Openpath Mobile Access
reviews and complaints

Whoever adopted this for our apartment building is an idiot. You should not need your phone to get in and out of your apartment building. You need a key to open a door, so a key fob to get in other doors is clearly the best choice. Not a stupid app that barely works. This deserves zero stars. This is a waist of my time.

When location is always on this app is the major power hog. No. 1 in fact, according to the iPhone battery usage data. I think the developer team should look into this issue and fix the power management issues to make the app much more usable. As it is, I have to switch the location to “when using” and then quit the app after each use to save the battery.

I've set my location sharing to "While Using", however iOS's blue location sharing bar still appears when the app is no longer in the foreground. You have to kill the app completely to stop location sharing.

Otherwise the app works pretty well. I usually see my iOS wallet popup when near an OpenPath reader, but I dismiss that and it seems to work fine afterward.

After numerous calls trying to get the system to operate as sold to us there has been no resolution. It works well with the fobs but you have a 20% success rate when using your app and hand waving. That means one day a work week it works. Any other business with at success rate would be out of business. We are sorry we invested in Openpath. The are alternatives. Spend your money wisely.

The iPhone app works well. But to use the watch app, you also need the phone with you and the app open this is disappointing, especially if you have the watch with cell. The whole point of the watch is to not need your phone. The cell watch has everything you need - data connection, gps and Bluetooth. It is too bad it doesn’t work without the phone, especially if you want to take a run or bike during lunch.

The concept of using a phone for entry into secured areas seems great. I was told just walk up and the access will be granted. No need to remove phone from pocket. Well the truth is instead of waving a small key fob or card, you have to wave your phone within a few inches of the front of the reader. Convenient in that you don’t need to carry the card or key fob, but far from the the idea of just walk up and your in. Needs some improvements

The major benefit of moving to an access control system like OpenPath is the ability to use your phone or Apple Watch to open the doors. However, it’s been my experience (and my fiancé’s) that the “touch to open” feature only works after “waking” the app by opening it on your phone. I have the latest iOS, have it set to using cell phone data and ALWAYS sharing location. Have no idea why it only works after opening the application on my phone

Unfortunately the app does not work as advertised. I specifically gave the app permission to use my location even when not open so I didn’t have to open my phone to open doors, but it does not work. I still need to open my phone whenever I get to a door and it’s honestly a big let down. Also, my text in this review shows up as white text on a white background so I can’t really see what I’m typing, which feels like another oversight unfortunately

First of all, after installing the app multiple times and then using the provided link multiple times, the app does not respond, and am not receiving access. Secondly This app does not appear under location services for me. According to our admin, I need to always share my location in order to open doors.

I’m on an iPhone 8 with current iOS version.
I had spent many hours attempting to get this to work, and I worked with there support team who basically had no working fix for me.. I give up.

The app requires permission to read your precise location AT ALL TIMES. This drains your battery since the Bluetooth and Gps chips are constantly on. To solve this, it also requires permission to read your motion and fitness data. Both of these requirements have huge privacy implications. The app store information does not say the app is tracking motion data and also lists location tracking as data that is not linked to you but this is an Entry Access app so it definitely knows who are you to allow you access

This app gets 5 stars because of how little I actually have to use the app!

I just go up to the reader and tap it with my finger and the door unlocks. My phone stays in my pocket with the OpenPath app running in the background.

Once you’ve configured your system, there’s no reason to actually take out and open the app unless you want to remote unlock/lock the door for someone else!

I wish the rest of our office building (garage / elevators) would get with the program and integrate OpenPath. They are compatible with all of our existing readers.

The app works fine and generally as described. Have had it for over a year as it’s installed in my building.

If you’re at all aware of your personal information being stored and shared you should not use this app. For the “touch to open” function to work you need to share your location ALWAYS. Not to mention this is a major battery drain. Developer intentionally chose to disable this function “only when using the app” which is something I’m much more comfortable with. I have the app to let friends in remotely but it’s more convenient for me to use my keys at the front of my building which is insane. Simple fix that I hope the developers will take note of.

Twice now I've had the app data randomly clear and result in me being locked out of my apartment building. Absolutely infuriating. I'm not sure if it related to the background app management in iOS 13 but it seems like the developers should figured this out during the iOS beta period.

The delay for the "magic link" takes at least 10 minutes so if you're running low on battery there's a decent chance you just might be straight up locked out.

The property management company that controls the building I'm in has replaced all RFID entry points with this app. Although convenient to open doors with your phone in your pocket, I struggle to see how this is better than a key fob or key card for entry.

I was sold on the idea of this app. Including the idea of not having to take the phone out of my pocket. Unfortunately, that part does not work reliably, even if you have all the settings right. And because it is not reliable, it is not taken advantage of as much as it should because of the uncertainty. But when I do take my phone out of my pocket and open the app, it does work. And that means a lot. I like not having to use a fob or a card. Although I must confess that I do, again, because of the uncertainty. The solution to the problem that I have found is to "warm up" the app. I have found that if I access or open the app that the "wave" feature will work at least for a while. I put the wave in quotes because it's not really a wave. You have to pause, I have found. Still like the app. But disappointed.

I had to download and use this app not by my own choice. I am forced to use it for the building I live in. First, when I open the app and hit unlock/open the stupid app makes me confirm! What!? That’s like pressing the shutter button on your camera and asking, “Are you sure you want to take a picture?” As if there would be any other reason I would open this stupid app. Secondly, the app always wants to know my location…why? Even when I change the settings to only while using the app, I see the app continue to use my location until I shut it down. I can only assume the app is selling location data to third parties. For being used to open a garage door, I would think the developers would want this app to absolutely easy and not have to mess around with. It’s unsafe for me to be looking at my phone while also trying to exit/enter my parking structure.

