Vivint Home Automation and Voice Control

We really like Vivint for a whole lot of reasons — from its professional installation to its huge selection of high-quality security and smart home devices. But where it really stands out is its home automation features. Ever want to control everything in your home using only the sound of your voice? With Vivint, that future is possible.

Vivint works with several third-party Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including Nest thermostats, Kwikset smart locks, and Philips Hue smart lighting. Vivint also automates with Echo and Google Home smart speakers for hands-free voice assistance. In our tests, we enjoyed watching the devices trigger one another. We’ll explore more of Vivint’s home automation capabilities below.

Third-Party Devices

As we said, Vivint works with devices that it doesn’t manufacture, from smart speakers to smart thermostats, smart locks, and smart lighting. We created various automations through our Vivint security system devices, which then triggered other devices in our home.

• Google Nest Mini:Google’s Nest Mini is a smart speaker that automates with Vivint seamlessly. We used our Nest Mini to ask Google Assistant about our Vivint system. We also used it to arm and disarm our security system. By saying, “OK Google, show the backyard camera on the Nest Hub Max,” we got a clear view of our backyard from our Vivint cameras. For $49, the Nest Mini is Nest’s most affordable smart speaker.

• Nest Thermostat E: Our Nest Thermostat learned our favorite heating and cooling schedule over time. The device also learned to recognize whether or not we were in the room. We controlled our thermostat using both Alexa and Google Assistant, but we also hooked it up to the rest of the Vivint system. For example, during the summer, we had our thermostat turn off the central air conditioning whenever our system was armed. This way, we didn’t have to worry about turning the thermostat down manually every time we left the house, which ended up saving us around 15 percent on cooling that same summer!

• Kwikset Smart Lock: Once you start using smart locks, you never go back. The best smart locks are some of the most convenient IoT devices, in our opinion. Rather than fumbling around a big handbag looking for a house key, we unlocked our door via a numerical code. If we were at work and weren’t sure if we remembered to lock the door, we could pull out the Vivint Smart Home app and do it remotely. The Vivint app even notified us when we left it unlocked! To let in people when we weren’t home, we created up to 30 unique access codes in the same app, which came in handy when we had friends visiting. And, we made sure that as soon as our security system was armed, our doors would lock automatically. Automating the system this way took out the anxiety of worrying if we’d protected our home adequately. As long as Vivint was armed, we were in good hands.

• Philips Hue smart lighting: Nothing sets the mood quite like lighting, whether it’s the fluorescent bulbs of a boring office or the soft, yellow hues of a living room. We have a ton of smart bulbs from Philips Hue, so just like the smart lock, we had all of our lights go on “away mode” when our Vivint system was armed. What exactly is away mode? Well, given that most burglaries occur between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.,2 we wanted to make it seem like we were home during those hours, even when we weren’t. But rather than just leaving our lights on all day, we set up the away mode to turn them on and off periodically, which mimics someone being home more realistically.

Aside from hooking up our Vivint components to other IoT devices in our smart home, we also controlled everything using our voices alone when we were too lazy to reach for the Vivint app.

Alexa

Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, worked nicely with our Vivint system and its connected devices — so much so that it shows up on our Best Security Systems for Alexa list. We could have Alexa perform the following tasks for us, without having to lift a finger:

• Turn off smart lights
• Control smart thermostats
• Close the garage via a smart garage door controller
• Lock doors
• Show our footage on different devices like the Echo Show 8 or Fire TV
• Arm our security system.

Google Assistant

We had similar capabilities with Google Assistant, like:

• Controlling our smart thermostat
• Unlocking our doors
• Arming our security system
• Showing our footage on devices like the Nest Hub.

The Catch: Monthly Fees with Vivint

While this all sounds great, there is a shoe about to drop. Vivint isn’t exactly the most affordable security system around. Aside from the costs of the devices themselves, we had to pay a month-to-month service fee to control our system remotely in the first place. Also, we had to pay a separate fee to use our cameras and a fee on top of that for cloud storage, according to a Vivint representative we spoke to.

While technically, we weren’t required to pay any monthly fees, our system would become local-only without them. We wouldn’t be able to control it remotely, watch footage from the Vivint app, or receive notifications about our alarms. So, we broke down Vivint’s fees into three categories, attempting to make the system’s fee structure as straightforward as possible.

Vivint Fees: A Breakdown

Vivint’s minimum monthly package was $29.99—definitely steep. Some newer companies we’ve tested, like Ring, charge half that for professional monitoring, cloud storage, app control, and basic automation. The key word? “Basic.” Vivint’s automation features are significantly more advanced, so we think the premium is justified.

We paid for the equipment upfront, but financing is popular too. Just know that financing increases monthly costs for the first five years (the maximum payoff period). With financing, you’ll pay one combined monthly fee covering equipment and monitoring.

Since we paid upfront, our monthly costs ended up slightly lower than ADT’s, which can hit $50 monthly. Check out our full ADT vs. Vivint comparison for the complete breakdown.

Here’s a snapshot of those monthly costs:

Although six was the maximum we could’ve had under one account, we had three cameras in our tests. Given our addition of the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro, the Vivint Doorbell Camera, and the Vivint Ping Indoor camera our system came with initially, that brought our cost up to $65 a month, which included all our cameras and IoT devices.

But we’ll be honest: when we bought our Vivint system, the company had a different pricing structure than it does now. It’s a bit harder to pin down costs with Vivint these days, but here’s a breakdown of the company’s equipment costs:

Monitoring Costs

For storage, we had two options. First, we could buy the Vivint Smart Drive for $250, giving us 24/7 camera recording. We recommend the Smart Drive for maximum coverage, though it’s definitely pricey. The upside? It’s a one-time purchase with 1 TB of storage.

The second option was financing the Smart Drive into our monthly bill, adding $4.17 per month. Either way, Vivint’s monthly costs rank among the highest we’ve seen. If you’re on a tight budget, Vivint probably isn’t for you. Check out our Vivint pricing guide for the full breakdown.

The Vivint App

We set up all our automations in the Vivint app (available on iOS and Android)—everything from triggering smart lights to locking doors. The app also let us watch live camera feeds anytime, day or night.

Motion alerts came through from the Outdoor Camera Pro, Doorbell Camera, and indoor camera. As long as we had Wi-Fi, we could control every IoT device from anywhere. Having everything in one app was incredibly handy, and honestly? Setting up automation triggers was actually fun.

Recap

In terms of smart platform integrations, Vivint is at the top of its game. We found easy integrations with Alexa, Google Assistant, and a slew of other third-party devices in our tests. Although Vivint isn’t one of the most affordable security systems around, given the quality of its devices and how nicely they fit into our smart home, we think it was worth every penny. To learn more, visit our full Vivint security system review.