Key Takeaways
- If a door is open, you see pry marks, or you think someone may still be inside, don't go in. Get to a safe place and call 911.
- Check doors and windows for pry marks, and look for things that were moved or missing, or anything left behind that isn't yours. Review any security device records from while you were away; if you still can't tell whether someone was inside, report it on your local police non-emergency line.
- If someone was inside, leave things as they are until the police have seen them, get a case number, then contact your insurer and repair the damaged door or window.
- To deter someone before they reach the door, install eufy Floodlight Camera E340 above the entry point the intruder used.
- To see who comes and goes from now on, put eufy Entry Sensor E20 on doors and windows, eufy Video Doorbell S4 at the front door, and eufy Indoor Cam S350 inside.
You come home to an unlocked front door, or a small object on the counter that isn't yours. Nothing is missing, but you're sure you didn't leave things this way, and you're torn between calling the police over something small and letting it go. The steps below help you check whether you're safe and whether someone has been inside, handle what comes next, and set up your home to alert you next time.
How to Tell If Someone Has Been in Your House
Check what you can see remotely first, then look for signs from the outside in, and finish with your records. If anything at any step makes you think someone may still be inside, stop, leave, and call the police.
Look for Signs at the Doors, Windows, and Inside
If you have an indoor camera or a video doorbell, open the live view on your phone before you go in. If you see a person inside or a damaged door or window, stay out.
If the live view looks normal, or you don't have cameras, start outside and don't open the door yet. Look for a forced door or a broken window, including at entry points you use less often, such as the back door, the door between the garage and the house, and the yard gate. Which of these entry points burglars try most often is covered in our home burglary statistics. If you find a forced door or a broken window, don't go in. Go to a safe place instead and call 911.
If everything outside looks normal, then look inside. Some readers have come home to drawers pulled open, cups moved to a new spot, lights left on, or an object that wasn't theirs. Look around without touching anything and note what has been moved or has appeared. If you find something that isn't yours, such as tools or clothing a burglar may have left, leave it where it is and tell the police. That's what police recommend after a burglary. A full count of what's missing can wait until after you've called the police.
Rule Out Anyone With a Key, Then Check Your Records
If nothing is missing and the locks look fine, think about who has a key or a code. That can include your landlord or property manager, repair workers, cleaners, and friends or relatives who have held a spare key. Ask each of them and the people you live with, since someone may have left the door unlocked or moved something without thinking about it.
If you have cameras, a video doorbell, or a smart lock, go through their records from the time you left to the time you got home. In the eufy app, camera and doorbell clips are in the Events tab, while a smart lock's history is under Lock Events on the lock's page. Write down the time of the earliest entry that looks wrong, and ask neighbors to check their doorbell footage for the same hours.
Download any clip that matters to your phone and keep it, because cameras that use loop recording write over older footage once storage is full. On eufy devices, event recordings can be downloaded, but 24/7 continuous recordings can't.
Without cameras or a smart lock, you can't look back at what already happened, but you can check for free whether anyone opens a door or window from now on. Before you leave, stick a small piece of clear tape across the gap of a door or window, or tuck a hair into it. When you get back, see whether the tape has come loose or the hair has fallen out.
With or without devices, check your accounts as well. Bills for things you didn't buy and mail that stops arriving are both warning signs of identity theft.
If you find clear signs of entry, or your camera or lock records show someone coming in, treat it as a break-in: call the police, then work through the steps in What to Do After a Break-In below. If you've asked everyone with a key and still can't tell whether anyone was inside, report it on your local police non-emergency line.
Think Someone Might Still Be Inside? Leave and Call the Police
If the front door is wide open, you see pry marks, or you hear movement inside, don't go in to check. Get to a safe place and call 911 from a neighbor's house or your cell phone. Let the police search the house before you go back in.
If you aren't sure it's an emergency, call 911 and let the dispatcher decide. If you clearly don't need officers right away, for example there are no signs of danger and the doubt only set in later, use your local police non-emergency line. The King County Sheriff's Office explains when to call 911 or the non-emergency line, and Prince William County police ask residents to report all suspicious activity in their guide to recovering after a burglary.
