Happy with our new Doorbird system, and it’s nice that there’s some basic Apple Watch integration, but I wish the app would work as a “Complication” (Apple’s way of enabling access on the watch face) for easier access. The two use cases I have in mind: 1) Letting yourself in quickly as you approach the door, and more importantly, 2) letting in a friend or delivery person who’s at the door but called you on the phone rather than buzzing you via the intercom. You can do this now by finding the app in the app directory, but it would be ideal to have a Complication directly available on the watch face.
I’ve had a DoorBird at my house for almost two years and I’m very pleased with it. I haven’t had any trouble with it. The app’s interface is simple and straightforward. It has everything you need and nothing more. You open the app and see the door right away, then one tap to answer. Snapshots and history are just as easy to access. The settings menus are a bit complicated, but as a technical person I prefer having more options than less. Once it’s all set up, you never need to mess with the settings anyway. I had a Ring doorbell before this and it was okay, but not great (both device and app). At my new house, the contractor installed a Control4 doorphone and I had him replace it with another DoorBird because the C4 intercom app was not nearly as good.
The DoorBird app is not well designed for a range of reasons: - By and large, there are too many clicks required to take action, whether that is view and talk to someone at the gate, or open the gate - The app is also incredibly slow to load, especially given it requires loading a live video before enabling the ability to speak to someone at the gate or open the gate - The app would be much better it a picture snapshot where taken any time someone presses the call button, and then when the app opens on a device it first loads the snapshot photo and has buttons that easily allow for opening the gate or talking to the person at the gate. The live video feed, which is data intensive, especially over cellular signal, could be an option to load vs. the default
Ring doorbell’s app can bypass silent/DND mode on the phone and audibly notify of any rings. This was implemented in 2020. Doorbird needs to sign up/register with Apple to get this implemented in the app so we can get notified properly. Otherwise, we will never know when someone is buzzing in unless our phones are off silent/DND. I’m betting a vast majority of users keep their phone on silent! Update: The review responder didn’t understand what I’m saying. I’ve reached directly out to Doorbird and they’ve acknowledged the shortcoming of the app not audibly notifying while phone is in silent. Who knows when they’ll actually update the app, but the rating can’t be higher than 1 star until they update. I’ve already missed so many rings because I keep my phone on silent throughout the day like any normal sane person.
We were excited when our landlord upgraded our entry system at first. However it’s been a huge disappointment for the following major reasons: 1) The app doesn’t bypass your phone’s silent mode. So if you leave your phone on vibrate and you don’t have it right in front of you at all times, you miss deliveries constantly. 2) The app is EXTREMELY slow. Even if I’m staring at the phone and immediately click the notification when the doorbell rings, it still takes 5-10 seconds for it to load video footage. If you want to try to talk to the person, it takes even longer. We basically never try talking to delivery people anymore because by the time it actually gets your audio to them, 9 times out of 10 they’ve already left. I wanted to like this system, but those two absolutely killer flaws completely ruin it. 2 stars because it’s nice to have video footage (when it loads) and it’s nice to be able to buzz people in when you’re not home (if you don’t miss the notification and it doesn’t take so long to open they don’t leave first).
When standing in front of the door, the app takes 30 seconds to load and then another 30 to trigger the open door. This is of course when it succeeds in actually opening the door, which is flakey at times. When allowing others in, the same delay exists. However it is quite frequent to miss the alert that someone is at the door in the first place if your phone is on vibrate, as the notification draws less attention than a tweet or some other unimportant message. An sms or phone call when someone is waiting at the door would be much more effective. One plus is the camera, it is nice to see who has arrived if you are willing to wait 30 seconds for the app to load and the person at the door is still there.
