Tech
Exploring Your Mobile’s New Capabilities: Access Control
Your smartphone is perhaps one of the most used things you have in your possessions in today’s day and age. Everyone uses their smartphone in the most diverse of ways. Social media for interacting with friends and family, dating apps for finding the love of your life, food delivery apps for the convenience of getting fast food to your doorsteps, video conferencing apps for attending classes in the comfort of your homes, and so much more are all possible because of your smartphone. It has truly become one of the most essential and ubiquitous devices of this century.
There’s another area you could explore with your smartphone. With the advent of technological leaps and bounds, our home security has also changed over the years. Smart locks and remote access devices have become the new standard for security and convenience for our homes, and smartphones are here to parade their contribution. Mobile access control products in tandem with your mobile devices are also on the rise, and you should ride the wave as well.
The evolution of home security
In order to fully explore mobile access control services and what you can do with your smartphones, let’s first understand how we’ve gotten to this point. From guard dogs to big gates, to physical door locks, there are some steps along the way that has changed how we protect our homes and stay secure. Perhaps the most conventional and still existing way of locking our homes is through keys. First is the one that we insert into the keyhole, which has a serrated edge with a certain pattern that aligns with our door lock. For as long as these existed, there have been ways to break into houses with these types of locks. Lockpicking and jamming the door open using different tools have been invented.
The next wave of home security is through physical access cards. These are more convenient since you only have to tap them on your door locks. They are also a bit more stylish and easily integrated into your person, as they are slim cards that could be lumped together with other credit cards, IDs, and whatnot. They’re also a bit safer since they use NFC technology to access your homes. However, there is now a better way to spruce up your home security: mobile access control systems.
Mobile access control products and services: what are they?
Locking and unlocking your homes just received a nice upgrade. As was previously mentioned, mobile phones are carried everywhere by their users. Why not use them as well for home security? This breeds a lot of convenience and security benefits, and we’ll explore them together.
Firstly, you have the convenience of locking, unlocking, and giving access to your homes to anyone you choose with your phone. You also don’t have to be near, as remote access is possible with the internet and your home Wifi. This means that you can give somebody access to your home in a pinch, even if you’re on vacation on the other side of the map. A conventional key would be useless in this case. Unless the person you want to enter your home already has a duplicate. Keeping spare keys on your front yard isn’t really that good of a security measure, so that’s something mobile access control systems can avoid.
There are also multi-tenant systems that a real estate could employ. This enables a more secure and organized way of letting in your clients, and their visitors, and keeping out others who don’t belong within the establishment. Digitalizing this part of your home system isn’t such a bad idea, and the benefits far outweigh the risks. These systems also work on different connections such as NFC, Wifi, and even Bluetooth. As you can see, mobile access control system is a no-brainer!
Harper Harrison is a reporter for The Hear UP. Harper got an internship at the NPR and worked as a reporter and producer. harper has also worked as a reporter for the Medium. Harper covers health and science for The Hear UP.