If all sorts of people are approaching your door, a video intercom like the SkyBell HD is a worthwhile investment, but you may not be making the most of it. Here’s how to get the most out of your SkyBell HD video intercom.
Change video quality
CONNECTED:How to Change SkyBell HD Doorbell Video Quality
SkyBell HD can stream and record video at resolutions up to 1080p. However, if your internet connection cannot handle the load, you can change the video quality.
Simply open the settings in the SkyBell HD app and select Image Quality. From there, you can choose lower quality than 1080p, all the way down to 480p. Keep in mind that this will make it harder for people at your door to identify, so be sure to experiment and find the best balance you can.
Share access with other family members
RELATED:How to share SkyBell HD Access with other users
SkyBell doesn’t work as well if you’re the only person in your family with access to it, so you’ll want to share your video intercom access with other family members.
You can do this by going to settings and clicking Manage Sharing. From there, you can invite someone via email and they can watch SkyBell live video and view past recordings.
Enable Do Not Disturb
RELATED:How to turn off the sound on the SkyBell HD doorbell
While it’s not technically called Do Not Disturb, SkyBell HD has a feature where you can «mute» the doorbell so that when someone presses the button, they don’t actually ring the doorbell.
Go to settings and click «Internal call». From there, click on the toggle switch next to «Indoor Chime» to turn it off and silence the doorbell. Be aware, however, that this will still send you notifications via your phone unless you turn them off separately.
Adjust motion sensitivity
RELATED:How to adjust motion sensitivity on SkyBell HD doorbell
While you can get alerts on your phone every time you press the doorbell button, you can also get alerts when motion is detected. However, you will probably want to adjust the motion sensitivity.
In the settings, click «Motion Detection». Turn it on if it’s not already there, and then choose High, Medium, or Low as far as sensitivity goes.
Download video to share
RELATED:How to download videos from your SkyBell HD
Although you can view recorded videos on the SkyBell app, they disappear after a certain amount of time. So if you want to save any recordings for the future, you will need to download them in case you need to share them with the police or anyone else.
On iOS, you simply scroll through the video and click Download. On Android, just click on the download button next to the video. It will then be saved to your phone’s local storage, where you can do whatever you want with it.
Change LED color
RELATED:How to Change SkyBell HD Doorbell LED Color
This is not a very big feature of SkyBell HD, but it allows you to personalize it. By default, the button is green, but you can change it to any color you want.
Click «LED» in the settings menu and then select «Color» on the next screen. From there you can use the color picker to select your favorite color to use. You can even change the button’s LED brightness.
Take advantage of Live View
When someone rings the doorbell and you go to watch a live video, many users forget that you can do more on this screen than just see who is at the door.
For example, you can take a snapshot of the video feed at any time, and you can also use the microphone to talk to the person at the door. You can even click on the gear icon to access integrations with other apps, like the Kevo app to open the door right from that screen.
Connect to IFTTT for more functionality
RELATED:How to automate your favorite apps with IFTTT
Skybell HD comes with a lot of customization and functionality, but you can do even more with it by linking it to IFTTT and using some automation.
For example, your smart lights can flash whenever someone rings the doorbell, or you can set your porch lights to turn on automatically when motion is detected at your front door.
