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Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

lockitron.com

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Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#31

Post by schiffern »

apawloski wrote: post #13

Cool and interesting idea, but for obvious reasons* I have some slight reluctance with using a service like this for my home. For less valuable targets though -- like a conference room or shared workspace -- this is a really clever solution to sharing keys. *I hate it when people say that so I'll expand. Simply put, I'm worried about it getting hacked. For instance, could you gain access to someone's wifi and then fl…

Your threat model seems a bit out of whack. Picking your conventional lock has a much better cost/benefit ratio for a thief.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#32

Post by bluetidepro »

RandallBrown wrote: post #28
bluetidepro wrote: post #17

So, do people who use something like this just never lock your bottom handle lock? I live in a busy city and lock both to keep my place secure. I'm not sure I would like just being able to lock the deadbolt but not the handle lock.

My handle doesn't have a lock. I only have a deadbolt. I also have an RFID fob to get in my building and I need to type a code in to my elevator to get to my floor, so I'm not too worried about it.

Yeah, that's not too bad but I would still be a bit worried since my place has a door that is accessible from outside. You are lucky with that sort of "double secure" entrance! Haha

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#33

Post by ssharp »

It's pretty obvious that more and more things are converging to the phone. We've already seen how modern smartphones have markets like the point-and-shoot camera and portable music player. It makes sense to carry around one device that does as much as possible. And I love the extension of the smartphone into these home automation areas (though I realize locks have a significantly greater market than just that). What troubles me right now is the fracturing, but that's inevitable in emerging markets. It would just be nice to have a really great product line that I could use to unlock deadbolts, open my garage door, automate my lights, control switches / outlets, program my thermostat, etc.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#34

Post by larrys »

pg wrote: post #10

We use Lockitron on our offices and it has saved us a lot of trouble. Empirically people are a lot less likely to forget their phone than to forget keys, presumably because you use your phone for so many other things whereas most keys do nothing but get you into a single building.

"Empirically people are a lot less likely to forget their phone than to forget keys,"

That also varies on whether you drive a car or take public transportation.

If you drive, leaving your house requires taking your keys and it becomes a habit. Same with leaving work. If you drove there you need your keys to leave.

A good way around forgetting keys also is a realtor style lockbox either on the door or hidden with a spare key.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#35

Post by psychotik »

plusbryan wrote: post #29
psychotik wrote: post #24

Why not use a lock with a keycode instead? I don't see a single scenario where Lockitron works better. http://consumer.schlage.com/Products/Pages/category-landing....

For me, it'd be about guest access. Sure, you could give out your codes, and then change them later, but that's a pain (with the Schlage products at least).

FWIW, I find it simple enough to add/remove codes as needed. I can see how punching ~15 buttons can be a pain, but I don't find it so.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#36

Post by s_henry_paulson »

pg wrote: post #10

We use Lockitron on our offices and it has saved us a lot of trouble. Empirically people are a lot less likely to forget their phone than to forget keys, presumably because you use your phone for so many other things whereas most keys do nothing but get you into a single building.

I'm interested how you are using the product since it does not seem to be available to the public yet.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#37

Post by apawloski »

schiffern wrote: post #31
apawloski wrote: post #13

Cool and interesting idea, but for obvious reasons* I have some slight reluctance with using a service like this for my home. For less valuable targets though -- like a conference room or shared workspace -- this is a really clever solution to sharing keys. *I hate it when people say that so I'll expand. Simply put, I'm worried about it getting hacked. For instance, could you gain access to someone's wifi and then fl…

Your threat model seems a bit out of whack. Picking your conventional lock has a much better cost/benefit ratio for a thief.

Not necessarily, but I see your point. The threat model you suggest seems to be for a "one and done" event (which is a perfectly valid scenario). But the initial threat model was geared towards repeated, quick, and relatively inconspicuous access to a secure facility.

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#38

Post by [deleted] »

larrys wrote: post #20

Right now, the website is down or perhaps cloudflare is having issues. I did get a look and was going to make a comment (which I wanted to verify) that the site in no way shows that the company had built another product (at least not from a quick look). Now I can't even get a look at the site. This isn't 1996. Why are people having so many issues with delivering simple reliability to a 1 page website?

[deleted]

Re: Lockitron: Keyless entry using your phone

#40

Post by showerst »

peterwwillis wrote: post #25
showerst wrote: post #2

Neat idea, but what makes this worth 150 bucks?

If you've never lost your house keys twice ($75 per visit for a locksmith) then it's not worth it. However, you could give multiple people access to the door this way, which would be cheaper/easier than making copies of keys. Also, with normal keys if you lose one you have to replace the cylinder and all the keys if you're worried about someone using the lost key. This would prevent that expense. I will say, though:…

Ah, that makes sense to me.

I hadn't thought about the multiple people access problem since I've never needed more than one set of guest keys at a time, and the offices I've worked in were all big enough to use keycards.

Come to think of it, the market for 'Needs to give multiple people rotating revocable access' is a great fit for AirBnB type services.

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