Why You Can Trust CNET Prevent Package Theft: 5 Smart Home Devices to Protect Your Deliveries
These gadgets will help you keep an eye on your porch, even when you aren't home.
Porch piracy occurs all year long — not just around the holidays — and it happens often.
Picture this: You get an email saying your much-anticipated online order has been finally delivered to your porch. You're giddy with excitement and can't wait to get home to open it. But your buzz is instantly axed when you get home and realize the package is gone.
Porch piracy occurs all year long, — not just around the holidays — and unfortunately, it happens often. In 2022 alone, nearly 79% of Americans had packages stolen by porch pirates. Nationwide, porch pirates stole 260 millions packages in 2022, amounting to more than $19 million lost.
Fortunately, there are several smart home devices on that market that allow you to monitor deliveries remotely. With these devices, you can easily monitor your front porch to keep an eye on any thieves who may want to swipe unprotected packages and head off with your gifts. Read on to find out what products and services will help you keep a virtual eye on your deliveries, no matter where you are.
You can also find tips on the worst places to put your home security cameras, and six ways to ensure optimal home security camera performance.
Connected buzzers work in much the same way as traditional security cameras. The hardwired Arlo Video Doorbell has high-definition resolution, a live video feed, motion alerts and more -- for a super reasonable price. Subscribe to the Arlo Smart cloud service for access to advanced motion alerts that differentiate between people, animals, cars and packages. You can also look back at your video footage with Arlo Smart to help neighbors and law enforcement (if necessary) identify who snagged your holiday deliveries.
The Arlo Video Doorbell is our current top pick in the category. Check out all of the best best video doorbells.
The Arlo Pro 4 is smart and feature-rich, with 2K video resolution, a built-in spotlight for night-time deterrence, a surprisingly loud siren and all the smarts of the company's video doorbell. With a subscription, you can look back at recorded events, get alerts and use two-way talk to scare off would-be porch pirates.
It's our top pick in the outdoor security camera category. Check out all of our tested best home security camera picks.
Integrated porch light-security cameras are an emerging smart home security category. The Ring Spotlight Cam (pictured), the Netatmo Outdoor Security Camera and the Ring Floodlight Cam all combine smart lighting with smart video monitoring. With each of these devices, you can watch a live video feed, receive motion alerts and talk to people via two-way audio intercoms. But you can also program the lights to turn on and off at set times.
The Spotlight Cam even has a 110-decibel siren, so you can scare someone away when needed.
In addition to outdoor cameras and in-home delivery services, select companies offer smart locks and storage options for your packages. One such company is BoxLock. Its product, also called BoxLock, is a smart padlock that works with a related BoxLock app.
Here's how it's supposed to work: A BoxLock delivery partner uses the lock to scan the package barcode. The lock unlocks and they secure your delivery inside a storage container (sold separately) until you can get home and retrieve your package. UPS, FedEx, Amazon Prime and USPS are BoxLock partners.
Amazon also offers a Locker program in select areas. You have to travel to an Amazon Locker location, but these kiosks let you pick up Amazon packages on your own schedule with a six-digit code (rather than worrying about something sitting on your front porch).
Ring has a device specifically for tracking when people are opening your mailbox, which makes tracking deliveries a lot easier. But if you have a home security system at home, another easy way of monitoring your mailbox is using a door/window sensor -- one of those magnetic gadgets that pings the system when an entryway is opened -- inside the door of your box. Either way you do it, you should be able to track the delivery of small parcels -- and make sure you know when someone's opening the mailbox who shouldn't be.
Other options for stopping porch pirates
If none of the above tech options appeal to you, don't fret. You can require a signature for your delivery so packages aren't ever left outside when no one's home. You can also have your packages shipped to your office or somewhere else where you're guaranteed to be during the day.
Porch pirates don't just strike around the holidays.
For more, check out more practical tips for stopping package theft, and how to improve your home's security now. You can also learn more about CNET's favorite home security products of the year:
- Best Wireless Home Security Cameras
- Best Cheap Home Security Devices
- Best Nanny Cams
- Best Solar-Powered Security Cameras
- Best Cheap Home Security Cameras
- Best Smart Locks
- Best Cheap Home Security Systems
- Best Home Security Systems for Renters