Loxone Security System — when the alarm, access control and door intercom speak one language

Picture this: two weeks' holiday, and on the last evening at home someone asks, ‘Are you sure you locked the garden gate?’ In a conventional home, that starts a guessing game. In a house fitted with Loxone, it takes a glance at your phone: the app shows that every door and window is closed and the alarm is armed — and that it will alert you straight away if anything happens. Not because a standalone alarm, a door intercom running in another app and a smoke detector living in a third system each speak their own language — but because all of it runs in one system, behind one logic. This article looks at how Loxone makes security a natural part of your home automation rather than yet another separate box: from the alarm, through access control and the door intercom, to fire and water leak alerts and presence simulation while you're away on holiday.

How is this different from a standalone alarm?

In most homes, security is made up of several independent boxes: an alarm panel with its own keypad, a door intercom with its own small screen, perhaps a camera system with its own app, and a smoke detector that beeps but tells no one if nobody happens to be at home. Each of them works — but each on its own island.

With Loxone, those islands disappear. The alarm, access control, the door intercom, smoke and water leak alerts — even lighting and shading — all run through the logic of the same Miniserver and appear in the same app. The practical benefit: a single motion sensor can serve both the lighting (switching on when someone comes in) and the alarm (raising an alert when the same thing happens at night with the system armed) — so you don't need to buy it twice, wire it twice or set it up twice.

What happens when the alarm goes off? — stages, not a panic button

Loxone's security logic isn't an all-or-nothing switch. The system responds in stages and tries to rule out false alarms: when one sensor triggers, the Miniserver waits to see whether a second, independent sensor confirms it within a short time — so a curtain caught by a draught or a pet on its own won't set everything off. Once the system identifies a real threat, the response escalates: first a quieter warning, then a loud siren, the shutters going up and the lights flashing, so that it's visible from outside that something is happening — while you receive a push notification or a phone call.

The same logic applies to smoke and water leak alerts: the system first gives a pre-alarm (with an adjustable delay) and then — if the situation doesn't clear — sets off a loud, visible alarm, which you can either acknowledge (if you know what's happened) or leave the system to keep monitoring.

Sensors that see everything — motion, opening, glass break

The Loxone security system is built on a handful of relatively simple but versatile sensors:

• Door & Window Contact: uses a magnet to detect whether a door or window is open or closed — information that serves security (a window left open when you arm the system) and energy efficiency (the heating switches off while a window is open) at the same time.
• Motion and presence sensors: combine infrared motion detection, light-level measurement and — in the case of the Presence Sensor — acoustic detection, so they recognise not only people moving around but also someone sitting quietly.
• Window handle sensor and glass break detector: as well as reporting whether a window is open or tilted, they also detect vibration and breaking glass — a particularly important addition for easily accessible ground-floor windows.

These sensors don't live in a separate ‘alarm subsystem’: the same motion sensor that switches on the stairwell light in the evening also raises the alarm at night when the system is armed.

Access control and door intercom — who's coming in, and who's at the gate?

For most homes, the front door is the weakest link: a lost key, a copied key, or simply the fact that nobody likes handing out keys to the whole family (plus the cleaner and the gardener). The Loxone NFC Code Touch is the answer: access can be granted with an NFC tag (as a key fob, sticker or card), a numeric code, or a combination of the two (two-factor authentication). Once someone has been successfully identified, the system can activate up to six different outputs — so the same device can open the front door or the garden gate, or trigger a custom scene.

In practice, a single tap of a card both opens the door and disarms the alarm — there's no need to switch off the alarm with a code and then unlock the door with a key. On the projects where we've designed this in, the electric locks on the front door and the garden gate typically run from an uninterruptible power supply — so even during a power cut, the house isn't left without protection or a way in.

Who's at the gate? — Intercom

The Loxone Intercom is a compact video door intercom with a glass front: it has a built-in camera, two-way audio, a proximity sensor and an illuminated doorbell button. It works over the network with PoE power, and an NFC Code Touch can be connected directly via its built-in Tree interface — so the doorbell, camera and access control all sit in a single panel. When someone rings, you can see and hear your visitor on your phone from anywhere, and even let them in remotely.

Fire and water damage — the silent threats

Not every threat is a noisy break-in. Water quietly seeping from a burst pipe overnight, or an electrical fault that starts to smoke, often only comes to light once serious damage has been done. Loxone's Fire and Water Alarm function works with the Smoke Detector Air and the Water Sensor Air, as well as temperature inputs, and fits into the same alarm logic as burglary protection: a pre-alarm, then — if necessary — a loud, visible alarm and a notification to you.

What makes this function especially valuable is that it works precisely when it's needed most: on holiday, when there's no one at home to hear the beeping.

