Homebase - Smart Apartments

Not to be dramatic, but this app is an absolutely joke. In theory? AMAZING. In reality? The most frustrating thing you will ever be asked to download, and I’m going to tell you why. Imagine bringing in groceries or luggage and you go to open the app and suddenly you find it’s automatically logged you out… for the second time this week. OR maybe the weather is really bad, and you’re running from your car to the door of your building and the app just doesn’t want to work :) OR maybe you’re running late and forgot your wallet and you’re trying to get back into your actual apt. that you JUST locked easily enough, but the lock simply won’t activate and you can’t get into YOUR house. ORRRRR maybe building doors just disappear from your available doors, including the doors to your building, so now you REALLY can’t get in you house - hopefully the leasing office is open and it’s not raining :) Anyways, you get the point. This app could be genuinely useful and helpful, but it’s just… not. At all. It’s an inconvenience and a fob would be significantly more impactful. I’m tired and I’m logging off now and I hope this app and the people managing it have the day they deserve.

Have you ever came home from a long day at work and thought to yourself, I really wish I could stand outside my front door for and extra 2-3 minutes? Well your in luck because this worthless app and lock system are professionals at what they do! Every time you want to lock/unlock your door expect a few minutes of nothing as this terrible service processes the request to lock your door. This service is an absolute joke and is far and away inferior to a normal lock and key. I really think if it wasn’t for clueless land lords this business would not exist. Not only does their app take forever to process requests to lock/unlock your door but the widget for the app is more broken than the actual app itself. Instead of being a convenient short cut, it’s a giant waste of time. No matter what door you click on it will always just end up unlocking the last used door. The only thing that could ever make this app more convenient than a conventional lock and key is if it unlocked the door as you approached it automatically. However even this has the downside of providing this terrible company access to your location 24/7. Avoid this like the plague. Any apartment complex/rental unit should automatically be eliminated from consideration when looking to rent if this “service” is included.

As you can tell by the many reviews, there are instances where the locking mechanism takes too long to engage. As a woman, seconds matter when it comes to safety. Apartment complexes should be required to provide a back up fob for all residents that works on exterior doors. Homebase is opening itself up to a lawsuit by putting people at potential risk. Walking from my vehicle to my apartment building I always have my keys on hand for protection. It’s one step vs: 1. Punch pin into phone to unlock 2. open Homebase 3. Wait for it to log me in 4. Turn on blue tooth 5. Let the app search for locks near me 6. Find the lock I’m in front of 7. Wait for lock to engage 8. Get inside to safety Can you imagine doing this in a situation when you’re in fear for your life? Even if you create shortcuts you may be approaching a door that isn’t in that list because it’s the closest to where you’re trying to flee from. My building has 8 exit doors. So you can add an extra step of figuring out what direction you’re facing to find the right door in the list of 20 doors in the app (indoor and outdoor). Seconds matter in a crisis. I know because I’ve escaped an assault Downtown KC because I had a key fob on my key chain. External doors should not solely rely on a Bluetooth/wifi system that is slow and unreliable. I care how fast you make the app, it doesn’t change any of the steps I listed above. Please do something about this before someone is seriously hurt. Also, please update your thermostat to this decade. Not being able to program scheduled times is mind blowing to me. Especially since we are now on an Evergy time-based system. Having to set an alarm on my phone EVERY DAY to remind myself to turn my thermostat up at 4pm (peak time) and back down at 8pm is archaic compared to other smart thermostats.