Amenities & Bookings

Resident Digital Lock

Pair a smart lock to an amenity so residents receive a one-time access code automatically when they book. The lock works offline and auto-secures between reservations.

Last updated May 13, 2026

When you pair a smart lock to an amenity, every booking automatically gets a one-time access code. The resident sees it in their Booking Pass an hour before their reservation starts, and the code works at the lock only during their booked window. The board does not hand out keys, share codes on group texts, or revoke access when someone moves out. The system does it.

This article is what to do as an admin. For the technical install guide (hardware, iglooaccess account setup, troubleshooting), see How to Install igloohome for HomeHerald.

What you can do with a paired lock

  • One-time codes per booking. Sarah’s code on Saturday is different from Mike’s on Sunday. Codes are 9 digits, time-bound, and stop working the moment the reservation ends.
  • Offline at the lock. Codes work without WiFi or cellular at the lock itself. Pool gates and remote courts don’t need power runs or network cables.
  • Auto-secures between bookings. No standing access. No shared community code that everyone’s kids know.
  • Grant early access for setup or cleanup. Decoration the night before a birthday party? A cleaning crew the morning after? You can grant an extra access window from the admin booking detail. The window is its own code; the lock auto-secures between the early access and the actual booking.

Before you can pair a lock

Two prerequisites:

  1. Connect a smart-lock provider at the community level. Go to Admin → Amenities → Manage, click the Digital Lock tile, and follow the prompts. Today HomeHerald supports igloohome; more vendors are on the roadmap. You’ll need a Client ID and Client Secret from your provider, which you generate in their portal. See the igloohome install guide for the step-by-step.

  2. Physically install the lock and pair it to your provider account. The hardware install is a 15-minute deadbolt swap for most amenities. After that, the lock appears in the dropdown when you edit the amenity in HomeHerald.

If the Digital Lock tile shows “Not connected” or your amenity edit screen says “Set up Digital Lock first,” that’s the missing step.

Pair an amenity to a lock

Once the platform is connected:

  1. Go to Admin → Amenities → Manage and click the amenity tile (e.g., Clubhouse).
  2. Scroll to the Smart Lock section.
  3. Pick the lock that guards this amenity from the dropdown. The dropdown lists every lock in your provider account, with battery level shown.
  4. Save.

You can repeat for each amenity. Multiple amenities pointing at the same lock is supported: each booking still gets its own unique code, the lock just happens to be shared.

What residents experience

After you pair the lock, the booking flow stays exactly the same from the resident’s side except their Booking Pass now includes an Access Code tile.

  • More than 25 hours before the booking: the tile shows a “Pending” message (“Your code will be issued before your booking”). This is just a placeholder so residents know to expect a code.
  • About 24 hours before: the system mints the code. The tile flips to a locked state showing “Code unlocks at [time].” The actual digits stay hidden.
  • One hour before the booking: the tile reveals the live 9-digit code. It’s also in the resident’s confirmation email at this point.
  • At the booked time: the resident punches the 9-digit code on the keypad and then presses the lock-shaped key. The deadbolt retracts. (The lock key is the standard igloohome “submit” - PINs alone do not unlock; the lock key tells the lock the entry is complete.)
  • After the booking ends: the tile flips to “Booking complete.” The code stops working at the lock automatically.

Residents do not need a smartphone in front of the lock; they only need to remember (or look up) the 9-digit code. The lock has no internet dependency at the door.

Grant early access (decoration, cleanup, setup)

Most communities have at least one amenity where the booking-window-only access model isn’t enough. Birthday parties usually need decoration the night before. Wedding receptions need cleanup the morning after. Service vendors (carpet cleaning, AC tune-up) need separate windows.

The admin booking detail has a Smart Lock: Early Access section directly under the booking’s Status and Time Slot. Click + Grant access to open the dialog.

  • Pick one of the presets (“Night before 6 to 10 PM”, “Day before 10 AM to 4 PM”, “Two hours before booking”) or set a custom date and time range.
  • Add a reason (optional, but it appears in the resident’s Booking Pass so they know what the extra window is for).
  • Click Grant Early Access.

The system mints a separate code for that window. The resident sees both windows in their Booking Pass, each with its own code. Between the windows, neither code works at the lock; it auto-secures.

You can grant multiple early access windows on the same booking (e.g., decoration Friday evening AND cleanup Sunday morning). Each is a separate window with its own code.

When something goes wrong

The code beeps “success” at the lock but the deadbolt doesn’t move. Usually the deadbolt is already retracted from the inside. Have whoever is at the lock manually extend the deadbolt with the thumb-turn, then punch the code from outside. If that still doesn’t work, the lock’s internal clock has drifted; see the install guide’s Troubleshooting section.

Resident says they can’t see their code. The Access Code tile reveals an hour before the booking starts. If they’re checking earlier than that, it’s expected. If they’re inside the reveal window and still not seeing the digits, ask them to refresh the app and reopen their Booking Pass.

You want to revoke a code. The code becomes invalid automatically when the booking window ends. If you need to revoke earlier (the resident’s reservation was cancelled or moved), cancel the booking from the admin booking detail. The system stops minting new codes for that booking. Codes already minted will continue working until their window ends.

The whole integration says “Needs reconnect.” Open the Digital Lock tile (Admin → Amenities → Manage) and click Reconnect. The most common cause is that someone rotated the API credentials in the provider portal but didn’t update HomeHerald. Paste the fresh credentials.

Disconnecting

If you need to disconnect a smart-lock provider entirely (you’re switching vendors, ending the iglooaccess subscription, or pausing the service), open the Digital Lock tile and click Disconnect. You’ll see a confirmation dialog. Existing bookings keep any codes that were already minted. Future bookings won’t auto-receive codes until you reconnect.

To unpair just one amenity from a lock (e.g., the pool lock is being removed but the clubhouse lock stays), edit the amenity, set its Smart Lock dropdown to “None”, and save.