You Can Know Exactly When Your Mail's Been Delivered With This Smart Sensor

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Most people are no longer used to receiving snail mail because of the convenience email, instant messaging, and many apps offer. And even though many frequently receive packages through online shopping, smaller items that fit in your mailbox could often be left forgotten. Because of this, you might miss out on important documents, such as a jury duty summons or your tax return check. If this keeps you don't want to miss out on any opportunities that might arrive via the postal service, then a mailbox sensor is a useful device to install in your home.

These are devices that alert you when there's movement in your mailbox, letting you know that someone has likely dropped off some mail. They come in a couple of different flavors. There's the analog mailbox alarm, which uses wireless signals with a 600-foot range. When the transmitter detects that your mailbox door opens, it sends a signal to the base station, lighting up its blue LED light and emitting sounds to tell you that you've got mail. This device is cheap, simple to set up, and doesn't require an account or a subscription. It will even work if the internet is down, but it does not send notifications to your smartphone.

On the other hand, there's the X-Sense Smart Mailbox Alarm, which requires 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi to connect to its base station. It delivers real-time push alerts to your phone via the X-Sense Home Security app and is compatible with a good number of mailbox types, as long as they have lids. There's also the Ring Mailbox Sensor that's part of the Ring ecosystem, which could be one of Amazon's best products. It works similarly to the former, but either uses a hub device, like Ring Bridge, or Amazon Sidewalk to stay connected.

Many smart mailbox sensors are simply motion detectors that have been repackaged or repurposed as such. So, if you already have something like this at home and your mailbox is within reach of your wireless network, you don't really need to purchase a dedicated device. Instead, you can just install a smart motion detector inside your mailbox and have it send you a ping when it detects movement. This is just one of the clever uses of this type of gadget in your house, making them pretty nifty tools for saving energy and effort.

Alternatively, if you have a Ring camera or other smart security cameras, you can set up a motion zone so that it will notify you whenever someone approaches your mailbox. By assigning a narrow detection location, one of the settings you should immediately change on your Ring camera, you can ensure that you're notified when someone walks up to your mailbox and drops off your letters.

These are great substitutes to mailbox sensors, and if you already have them and your mailbox is nearby, you just need a bit of tweaking, and you should be able to know if you've received a letter. But if your mailbox isn't near your home network, then you just might need a dedicated sensor to avoid forgetting your mail.