Canary is best evaluated as a camera-and-alert system, not assumed to be a complete replacement for a sensor-led alarm. Before buying or keeping it, verify the exact device, plan, recording rules, notification path, local warning, account access, outage behavior, and who responds when an event arrives.
Canary review at a glance
| Question | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Primary job | Indoor or outdoor video, motion events, live view, siren, environmental sensing, or another exact function |
| Recording | Trigger, clip length, retention, download, sharing, overwrite, and plan dependency |
| Alerts | Delay, classification, recipient, quieting, offline warning, and escalation |
| Alarm coverage | Door/window sensors, armed states, entry delay, local siren, backup communication, monitoring, and dispatch |
| Privacy | Camera placement, audio, members, modes, data access, retention, and account recovery |
| Outages | Behavior during internet, Wi-Fi, AC power, phone, account, and service failures |
Start with the exact Canary hardware and service
Record model, hardware revision, firmware, power source, mount, Wi-Fi requirements, field of view, audio, siren, environmental features, account owner, shared members, service tier, renewal date, storage, warranty, and support channel. Product names and plan features change; use the current official product and plan pages for the device and location.
Camera quality is more than resolution
Test the doorway or room that matters. Review first-frame capture, subject size, night exposure, backlighting, motion zones, activity classification, timestamp accuracy, audio, glare, reflections, privacy masks, and whether the camera recovers after losing power or Wi-Fi. A wide image that cannot show a face, action, or usable timeline is weak evidence.
Test the complete event path
- Create a normal motion event at the edge and center of coverage.
- Record when motion begins, recording starts, notification arrives, and the clip becomes viewable.
- Confirm the alert names the correct camera and opens useful context.
- Download or share a test clip and verify its timestamp.
- Clear the event and confirm the camera returns to its expected mode.
Repeat during daylight, at night, with backlighting, and under common false triggers such as pets, fans, headlights, shadows, rain, or branches.
Understand plan and recording limits
Get current written answers for live view, recorded video, clip length, retention, downloads, two-way talk, person detection, safety features, support, trial terms, price changes, and cancellation. Calculate the three-year cost for every camera and service, not just the launch price. Export evidence before changing or ending a plan.
Notifications need a named responder
Decide who receives motion, person, siren, offline, tamper, and environmental alerts; who is the backup; how the event is verified safely; and when emergency services or a property contact are called. Do not send every low-value motion event to every resident. Alert fatigue makes the important event easier to miss.
Do not confuse camera motion with entry detection
A camera can observe motion, but a sensor-led alarm normally adds named door and window zones, armed states, entry and exit delays, supervision, tamper, local warning, backup communication, event history, and an optional monitoring path. Verify which of those functions the exact Canary setup provides. Do not infer dispatch or cellular backup from an app notification or siren button.
Siren and emergency features need safe tests
Follow the maker’s instructions and warn household members before testing a siren. Confirm who can activate it, how loud it is in occupied areas, how it stops, whether it works during internet loss, and what appears in history. For police, fire, medical, or safety features, verify the current service, location eligibility, contact flow, and whether professional monitoring or dispatch is actually included.
Privacy and household access
Avoid cameras in bedrooms, bathrooms, guest sleeping areas, or unnecessary neighboring views. Review audio law, mode schedules, geofencing, shared members, old phones, administrators, third-party integrations, downloads, support access, retention, and account recovery. Use named accounts, minimum permissions, MFA where available, and a documented offboarding step when a resident leaves.
Run outage and recovery tests
| Failure | Test | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Internet down | Disconnect WAN while keeping local power | Recording, siren, alerts, history, live view, recovery |
| Wi-Fi weak or lost | Test from the installed location | Offline timing, missed events, reconnection, router dependency |
| AC power loss | Use a safe planned test | Camera runtime, router runtime, restart, time to ready |
| Phone unavailable | Lock away the primary phone | Second recipient, local warning, response path |
| Account recovery | Verify recovery without changing ownership | Email, MFA, trusted device, support, access restoration |
Installation and maintenance
Place the camera for useful evidence, stable power, reliable connectivity, protected cables, safe mounting, reasonable weather exposure, and privacy. Clean the lens, inspect the mount and cable, test night view, check firmware and account members, export a clip, and repeat an outage test on a schedule. Battery and network performance should be measured in the actual home.
