Vivint Frequently Asked Questions

Vivint is a well-established home security company that got its start in 1997. It was known as APX Alarm Security at that point.1 The Blackstone Group acquired Vivint in 2012, and the company has since expanded into offering internet services and solar power solutions.

Vivint is a mid to high-end home security system provider. This company does an excellent job of offering you comprehensive home security and home automation packages designed with a sleek and feature-rich focus. We found that its elevated experience justifies its higher price tag if you can afford it.

Vivint systems generally follow three levels of 24/7 professional monitoring, although each system is individually priced out based on your equipment.

• Smart Protect is $29.99 per month, which covers basic home security monitoring and the option to finance your equipment.
• Smart Protect + Control adds Vivint home automation to your plan for $39.99 per month.
• The top tier plan, which is what we went with, is called Smart Complete. It costs $49.99 per month and provides us with video surveillance through our Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro and the Vivint Doorbell Camera. It also lets us choose special security features to add to our system such as cloud storage for our cameras.

As for equipment, that we paid for separately. Thankfully, Vivint gave us the option to finance it over the course of up to five years adding the cost of the equipment to our monthly service bill.

Vivint has a lot to offer when it comes to home security and smart home equipment. That’s why Vivint had us talk to a representative to figure out what equipment we needed to meet our home security goals and stay within our budget. The typical package ranges from $700 to $1,800. We ended up spending over $1,000 for a medium-sized house. To learn more about the different packages offered, check out our Vivint pricing page.

You can use Vivint equipment without a subscription, but it loses most of its capabilities. We only recommend Vivint if you plan to maintain a professional monitoring subscription.

Vivint checks your credit score if you’re using the FlexPay financing option for equipment costs. If you’re purchasing your equipment upfront, then it doesn’t need to pull your credit. Since we financed our equipment, they did a credit check on us.

Vivint offers month-to-month payments for people who buy their equipment outright. That means you won’t need to sign a contract. Since we financed our equipment, we needed to sign a contract for the length of our financing plan.

If you already have a home security system but you want to switch to Vivint, the company can choose to buy out your current contract for up to 12 months. The exact amount they’ll offer to buy out depends on many factors, but mostly on how much you plan to spend on your Vivint system.

Yes, this equipment is yours once you pay for it in full. If you use the financing option to pay over time, like we did, you typically pay off the equipment within three to five years.

This home security can use landline connections, internet, and/or cellular to keep you connected to the monitoring center. We opted for an internet connection with cellular backup.

As you can see on our Vivint security system review, Vivint has a heavy focus on allowing its customers to have the high-tech home that they desire. Many smart home devices are compatible with this system, although Vivint does a great job at supplying its own versions of this equipment. We integrated our entire Google Home ecosystem and our Kwikset smart lock into our system.

Vivint’s mobile application gave us control over our entire home security system and all connected smart home devices. We could set up automation in it too. The app made it easy for us to check in on our devices no matter where we were.

The standard warranty for Vivint lasts 120 days which is low for the industry. But, since we subscribed to professional monitoring that included the Vivint Protection Plan, our equipment was warrantied for as long as we kept our subscription active. That’s another reason we always recommend a professional monitoring plan when using a Vivint system.

Vivint does not support Apple’s smart home technology, although the application does work on Apple’s mobile devices and tablets.

Vivint has built-in voice recognition. You can speak commands for hands-free operation. We ended up pairing our Vivint system with our Google Home Mini for voice control since we’re already used to saying “Hey Google” for commands instead of “Hey Vivint.”

Vivint uses strong encryption to prevent your video camera footage from being accessed by unauthorized people. The company has many measures in place to protect your privacy and data security. We’ve never seen a case of a Vivint camera or doorbell getting hacked or leaking data.

Yes, Vivint allows you to control the home automation and home security features from your computer. You can easily look at the system status, check live video feeds, control smart home devices, and arm and disarm the security system remotely. We preferred using the mobile app and touch screen control panel though.

Vivint has a full range of sensors that protect your home against environmental dangers, such as fire and floods. You get alerts if these sensors detect anything unusual, and the monitoring center will be there to assist you. We simulated a break-in to ensure our sensors worked and sure enough, the monitoring center got into contact with us in mere seconds.

Vivint’s current cameras don’t offer pan and tilt capabilities. Although you can rotate them manually, you can’t control their pan and tilt from the app. That said, they all offer wide fields of view that let us get a complete picture of our frontyard with the outdoor camera and our entire living room with the indoor camera. Then, we could zoom in on any action giving us just as much control as we’ve experienced with pan and tilt cameras.

All Vivint equipment requires professional installation. Well, you can install it yourself, but that would void any warranties that come with the equipment whether that’s the standard warranty or the Vivint Protection Plan. Installation fees start at just $49.99 though so we think it’s well worth it anyways.

Vivint offers several options if you’re moving to a new home. You can set up a new contract and get all new equipment at your new place by removing your old equipment yourself. If you like your current equipment, you can take everything with you except for the starter equipment. Any device you can’t take with you, Vivint replaces at an additional charge of $129.

>> Related: Best Security Systems for New Homes

Yes, you can transfer your contract to a new person for a $99 transfer fee. This fee is waived if that person chooses to sign a brand new contract with Vivint. Transferring your contract is a good idea if you still have a long time before your contract finishes.

Service visits are covered if you pay for Vivint’s premium service. Otherwise, after the first 120 days, you are responsible for paying a fee for each visit. This cost may vary based on your location and the problem you’re having with your equipment. Service visits also require that you had your system professionally installed.

Yes, Vivint offers cloud-based storage for clips and photos on its own servers. You can also save data locally through an attached storage device accessory. We opted for cloud-based storage and downloaded any clips we wanted to keep long-term.

No. You can choose a landline option if you prefer, but Vivint has Wi-Fi capabilities with cellular backup built into the home security system.

It takes 10 seconds to get a response to an emergency call from your home security system. That’s a faster response time than we got with most competitors thanks to Vivint’s test-based alerts. This fast response rate is vital in emergency situations, such as fires or burglaries.

This varies, but Vivint tends to have daily deals on its website. Vivint also offers seasonal and holiday discounts, so always be on the lookout. We highlight the best deals we’ve seen Vivint offer in our guide to Vivint’s promotional sales.

Vivint claims not to sell any personal data to third parties. However, they may share your data as necessary to service your system and complete your orders. For instance, they needed to share our address with the delivery service they used to ship our equipment to our house.