How the igloohome Smart Digital Lock Works Offline
By igloohome | 15 June 2016
Here at igloohome, we often get curious customers asking us how our smart digital lock works. Being able to grant access to guests from an app at any time? Sure, but wouldn't the lock need to be connected online? Our answer is no - although it appears to defy logic, our igloohome smart digital lock does not need an internet connection to function.
Here's a simple explanation of how it works.
The magic comes from the synchronisation of our smart lock and our mobile app, even before the lock is installed.
You probably are familiar with this concept of synchronisation. A similar system is used in online banking, which requires you to key in a one-time password that is generated from a security token. Similar to our lock, the security token is not connected to the internet. Yet it can generate codes that allow you to log into the system, and these codes change each time.
Photo credit: Edgis Security
Essentially, there is a 'formula' that has been programmed in both the igloohome smart digital lock and our app (likewise, in the bank system and security token), so that they can understand each other without being connected. Your PIN code holds the message - for eg. grant access to this guest for 2 days - that the app needs to pass to the lock.
So this is what happens:
You click 'Create PIN code' in our igloohome app, and key in the validity period of the access you want to grant (ie. the message).
Our app uses the 'formula' to translate the message into a PIN code.
You (or your guests) key the PIN code into our igloohome smart digital lock.
Our lock uses the same 'formula' in reverse to translate the PIN code into the message.
The lock then acts upon the message, and grants access to you (or the guests) for the number of days you keyed in.
Voila! It's 'Open Sesame' in modern times.
No internet connection is needed, because you (or your guests) were actually the one that communicated the necessary information from the app to the lock, via the PIN code.
Of course, in case you were wondering, we ensure that the 'formula' for each igloohome smart digital lock is different. That way, you definitely cannot unlock someone else's lock with your app.
So that's how our igloohome smart digital lock works offline, and keyless access is made possible without internet. The technology behind the system is actually much more complicated than that - algorithms and seeds and many other technical terms are involved, but you probably wouldn't want to go into the details.
Leave it to us and we'll help you manage your home with ease.