When the house is empty — presence simulation and remote monitoring

Presence simulation

When you go away, Loxone's ‘Away’ function doesn't just arm the alarm — it also moves the lights and shutters in a random but lifelike pattern, as if someone were at home. It's the same logic we described from the shutters' point of view in our article on Loxone shading and blind control — here, combined with lighting and presence, it creates a convincing ‘someone's home’ impression that's hard to see through.

If something does happen, the Loxone App and a push notification on your phone let you know straight away, wherever you are — even in another country. You can also check the system's status remotely through the app, and with the Loxone Remote Connect service we set up secure remote access to the Miniserver without any port forwarding.

A day when nobody's home

To make it clearer what this means in practice, let's look at what the system does on an ordinary day while the family is away for two weeks:

• Before leaving — a single touch (wall switch or app) activates the ‘Away’ scene: the system checks that every door and window is closed, then arms the alarm and access control.
• 7:00 am — the lights come on briefly in the living room and one of the upstairs rooms, as if someone were just getting up.
• Afternoon — the shutters move according to the logic described in our previous article: sometimes lower, sometimes higher, depending on the weather — not a mechanical pattern that runs at the same time every day.
• 7:30 pm — the lights come on in the kitchen and living room for a few hours, then switch off before the house goes dark ‘for bedtime’.
• At night, if a sensor triggers — within seconds the system has the alert confirmed by a second sensor, then raises the alarm: siren, flashing lights, and a push notification or phone call to you, wherever you happen to be.
• Coming home — an NFC tap or a code at the entrance disarms the alarm and opens the door in one go; the ‘Away’ scene ends automatically.

All of this happens without anyone lifting a finger, yet it never looks mechanical — which is exactly what makes the presence simulation convincing, and exactly what gives you peace of mind while you're away.

Privacy and local operation — it works even without the internet

Many people are rightly concerned about where the data from a ‘smart’ security system ends up. Loxone takes a clear stance on this: operation is local by default (it runs on the Miniserver); remote access, push notifications and the weather service run via the Loxone cloud service — these are optional. The system works even without an internet connection.

In practice, this means that if the router freezes or the internet connection drops, the alarm, access control and sensors carry on working — only the phone notifications wait until the connection is back.

When should you plan it in at the build stage, and what can be added later?

Like lighting or shading, a security system is most elegantly integrated in a new build or a full renovation: the Loxone Tree bus carries data and power to the sensors and control units over a single cable, with no need to cut into walls later on.

That doesn't mean an existing home misses out. Loxone Air wireless technology is designed precisely so that motion, door and window sensors, as well as smoke and water sensors, can be fitted in a finished — even decades-old — house, without breaking into walls or causing major upheaval. If you're curious, our article ‘Smart Home in an Existing House — Without Wall Cutting?’ explains in detail how this works in practice.

A real example — a newly built family home in Sopron

In a newly built family home in Sopron that we designed and installed, the security system brings the following together on a single interface: the alarm, code and NFC access control at the entrance, and electric locks on the front door and the garden gate — both with opening contacts and an uninterruptible power supply — as well as collecting fault signals from the heating, ventilation and other building services, all integrated into one shared control interface. The result: the family can see from a single app whether everything at home is fine — whether they're in the living room or in another country.

Who do we recommend it for?

The Loxone security system is a particularly good choice if:

• You travel or commute a lot, or have a holiday home you rarely visit — this is exactly when presence simulation and remote monitoring are most useful.
• You have a larger property with several entrances, where giving everyone their own key would be impractical — code or NFC access makes this simpler.
• You'd like the alarm, access control, door intercom and fault alerts to run in a single app under a single logic, rather than in scattered boxes.
• It matters to you that your data and the way the system works don't depend on an external cloud provider.
• You're planning a new build, or would like to make your existing home more secure retrospectively, without cutting into walls.

If you're not sure exactly which combination suits your home, the best answer is a free on-site visit — where we'll talk through your property and your real needs together.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if the power goes off or the internet connection drops?

The system's core functions (detection, alarm, access control) run locally on the Miniserver, even without an internet connection. During a power cut, critical components — such as the front door lock — typically run from an uninterruptible power supply, which is how we design our projects too.

Will I be notified if the system detects a water leak or smoke?

Yes, the Loxone App can send a push notification or even make a phone call as soon as the system detects a threat.

Can the security system be fitted in an existing, finished house?

Yes, with Loxone Air wireless technology, most of the sensors and access control devices can be installed retrospectively, without breaking into walls. More on this: ‘Smart Home in an Existing House — Without Wall Cutting?’

Do I need separate apps for the alarm, the door intercom and the sensors?

No, they all appear in the same Loxone App, on a single unified interface.