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How do Roost devices work?

Roost Smart devices work by connecting to the Roost Cloud and sending alerts to your smartphone if they detect a leak or high humidity or temperature levels, if your smoke alarm sounds, or if your garage door is open – depending on which device you have. In the mean-time, in order to reserve power, they check in with the Roost cloud only once every 24 hours to report their battery power level and Wi-Fi signal strength.

They work with the free Roost app that you can download from the Apple iTunes or Google Play store. All Roost devices must be set up using the Roost app to connect to your home Wi-Fi network for them to work. Also, they need to be connected to your Wi-Fi network to send notifications of alerts to your smartphone.

Please see below for a more detailed description of how each Roost device functions.


Leak detector

The Roost Smart Leak and Freeze Detector will sound an audible alarm, as well as send an alert via a push notification to your smartphone when water comes into contact with the two metal rings on the bottom of the detector. If you are home, you may hear the alarm from the detector as well as receive an alert to your phone. Only a small amount of water is needed for the leak detector to sense a potentially much larger and costlier problem.

Additionally, the Roost Smart Leak and Freeze Detector measures temperature and humidity every 30 minutes. You can set custom ranges for both temperature and humidity on your device and be alerted when an out-of-range event occurs. One use of this feature it to detect a potential pipe freeze in your basement or other cool area before it happens. You can also detect dangerous humidity levels that would allow mold to grow.


The Roost Smart Battery is a Wi-Fi enabled battery that replaces the standard 9V battery in your smoke or smoke/CO alarms. The Roost Smart Battery includes an audio sensor that detects the sound (alert) emitted by a smoke or carbon monoxide (CO) alarm when it senses smoke or CO. If it detects an alert, the Smart Battery will automatically send a notification to your smartphone.

Until the Roost battery is connected to your Wi-Fi network for the first time, it will not have any power.

Garage Door Sensor

The Roost Smart Garage Door Sensor works in a similar way to the Roost Smart Battery. The main differences are that the garage door sensor has an accelerometer to read position changes and detect motion and it doesn’t have power terminals so isn’t classed as a battery. This means that instead of listening for an alarm, as the battery would, the garage door sensor is instead waiting to detect movement of the garage door to then alert you if your garage door is open or closed.

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