Latch App

My major problem with the process is that it takes between 3 to 10 times longer to open a lock using latch then it is with a key. Next, is the fact that there is no feedback on the touchpad of the actual lock to indicate whether you’ve hit the correct numbers. This is not theoretical. This is based on actual experience. There have been a number of times when the feedback being a dot has told me that I had a button which I already knew. The problem is it doesn’t tell me whether I hit the right one so if I enter the number manually, I can’t tell whether I hit the right one until I complete the sequence and then it just ignores me. Next, anyone with a number of disabilities such as tremor, blindness, or others would not be able to use the lock at all and would be essentially locked out. Penultimately, there have been times when I had to wait almost a minute before my door recognized the app. If you’ve ever needed to get to your bathroom quickly and suddenly were presented with the obstacle of actually getting into your apartment because an app doesn’t know well enough or takes too long to recognize you then that is a disastrous situation. Lastly, has a designer in the area of UX I have worked in this area, especially in digital products and to me this is a classic example of everything gone wrong.

My apartment building uses Latch exclusively vs keys. When I moved in a month ago the phone app was almost unusable. Most of the time long time connect left me standing outside or on an elevator that I couldn’t control. The watch companion app was nearly infallible and I found it was the sole way for me to get around. Since I have a cellular watch I could leave my phone. I did have to turn off Applepay on my watch to use the app reliably but since I need to use it more than using my watch to pay it seemed an acceptable trade off. Not sure if it was the most recent iOS update (minor one this week) but now the phone app works and the watch no longer does. The watch app just says connecting and I have yet to get it to work now. I would like to see something in the wallet app allowing me quicker access. The unlock time needs to be faster, especially for the elevators and watch app needs immediate improvement.

This app is a decent idea and I can appreciate the developers trying to be innovative, but it has a lot of problems that need to be fixed before anyone should even considering using it! I moved into an apartment complex that does not provide keys to residents. To enter the building, use the elevators, and access your own apartment, you are required to use the Latch app. On many instances, the app simply just does not work. It struggles to connect to Bluetooth, in which you have to do a hard reset of the app. There are also a few instances where a hard reset doesn’t even work and you have to put in a long keycode to access the area/doors you want to open. Additionally, if you have other Bluetooth devices actively connected to your phone, like AirPods or an Apple Watch, they seem to interfere with how your Latch app is able to pair to Bluetooth to provide access as needed. There is also an option for you to press a button on the app to open any doors that you need, instead of having to wave your device near the sensor. However, this is a hit or miss! Sometimes your button access works and other times the doors do not respond to you granting access. Overall, this app is frustrating because I just want to be able to get into my apartment without delays. I would prefer that my building offer its residents either the app or a physical key/fob so that we can choose how we access our units. The fact that I am forced to use an app that does not work well is infuriating!