There are a number of issues with the app: - There is a bug in its push notifications on iOS. The doorbell and motion alarms become permanently silent after switching the phone to Silent Mode and then back to Ringer mode from the side toggle. The only way to have the push notifications have sound again is to go into the DoorBird app settings and toggle the Activate button for each notification. This needs to be done each time after the phone is switched back to Ringer. I have now missed so many doorbells as a result that the whole point of having the DoorBird in order to open our gate on demand, has substantially diminished in utility for us. - The camera view doesn’t load when the app is opened by tapping on a push notification - which is the typical user experience when trying to respond to the doorbell. You actually need to tap on the camera view button in the app (bottom left corner) to get the camera view to refresh and display. - The app UI and UX look like they haven’t been updated for about 10 years - the app is in a desperate need for a refresh to a more modern interface.
Love the app for my car gate. However it needs easier access to turn on/off triggers (sensor and doorbell). It’s very cumbersome to make changes. For critical safety reasons I need to often turn on/off the various triggers for a wide range of reasons. Also, If I have an urgent situation it takes many steps and time to make a change or take action.
Someone rings the bell. I answer via cell phone app. And answer ,,,, and answer ,,,, and answer ,,, watch the visitors walk away about the time the voice feature begins to transmit from my phone to the DoorBird speaker,,, visitor gone, no communication. Mine is hard wired in I have high speed internet. My friends who have Ring Equipment report much different results. Camera is pretty good but we still can not recognize people due to lighting, the doorbell is in shade. ie. porch shooting into daylight ( NOT DIRECT SUNLIGHT) and the camera does it adjust so the faces are dark, I wish there was a way to do better with out going to ring wireless
Good idea, poor execution, I’d never install this service on my own property
The app is an example of a good idea with poor execution. 1) If somebody rings the door, it takes approx 30-45 seconds to pull up the video in app if you click the notification ASAP. It then takes a little while longer to trigger the lock. In total it can easily be a minute which often times leads to the delivery driver leaving. 2) The UI on the door doesn’t say ANYTHING to the person buzzing the door. It basically just goes to the main screen. The person is clueless as to what is happening, so they sometimes leave. 3) Because the notifications are just app based, it only shows as a banner in your phone and if you don’t have vibrate/volume up you very often miss the notification. So the deliver driver leaves. 4) The app has a lot of bugs. It often glitches, crashes and overall is very slow to operate. I’ve missed a lot of packages because of this app, and I’ve got to say I rather just have the usual phone call when somebody’s at the door to let them in. It’s much more practical and instant.
Serves its purpose, but has a long way to go before catching up with “smart” technologies.
This app serves its purpose, it opens and closes our gate remotely. However, its missing some pretty key functions and integrations that would bring it into this century. Some things we enjoy: - Geofencing functionality - within a certain distance away, the app triggers a relay and opens our gate. This works 80% of the time (phone must be unlocked, and app must be running in the background). - Nice to run from phone? What needs work: - Connectivity and speed - we have fast speeds at our house, but the connectivity of the app to the gate and guest communication is lacking. Major delays, long load times. - Tough to connect to smart home tools like Google or Alexa etc. - Setup and user experience - no words, this is simply not user friendly. - Unable to know if gate is open/closed without looking at extremely low quality camera on Gooseneck (vs. MyQ garage app is clearly displayed).
We have had our DoorBird security system installed over a year ago by an electrician in our area. They did not know how to set it up so we have never been shown the features of our system. All of the literature that they left with us only shows how to install and not how to operate. I have tried to call Door Bird several times to find someone in our area to go through and set up correctly, but I have been unsuccessful. The system that we had installed was very expensive and with the install cost we could of gotten a local security company to install and received the service to hookup correctly. I am very discouraged by the service of this company!
Sometimes the app works well, by loading quickly and letting me open the door. Sometimes (like today), the app loads but the video doesn’t load and I get an error message when I try to open the door. The app frequently loads very slowly or not at all. I don’t know if the app needs to be updated for the latest iOS or if it doesn’t work well on certain WiFi networks but it shouldn’t matter - the app needs to work at all times given the importance of being able to open the door promptly to receive a package or let a guest in.