If someone gets in while you're home, especially at night, the steps are different. Our guide to a break-in at night while you're home covers that situation.
What to Do After a Break-In, Step by Step
Once you know someone was inside and you've called the police, work through these steps in order, before and after officers arrive.
- Don't clean up until the police have seen it. Walk only where you need to, and leave anything that was moved or searched through as it is. Tell the officers what has been moved so they can check it for prints.
- List what's missing, with serial numbers. Write down a description of each missing item. For electronics and appliances, add each item's serial number if it has one, which is usually on the back or bottom of the device. While you take stock, you may find you can't say for sure everything you own. In that case, record the valuables that weren't taken as well and create a home inventory, which helps your insurance claim get settled faster.
- Get your case number, then call your insurer. Before the officer leaves, ask for the case number. You'll need it whenever you report more missing items or ask about your case. Write down the names of the officers you spoke with, since your insurer may ask for those details. Then call your insurance company as soon as you can and send them the report details and your list of missing items. The Insurance Information Institute also explains how to file a homeowners claim.
- Freeze your credit if cards or documents were touched. If someone went through your wallet, ID, or bank mail, or you think personal information was taken, you can place a credit freeze with each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. With a freeze in place, creditors can't access your credit report, so they can't approve new accounts in your name. It's free, and you can request it online, by phone, or by mail. If charges you didn't make have already shown up, report them at IdentityTheft.gov and contact the fraud departments at your card issuer and bank.
- Repair the entry point and change the locks if needed.Fix a forced door or broken window as soon as you can. Change the locks if they were damaged, or if keys were lost or taken in the break-in. If you use a smart lock, delete the codes and users you no longer need. Instead of hiding a spare key outside, leave it with a trusted neighbor, friend, or relative. If the burglar came in through a window, these window security tips cover how to reinforce it.
Note: These steps are general guidance for readers in the U.S.; procedures vary by local police department and insurance company, so follow their instructions.
Feeling scared or unsafe at home is common after a break-in, especially for children, and feeling secure again takes time. Talking it through with family and friends helps, and if you need more support, you can find victim services near you through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime.
Next Time: Deter Intruders, Get Alerted, and See Who Came In
Repairs, new locks, and a strip of tape across a door gap don't record who came, when, or what they did inside. The table below matches four questions you may have after a break-in with one type of device and one eufy product.
| What you want to know | What answers it | eufy pick |
| How can I deter someone before they get in? | A wired floodlight camera whose light comes on when someone approaches, plus a siren you can trigger | eufy Floodlight Camera E340 |
| When was a door or window opened? | A sensor on the door or window that alerts the moment it opens | eufy Entry Sensor E20 |
| Who came to the front door, and when? | A video doorbell that records every visit and recognizes faces | eufy Video Doorbell S4 |
| What happened inside? | An indoor camera that keeps recording and watches the entryway | eufy Indoor Cam S350 |
Entry Sensor E20 needs a HomeBase, such as HomeBase S380, to work, while the doorbell and indoor camera work on their own, and you can connect them to the same HomeBase S380 later.
eufy Floodlight Camera E340: A Motion-Activated Light and a Siren That Help Deter Intruders
Your camera recorded someone walking up to the house, but the recording didn't stop them from getting inside. The eufy Floodlight Camera E340 helps deter that person while they're still outside. When someone approaches, it turns on up to 2,000 lumens of light before they reach the door, and you can trigger its 95 dB siren when you need it to warn them off.
The E340 needs a hardwired installation (AC 100-240V) and has to be mounted on a wall or under the eaves with a UL-listed junction box. Put it above the entry point the intruder used. If you rent, get permission from your landlord or property manager first.
eufy Entry Sensor E20: An Alert the Moment a Door or Window Opens
While you were out, the front door opened, but you only saw it in the lock history later, and nothing was recorded because the cameras weren't armed. The eufy Entry Sensor E20 addresses both problems. It mounts on a door or window and, when that door or window opens, sends an alert to your phone while your HomeBase plays a chime, so you hear about an entry as it happens. You can also set a rule that turns on a camera or light when the sensor triggers, so the opening gets recorded.
