How to get an alert when someone enters your premises out of hours

Start with what your recorder already offers. Many Hikvision, Dahua and CP Plus recorders can send a phone alert when they detect movement or a person in an area you mark, during hours you choose. If you also want a photo, fewer false alarms and checks for smoke, fire and a covered camera, add software that reads the same cameras.

• Works with: the cameras and recorder you have now. No new cameras or wiring.
• You set: your closed hours and the areas that matter, such as the gate, the yard, the back door or the stockroom.
• You get: a phone alert when someone is in those areas during closed hours. With our software it comes with a photo, the camera and the time.
• You still need: a person who decides what to do. An alert tells you. It does not attend the site, call the police or lock a door.
• Free to try: our 7-day trial runs on up to 32 cameras, no card.

Write down when the site is closed and who might legitimately be there. Cleaners, night shifts and delivery drivers all show up as people on camera. The software cannot know who they are, so set your hours to match when nobody should be there.

Then choose the cameras. You do not need every camera. A good start is the gate or fence line, the doors, the yard or lot, the stockroom and any room with valuable goods.

Want to know when someone is on site after hours? Try it free for 7 days, no card

Your recorder may already do part of the job. Each brand names it differently and not every model has it, so check your model's manual. These are the starting points from the makers' own documentation.

• Hikvision. On a recorder's or camera's web page, intrusion detection is under Smart Analysis, Smart Event Settings, Perimeter Protection, Intrusion. Tick Enable Intrusion Detection, draw the area, and set Detection Target to Human or Vehicle to discard alarms that are not caused by a person or vehicle. Then set an arming schedule and the linkage actions. In the Hik-Connect app, open the device's Settings, tap Alarm Notification and switch it on. You can add a notification schedule so alerts reach you only during the hours you choose. Menu names vary by model and firmware.
• Dahua. On devices with the newer interface, the intrusion rule is under AI, Parameters, Smart Plan to switch it on, then IVS to set the rule. In the DMSS app, open the device's three dots, then Device Details, Multi-channel Alarm Subscription, switch it on, choose Period Settings for the hours, tick the cameras and Save. If notifications still do not arrive, check the phone's notification permission.
• CP Plus. In the gCMOB or iCMOB app, push notifications cover four events: motion detection, video loss, tampering and network disconnect. Some models also have Smart Motion Detection, which CP Plus describes as telling humans and vehicles from other movement. Its FAQ says each push message carries only the device, the camera name and the event type.

Basic motion detection reacts to anything that changes in the picture, including headlights, insects, rain and shadows. The people-and-vehicle filters help, but only on models that have them. The alert itself is often a line of text. At 3 a.m. a line of text does not tell you whether to get up.

Each brand also has its own app. If your site has recorders from two brands, you check two apps. And a recorder will not tell you about smoke or a covered camera unless the model has those checks built in.

AI software on a computer at your site reads the video from your recorder, decides whether a person is in a marked area during closed hours, and sends you a photo with the camera name and the time. The recorder keeps recording as it does today.

Look for a few things: a photo in the alert, a second check that cuts false alarms, a free trial on your own cameras, and a way to set closed hours once for the whole site. Read more on after-hours intrusion detection and night security without a guard on every shift.

Decide this before you switch anything on. Who gets the alert? What do they do? Common answers are to look at the photo, call the site, ask a neighbour or keyholder to check, or call the police.

If you pay a guard or a keyholding service today, alerts do not replace the person who goes to the site. They tell you sooner, and show you what is there, so you can decide whether to send someone. Some insurers set conditions on alarms, keyholders or guards, so ask yours before you change a service you pay for.

• Your own people are on site after close. Set the closed hours to match, or choose cameras that cover only the areas nobody should enter.
• Too many alerts from a road, a street light or a tree. Mark the zone more tightly so it covers the door or the yard, not the street.
• A dark or blurry night picture. Better lighting, or a camera cleaned and re-aimed, fixes what software cannot.
• A camera that stops sending video. Check that cameras are online, because a camera that is off sees nothing.

• After closing, walk through each marked area while someone watches the phone.
• Check that the alert arrives, that it shows the right camera and that the right people receive it.
• Cover one lens for a minute and see whether a covered-camera alert arrives.
• Repeat once in the rain or in poor light.

We are software, not a camera brand, a guard company or a monitoring centre. Our software installs on a Windows computer at your site in 60 seconds and works with Hikvision and Prama, Dahua, CP Plus, TVT, Uniview, Axis, Hanwha, and any camera, DVR or NVR that supports RTSP or ONVIF.

• People after hours, in zones you mark, is standard on every site. You set your closed hours once.
• Our own AI models, trained in-house, watch each camera on site. A second, larger model checks every event before you are alerted.
• The alert is a photo with the camera and the time, on WhatsApp, Telegram or the Foreman app. We tell you someone is there. We cannot tell you who.
• Smoke and fire, a covered camera and a camera that goes offline are standard too.
• Recordings stay on site. We do not send guards or call the police.
• Free 7-day trial on up to 32 cameras, no card. In India it is ₹400 per camera per month plus GST, four cameras minimum.