This was a very expensive supposedly high end video doorbell model 2101KV at over $1,800 and it is worse than a Ring doorbell! It’s interface on the app is awful, the response of opening the app to answer a door ring is so slow people leave before we can open the app to respond, and when we can actually answer via the app in time because the person ringing the doorbell was inordinately patient, the sound is terrible both in terms of our communication to them ( lots of dropped voice, scratchy sound, the first words being dropped and inaudiable) and we can’t hear them. Stay away from this expensive piece of junk,
Pro’s - Simple, intuitive interface once set up - Loads of really power features like making http calls on doorbell press or motion for home automation - open api for integration with other platforms Con’s The overall User experience of the app needs some work, especially considering the price point of the product. - The main interface is simple, but could be much better aesthetically speaking - the interface for managing the powerful features is clunky and adds confusion to a complicated task - The iOS app needs to include some more modern features that have be available for quite some time on the platform: a Home Screen widget of live feed and relay control would be super powerful; supporting splitview in the IPad app to allow for side by side of your preferred home automation platform and the doorbird app should be a basic offering at this point
I had this for a few months and this is my second one . The first one I had to send back due to the lens forming a permanent glare in its center. I was glad that it was still covered by warranty . I am hoping that will not have the same problem again . The second thing is the app and it’s speed . Even though this camera is hardwired to my internet it will take forever to load the app in order to see a live view . The chime that I bought with it will take a delay of 10 to 20 seconds to ring . Too expensive for such a product . Stay away
Professionally recommended and installed. Repeated visits as doorbell function never works! Shorts out over and over and over. So, get alert on our phone and nothing in our vertical home. Terrible camera quality, worse than any Ring doorbell. Horrible. The infrared doesn’t work either. Slow, cumbersome connection too despite state of the art wifi. By the time it connects, the event is over. We hate it and need to find a replacement with better security than Ring as it is also how our door opens. We have deluxe version with locks. But it’s terrible. Don’t waste your money or believe their reps.
The app is super slow (starting video feed when someone rings the bell, being able to open the door, etc). You risk either the person leaving because it takes too long for you to see who they are and then open the door or you have to open the door without being able to see the video of who’s there which is dangerous. I just moved into this building that has this system, if I was here when they were deciding which company to use I definitely would not have supported the decision.
We are using this system to manage remote gate access. The system performs as advertised for local keypad and remote access. Remote Ethernet access is connected over WiFi link due to distance form main residence and perform flawlessly. Web remote camera view, notification and gate control works reliably. Overall great product
This app could be good, but it sometimes stops working and you have to reinstall it. Since I got the iPhone15 Pro, this app has never worked even remotely well. It is a total mess. The problem is that it takes 10-20 seconds before I can talk to anyone at the door. At that time they have sometimes already left. Opening the door takes another 5-10s. This is when I’m home using 500Mbps internet. Nowadays even a complete reinstall will no longer fix this issue. Years ago it used to work well, but nowadays the system is completely unusable.
Our building just installed a DoorBird system. We love the ability to answer the door and let someone in regardless of where we are. The problem is the notification needs to be significantly better. They are a little delayed and it’s just a simple banner. If only it alerted you like a call, so it’s impossible to ignore. By the time we see the notification, they are already gone. Since getting this system, we are routinely missing deliveries. Hopefully they can improve this. I’m shocked there’s not a way to set your own notification settings.
The app worked well for a year. But just this month, it keeps asking me to add the DoorBird device. It doesn’t stay in the app. I have saved it every time. I tried deleting and reinstalling the app. The problem keeps happening. I keep missing deliveries because of this. This is so frustrating. I have an iPhone 12 Pro with iOS 14.5.1.
Saves a lot of time going downstairs and the door I live on the third floor and I have a breathing issue so it comes in handy when it’s working sometimes it’s not working a lot but when it works, it works for a long time, but sometimes it goes down as well, so probably could use a little updating. Thank you, Mr. Patterson
Everyone in the community is having trouble connecting and people at the gate are waiting for a long time. The app just keeps buffering for minutes until finally you close it out and open it only to find it does the same thing. It works 30% of the time for me.
I am glad to have an internet-based call box, but I have 2 primary gripes with Door bird: 1. It’s very slow. From the time I get a notification to when I can engage the intercom and buzz the door, it takes about 15-20 seconds. Delivery people and guests routinely think I’m not home 2. Notification driven, not phone call driven. When somebody buzzed, DoorBird triggers a notification. It’s easy to miss. I wish it would be more of a “takeover” experience like. Phone call, so I don’t miss my guests ringing me.
