Now that you know why I love AI so much in my video doorbell, Choose the right model for your home.