The listings featured on this site are from companies from which this site receives compensation. This influences where, how and in what order such listings appear on this site. Advertising Disclosure

6 Surprising Uses For A Smart Doorbell Camera

Doorbell cameras can protect and enrich your house or apartment. Here’s how:

Clayton T.

May 25, 2022


If someone’s going to break into your home, they'll most likely go through your front door. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 73.4% of forced-entry break-ins between 2003 to 2007 happened via a resident’s primary entrance.

To meet this threat, home security companies offer easy-to-install doorbell cameras. Providing a perfect view of your front entryway, doorbell cameras are a great solution for recording and identifying front door intruders and package thieves.

Shop Top-Rated Doorbell Cameras

Doorbell cameras do more than safeguard the entrance to your home. Read on to learn six surprising ways doorbell cameras can make your residence even more comfortable and convenient.

1) Communicate With Visitors

Newer doorbell cameras feature two-way audio. By downloading the companion app, you can speak into your phone and relay your voice to your front door—alternatively, you can listen in on someone speaking into your doorbell camera. This audio functionality can make a big boost to your home’s convenience and safety.



Convenience:
Two-way audio is the ultimate way to greet guests. Imagine you’re hosting a party: as guests arrive, you might not have the time to run back and forth to the front door and say hello to each new face. When the doorbell rings, you can say hello to the new arrivals via your doorbell camera and still have the time to finish up a few last-minute preparations. If a new guest’s arrival interrupts your current conversation, you can save yourself the hustle to the front door and invite them in with the sound of your voice.

Safety: With two-way audio functionality, you can vet any unknown person who may come to your door. If you aren't expecting a visitor and the doorbell rings, you can use your smart doorbell to both see and communicate with the unfamiliar face, all from the safety of the interior of your home.

If a suspicious person is milling around the exterior of your residence, two-way audio can also act as a mini alarm. Instead of leaving your home to risk a confrontation with a trespasser, you can tell them to leave your property through the speaker on your doorbell camera. If the sound of your voice isn’t enough to spook them, saying that you’re contacting the authorities might do the trick.

2) Reduce Home Insurance Premiums

Home insurance companies have also caught on to the usefulness of a smart doorbell camera. With live video feed, video storage, and two-way audio, smart doorbell cameras can make any residence a safer place to live. To reward security-savvy customers, some home insurance providers will offer up to 5% off of premium costs just for installing a security camera.

If you have or are looking to invest in a smart doorbell, ask your home insurance company if they offer a discount.

3) Enhance Other Smart Tech

Smart doorbell cameras can work hand-in-hand with other smart home gadgets to enrich your quality of life. Here are a few smart gadgets that pair well with your smart doorbell camera:


Smart Locks: Smart locks enable you to lock or unlock your doors with the touch of a button. When it comes to the security of your front entryway, doorbell cameras and smart locks are the perfect security duo.

Even if you’re hundreds of miles away, your doorbell camera and smart lock will allow you to open your front door for welcomed visitors. For example, imagine how easy it would be to allow a pet sitter into your home. You could:

    • 1) Disengage the smart lock to your front door
    • 2) Use your app and the audio function of your doorbell camera to greet your sitter and let them know you’ve unlocked the front door
    • 3) Allow the sitter their time to attend to your furry friend
    • 4) Re-engage the front door locks once the sitter leaves

Smart Lights: Using the If This Then That (IFTTT) app—a software platform that allows homeowners without coding experience to create “cause and effect” communication between smart technology—you can automate responses between your home’s smart lights and your smart doorbell.

If motion is detected outside your front door at night, you can “code” your outdoor lights to turn on and then direct your doorbell camera to start recording. You can even code the smart lights inside your entryway to blink on when someone approaches your front door, or to turn off when someone leaves.

Smartphones: Thanks to IFTTT compatibility between your smart doorbell camera and smartphone, you can stay in the know as things happen in and around your door. Homeowners have programmed their smart devices to:

    • 1)Receive an audio alert when motion is detected outside your front entrance at night.
    • 2)Play a recorded message when someone rings the doorbell.
    • 3) Receive an SMS text message when motion is detected after you leave the house.

4) Save Treasured Memories

Doorbell cameras can do more than live-stream a visual feed. Modern doorbell cameras can save snippets of surveillance footage, with some models able to bank up to a month’s worth of video and audio recording at a time.

You can easily download a doorbell camera’s banked footage, making any captured event into a treasured keepsake. Whether you want to remember your child’s front-yard birthday party or see the look on your partner’s face when they receive a special delivery, you can capture it all on video.

5) Deter Crime

The best way to keep your family safe may not be to outright catch criminals, but to prevent criminals from targeting your residence in the first place.

According to a study performed at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 60% of incarcerated burglars said they would switch targets if a homeowner owned visible security cameras or alarms. As doorbell cameras are installed right at the entrance of your home, would-be criminals are sure to take notice. After seeing that they're being recorded, they’d be smart to move on to a less-prepared target.

6) Catch Criminals

In the event that a burglar does steal from your home, your doorbell camera can provide valuable clues and evidence for local law enforcement.



As the owner of your property, you can legally record video of anyone who enters your domain. Most doorbell alarms capture footage of three commonly burglarized parts of a residence, including:

    • 1)The porch, where package thieves like to strike.
    • 2)The driveway, where car thieves find your easy-to-access vehicles.
    • 3) The front entrance, where most criminals choose to break and enter.

In fact, doorbell cameras are so effective at capturing video footage of criminals that local law enforcement often asks residents to register their devices with the police station. If a crime in your neighborhood occurs, law enforcement can easily pull video and audio from you or your neighbors who own doorbell cameras in an attempt to find leads.

Shop Doorbell Cameras Today

If you’re looking for a doorbell camera for your own home, try our comparison site. We’ve spent hours researching and comparing the best doorbell security cameras on the market. Use the link below to find top-rated security companies, compare prices, and receive unique discounts on your purchase.

Shop Doorbell Cameras