I've spent a lot of time thinking about trust — what it means to earn it, and what it takes to keep it.
At ADT, we've been doing this for more than 150 years. We've watched the definition of home change, the nature of risk evolve, and the expectations of families shift in ways that no single product cycle could have predicted. And in all that time, one truth has remained constant: People don't just want a security system. They want to feel like someone has their back.
So when I look at the DIY security category today, I see a market that has gotten very good at delivering convenience and very comfortable stopping there. Easy to buy. Easy to set up. Easy to forget about until something goes wrong. What's largely been missing is the depth of protection, the human judgment behind the technology, and the sense that there's a real organization standing behind the product when it matters most.
That gap is exactly why we created ADT Blu.
The DIY market solved for convenience. We created ADT Blu to solve for confidence.
The world is changing. Security must change with it
More customers today are comfortable buying, installing, and managing their own systems. That's not a trend; it's a fundamental shift in how people want to engage with the technology in their homes. They want control. They want flexibility. They want to make decisions on their terms, on their timeline.
At the same time, the nature of what people need to protect has grown more complex. A home today isn't just four walls. It's a network of devices, a stream of data, a set of daily rhythms that a truly intelligent system should be able to understand. And the threats — from package theft to sophisticated break-ins to the simple anxiety of not knowing if your family is safe — haven't gotten simpler.
The question we kept coming back to was this: Why should choosing DIY mean giving something up? Why should the decision to install your own system mean sacrificing the quality of monitoring, the depth of response, or the peace of mind that comes from knowing a trained professional is paying attention?
It shouldn't. And with ADT Blu, it doesn't.
DIY doesn't mean doing it alone
Every year, ADT's monitoring experts process more than one billion signals. Our agents handle approximately 8.4 million alarms annually — working directly with first responders, relaying critical information in real time, and delivering outcomes that matter when every second counts.
That infrastructure — that human expertise behind the technology — is what makes ADT different. And it's exactly what we've made available to every ADT Blu customer.
And every one of those signals represents a moment that matters in helping save lives.
I remember when I first joined ADT hearing from my colleague and ADT’s Chief People and Administration Officer, Dave Scott, about how the ADT monitoring team’s effort made a lifesaving difference in a situation at his home.
After a carbon monoxide detector was triggered at his home, Dave, who was at work, got a call from the monitoring team alerting him to the issue. While he knew his family wasn’t home, his two beloved dogs were. Within three minutes of receiving the alert, our monitoring team assessed the situation, contacted the fire department, and ensured help was on the way.
By the time he made it back, his pets were already brought to safety outside by first responders.
Moments like these remind me that technology is only as good as the people and systems behind it. An alarm notification is just data. What happens next is what protection actually means.
ADT Blu customers can activate 24/7 professional monitoring from day one — the same level of coverage our professionally installed customers receive — or they can start with self-monitoring and add professional monitoring as their needs evolve. Month-to-month contracts mean the system adapts to life, not the other way around.
An alarm notification is just data. What happens next is what protection actually means.
One platform. A seamless path forward
We also made a deliberate decision about how ADT Blu fits into our broader ecosystem. This isn't a separate product line — it's an on-ramp.
ADT Blu customers get started through the ADT+ app, our fully integrated, AI-powered platform that creates a seamless path between DIY and professionally installed security. You can start with a single camera or doorbell and expand into a full smart home system over time. The ADT+ platform supports Z-Wave devices, integrates with Google Home, and is designed to grow with you rather than requiring you to start over.
We also rethought the entire onboarding experience from end to end — how customers explore products online, how systems are packaged, and how quickly someone can go from unboxing to fully active. We reduced the number of setup screens by 70%. Not because we were chasing a metric, but because every unnecessary step between a customer and their peace of mind is a problem we should solve.
And for customers who want to purchase in the places they already shop, ADT Blu is available on ADT.com and Amazon — making it accessible in the same marketplace they shop for their home every day.
Building toward ambient protection
What excites me most about this moment isn't just what ADT Blu is today. It's what it points toward.
We're in the early stages of a genuine transformation in how security works. The next generation of protection won't rely solely on cameras and sensors waiting for something to go wrong. It will understand context. It will recognize patterns. It will distinguish between what's normal and what's not and respond accordingly, proactively, and with the precision that reduces false alarms and improves real ones.
Our recent acquisition of Origin AI is a meaningful step in that direction. Origin's technology uses Wi-Fi signals to sense presence and activity within a home — without a camera, without a microphone and without compromising privacy. Over time, this will deepen how ADT+ supports both DIY and professionally installed customers, making protection more ambient and more intelligent.
Security, at its best, shouldn't feel like surveillance. It should feel like confidence.
This is just the beginning
ADT Blu represents something bigger than a new product launch. It represents our belief that professional-grade protection and DIY independence are not in conflict — that the right technology, the right platform and the right people behind it can deliver both.
More than 150 years ago, ADT was founded on a simple idea: that people deserve to feel safe in their homes, and that trust has to be earned every single day. That hasn't changed.
What has changed is how we deliver on that promise. And we're just getting started.