Cox Homelife Reviews

by Kathygflo

CoxHomelife has so many major flaws. Number one being: when switching in between apps, it logs you out so you have to sign in everytime you want to look at the camera. Taking minutes to log in and reload when you want to catch something live in your front door defeats the purpose of having a security camera.
Doesn’t warn you real time when the door is open. It takes a minute or two before notifications show up.
Doesn’t automatically record movements. You have to sit there and hit the record button if you want to replay something. Again, defeats the purpose of having a security camera when I have to sit there and watch it to catch something.

by Mozart's Disowned Son

I’ve tried to like the Cox Homelife equipment and software, but none of it works. CoxHomelife, in particular, is as weak and unstable as they come. Every time I fire it up, I cringe. And now, with the latest release, CoxHomelife has added an inability to save video from CVR recordings to its list of bugs. CoxHomelife just crashes when I try. I guess I should be grateful to even be able to see any video from CVR recordings because, more often than not, CoxHomelife won’t even connect to my cameras. Even when I am able to connect and view recordings, they are invariably filled with gaps during which no recording has apparently occurred. Cox needs a serious overhaul of both their Homelife hardware and software. As it is, it is just unusable, and doesn’t provide anyone with what I would consider to be actual security.

by Baomxo

The upgraded app is not nearly as good or user-friendly as the old app. Specifically, I use to be able to access my motion sensors from the home screen right where you arm the system but now the new upgraded app makes you go to ‘more’ and then deactivate from there which is stupid. In addition once you deactivate the sensor it doesn’t let you know on that screen whether or not the sensor is on or off. Please move the ability to activate/deactivate the sensors back to the homepage and then have them display whether they are on or off. An upgrade is supposed to be better not worse and easier to use not harder - I’ve had to call support twice now to get help with the new app opposed to never having to call support on the old app. Thanks.

by Shredder Boy

I love the home automation wave going on right now and have multiple devices from various manufacturers installed. I installed two home life cameras, two door/window sensors and 1 lightbulb simply because it came as a promotion and was excited to try a new product. I would give the setup process 5 stars as all devices worked perfectly but whoever was in charge of software development torpedoed the whole system. CoxHomelife is flashy and appealing to the eye but has so many bugs that the whole setup is useless for anything other than watching my dog. Renaming devices works about 30% of the time. The application did not save my credentials during initial setup, I’m not talking about automatically logging in, CoxHomelife allowed me to log in one time and then completely dumped everything resulting in a call to tech support. Attempting to setup any rules renders CoxHomelife unresponsive. And the list goes on. Having worked in software development for many years, I would have been fired for putting something like this into production! Also, there hasn’t been a version release since October 23rd! Are they even trying to fix the issues?

by Submissive76

I have had so many issues using CoxHomelife that it’s honestly quite irritating. From devices disappeared and not able to add devices to device failure to not being able to view recordings or stills? I could continue to go and on but it’s useless at this point .... 1 star only bc you have to give a star to rate or review also I have devices on the tablet that do not show up in app and I have logged out deleted and then added app again and nothing.... when our home caught on fire it didn’t alert us of fire it alerted as door tampering ... a break in ... and yes we have the smoke/carbon monoxide detector... if weren’t so close to home to rush over and WE pretty much contained the fire ourselves before fire ever got there. Happy it did alert us and grateful but still CoxHomelife is junk
Extremely disappointed more like disgusted CoxHomelife is always messed up,can’t add devices on it can not see any stills or video feed always something within CoxHomelife constantly messed up!!!! Smh!!!!!!

by Pauly1347

iPhone X. With new update, functionality of turning sensors on and off is lost. There is no more toggle, nor swipe functionality on the sensors to turn them on or off. I need this ability because cox stated my dogs would not set off motion sensors because they don’t weigh enough. Well, after a false alarm come to find out it’s how TALL the dogs are. Pretty grimey sales tactic. New app doesn’t allow me to do this through the phone so if I leave the house with the dogs inside and forget to set the alarm from the main console, I can’t set my alarm without risking a false alarm

Responding to developer- that’s great I understand how to do that. But to turn off the motion sensors when I leave is no longer an option. So bypassing them is impossible with this update

by Bigcon25

First things first, the minute my contract is up, I’ll be leaving cox security for Ring or something else. CoxHomelife works half the time and the alarm sound comes only from the Home Pad so depending on where it is, you could never hear it if there was a break in. Additionally, CoxHomelife appears to have some serious latency issues so makes me question its effectiveness. Majority of the time when you’re in CoxHomelife , it will say connectivity issues and will not load the camera so you can’t see anything (btw we have one of coxs highest internet speeds and a strong router).