Three-year cost worksheet
| Cost | Include |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Cameras, mounts, cables, power, network equipment, replacements |
| Service | Plan for each location or account, taxes, price changes, storage |
| Maintenance | Cleaning, repositioning, batteries, Wi-Fi work, owner time |
| Security gap | Separate sensors, siren, monitoring, backup communication, locks |
| Exit | Evidence export, cancellation, account transfer, reset, disposal |
Who Canary can fit
Canary can fit a buyer who wants a small number of cameras, values a unified app and alerts, accepts the verified service model, and has a clear human response plan. It is a weaker fit when the priority is broad door-and-window coverage, long backup runtime, a commissioned alarm path, many cameras, local storage, or minimal recurring cost.
Alternatives to compare
Compare Canary with a sensor-led DIY system when intrusion detection is the priority, with a camera platform when video coverage and storage are the priority, and with an installed monitored provider when service and dispatch are the priority. Compare the full tested system and three-year cost rather than one camera price.
Where Abode fits
Abode is the sensor-led DIY alternative for buyers who want door and window sensors, local alarm behavior, smart-home integrations, app control, self-monitoring, and optional paid services, with cameras used as context. Compare the Abode Smart Security Kit, Abode Cam 2, and current Abode plans.
Sources
Verdict
Judge Canary on verified camera evidence, alert delivery, privacy, outage recovery, and current plan value. If the goal is a whole-home intrusion alarm, add or compare a system built around named entry sensors, local warning, tested communication, and an explicit response path.
FAQ
Is Canary a complete home alarm system?
Do not assume so. Verify door and window coverage, armed states, siren behavior, backup communication, monitoring, and dispatch for the exact setup.
Does Canary work without a subscription?
Current features can vary by device, plan, location, and date. Compare the official no-plan and paid-plan features in writing before buying or cancelling.
Does Canary keep recording when the internet is down?
Test the exact device and service. Record local behavior, missed events, alerts, reconnection, and evidence availability during a planned outage.
Can Canary cameras replace door sensors?
No. Camera motion and door-position sensing are different signals. Use each for the job it can be tested to perform.
Growing up with Law and Order and CSI shows taught Isabelle Landau one thing: if people back then had high-quality home security systems, those series would have been way shorter. In our modern world, technology helps us keep burglars away easily, and this is what Izzy studies and writes about: alarm systems, home security, protection systems, and more.
Jayne says
Do not buy canary systems. I bought mine about 4 years ago, you could watch everything that happened, if you needed help with the devices you could call and get someone on the phone and they would help you. Now you can’t watch play back unless you spend money to get a membership and you will not get a representative on the phone you have to email them and they have 3 Days To answer you back when you tell them the situation they don’t understand which takes another 3 days and you go back and forth and now since I didn’t buy the membership the canaries very rarely work and they blame the connection but not their connection the cable companies connection that I have they’re no good night owl is the best camera system I’ve had them for about 8 years but I wanted to try something new for inside never will I buy another Canary or recommend them to anyone remember you can’t contact them by phone you have to email them and wait 3 days for a response and then when you respond you have to wait another 3 days for their response and it just goes back and forth so do yourself a favor and stay away from canary
Wiley says
I have had home alarm systems for many years. Canary is not an alarm system since it has no siren to alert intruders. I was told by the company that the system only tells you when someone is invading your house. It sends a beep and a video. No alarm sounds. Therefore is not an alarm system. Lets assume for a moment that one is sleeping. It is 3 AM, someone enters the house and goes to your room. Then, the alarms sends a message to your phone that you have an intruder.
JAYNE says
Canary just s**** had them for 4 years wouldn’t recommend them to anybody now I used to be able to get a representative on the phone to help now you have to do it through email no more phone calls and now you have to pay for a membership or you can’t see what’s happening in the house so needless to say my cameras don’t really work much anymore they are a waste of money and time
Dave says
Piece of Sh#%, never work right, a waste of money, and you have to have a subscription!
Jessie says
They change from free to whatever pay service they feel like charging that month. So basically to get it to work right you will need to pay 20 a month then buy the unit and then is still is wonky as hell (in regards to software).
steve says
Agree with all of the above. What good is “support” when their hours are 8-5, m-f and you can never reach them. Ring and Arlo are far better solutions.
