Ecobee has been trying to expand its smart home footprint beyond thermostats for several years, positioning its best-in-class smart thermostats and its very good security camera (and video doorbell) as powerful home security hubs. Today, the company announced a partnership with Yale and August to incorporate those brands of smart locks into its Ecobee Smart Security platform.
Users can already arm and disarm their Ecobee security system from the Ecobee app, and they can get live views from their Ecobee security cameras and video doorbells. Now, when they add a Wi-Fi-enabled August or Yale smart lock, they can also see the status of and operate those locks from within the Ecobee app.
This news is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart home systems.
It’s been several years since we evaluated Ecobee’s Smart Security system, so we’ll be taking a fresh look at it in the coming weeks, with one of Yale’s smart locks in the picture. We’re also long overdue in evaluating Ecobee’s wired Smart Video Doorbell, so look for an in-depth, stand-alone review of that product as well.
When I last considered the Ecobee Smart Security system (marketed as the Ecobee Total Home Comfort and Security Bundle at the time), I remarked that relying on the thermostat as a home security hub yielded a better experience than Ecobee’s security camera (and now its video doorbell), since you’d otherwise need to rely entirely on the smartphone app for a user interface—including buttons for arming and disarming the security system.
Ecobee still offers security subscription plans, one or the other of which is required to derive the full benefit of its smart home security suite. The company made a significant improvement to its premium service plan in late 2021, adding professional monitoring.
While its $5-per-month ($50 per year) self-monitoring plan includes 30 days cloud storage for a single security camera or video doorbell, its $10-per-month ($100 per year) is now one of the least-expensive you’ll find that include professional monitoring—especially now that Ring has made professional monitoring a $10-per-month á la carte add-on to its other service tiers.
But it seems two of my most significant criticisms of Ecobee’s product as a home security system remain: There is still no battery backup—short of adding one of its now-parent-company Generac’s generators—and there’s no broadband backup in the form of cellular connectivity.
