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Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

shloosl.com

31–40 of 84 posts

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#31

Forgive me if it's already being done, but I would love to see this capability at my local Home Depot or maybe in an app for a locksmith service. Store pics of my keys on a secure server at the provider, and if I ever lose a key, I hit a button and it's made for me. Could be a whole new revenue stream for them.

Or someone steals your phone and then everything else you own...

Edit: I'm assuming this is idea was relating to an online business. You could always give a copy of your keys to your friends if your willing to drive/walk somewhere

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#32

Forgive me if it's already being done, but I would love to see this capability at my local Home Depot or maybe in an app for a locksmith service. Store pics of my keys on a secure server at the provider, and if I ever lose a key, I hit a button and it's made for me. Could be a whole new revenue stream for them.

Or someone steals your phone and then everything else you own... Edit: I'm assuming this is idea was relating to an online business. You could always give a copy of your keys to your friends if your willing to drive/walk somewhere

Have them require ID to pick up the key. Or have the app require a picture of the person(s) authorized to pick up keys and store it along with the key photos on the server. Everyone is talking about the security issues, but these are far from insurmountable problems.

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#33
post #4

Oh, this is so going to be abused for copying other people's keys. You can now even Photoshop the "DONT COPY" embossing away. Very cool.

I've never had a problem having "DO NOT COPY" keys copied. When I was the manager of a store I had to get multiple copies of the door keys and case keys at various times working there. OSH, Home Depot, etc didn't ask me any questions, just made my copies and sent me on my way.

Interesting. I once tried to get a copy of a key to a security lock (a fact I didn't know) in Germany. The guy in this tiny little shop (which I'm sure would otherwise be happy for every customer) had one look at the key, then handed it back to me straight away. He wouldn't do it.

Maybe I should have just gone to a couple of other shops?

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#34

I'm actually more worried about this[1]. I don't want my key and associated information stored with bank-grade cryptography, I want it deleted after it's cut and sent out. It's easy enough to change a password if you get hacked, it's slightly more difficult to change a credit or debit card but it's more hassle in "changing all the places it's used" than anything else. But changing locks is a huge pain, and not always…

In general I agree for the sake of security, but in all fairness, the types of locks for which they are duplicating keys are pickable in under 60 seconds. It is essentially a waste of time to go through making a duplicate key - it is quite a sobering moment for me when I realized how easily I could defeat the locks on my house.

High security locks whose keys need protection, such as BEST Locks, are probably outside the scope of this service, and are not normally available to consumers anyways.

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#35
post #4

Oh, this is so going to be abused for copying other people's keys. You can now even Photoshop the "DONT COPY" embossing away. Very cool.

I've never had a problem having "DO NOT COPY" keys copied. When I was the manager of a store I had to get multiple copies of the door keys and case keys at various times working there. OSH, Home Depot, etc didn't ask me any questions, just made my copies and sent me on my way.

The hardware store where I had a "DO NOT COPY" key reproduced asked if I wanted "DO NOT COPY" stamped on the copy.

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#36
post #6

Linking a picture of your house keys to your house address - what could possibly go wrong...

My immediate thoughts as well. Perhaps a different scenario.

eg- Anyone can easily just take their friends key, snap a pic and have creep access to their house/car/locker/safe/etc.

I am not sure if this kind of easy service is a good one to have around. Do not forget real-world security too!

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#37

Someone pitched me this idea a few months ago and I urged him to pursue it. I'm glad to see that it's being done by a super technical team who seem to know what they're doing. Here's why I'm so excited: 1. Shloosl solves a small but acute problem that nearly everyone in the country has. 2. It's a big FU to a fragmented and unevolving couple billion dollar industry. I don't want to find a locksmith or go to Home Depot…

I suspect physical security in terms of keyholding is less fragile for people's house keys than it might seem on first blush. They're mostly in your pocket when you're out and about.

That said, you can stick many doors through in some parts of the world by simple expedient of giving them a swift kick. People don't seem overly concerned. So I suspect even if it proved simple to get pictures, it would have to be horribly abused before people did anything about it.

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#38
post #10
post #6

Linking a picture of your house keys to your house address - what could possibly go wrong...

my thought exactly.. an envelope with address on it and house key in it.. Sorry guys, but using your service would be stupid.. will insurance even cover a break-in using the spare key?

I a, pretty certain they will pad the envelope so it's not immediately obvious that there is a key in there.

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#39
post #4

Oh, this is so going to be abused for copying other people's keys. You can now even Photoshop the "DONT COPY" embossing away. Very cool.

I've never had a problem having "DO NOT COPY" keys copied. When I was the manager of a store I had to get multiple copies of the door keys and case keys at various times working there. OSH, Home Depot, etc didn't ask me any questions, just made my copies and sent me on my way.

But your comment only addresses part of the point.

You had no problem, but you had to retain physical access to the key for long enough to get it to the store and back.

With this service, that requirement goes away.

I'm not saying it was impossible before, but this makes abuse a whole lot easier and potentially much more widespread.

Re: Duplicate your House Keys with your Phone

#40
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never had a problem having "DO NOT COPY" keys copied. When I was the manager of a store I had to get multiple copies of the door keys and case keys at various times working there. OSH, Home Depot, etc didn't ask me any questions, just made my copies and sent me on my way.

Interesting. I once tried to get a copy of a key to a security lock (a fact I didn't know) in Germany. The guy in this tiny little shop (which I'm sure would otherwise be happy for every customer) had one look at the key, then handed it back to me straight away. He wouldn't do it. Maybe I should have just gone to a couple of other shops?

Same sort of experience in the UK, when trying to get a copy of my front door key made. You needed the original barcode that came with the keys to order copies.
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