The Open Door Dilemma: Safety in the Age of Al Fresco Living

Home Security While at Home This Summer

Summer in Ireland transforms how we use our homes. Patio doors stay open for hours. Side gates get unlatched for guests arriving for the barbecue. Upstairs windows are cracked for airflow. And the household's attention drifts naturally to the garden, the deck, the trampoline, anywhere but the hallway.

This is entirely normal. It is how hundreds of thousands of Irish families live from May through September. But it is also the season when burglary shifts towards opportunism and unforced entry. An estimated one in four summer burglaries involves entry through an open door or window.

What the Data Says About Home Security

The national picture offers some reassurance. CSO Recorded Crime figures for 2025 show 8,469 burglary and related offences recorded in Ireland, down 13% from 9,748 the previous year. That is a meaningful decline, but it still amounts to an average of over 23 burglaries every single day.

And the national trend does not tell the full story. Five Garda divisions recorded increases against that falling average: Dublin Eastern rose 24%, Wexford climbed 18%, Wicklow was up 17%, Kerry increased by 8%, and Dublin Western saw a 5% rise. For homeowners in those areas, the risk is moving in the wrong direction.

Previous research consistently identifies 5 pm to 11 pm as the highest-risk window for residential break-ins. Those are precisely the hours when Irish families are home, cooking dinner, eating in the garden, and winding down the evening with the doors still open.

Garda entry-point data adds another layer. Back doors account for 26% of entries and back windows for 24%. Front windows make up a further 8%.

The Walk-In Burglary: How Opportunists Operate

When people think about burglary, they often picture a break-in taking place while nobody is home. In reality, many thefts are far less dramatic. An opportunist may simply spot an open door, an unlocked hallway or a window left open for fresh air and take advantage of the opportunity.

The key point is not to become anxious about enjoying your garden or leaving the patio doors open on a sunny day. It is simply to recognise that an occupied home is not automatically a protected home. The right security measures can help close that gap without changing the way you live.

What Is Part-Arm Mode (and Why It Was Made for Summer)

Part-arm mode, sometimes called stay mode or home mode, is the feature that resolves the open door dilemma. In plain terms, it arms the perimeter of your home while allowing free movement inside.

When you activate part-arm mode, the magnetic contact sensors on your doors and windows stay live. If someone opens a secured door or window, the alarm triggers. But interior motion detection is switched off or reduced, so you, your children, and your pets can walk around the house without setting anything off.

Think of it as drawing a security line around the edges of your home while leaving the inside completely free. Depending on the system setup, it can protect the front of the house while the back door stays open for the garden. The front door, the hall windows, the side entrance: all monitored. The route from the kitchen to the patio: completely unrestricted.

This matters because many homeowners operate on an all-or-nothing mental model. The alarm is either fully on (nobody home) or fully off (someone home). Part-arm mode breaks that binary. It was designed for the hours when the household is present but not watching every corner, which is exactly what summer evenings look like.

It also suits households with pets. Because part-arm mode relies on magnetic door and window contacts rather than interior motion sensors, a dog wandering from room to room will not trigger anything.

Smart Features That Let You Keep the Doors Open

Part-arm mode is the foundation, but the connected technology around it makes the whole system feel effortless.

The PhoneWatch App shows the live open or closed status of every door and window fitted with a sensor. Before you arm, you can look at your phone and see at a glance whether the upstairs bathroom window is still opened, or the side gate has been left open. If you arm the system while a window is still open, you receive an alert. No more walking the house checking every latch.

Keypad chimes add another layer of awareness. When your alarm activates a sound alerts from the keypad. That way, if a door opens at the front of your house, you will hear the chime / alarm ringing and know the moment someone comes in through the front while you are out the back. It is a small feature that makes a significant difference during open-door season.

Alarm automations take the thinking out of it entirely. You can schedule the system to part-arm at a set time each evening, so even if you forget while clearing away the barbecue, the perimeter is secured. These automations work alongside the broader suite of smart home alarm features that connect your security into one manageable system.

