How It Works

From box to
live data
in ten minutes.

No hub, no wiring, no installation crew. Canary is built for people who want answers — not another home tech project.

01

Place Your
Sensors

Each Canary sensor is small enough to sit on a shelf, stick to a wall, or mount magnetically on any metal surface. Place one per room — kitchen, living room, basement, garage — wherever you want visibility.

Plug-and-place hardware
Kitchen
Living Room
Basement
Garage
Office
Bedroom
3 of 6 rooms covered
02

Connect
in Minutes

Power on a sensor and it automatically discovers your home Wi-Fi. Confirm the network in the Canary app once, and every subsequent sensor you add pairs instantly — no QR codes, no resets, no frustration.

Auto Wi-Fi pairing
Kitchen
Online
Living Room
Online
Garage
Pairing...
03

Read Your
Dashboard

Every sensor streams data to your Canary dashboard in real time. See exposure trends across rooms, track individual metals against EPA thresholds, and compare this week against last week — all from a single view.

Real-time web dashboard
Exposure Trend · This Week
Safe Limit 100%
04

Get Instant
Alerts

When any sensor crosses a critical threshold, you get a push notification immediately — before prolonged exposure becomes a health concern. Configure alert sensitivity per room, per metal, or let Canary use its defaults.

Smart threshold alerts
Kitchen · Aluminum exceeded 80% of safe limit
Now
Living Room · Sodium at 60% — monitoring
2h ago
All sensors synced successfully
5h ago

Common questions

How long does setup actually take?
Most users are seeing live data within 8 minutes of unboxing. The first sensor takes the longest since you're connecting to your Wi-Fi network for the first time. Every sensor after that pairs in under 60 seconds.
Do I need a separate hub or bridge device?
No. Each Canary sensor connects directly to your standard 2.4GHz or 5GHz home Wi-Fi. No proprietary hub, no bridge device, no Z-Wave or Zigbee dongle required.
How often does each sensor update readings?
Sensors sample air quality every 60 seconds and push updates to the dashboard in real time. During a critical alert event, sampling frequency increases to every 15 seconds until levels return to normal.
Where does my data go? Is it private?
Your household exposure data is encrypted in transit and at rest. It is never sold or shared with third parties. You own your data and can export or delete it at any time from your account settings.
How many sensors do I need?
We recommend one sensor per distinct room or zone. A typical household starts with 3–4 sensors covering the kitchen, main living area, bedroom, and one high-risk area like a garage or basement. You can add more at any time.