Gbpenny@Aol.con says
DONT BUY. My husband is very ill and I bought this to assist keeping a watch on his movements It works for a few hours and then goes offline. It is not my internet service because we have enhanced our internet. It is horrible customer service A waste of money. Also they refuse to refund my money for the service
MaryAnne Curtin says
Don’t buy! Customer service doesn’t care…They updated their system and want you to pay $99 per camera! The service was free before, they claim cheaper than their competitors, really? I have two other camera systems Lorex and Piper, neither charge monthly fees and totally reliable. Go to another product and research! Read reviews! Canary can Fly!
Pat law says
We bought a unit and were happy with it until the upgrade this fall. Now we don’t get any alerts when we’re away from home, it won’t switch automatically from home to away & vice versa. What a waste of money. And as people have mentioned, you can’t call them. I did reach someone by Chat, and they instructed me to delete and reload the app. Didn’t work. They said it’s an issue with the app or the phone, not the Canary. What a waste of money!!!!
Donnamarie Hallahan says
I am experiencing this right now, had it since 2015, my subscription ran out few months ago due to me being home bc of surgery, I am back to work and called for another subscription, they tell me that my camera is no longer working and I have to pay for another canary,, so this camera was working fine, sitting on a shelf and now out of nowhere it no longer works when the only thing that changed was my membership. They are scam artists and I am throwing this out and going with arlo. I agree will never go back to them again.
Melanie says
DONT BUY UNLESS YOU PLAN ON BUYING A MEMBERSHIP BECAUSE THEY ARE WORTHLESS WITHOUT MEMBERSHIPS. DONT RECORD ACTIVITY AT ALL OR QUIT PLANING THE REVEIW BEFORE THE ACTIVITY EVEN TAKES PLACE.JUNK!!!!
Pissed off customer!!! says
Don’t do it!!! This company is shady and their camera system is a complete waste, which I learned the hard way after wasting nearly $200 ?
Carol Thompson says
I bought 2 units in Summer 2016 after a break in. at the time the service help was accessible and effective and my ability to self monitor was good. They made SIGNIFICANT changes in October 2017 to the initial services which all but require that you sign up for their monthly monitoring services by curtailing your free access to the info generated by your cameras. They have also made it nearly impossible to contact them for help The phone number is now just a voice mail and just try to get access to a live chat or email answer. They rethought a couple of their new restrictions and as a come on offered a free 3 month trial but in signing up they only confirmed a one month trial necessitating a recontact to confirm the 3hree month free trial. SO they changed the deal and are impossible to communicate with, I regret buying the cameras and I regret telling anyone about the company.
Joanne Fifer says
Me too! I have 2 all in one and 1 Flex and even though I have the notification turned off while I am at home, I still get notifications as though I am away from home. When I try to call for help all I get is a recorder. In the beginning it was great I was very happy and was recommending Canary to everyone telling family and friends how great it was. Now I hate I did their customer service is lousy I also regret buying these cameras.
James Shoe says
I read all of the above comments and agree. The latest update has taken away all of the reasons for buying canary in the first place. The new rules require you to buy a subscription to make my 4 cameras work. Guess what I’m not paying anything ever but am now shopping for their replacement system Not worth the electricity to run them now
Thanks for nothing Canary
User says
8 months THEN renege on the 24 hour image retention. Verizon had to take this crappy camera back. I’m sure Verizon regrets doing business with canary. Stay far away from this company.
JP Hernandez says
DO NOT BUY! Virtually all features/capabilities that came standard with these cameras we’re recently disabled and set at an annual ransome of $99/year, without notice!
QVC did a beautiful job selling this camera with all it’s great features, including the fact that there was no membership to use those features.
This company has serious “truth in advertising” violations and has not acted in good faith to the customers that invested in the product and its promised capabilities.
The fact that they’ve significantly cut customer service availability on top of rendering the product itself useless smacks of financial insolvency.
At the very least, I’m going to file a formal complaint with the BBB.
A class action suit is definitely in order against this shady company.
JP Hernandez says
I feel terrible for anyone who purchased a Canary based on our recommendations made prior to the big “update.” ?
Linda Clark says
I am totally frustrated with the update that forces you to pay for the monthly subscription or it is rendered useless with only a few seconds of video available to see who is in your home unexpectedly. This is an outrage as we made this purchase with the knowledge that there was no monthly fee. Now, without the subscription, it is worthless. I was such a fan, but NOT ANY MORE!