The installed hardware is really nice. Fit and finish is up to the standard you pay for. The problem stems from the delay in signal transmission. The function of the entire package is to be able to view would be visitors and even be able to converse briefly with them. The speaker in the unit is lacking as well as the very large delay between the button being pressed and the software alerting you of the event happening. LAN MODE with a system such as ELAN makes the hardware function like it should
I have tried many times to provide an email address and set up the pro part of the app, to no avail. It won’t confirm the email address and you can’t even pay $ to authorize it to keep recordings. These people are leaving money on the table because the app does not work.
This is a very expensive beta product. Pressing the door open on the app to actually buzzing to door takes 10 seconds. Old school electric system was instant. Also the Apple Watch door open doesn’t work but the function is presented on the watch. Please fix.
We mainly got Doorbird as a replacement to our building's analog intercom system to add remote unlcoking of the front gate. Living in an Apple ecosystem, I do wish for Homekit support (which they are working on!) and more speedier response time, in terms of opening the app and the keyfobs. Our system is on a wired connection and still can take up to 10 seconds to get the live feed.
Notifications Don’t Work, Should Call Phone Instead
My wife and I both have this installed but only she gets the notifications, even though I have notifications enabled and Focus disabled. Even when the notifications did work, you can barely hear them even at full volume. Absolutely terrible system - my friends have one that just dials their phone which is preferable. I would never install this in my own building and recommend landlords get one that dials the tenants phones rather than being app based.
I have to use this for a client’s home. It works on my phone inconsistently. My clients have had more issues than I have with it often not working. The house has no true door chime - just the app on all the phones plus a few iPads in the house. I have no idea if the app logs you out or just gets temperamental, but based on my experience, I would not purchase this for my own home.
I live in a condo with controlled access. There can sometimes be a long lag time between being able to load a live feed and from someone calling from the intercom and getting an audio alert. And I get no visible notification banners from the app at all. Everyone else in the building seems to get a push notification, so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.
The app is very easy to use and it was easy to setup but the performance of the connection between device & phone app is slow sometimes. The phone app displays the image but it lags or is choppy. With the recent updates it seems to be working better.
Just not reliable enough to open the door remotely for our visiting clients. Works most of the time, fails or lags so often however that overall I consider this system unreliable. And an occasional lag would be acceptable but what we’re experiencing is about 35% of the time there’s a huge lag or it just doesn’t work. Also, too many steps to just unlock the door, I have to open the app, select something, confirm that...
This is by far the best intercom / front door bell I have had. It works with basically anything. The only issue I have is the wire connectors come loose and disrupt connection. If somehow these connectors were improved the DoorBird is your one stop intercom or door bell solution. Looks modern, works like a champion. German made quality
I have had a DoorBird for 4years. In that time it has worked maybe 50% of the time. Does not work properly over Wi-Fi as advertised. I have had a replacement unit that also failed to function. If there was a viable alternative I would use anything but this
Thé latency is not ideal. It takes 4-5s to get the visual from the camera and, add an extra 2-3s to unlock the door. But the worse part is the notifications. My phone does not vibrate when someone rings! If my phone is on silent (which is most of the time), I will miss the notification… I started to take the habit of leaving it on ring to lake sure I don’t miss it :/ quite annoying. The UI is straightforward though, that’s the nice part
DoorBird seems helpful in theory, but they often notify me 15 minutes after someone has come to the door, which is not helpful, as no one is going to wait that long to be let in. Please enable real time notifications that come through even if the app is not in the foreground (and maybe even if the app is not open on my phone). Text apps are able to do this. Why can’t DoorBird?
I have had this for 2 years at my home. I originally purchased as it would integrate with Control4. I have tried to be positive and make it work but it is simply not a consumer product. The App is not intuitive and is buggy/laggy. I really needed it to work the other day (prowler) and it did not pick anything up. All the app documentation is about configuration versus using the system (ie common use cases). I installed the Ring in my old house. I will be going back to it.