As of the last 2 months out of nowhere, my wife and I no longer receive notices for the settings we added (email/texts alerts) for specific events like arm/disarm etc. I have gone into the configurations multiple times to add the “rule” back but that didn’t work so I went and deleted/added it back and still it doesn’t work. We went as far to delete CoxHomelife and re-add it but still the same issues. Customer service is useless so at this point we just have to wait out our last 4 months before we can switch.

All in all, unless it’s free with your package, do not get this! It’s a headache and CoxHomelife is garbage. We will 110% be leaving cox as a whole when our contract is up! As they say, buyer beware and this couldn’t be more true!!!

by No Rules, No Notifications

Had the system installed 4 days ago. Camera feed is good, records and takes a pic on command, light turns off and on, door sensor works which are the only reasons I’ll rate this as a 1 star. When trying to set up a rule for notifications CoxHomelife freezes at the “Do this” step. Never should have let the install tech leave until I was convinced everything worked correctly. He said I needed to read the instruction booklet and customize how I wanted it to perform. “Gotta go” he says. I’ve reinstalled CoxHomelife numerous times, checked and completed all recent iPhone software updates. Called customer service and received NO help whatsoever. Your guess is as good as theirs. The install location was at a home I only visit once per month in another state so I need the surveillance to work and I can’t easily schedule convenient service visits. Ready to give up and get another product.

by Mthisapposhavingissues

I’ve had CoxHomelife for a while and system. All of the other reviews are correct, about the problems. Crashing app, crashing my phone, freezing the screen. Now w new software update on phone, I can’t use the system I pay over $100 for to do the actions it’s “designed” to do. I pretty much never write reviews on anything, so it has to be remarkable or awful for me to do so. The bundle. Internet is great. I can’t download videos anymore. Get an error try again later banner in the home life app. The tech support tonight let me know that CoxHomelife and phone software aren’t compatible. And since I’m in a contract, if I cancel there’s an early termination fee! It could be worth it to get another system that works better.

by Jeessus21

I was actually hoping for this to be a good app, having all sensors, cameras etc all in one app... But, what security app does not have in app notifications? Well this one doesn’t 🤦🏻‍♂️ I mean I get notified to text and email but I’m getting emails 10 minutes after a sensor has been activated or motion has been detected, and text messages also take like 2 to 4 minutes to notify you.... and only the account holder gets notified!!! Coming from one of the biggest internet providers in Arizona I was expecting way more!!! I have Ring cameras as well and i get notified at the moment as well as all my family members, what is the point of having a security system if by the time I get notified someone already broke into my house or something! Please work on CoxHomelife and make it useful!

by Lv Heat

We installed cameras, door sensors, motion sensors, door locks and thermostats in August 2018. We have had problems with CoxHomelife since day one. Even though you set up contacts and rules, only one person receives the notifications. Have had the techs out a few times and they tried setting up the rules at their homes and found the same problem. Even with all CoxHomelife updates this still hasn’t been fixed. Had a thermostat completely lose the cool function, had to have a tech come out and they had to reset it and resync it back with the central station. The tech couldn’t come out until the next day. Have ordered new thermostats from another company and as soon as they come these are getting removed. Cox does not have techs on call 24/7 and we aren’t going to be put in the position of not having full control of our hvac units again.

by Rachel030919

I had Homelife (door sensors, 1 lightbulb, and a front door camera mounted up high) for 2 years with a contract. After just a few days of having it, I knew I wouldn’t keep this security. Sometimes I would get a text minutes later that there WAS motion at the door and sometimes I wouldn’t get a text at all when I knew a package was just delivered to my front door. Sometimes the camera would record movement from a bird walking around my porch but somehow couldn’t record when someone is actively knocking on my door. It’s ridiculous and inconsistent. One of the few positives is when I would pull up the camera to watch it in “Live” mode, it wouldn’t lag and I could see what was actively happening at my front door which was convenient at times. Don’t waste your money.