Richard Landers says
Don’t buy this junk, have 2 of the Canary cameras in my house they’re useless. Have had them for a year and they won’t program like they are supposed to. They give a lot of false alarms and can’t get them to program not to. They are a total waste of money.
Randi says
I am very disappointed with the company, the device works great, but with the changes that the company has made, they are forcing me to purchase the membership and I don’t want it, so I wonder if I get broken into again and the device is not recording like it should be, is the company going to pay for my inconvenience. I mean it don’t even turn itself on and off when I leave home or get back home and on top of that the only way to contact them it via chat and that’s if they decide to answer.
Alarm Reviews says
They want that re-occurring revenue and fee from their customers just like other security companies are doing! The only issue is they aren’t providing manual monitoring so not sure how they can justify it. The point of their ‘all-in-one’ component system was supposed to be that customers didn’t have to pay a monthly fee.
Cecil Stephen says
I agree with the other comments above. I bought 2 of these units 1 year ago and now they switch on me and require membership at $99 a year. I cannot even get them to work with the supposed extremely limited ‘free membership’. What a uselesss company. I really wasted the $400 it cost me.
Carie says
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!! I did extensive research on the devices before purchasing them. I have had them close to a year. With one of the latest updates they took the night mode off of the free portion and bow make you purchase the monthly plan. I have tried contacting them via chat and was waiting for 3.5 hours. They do not have a phone number to contact customer support. Total ripoff
Wanda says
Don’t. Buy. Canary. Totally useless now that you MUST purchase a membership.
Steven S says
Lots of false alarms, update means you must now buy a membership or it’s a high end camera that does nothing for you.. customer services are simply terrible.
The update has literally lost half of canarys client base, they have literally made it so you must buy membership.
Absolutely terrible!
Denise says
DON’T BUY CANARY!! I bought two Canarys two years ago. One each for my houses in Arizona and California. The benefit is that I could check on either house when I was away and also have security in case of robbery or home invasion. It worked fine at first. Earlier this year we noticed the resolution had degraded on both cameras. Then it stopped recording when we were at home. Then we figured out how to make it record when we were home by telling it we were away but you have to do that EVERYTIME you come home. Now it only records a 10 second clip. This is totally worthless in terms of identifying an intruder. I’m buying another system that’s not a rip off!
Mike M says
DO NOT BUY! Canary have worked well for awhile but when they switched free subscription plan, USELESS! With the free plan, it will ONLY record 10 seconds of video. If you are home, you will not have an option to record your video. So, if you are home and someone breaks into your home and you are violently attacked, the camera will turn the blind eye and will NOT record anything.
ME: If you are in away OR in Night mode, the camera only records 12 second with free subscription. (Free is not free because we purchased over $1400 worth of canary BEFORE you made the free subscription changes.) Please explain
CANARY (ISSAC): If your Canary is in Away mode, it will continuously look for motion. Once it detect motion it will record the first 10 seconds of significant motion and save them to your Timeline. The Canary will only record the first 10 seconds of signification motion for every 10 minutes of continuous motion. On the free plan you will not be able to schedule a Night mode but you can set your Home mode to have the Watch Live feature.
ME: You cannot record any video if you are in home mode if you have the degraded subscription. Example: if my father in law is at home and he gets robbed (or violently attacked during the day while he is home, the camera will not pick up any video unless you have paid for a subscription? I tried to have it set to record while in home mode and it will not allow us too.. so that makes the camera useless unless you have a subscription? Please explain
CANARY (ISSAC): That is correct, on home mode you will have the option to set your Canary to private or have the Watch Live feature on. This will allow you to view what is going on in your home but it will not record that motion.
Furthermore, Canary Support ISSAC said, ” I completely understand your frustration with the recent changes to the free plan, we are however unable to change the free plan back to what it was but are more than happy to provide a discount on the Membership if you would like to give the Membership a try.”
Canary started out great and they went downhill after their third year of this product. I would recommend NEST Cam over Canary.