Has been reliable but make sure you install properly
I have two units setup on our system. Both work perfectly. I would highly recommend hardwiring these devices to your network. Using a wireless connection add additional chances of the unit not operating as intended.
We are an animation studio and kids AVOD network which runs on all the cable channels as well as ROKU/AmazonFire/Apple+ apps etc., so to be able to check on visitors both in and out of business hours and communicate with them is fantastic.
App is so so. Equipment which should be excellent is full of troubles. Speaker is horrible on our busy urban street, after it rains a certain way the system goes haywire and we have to manually reboot, camera is not good when the sun is behind the person - person looks very dark and cannot see their features, Doorbird says that many issues from system constantly doing firmware updates. So many reasons to Stay away!
The performance is decent. 3 stars because it takes at least a minute to show the video which could be the internet service and not necessarily DoorBird. But anyway, good app.
The sound coming out of the intercom is very crackly and poor. Also, there is at least two second delay between when someone speaks and it actually comes out the intercom. Five second delay in being able to speak to anybody after answering. Five second delay after pressing door open, to when it actually unlocks. Also, the phone does not vibrate when there is an incoming intercom call. 😑
The instructions on the unit are too small and vendors complained about it. The instructions should be easy to read. I gave it 1 star and you reject any nick name This is a sub standard product do not buy it With 5 stars you accept my nickname, you are a fraud
Really love everything about our DoorBird app except its slow load time. Not clear how to remedy this and don’t believe it’s our internet speed as the Ring app loads quickly as do most every other app we use.
Doorbird hardware is super expensive and software feels 10 years behind the times in terms of usability, performance and aesthetics. Tech support is almost non-existent cause of different time zones and language. I would have preferred any other brand but this is only one that worked with my existing configuration :(
What doorbird does not tell you: If you get a new Phone and restore the doorbird app from a backup or transfer from your old phone, the app will transfer just fine - but push notifications won’t! I tried for over 6 months to figure out why none of my doorbell button would push through to my phone - because the push notification is tied to the phone hardware not the software! If you get a new phone, delete the doorbird app and re-install - that will bring push notifications back!
If you want to see, who’s at the gate, there’s a long delay before you see anything on the video. By the time you can see the video, the person may have already gone. I’m very sorry I purchased a system. There are plenty of alternatives that use HomeKit and you immediately see who is at your gate. I don’t know why the system has this delay, but it’s bad enough for me to tell you: “don’t buy the DoorBird system”.
The app is the worst app I’ve ever used. The interface is 100% not intuitive and the on line manual is just as bad. I can’t figure out simple things like adding a user, changing the bell ring etc…and the manual, on line email and app itself don’t help. There is little support. No tel to call. Email support is spotty and incomplete so impossible to get answers. Congrats if you get the app to work let alone able to add users- you deserve to teach at MIT
The DoorBird App provides mobile access to DoorBird IP Video Door Stations. Using the app, you can see and hear your visitors in real time, speak with them or unlock the door. When visitors press your doorbell, you receive a push notification on your iPhone or iPad and can immediately answer your door – from anywhere in the world. The DoorBird can also send instant alerts when a visitor triggers the built-in motion sensor. No matter if you are at home or not, you will never miss a visitor or a delivery. DoorBird's innovative IP technology was developed in Germany and is continuously improved through regular app and hardware updates. The system works in your local network (LAN) as well as outside of your home network environment without range limitation and securely encrypted over the Internet. DoorBird App Features for IP Video Door Stations: • Live HDTV video (ultra wide-angle camera lens, night vision) • 2-way audio communication • Worldwide mobile access to DoorBird IP Video Door Stations • Push notifications on your iPhone or iPad when the doorbell is pushed or the motion sensor is triggered • Configurable motion sensor • Free visitor history • Secure door, garage or gate opener via the app • Different ringtones for push notifications • Geofencing • App is optimized for portrait and landscape format • WiFi and Ethernet (PoE) • Smart Home and NVR compatible