The app can make some things useful if you live in an apartment you are an unwilling subscribers to this service, just like those mail package box centers. As of rent wasn’t high enough, these services keep piling on the cost whether you want to use it or not.

Also, it forces you to carry your phone at all times when in my community to access places that a simple key fob would allow.

The BIGGEST problem is that it continues to track you unless you force close the app. I have it set to use my location only ‘while using the app’ within this app + on the iOS settings yet it likes to keep tracking you. I can’t imagine it’s a bug i.e not a deliberate attempt to keep gathering data. Really makes you question the company’s ethics and what other nefarious ways they’re opening doors into your personal life in guise of opening physical doors.

Other users have the same concerns and the reason they give sounds like baloney. No other app continues to track you once youre done using the app w/ the same settings.

I do cybersecurity for a living. There is absolutely no valid reason for this app to track your location when not using this app to authenticate to grant access. Any app to authenticate access only needs to know your location for the fraction of a second it takes the NFC reader to access your credentials and authorize your access. Any and all location tracking beyond that is abusive--there is simply no other way to put it.

If I had the time, I would dump the app binary and search for a reason to track beyond simple authentication. Dollars to donuts, I would be willing to bet the app is using an advertising packing to collect information about the user to sell--especially since they know EXACTLY who you are, which makes the tracking information HIGHLY valuable.

ALWAYS suspect ANY app which wants to always track you. That means only one thing: YOU ARE THE PRODUCT AND YOU PRIVACY IS BEING INVADED!

If this app was not required for gym access, it would have already been deleted from my iPhone!

AT A MINIMUM, when using this app, ONLY allow it to track you when using it!

We’ve started using this system at work because it was already installed in a new-to-us building. Because we were just issued this system, we have not had any cards or fobs created, so we are just using our phones. I have issues with the watch app, and using the wave to open features.

First, using the wave to open feature is not actually secure for a building like ours. When a person has their phone set up to allow location always (run in background), and is 50ft away from the door, another person (without access) can wave or tap the reader and it lets them in. We have not tested just how far this range goes, but I feel like it’s far enough already to be a problem. Our office door is no longer secure, at the sake of leaving the phone in a pocket.
As I refuse to allow it my location always, I need to open the app to use the door. Not as convenient, but isn’t terrible as long as my hands are free enough to access and open the app. From there it’s flawless and quick.

This brings the need for the watch app. When you open the watch app, the only thing you see is a list of all available doors. You must then tap on the door you want, in order to gain access. First, this is awful when you have a huge list of doors. You cannot see your favorites list via the watch.
Second, once you have tapped on the correct door, it opens the app on the phone. Which means it is now open and active, and someone can tap in right behind me without access. I have to then close the app on the phone to secure the door. It would be great if the watch could store the authentication somehow. Even if it was just once per day before it needs to reauthorize with the phone.

I don’t know how the security of the app works in the background. If it would work, an idea could be to allow a card to be added to the Apple wallet. If you allow a physical card to be created, could you not have a card in the Apple wallet? It can be set to where the app must be opened to re-authenticate every so often. But then it’s a simple as tapping the watch to the reader or opening wallet to gain access. Without the need to have location on always.

In summary, using wave to access is not secure. The watch app needs to allow a favorites view, and be able to use independent of the phone. Allowing a card in the Apple wallet would be a convenient way to solve these issues.

Doesn’t really work well. Doesn’t work if you’re in the phone.

Employer set this up for our new office. Not a very good service and the set up process isn’t easy

App and sensor work horribly together and phone always has to be taken out to unlock door. Never senses it like it’s supposed to

The “permanent” open at all times setting doesn’t work well, and I have to get my phone out every time I want to go through door.

Works great when it work. Apple Watch app rarely works. Also it would be nice if you could group doors together to send them to guests.

I can’t for the life of me understand how an app which requires multiple steps to open the garage is better than a simple remote. It takes too long

Always takes forever. Is always delayed. Seems to never work when you need it to and always end up having to take the long way when it never works.

Very bad app, sometimes open the door and when you really need it, because everyone is sleeping, you need to wake em up to open you the door because the app it doesn’t work

The app does not work properly. When I move my phone close to the door sensor, my iPhone show my debit cards and Apple Pay instead of opening the door.
Please fix this problem

It’s annoying to keep the location set to always using. I receive notifications on my iPhone regularly asking if I still want it turned on but OpenPath won’t work if it’s not.

Doesn’t pick up my iphone when I try to activate the unlock, with the app running in the background . I have to stop every time, open the phone, open the app again, then it picks me up.

The app roles great. I can easily unlock a door with the push of the button. The Apple Watch app never works. It says that I don’t have access to any doors. The “tap to open” rarely works.

Pads only work on first press 10% of the time. 80% of the time you have wait for it to fail and press again before it unlocks. 10% of the time it takes 3 tries.

Cool idea. Terrible execution.

I have been trying for two weeks to create an account. Each time I get a message “email not valid”. I’ve confirmed with my gym they have the correct email but still cannot use this app. Very frustrating.

My apartment complex started using this to everyone’s dismay. It may work ok for single users with limited guests, but my family has 5 people and we travel often. It’s so much of a headache we’re moving out of our apartment.

Driving down the highway, I’ll see that Openpath has pinged my location to multiple bnearby business, but when walking into my own workplace, the I have to pull my phone out and touch it to the door just like a regular fob. What’s the point of this app

I hate that I have to have my phone with me to be able to get into the parking lot. I also hate that I have to open the app and pick the gate entrance and then a warning pops up and I have to state yes it is okay to open the gate.

A Fob would be much easier and quicker like they used to have.