About the business
I run a 40-person office. Almost everyone already carries a phone everywhere they go, so turning those phones into door keys looked like the easiest upgrade we'd ever make.
The problem
Then I asked the awkward questions. What if someone loses their phone? What if the battery dies at the door? A couple of staff don't have smartphones at all.
And a lost phone keeps opening the door until someone cancels it. Whoever finds it gets in.
What we did
I read that the Connectivity Standards Alliance released Aliro 1.0 on 26 February 2026. It covers NFC tap, Bluetooth and hands-free entry, and Apple, Google and Samsung have committed to wallet support.
I didn't assume our readers would work with it. I asked the supplier for proof.
Then we wrote the rules before anyone got a phone key:
- Phone keys for staff who want them.
- A card for anyone who doesn't.
- A spare card at the front desk as backup.
- A lost phone gets reported immediately and cancelled the same day.
The result
Issuing and cancelling keys no longer means printing and chasing plastic. The rules covered the weak points before they turned into problems.
Not sure what your current cards even are? Start with NFC vs RFID in plain English.
Thinking about phones as keys? Tell us which readers you have. We'll tell you whether they'll work with phones, and what rules to set before rollout.
Free door-by-door access review
Send us your door list, or just tell us what's behind each door. We'll reply with the weak spots and what to fix first, cheapest first.
- Free
- Reply within 24 hours
- No obligation