When the system is armed, opening a door or window with the sensor on it sets off an alarm. To open the door yourself without setting it off, press the bypass button on the E20 first. HomeBase S380 also has its own built-in 100 dB siren. The E20 only works when it's connected to a HomeBase, and its battery lasts up to 5 years, so sensors on a back door or side window need little upkeep. Start with the door or window that was opened in the break-in, and if you want more coverage, you can build out a full eufy alarm system.
eufy Video Doorbell S4: Every Visit to the Front Door Recorded, Day and Night
You've asked everyone with a key, and you still can't tell who opened the front door that night, or when. Once it's wired and paired with a microSD card or HomeBase S380, the eufy Video Doorbell S4 records 24/7, so each visit to your door at night is on video. Its 180° × 180° view shows visitors from head to toe, and color night vision gives a picture clear enough to recognize faces.
The S4 is wired-only and needs existing doorbell wiring that supplies AC 16-24V, so it can't run on batteries or solar power. If you rent, check with the landlord or property manager before replacing a doorbell.
eufy Indoor Cam S350: Days of Continuous Footage to See What Happened Inside
Entry sensors and a doorbell can't show what someone did after coming in, and many people don't notice something is off until a few days later. The eufy Indoor Cam S350 can record continuously, and at the highest resolution a 128 GB microSD card holds about 5 days of footage, so you can still go back and look. You can save up to 4 monitoring areas in the app for the camera to patrol, such as the entryway, and AI tracking follows anyone who moves through the room.
Footage is stored on a microSD card, and you can connect the camera to HomeBase S380 for more storage. Place it where it can see both the entryway and the spot where you keep valuables, and check that it's recording before you leave.
Together, the sensor alert tells you when a door or window opened, and the doorbell and indoor footage from that time show who came in and what they did. If you're still comparing floodlight cameras, our floodlight camera guide covers more cameras that light up and sound a siren.
To catch someone casing your home before a break-in, learn the signs your house is being watched. If you're deciding on a full setup, it also helps to know the main types of home security systems first.
Conclusion
After a break-in, the hardest part is often not knowing what happened. Get safe first, then take the steps in order, though they don't all have to happen in one day. What's most worth adding afterward is a way to find out about an entry while it's happening rather than days later: light and a siren for people still outside, an alert when a door or window opens, and cameras at the front door and inside. A eufy HomeBase connects these devices and stores their footage locally with no monthly fee.
FAQs
How can I see who's coming and going from my home?
Use three devices together. A door and window sensor shows when an entry point opens, a video doorbell shows who came to the front door, and an indoor camera shows what happened inside. Our picks for each are eufy Entry Sensor E20, eufy Video Doorbell S4, and eufy Indoor Cam S350.
What happens after I report a burglary to the police?
It depends on whether there are leads. In Prince William County, Virginia, for example, police assign a case with a lead, such as a suspect's name, a license plate, or an identifiable fingerprint, to a detective who contacts you. A case without leads is marked inactive, and a detective contacts you if a new lead turns up. Procedures vary by department.
Should I call the police if nothing was stolen?
Yes. Things that were moved, a door you found open, and an object that isn't yours are all worth reporting. If you don't need officers to come right away, call your local non-emergency line. If you aren't sure, call 911.
What should I add after a break-in so I'm alerted next time?
To deter someone before they reach the door, use the light and siren on eufy Floodlight Camera E340. To know right away when someone comes or goes, add a door and window sensor, a video doorbell, and an indoor camera.
What if I find more missing items after I've filed the report?
You can add them to your report. Contact the police department handling your case, give your case number, and describe the other missing items you've discovered since. Some departments, such as Prince William County police in Virginia, let you add items online, so check how your local department handles it.
