Schlage lock guest access via cellphone

For a few years I have had visitors call me on a Google voice#. Tasker takes the notification, and translates it into a few different actions such as flashing the phone’s light in a strobe type way. Been using it as a sorta intelligent doorbell.

Via Sharptools, we can now use those notifications to operate our smart homes. Including opening the schlage or other locks. The key is scheduling in Tasker. Set up a profile such that an incoming call or text from 5551212 between 3pm and 6pm on a Wednesday opens the lock (and disables the alarm of course), and your guest doesn’t even need you to be present to let himself in the door. When his stay is over, deactivate or delete the Tasker profile.

Perhaps owners of bed/breakfast establishments could use this method. No need for keys if the guests have cellphones… which most travelers do nowadays.

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Not a bad idea; but I’ve always preferred connected locks that also have a keypad (Schlage).

The enhanced Device Handler for these locks can add or delete entry codes (there are 9 slots), which is somewhat safer (and then runs entirely locally inside the lock), in case the cell phone service or internet is down.

The use of the code can be used to disable alarms.

So I have it working. Wife on her way home from work, she turns onto our street, and tells her car to call ‘unlock’. It accesses her phone and dials a Google voice number I set up especially for this task.

The call comes in to my “control panel” $50 android tablet. AutoNotifictions intercepts the alert and feeds it to Tasker. Tasker then, via Sharptools, unlocks the front door and turns on the front stoop light along with an interior light - all while notifying me that she has arrived.

If I could get this system to produce an email alert, it would be great. But it’s pretty awesome as-is :slightly_smiling:

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Email alerts now working, using the SendSilentMail plugin with Tasker and Sharptools. Google balked at it, but it’s working fine with yahoo mail. Also got IP Webcam to record, though I have to play with it to get a small enough segment. Most home invasions last 5 minutes or less, so I figure 10 minutes of video - or perhaps a series of stills at half-second intervals - will cover my needs. As IP Webcam can do motion detection, I can even have it record ONLY if a) there was an intrusion, and b) the tablet’s camera actually perceives motion. No need for 10 minutes of video if you only need a few seconds.

Now that the test worked, it’s time to do it ‘smart’ by including a link to the IP Webcam output in the email body. After that it’s time to get into the rboy rules engine to make the lock smarter, so that authorized users don’t trigger intruder alerts.

Gotta say, this is much more fun than hiring a security service :slightly_smiling:

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