The theme across all of these features is the same: the technology does the remembering, so you do not have to.

Simple Habits for Open-Door Season

Smart technology works best alongside a few straightforward habits. These are not about locking yourself in. Every one applies to a house with people in it.

• Lock the front door when the household is in the back garden. It takes five seconds and removes the easiest walk-in route.
• Move car keys, wallets, and phones away from the hallway. If they are not visible from the door, they are not a target.
• Close the side gate during garden time. An open side gate is a direct invitation to the front of the house.
• Part-arm the front of the house whenever you settle into the garden. Make it as automatic as putting the kettle on.
• Check window alarm sensors are active on ground-floor windows left open for airflow. The sensor will trigger if someone tries to open the window further or remove it.
  
  

Enjoy the Summer: Let the Alarm Do the Watching

The choice was never between al fresco living and a secure home. Monitored smart alarms were built for occupied homes, for the evenings when the patio doors are open and the household is spread between the garden and the kitchen and the living room.

Part-arm mode keeps the perimeter protected. The app keeps you informed. And behind it all, every PhoneWatch system is connected to a 24/7 Alarm Receiving Centre with an average response time of 15 seconds once activated, according to PhoneWatch Alarm Receiving Centre data. With 33 years protecting Irish homes and over 120,000 customers across the country, PhoneWatch understands how households actually live in summer.

So fire up the barbecue. Leave the patio doors open. Let the kids run in and out. Your home is watching the parts you cannot see.

With 33 years of experience protecting Irish homes and 120,000-plus customers across the country, PhoneWatch knows what a lived-in home needs. See how part-arm mode, app alerts, and alarm automations work together across the range of smart home features.

Ready to get started? Browse our alarm packages to find the right fit for your home.

FAQs about home security while at home

Can I set my house alarm while I'm at home?

Yes. Modern monitored alarm systems include a part-arm mode designed for exactly this. Door and window sensors stay active while settings are adjusted, so people and pets can move freely inside. Many households part-arm in the evening or overnight, and in summer it works equally well while the family is in the garden with parts of the house out of sight.

What is part-arm (stay) mode on an alarm?

Part-arm mode activates a portion of your alarm system, typically the magnetic contact sensors on doors and windows, while leaving interior motion detection off or reduced. The perimeter of the home is protected, so any secured door or window being opened triggers the alarm, but nobody inside sets it off by walking around. It is sometimes called stay mode or home mode.

Do burglars really enter homes while people are inside?

It happens more than most people expect, particularly in warm weather. Opportunistic burglars look for unforced entry: an open front door, an unlocked hall, a ground-floor window ajar. Garda statistics show one in five break-ins involves an unsecured entry point, and previous research consistently identifies 5 pm to 11 pm, when households are typically home, as the highest-risk period for residential break-ins.

Does part-arm mode work if I have pets?

Yes. Because part-arm mode relies on magnetic door and window contacts rather than interior motion detection, pets can move freely around the home without triggering the alarm. This makes it suitable for households with larger dogs as well as cats. During installation, sensors are positioned and calibrated with your pets in mind to minimise unnecessary activations.

How do I know if I've left a window open when I arm the alarm?

With a smart monitored system, you do not have to walk the house checking. The PhoneWatch App shows the live open or closed status of every door and window fitted with a sensor, and if you try arm the system when a door or window is opened it won't allow you to do so and will outline where the opened door or window is within your house. It removes the guesswork that open-window season creates.

Is summer a higher-risk season for burglary in Ireland?

Summer changes the type of risk rather than simply raising it. Winter burglaries are associated with darkness and empty houses, while summer brings more opportunistic, unforced entry: an estimated one in four summer burglaries involves entry through an open door or window. The risk follows open doors, open windows and distracted households, which is why occupied-home security habits matter most in warm months.