Samsung acquires home monitoring software company Perch

Perch, makers of the clever do-it-yourself home monitoring software that repurposes old smartphones as security cameras, announced it has been acquired by Samsung Electronics yesterday. In the statement, Perch said, “our team will be working with Samsung groups around the world to develop next-generation IoT products.”

But if you are using Perch’s home monitoring service right now, you’re about to find yourself in need of an alternative. Perch notes that the shift to Samsung means the company “will no longer be able to support the Perch home monitoring service in its current form.” Perch’s beta app will be removed from the Google Play Store on February 17 and all recorded data will be deleted.

Perch actually emerged out of the Samsung Accelerator program (now called Samsung Next) a few years ago, so the move makes a lot of sense. Perch’s unique software solution to the issue of home monitoring allowed you to turn old phones, tablets, webcams and more into home monitoring cameras. Using motion detection, Perch would let you see what was going on when you weren’t there and alert you when something might be amiss.

It’s not yet clear if Perch will continue to only work on the software side of things at Samsung, but it seems likely that Samsung will be looking at using Perch software in its own range of IoT products. The company advises anyone with questions about the termination of the service or concerns about their data to contact them on support@getperch.com