What Features Are Supported on Alarm.com for Android Auto™?

Alarm.com for Android Auto™ allows you to perform home security and automation features from your vehicle's touchscreen. You can run the Home and Away scenes, open or close garage doors, and receive specific notifications, some with quick security actions available directly on the screen.

Alarm.com App Icon:

Any of the systems that use Alarm.com for remote control, signal delivery, and automation can use this feature. That means 2GIG systems, Qolsys systems, DSC systems, even older Interlogix systems, have access to this capability. All you need is an Alarm.com commercial or residential account, the Alarm.com app version 5.0.0+, an Android phone, and a compatible vehicle or after-market stereo system with a touchscreen.

Most automobiles manufactured in 2018 or later come equipped with a stereo system that has some type of touchscreen and supports Android Auto™. Many after-market stereo systems also support this feature, so nearly any car, truck, or SUV is supported if it has a newer stereo with a touchscreen that supports the Android Auto™ feature. The purpose of Android Auto™ is to bring your phone's touchscreen interface to your vehicle's touchscreen so that you can perform necessary tasks without having to look at your phone's screen.

Options Supported When Using Alarm.com with Android Auto™:

Below we will outline each of the features supported with this integration, and how those features can be used. Remember the purpose of this integration is to promote safety and cut down on distracted driving, so the options are limited by design.

Scenes:

There are two (2) available scenes that you can run from the Android Auto™ screen. They are Home and Away. Using the Alarm.com App or Website, you can customize these scenes based on your needs. With the Away scene, you may turn off lights, close the garage door, and arm the system to the Away mode. With the Home scene, you may turn on certain lights, open the garage door, and disarm your system. Perhaps you run the Away scene as you leave for the day, and run the Home scene as you pull into your driveway. These are just simple examples.

To run a scene, click on the Alarm.com icon from the Android Auto™ screen. Once the Alarm.com app is running within Android Auto™, you will see the icons for Home, Away, and also an icon for any garage doors you may have available. Simply tap the icon for the scene you wish to run. The icon will change to a loading image (a circular icon) and will return to normal once the scene's action has been completed. If a garage door happens to be included in the scene, the garage door icon will also show a loading image while the action is being completed.

Garage Door:

In order for the garage door option to be displayed in Android Auto™, the service package for the account must have the garage door add-on enabled, and the Alarm.com login used must also have permission to remotely control the garage door or doors.

Garage Door Open (left) and Garage Door Closed (right) Icons as seen on the Android Auto™ display:

To control a garage door, click the Alarm.com icon on the Android Auto™ touchscreen display. Once the app is open, touch the garage door icon to toggle the garage door to the opposite position. If you see the Open icon, tapping it will close the garage door. If you see the Closed icon, tapping it will open the garage door. Up to four (4) garage doors can be seen and controlled through Android Auto™ in this way. After you press the icon, it will briefly display a 'working' icon, and will then return to displaying the current state of the garage door.

Notifications:

There are three (3) types of notifications you may receive through Android Auto™ pertaining to the Alarm.com integration:

• Alarm.com Notifications
• Head Unit Notifications
• Notification Center Notifications

Alarm.com Notifications:

Alarm.com notifications occur when the Alarm.com customer app is up and running within Android Auto™ at the time the event occurs. These notifications can be one of any of the following:

• Pending Alarm
• Alarm
• Arming Reminder
• Location-based notifications such as Sensor Left Open, Garage Door Left Open, Panel left disarmed, etc.

Head Unit Notifications:

Head unit notifications are the same types of notifications the user would receive as an Alarm.com notification, however, these are delivered to the car's display even though the user does not have the Alarm.com customer app open within Android Auto™. This type of notification will usually come up as a banner and may have a primary action as well as a cancel action icon available. For example, if the notification is a location-based "Garage Door Left Open" message, then the primary action available would be to close the garage door. Alternatively, there will be an X (cancel) icon, to acknowledge and dismiss the notification without taking any action.

Both Head Unit Notifications and Notification Center Notifications have actions available for certain items. Further, some notifications will have both a primary and a secondary action available, while others will have no action. For Head Unit Notifications, only the primary action will be available on the notification screen itself. For Notification Center Notifications, both actions will be available with text naming each.

Notification Center Notifications:

These notifications appear with all other Android Auto™ notifications within the Notification Center. To get to the Notification Center, click the bell or number icon in the lower right of the Android Auto™ screen. Once you're in the Notification Center, you can scroll through the available notifications to find those from Alarm.com. Depending on the notification, you'll have no action option, a primary action, or a primary and secondary action option. You can see the available options, per the notification, in the table above.

Additional Notes About Using Alarm.com's Customer App with Android Auto™:

• In order to access Alarm.com in Android Auto™ you must log into the Alarm.com app first. If you don't, and you attempt to launch Alarm.com within Android Auto™ an error message 'An Error Occurred. Please log in again.' will be displayed. From here, you need to login into the Alarm.com customer app on the phone, then attempt to launch within Android Auto™ again.
• The Android Auto™ split-screen feature is not currently compatible with the Alarm.com Customer App.
• Alarm.com currently only offers Dark Mode operation. There is no Light Mode version.
• It is possible to use the Alarm.com customer app on the actual phone at the same time it is being used with Android Auto™
• The Alarm.com app updates in real-time when being used with Android Auto™.