6 tips for keeping your home safe this autumn

Are you worried about the return of darker evenings as the summer draws to a close? When the nights start to get longer, protecting our homes moves to the top of our priority list, as we look for the best ways to safeguard our family. 

But there’s no need to fear the upcoming winter, as our home security experts have put together a list of top tips to help you prepare yourself for the season ahead! So you can focus on staying cosy, and enjoying the change in the weather, instead of worrying about the dark nights on the horizon.

Tip 1: Smart lighting can protect your home

It’s getting to the point of the year where it will likely be just as dark when you leave your home as it will be when you return to it! As the days start to get darker faster, lighting can play a significant role in improving both your safety, and the safety of your home.

Enjoy a safer, warmer welcome home by combining your Linus^® Smart Lock with Philips Hue smart lighting. With our handy integration, you can easily program your lights to turn on when the door is unlocked with Linus^®, removing the need to search for keys and giving you a brighter home entrance. Smart lighting can also be programmed to switch on and off at times determined by you. Fooling anyone passing by your home into thinking you are inside for an added level of home security.

Tip 2: Smart Home Automations can make leaving/returning home much smoother

As the long nights set in, getting out of the car in the pitch black to open your gate, garage door, or front door can unsettle even the bravest among us. But thanks to our new integration with Somfy, your home can be ready and waiting for you upon your return.

Want to save time and create a safer environment to return to? Well with custom scenarios activated by the Keygo io remote, or through the Somfy TaHoma app, your smart home devices can be ready for use the moment you get home! When you activate your personal ‘’Coming Home’’ scenario as you approach your home, your gate and garage doors will open, the Linus^® Smart Lock will unlock your front door, your home alarm will deactivate and the lights will turn on. All while your favourite music begins to play in the background!

Greeting you with a warm, well-lit home, without having to spend any extra time out on a cold, dark front step.

Tip 3: Cameras are the ultimate security deterrent

We all want a quick, and easy way to deter unwanted visitors from entering our homes, and cameras provide just that! Our smart camera range is designed to protect the inside and outside of your home, integrating seamlessly to provide you with complete, customised security.

Cameras seem like the perfect solution, but we know that some of you are worried about their effectiveness when unpredictable autumn weather strikes. Our Outdoor Cameras are designed to provide you with clear footage, regardless of the weather or the time of day, all thanks to HD footage and enhanced night vision. And to top it all off, the customisable detection feature allows you to monitor specific areas surrounding your home, so no area of your garden or driveway will be left unwatched. 

And for those of you looking to secure the inside of your home, our Indoor Camera range provides a number of options. For example, the indoor Wi-Fi Camera – Pan & Tilt can be moved up, down, left and right to monitor every corner of your home and track any moving objects, such as people.

Our camera products are fully controllable through the Yale View app, and detection alerts will be sent to your phone whenever motion is registered. Providing live feed and notifications for full peace of mind.

Tip 4: Always make sure that your alarm is activated

A strong alarm system can keep out even the most persistent of intruders. Unfortunately, having an alarm on all day can also be inconvenient to those of us who need to grant home access to a variety of people during the day.

Thanks to the new integration between Linus^® and our Smart Alarm range*, avoiding triggering a false alarm, and giving access to people you trust is easier than ever! Now, whenever your door is opened using Linus^®, your alarm will be programmed to deactivate automatically! Making your life easier as your dog walker or babysitter can easily let themselves in, once you’ve shared with them a virtual key or keypad entry code. 

Looking for added protection for your home when you are away during long dark nights? Thanks to integrations between the Sync Smart Home Alarm and Philips Hue Smart Lighting, you can program your smart lights to flash red when the alarm is triggered. Notifying neighbours of any suspicious activity and scaring away potential intruders, so you can be sure that your home is as safe as possible at all times.

*Available on the 31st of October 2022. 

Tip 5: Storing your valuables in a safe will better protect them

Investing in a quality safe is the best way to safeguard your valuables against unwanted visitors, particularly for those working from home. Our Yale safe range comes with a variety of different security features to suit your needs. Protecting you against the increased risk of break-ins during this season.

You have a few options when it comes to opening your Yale safe. Keys, fingerprints, or an entry code can all be used to gain access to your treasured belongings, depending on your safe model and personal preferences!

Our safe range can easily hold any item with hooks, lighting, and shelving available. Letting you store items like work laptops, phones, or important documents in a way that keeps them out of view once you leave the house and provides you with simple and quick access to them at a moment's notice.

And for those of us that are more technologically savvy, our latest addition to the Yale safe range, the Yale Smart Safe, will be available soon, adding even more security and convenience thanks to in-app control and voice integrations. 

Tip 6: Remember to lock up outdoor buildings like sheds

Having a solid CCTV system or outdoor cameras will help to protect the outside of your home, an area that is often overlooked when it comes to property security as autumn approaches. However, to be as thorough as possible, it’s also recommended that you bring belongings inside, and lock your garden gate with high-protection padlocks, like the ones from Yale.

Similarly, a good quality bike lock will protect any bike from unwanted attention. Most of us don’t realise the number of valuable items we have hidden away in our gardens or sheds. Bikes, gardening equipment and tools can all be costly to replace, so securing outdoor buildings is also a top priority.

Our range of standard, high, and maximum protection padlocks and bike locks will keep these belongings safe, as they feature varying levels of security ranking to suit users' individual needs. Yale high-protection padlocks are also weatherproof, so they can face anything the unsettled weather of the season brings. And for added levels of protection, the Sync Smart Home Alarm provides a 200m protection range, so you can give your outdoor storage buildings some extra security.