Arming/Disarming With the Alarm Panel
Written by Naomi Ramirez
Updated at August 27th, 2025
Table of Contents
Your Cove panel makes it easy to protect your home, day or night. You’ll use the Arming Menu to select your security mode—Stay, Away, or Night—based on your needs. This menu is always visible full-screen on your dashboard and on the left-hand side while navigating other pages.
Stay Mode – Protection While You’re Home
Use Stay Mode when people are inside your home. This arms all your sensors except motion sensors, so you can move freely inside while your home stays protected.
How to Arm Stay Mode:
- Tap the Stay icon (person inside a house)
- A 60-second countdown will begin
- After arming, if a door is opened, you’ll have 30 seconds to disarm before an alarm sounds
Away Mode – Full Protection When You’re Out
Use Away Mode when no one is home. This arms all sensors, including motion sensors.
How to Arm Away Mode:
- Tap the Away icon (person with a house in the background)
- A 30-second countdown will begin
- To ensure motion sensors arm correctly, you must open at least one door after tapping Away
- After arming, you’ll have 30 seconds to disarm if a door is opened
Night Mode – Extra Peace of Mind While You Sleep
Use Night Mode when you're home for the night. This arms all sensors plus motion sensors you’ve specifically configured for Night Mode.
By default, motion sensors are not active in Night Mode. Call 855.268.3669 or chat with us if you'd like help enabling them.
How to Arm Night Mode:
- Tap the Night icon (moon and stars)
- No countdown before arming
- If a door is opened, you still get 30 seconds to disarm before an alarm
Advanced Arming Features
Instant Arming
Allows you to remove entry delay from your Door Sensors when you arm your system in “Stay,” “Away,” or “Night” mode.
- Tap the clock icon above the “Night” button
- If greyed out → Instant Arming is ON
- If colored → Entry delay is active
Silent Arming
Need to arm your system quietly (no countdown beeping)? Use Silent Arming to stay stealthy.
- Tap the megaphone icon with sound waves
- If greyed out → Silent Arming is ON
- Adds 60 extra seconds to the arming countdown
Note: Silent Arming only applies for one cycle—you’ll need to re-enable it next time.
Force Arming
Trying to arm with a door or window open—or a sensor showing a problem?
- The system will alert you that a sensor is “protesting”
- Tap Force Arm to bypass that sensor
The sensor will stay inactive until you disarm and arm the system again
Trouble Conditions
If there’s a system issue (like a low battery), you’ll see a message in the Arming Menu.
- Visit support.covesmart.com to look up the message
- Or contact us for help