by Zombiehunter33

Terrible. I have the camera, sensor, and bulb. The camera works fine can’t say the same as the sensor never notifies me when it moves just says closed all the time also we were just given a smart bulb without any type of hub but I know it works so i guess thats something. App is only good to watch the camera as its always bugging out and doesn’t allow you to create any type of automation or “rules” to allow your camera to record if any motion is detected. How am I supposed to record a dangerous moment like someone breaks in in the middle of the night and theres no automation set to record when motion is detected and theres no rewind button? Like the installer said: this is more of a toy rather than a security system so invest in something else if you actually want a sense of protection.

by EducatedVoiceOfReason

For instance, CoxHomelife no longer allows you to disarm specific sensors in order to ensure that interacting with them while the alarm is set won’t result in the alarm being set off. CoxHomelife will ask if you want to ignore those sensors that are already open prior to arming, but does not give you the option to disarm those that aren’t open at the time of arming. This feature was available prior to the update, and made it easy to disable certain sensors prior to arming the system. For example, I used to be able to disable certain window sensors that were closed at the time of arming the alarm for the “night” mode, so that my family could freely open these windows throughout the night without having to worry about setting the alarm off. So please, fix this.
Furthermore, although CoxHomelife allows for certain “routines” to be saved, I think it would be beneficial to have a way that would allow users to create “groups” to arm and/or disarm, making it easier to arm the alarm for night time usage or away usage, instead of having to go and disable every same sensor just like every other night.

by Laurend83

I was excited about CoxHomelife, being able to view my security system while I’m away, but I am less than impressed. There are cameras that I cannot see because they never seem to be connected, I’m getting an insane number of emails and text messages. And things just aren’t functioning the way I hoped. I was really hoping this would be more like the old Ring camera app that I used previously. I much prefer the in app notifications over all the text messages and emails. I also wish the rules were easier to setup. Hopefully some updates will be made soon to enhance CoxHomelife.

by Bhayden13

Configurability is problematic. Every time that I bring up CoxHomelife , it bumps the link to their tour of new features near the top of the page. No way to get rid of it. No way to delete it, and if you move it, CoxHomelife moves it back near the top the next time you open up the application. It doesn’t matter how often you are their tour, it still doesn’t go away, taking up valuable real estate on the screen.

Overall, Cox Homelife is a waste of money. You can’t put the rest of your Cox products on vacation hold, and leave Homelife active, if you are streaming video to the cloud, because their modem is mostly shut down then. Of course, the sales people lied and told me that, of course, it would work. I also have constant problems with their camera WiFi modem routinely crashing, with no way to reboot it remotely.

by Abraham Gama

I need CoxHomelife for my home security system. After long days of work I come home ready to get inside with my hands full. CoxHomelife takes maybe 3 full minutes to load up, and then the majority of the time it doesn’t allow me to enter my fingerprint as a password. Our account is a shared account for the household - I don’t have access to the actual password and email so I use my finger print. If that doesn’t pop up, I either have to go through my saved passwords, or close CoxHomelife entirely, and reopen (having to wait the 3min loading time AGAIN).
Unlocking my door which should take 30 seconds is a 5 minute task with this faulty app.
Also surprised to see such a low overall rating, and yet it seems no improvements have been made to better CoxHomelife .

by MalibuMal

One of the first local customers to get Cox Home Security. I have been satisfied with my service but not with CoxHomelife .
-If I open CoxHomelife , go to another app, and then go back to the Homelife app it is stuck in a never ending cycle of loading. I have to force close CoxHomelife every time I move out of it or it won’t work at all.
-My favorites list on the home screen keeps rearranging, no matter how many times I set it, the cameras feature moves to the very bottom from the top.
-If I am away from home for a long period and need to adjust the programming for my thermostat I go through all the hoops only to have it save nothing!! So very frustrating.
-I wish wish wish I could access CVR Playback from CoxHomelife . I’m paying extra a month for this feature and I don’t feel like I’m getting the full use out of it. I loathe having to get on the computer to check it. I hardly use the computer...except to access this feature.

by Cowboy1966!

