Granting access and withdrawing it without handing over a key
A flat let by the week near the harbour of La Napoule changes hands every Saturday. Opening a right and closing it remotely avoids the key safe bolted beside the entrance, whose code always ends up travelling further than intended. The same flat can take a tradesman on Tuesday and guests on Saturday without anyone having to meet.
The time-stamped log has real value when the owner is not on site: you know when the cleaners came, when the tenant arrived, whether the tradesman turned up. For a home shut for the winter beside the Siagne, it is also the record that nobody came in.
Third gain: the end of lost copies. A code is revoked, a fob is deactivated. A key dropped on a pontoon or in the sand means replacing the cylinder, and usually re-cutting the whole family's keyrings. A fob lost on the way back from the harbour is deactivated from the phone, with nothing to dismantle.
What salt, the router and the winter demand of the hardware
Battery life first. Cells drain faster when the mechanism binds, and a leaf that has moved with the damp makes the motor work harder. Check what backup exists: a mechanical barrel, an emergency supply from an external battery or a connector on the face. That is what keeps you off the landing. A timber leaf in old La Napoule, swelling through the winter, eats batteries far faster than a recent door.
Connectivity next. A lot of homes here have the power and the router switched off when the owners leave: with no network, remote control stops answering and only local operation is left. A model that depends entirely on a Wi-Fi bridge suits a flat shut from November to March very badly. Make sure at least one way in depends neither on the network nor on a remote server.
Exposure, last. A marina frontage takes salt and full sun: an outdoor housing, a keypad or a reader on the face ages faster there than it would inland. And a motor fitted to an ordinary lock adds nothing to burglary resistance: convenience of access and mechanical security are two separate subjects.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our smart lock page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Mandelieu-la-Napoule.