What happens at 11 PM if the internet or the lock company is down and a customer is standing outside?
What each smart lock does during an internet or vendor outage, which code a golfer gets when a new code cannot be created, and how fast the owner hears about it.
Updated 2026-10-24. Every quote links to where it was published.
In owners' own words
“one more thing that can break at 11 PM with a customer standing outside”
“reliable, even without internet, which gives me peace of mind”
What it is
Two different things can fail. The building's internet can go down, which matters only for locks that need the cloud to check a code. Or the lock company's own service can be unreachable, which stops anyone from creating a NEW code, even though codes already on the lock keep working. A golfer who booked during either kind of outage needs a code that was created before it started.
What each lock does in an outage
| Seam | On a Seam device that reports can_program_offline_access_codes, we hold a standing offline code. The lock checks it on its own, so it opens with no internet at the building and no Seam cloud. |
| igloohome | igloohome locks have no network. Every code is an algoPIN the lock works out for itself, so the door is unaffected by the building's internet going down. |
| Kisi | Kisi readers keep letting in people they have already cached — Kisi documents up to 36 hours of outage cover — but the cache syncs once a day, so a credential issued tonight is not in it tonight. |
| RemoteLock | The codes we create through RemoteLock's API are ordinary cloud codes: RemoteLock has to be reachable to create one, and the lock has to have received it. RemoteLock's offline ReadyPIN exists but has no documented API. |
| Salto KS | Salto KS keeps working on site: with the building's internet down the IQ gateway still checks codes for the locks, and a lock cut off from its IQ falls back to the PINs stored in its own memory, which Salto does for PINs automatically. |
Each row is sourced to the vendor's own documentation on the door-offline page.
How OpenTeeSheet does it
| If the lock vendor does not answer within 15 seconds, the grant is treated as refused and the golfer is sent the backup code instead, inside the 60-second delivery budget. | Pinned by automated tests: unmanned-timing-claims.test.ts, lock-backup-realdb.test.ts, lock-backup-recovery.test.ts |
| A failed door attempt, or a door system that stops answering, reaches the owner within 15 minutes. The bound comes from the cron schedule, which fires at most 10 minutes apart; it is not real time. | Pinned by automated tests: unmanned-timing-claims.test.ts |
| What each lock brand does in an outage is written from the vendor's own documentation, with the date it was read, and checked against what our adapters can actually do. | Pinned by automated tests: lock-offline-facts.test.ts |
Not built or not measured yet
We have not yet published a timed outage drill on a real lock (vendor unreachable, golfer receives the backup code, owner alerted). The 15-second and 60-second bounds are enforced in code and tests.
What owners report from other tools
A connector that syncs bookings to a lock system on a schedule adds a step that can lag or fail; buyer guides describe it as one more thing that can break at night.
Questions
- Does the door still open if the studio's internet goes down?
- It depends on the lock. igloohome codes are worked out by the lock itself, Salto KS keeps checking PINs on site, and Seam devices that support it accept a standing offline code. Kisi and RemoteLock need their cloud to deliver a new code.
- What does a golfer get if a new code cannot be created?
- The backup code created in advance, sent within the same 60-second delivery budget, and the owner is alerted.
- How fast is the owner told the door system stopped answering?
- Within 15 minutes, by email and text.