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How to create smart home automation actions and scenes in your San Francisco home

June 03, 2025
Man using a home security app on his smartphone

Home security is more than alarms and wires. These days, your modern system focuses on smart home automation and pre-set scenes. Through the use of your command panel or phone app, you can implement custom actions that improve your security and convenience. Learn how to design your own in just a few simple steps. 

What’s possible with smart home automation?

Modern smart homes permit you to do so much, like changing thermostat settings or examining video footage remotely from your smartphone. But that’s only scratching the surface. Smart home automation lets different elements of your home to work together. 

Here are a few examples of what you could configure:

  • Deactivate your alarm when a door is opened with a PIN
  • Unlock your front door when a CO detector or fire alarm trips
  • Re-lock doors a set amount of time after they are unlocked
  • Set indoor cameras to record if a door opens or motion detector triggers
  • Disarm and arm your system at specified hours

Your choices are practically limitless. You might even configure a varied bedtime scene that dims lights, activates your system, and secures doors simultaneously. The best home security systems in San Francisco make it simple with easy-to-navigate smartphone apps.

Creating home automation actions in your San Francisco home

If you’re apprehensive about technology and think you can’t master configuring your home’s automation, think again. Cell phone apps like Vivint’s allow you to make life easier with custom actions in merely a couple of minutes. Vivint’s app also comes pre-loaded with some optional automation actions you may just turn on.  

Here’s a quick rundown of how to create a new action, also known as a rule:

  1. Access the Vivint app on your smartphone.
  2. Press the menu icon in the top left corner and choose “Smart Actions.”
  3. Touch the “+” sign to initiate a new action.
  4. Begin by selecting what you want to occur. To illustrate, you might wish to start a surveillance recording, activate your system, or switch on a light. You’ll find many possibilities.
  5. Next, specify what will cause the action. To illustrate, you might want a smart light to illuminate when a motion sensor activates or a surveillance device to record when a front door lock is engaged. You may also program an action based on the hour.
  6. The last step is to verify your action, make sure it’s saved, and toggle it on to enable it.

If it appears difficult, it’s not. Thanks to the app's usability, you essentially just touch what you want and switch rules off or on. If you want a camera to record when a door lock activates, you can select which camera to use from a list. You'll also select the door if there’s more than one option. The rule may be implemented for all hours or only for specified timeframes.

Enjoy innovative smart home automation by installing a Vivint security system

Take some of life’s routine tasks off your plate and let your new Vivint smart home handle them for you! By using smart home automation, you’ll benefit from another level of convenience while getting a better defense for your loved ones. Customize your smart home in San Francisco today by placing a call to (415) 969-9484 and speaking to a Vivint expert.