Tired of Constant, Unnecessary Tend Notifications?
Your Tend security camera is designed to be a helpful tool, alerting you to important events at your home. However, it can quickly become a nuisance if your phone is constantly buzzing with false notifications for things like swaying trees, passing cars, or changes in light. These excessive alerts can cause you to ignore important notifications when they do arrive.
This guide is here to help you regain control. We will walk you through the simple adjustments you can make in the Tend Secure app to significantly reduce or even eliminate false notifications, ensuring you only get alerted to the events that truly matter.
Common Causes of False Alarms
Understanding what triggers your camera incorrectly is the first step to fixing the problem. The most common culprits include:
- High Motion Sensitivity: The default setting might be too high for your camera's environment.
- Environmental Movement: Trees, bushes, or flags blowing in the wind.
- Lighting Changes: Shadows moving across the garden as the sun moves, or headlights from cars at night.
- Insects and Animals: A spider building a web across the lens or a neighbourhood cat wandering past.
- Reflections: Glares from windows or other reflective surfaces.
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Fewer False Alerts
Follow these steps within your Tend Secure app to fine-tune your camera's performance and reduce unwanted notifications.
1. Adjust Motion Detection Sensitivity
This is your most powerful tool for combating false alerts. A lower sensitivity setting means a more significant motion is required to trigger a notification.
- Open the Tend Secure app on your smartphone or tablet.
- Select the camera you wish to adjust.
- Tap the Settings icon (often a gear or cog symbol).
- Find the Motion Detection or Alerts menu.
- You should see a Sensitivity setting, often represented as a slider (Low, Medium, High).
- Lower the sensitivity by one level from its current setting. For example, if it's on 'High', move it to 'Medium'.
- Save the changes and monitor the camera's alerts for a few hours or a day to see if there's an improvement. You may need to adjust it a couple of times to find the perfect balance.
2. Set Up Activity Zones
Activity Zones, sometimes called Motion Zones, are a fantastic feature that tells your camera to ignore motion in certain parts of the image.
- In the same Motion Detection settings area of the app, look for an option named Activity Zones or Motion Zones.
- You will be shown your camera's live view with a grid overlay.
- Select only the specific areas you want to monitor for motion. For example, highlight your pathway and front door, but leave out the public pavement and the road.
- By deselecting areas with constant movement (like a busy street or a rustling tree), you prevent those motions from triggering an alert.
3. Check for Advanced Features
Depending on your Tend camera model, you may have access to more advanced, AI-powered features that can help.
- Person Detection: Check your settings for a 'Person Detection' or 'Smart Detection' toggle. When enabled, the camera's software will analyse the motion to determine if it's a person before sending you an alert. This is highly effective at filtering out notifications from animals, vehicles, and other sources.
- Alert Scheduling: If you only need motion alerts at certain times (e.g., overnight, or when you're away from home), use the scheduling feature. This won't reduce false alerts during the active period, but it will stop your phone from buzzing unnecessarily when you don't need the notifications.
4. Optimise Camera Placement and Maintenance
Sometimes, a simple physical change can make all the difference.
- Angle of View: Ensure the camera is positioned to minimise views of busy areas you don't need to monitor.
- Clean the Lens: A clean lens ensures the camera gets a clear picture. Spiders are attracted to the infrared lights on cameras, so regularly clear away any cobwebs that could trigger motion alerts.
By taking a few minutes to customise these settings, you can transform your Tend camera from a source of annoyance into a genuinely smart and reliable security device.