Patrick says
Don’t buy! Was a early backer already on their indiegogo campaign 2014 and been very satisfied. As of the 4th of October it totally useless. Limited all free service that they stated never was going to be a paid subscription service leaving their backers with a useless device. I’m very disappointed and I really think this must be against every consumer law out there…
Kim B says
Do not purchase. It’s a high priced camera and they have just taken away every free feature this camera had. They are making people pay a monthly or yearly fee. The whole reason it was purchased was so we didn’t have a fee. Cameras are completely worthless now. Trying to get two returned since they are not even a year old. And terrible customer service. They do not even take direct calls anymore if you have issues. Seems very convenient that they made all these horrible changes and you cannot contact them directly. They planned this out perfectly because they knew the backlash they would get. Terrible company and terrible customer service.
Debby Vertz says
You are absolutely right!! I bought it even though it was more expensive than other cameras BECAUSE of the free features, and was just in the market to buy the Flex for outdoors when they changed it! Sure glad I didnt spend another $200 on that. They wont get another penny of my money…….this is a classic case of “bait and switch”
C A Dazell says
As of today, my 4 devices are not working due to an ‘update’ that is being pushed out to limit the functionality of the Canary products. I’ll be trashing them
Joseph Myles says
I don’t recommend Canary home security! We moved in on our home a year ago, so I saw this product an ordered it. It was great, a little lagging an mostly it would go offline at times. But it was free too wacth your videos an set your cameras on an off the way you want them. One day the app updated, it now gives you a microphone but you have to have a membership. To make it short you now have to pay to watch entire videos of your videos, you only get maybe 5 sec. Of what’s recording. Also you can put cameras on private unless you have a membership!! I don’trecommend!
Rock says
as of Oct 3 2017 you have to pay for a membership to have Canary work in night mode, so forget having alerts while your home and asleep, and forget having video if someone breaks into your home while your there.
What a load of BS, to change up on their customers. Every person who purchased a Canary prior to this change should be refunded.
Do not buy this product, there are plenty others that will give you some piece of mind at night without paying for a membership.
Slim says
I’m a little suspicious of a security company that resides outside the U.S., in some BS little country. What also seems suspicious to me, is that they want Blue-Tooth activated on all your ‘devices’. I have to ask myself, why do they want a Bluetooth connection between by computer and their device, when I only need a wireless connection between my Smart Phone and their device for full functionality. The App also wants to access the Microphone on my Smart Phone, and the Cellular Data that my smart phone transmits. Now why would they want to do that?
william says
I have 2 of these and do not recommend them. One is aiming at the main body of my house inside and the other is aimed through a window to view the front door, driveway and mailbox. I had to disable the motion alerts due to non-stop alerts because of light movement, pets and random fuzz going in front of the camera. There is a light at the bottom which I’ve had to block because it just screams “I’M A SMART APPLIANCE PLEASE STEAL OR DESTROY ME” so that’s a negative. They also want to charge up the ass for their yearly fee to make any use of their product or else you can only view the past 12 hours which is worthless as I purchased them with the intention of viewing my house while I’m away at work or on vacation and I don’t want to check it 2+ times a day. The app is also extremely buggy and will skip time, freeze, disconnect you and go into potato mode where you can barely make out the color of someone’s shirt who is walking past. Also it will give me “High Temperature” alerts saying it’s over 100 degrees when it is 80 outside and 70 inside. They need to either lower the price and charge the yearly fee or keep the price and lower the yearly fee. They also need to expand the services you get as a free user. You’re already paying up the ass for the product itself. Now they have new features like speak from a microphone on the device but that’s members only. If I was still in the time limit I’d return mine.
Cat says
The Canary is awful. I had issues with it from the beginning, however, now – if it is possible – this product took an even deeper dive. It keeps turning on when I am at home – a complete intrusion of my privacy – and yes, I do believe it is intentional. I have been complaining about the away/home switch and the fact that they have gone from 24 hour live person support to Monday – Friday 9:00 to 5:00 chat support (that’s Eastern – so good luck to you Westerners!). 🙁 Someone needs to check Jeff Rossen’s connection to the founder – I think he worked with his wife at ABC News.
Hal Apple says
I bought canary and do not recommend it.
Connie says
This is a really good product with a great design. I particularly like the night vision and motion detection features. It’s probably one of the most complete security system that’s packed in one tiny design. The Canary app interface is intuitive so the set up is quick and you can have the system up and running in no time. Since the Canary relies on the use of the app,those who do not have smartphones might look elsewhere for a security device.
Rachel says
Does it throw a lot of false alarms?