I understand now why I’m having problems with the camera not sending me text messages and the door sensor lagging anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute or more before I get the text notification. I didn’t realize that they updated their app. Whatever it is they done, they need to undo. Because it worked great until a month ago when they changed it!!!!!!
I deleted the rule for the camera and tried resetting it, but it doesn’t even have the option for a text notification, just an email! That in itself is going to lag in time!!!!!
Undo CoxHomelife update, it made things not work properly! I saw no problem with it before the update a month ago, so, seriously, undo it!!!!!

by Pat CAson

As for my alarm system that’s the BEST thing Cox has going for them. I have to use there internet really sad. When I signed up with cox I explain my situation with them and told them
I could not go over 150. A month they said everything we all want to hear then your bill arrives and everything they told you was a LIE!!!!!! I am going to go with dish yes I will use cox internet cause we have no choice and I will keep my homelife, but cox cable is buried gone I am done fighting with these people. I have basic cable I don’t even have the cooking channel and I just paid 247. for my bill. I hate cox and always have, just one more try nothing has changed!!!!!!!

by Cid Mc

I guess I need to call tech/app support because my cameras have been buggy in the last month in CoxHomelife , only connecting sporadically. Deleted the rules and recreated them exactly the same, record when motion is detected, and now it’s recording random clips at random intervals, every day from midnight until my quota of 50 videos is reached, usually by 9 am. I have checked EVERY video clip and there was no motion to trigger the rule. That pretty much makes that function that I am paying for absolutely useless. A break-in wouldn’t be recorded if it happened. Shady characters aren’t being recorded. And I don’t get many visitors or deliveries before 9 am on the off chance that a random recording might catch something. Zero stars would be more appropriate.

by Bshmstr78FS

I extended my Cox Homelife service for 2 years last April. I'm now starting to think this was a bad decision. The security environment works, alarms and everything are okay but the iOS app is just horrendous. It takes minutes on end to display a camera view on the iOS app. Sometimes it just hangs and hangs until I restart CoxHomelife several times. Why is CoxHomelife so bad and so substandard compared to competitors? Same equipment worked great before. Also, recently they updated the firmware in the control panel and all the apps on the panel disappeared. Why? I used it as a clock for its background I mean why kill that option?

by CoakTG

1. The main screen when the layout is edited does not stay put. It will change immediately after, or within regular use. 2. CoxHomelife is very slow. The time it takes to communicate with the thermostat I could have gotten up and done it myself. 3. The time it takes to turn a switch on for the lights (plugs) I could have gotten up and done it myself. 4. In LTE it is terrible, but in WiFi trying to turn the alarm off daily when I come home for lunch is much longer than it should be. Conclusion: CoxHomelife seems to be a bit dumb. It’s slow, clunky, oversized clunky ugly layout. I have Cox “gigablast,” connection, and live in a fiber upgraded area. My speeds exceed 1200mbps down 55mbps up in my area on a slow day - it’s CoxHomelife , not me. The phone gets go into the 450mbps down and 20mbps up. Cox this is the #1 reason everyone rates this Homelife security so low. Fire the devs responsible, get good devs that know what they’re doing and make an app worthy of a great home security system. Or don’t, and lose customers.

by Xtreme Stuff!!

For instance, CoxHomelife no longer allows you to disarm specific sensors in order to ensure that interacting with them while the alarm is set won’t result in the alarm being set off. CoxHomelife will ask if you want to ignore those sensors that are already open prior to arming, but does not give you the option to disarm those that aren’t open at the time of arming. This feature was available prior to the update, and made it easy to disable certain sensors prior to arming the system. For example, I used to be able to disable certain window sensors that were closed at the time of arming the alarm for the “night” mode, so that my family could freely open these windows throughout the night without having to worry about setting the alarm off. So please, fix this.
Furthermore, although CoxHomelife allows for certain “routines” to be saved, I think it would be beneficial to have a way that would allow users to create “groups” to arm and/or disarm, making it easier to arm the alarm for night time usage or away usage, instead of having to go and disable every same sensor just like every other night.

by C10cKw0rK

I’m not sure why people are giving this less than 4 stars? It seems like most complaints are due to the lack of understanding of technology??? I get text and email alerts consistently which ADT never gave me unless I paid more than what I pay for Cox’s system. My cameras always work, the paid unlimited recording option is VERY useful. I have yet to have a problem with any part of my alarm. ADT and Vivint give a lot of free stuff but, once I read the fine print on their contracts and early termination, I went with Cox.