Latch App Reviews

My apartment building uses this instead of keys and it’s been a really bad experience. It’s a huge hassle to unlock my phone while wearing a mask and carrying groceries to unlock three different Latch devices to get into my home. I’ve dropped my phone a number of times trying to unlock doors while carrying things. I’d rather fumble with keys than a new iPhone. There’s a key card, which is a way better solution, but it doesn’t work half the time. Then of course LatchApp doesn’t work sometimes. Having bluetooth on drains my battery extremely fast and before I got the key card I would be locked out of my home if my phone died.

Asking me to memorize codes to get into my home is absurd. When I’m tired and I want to go home, I just want a key. I’m not doing extra work when I could have just had a key.

If the key card was reliable this could be a really great solution and awesome for accessibility but it has major limitations as an app. If LatchApp is meant to replace keys it needs to be a better solution than a key and it just isn’t.

LatchApp works fine, but there are two things that could be improved:
1. The widget is a great idea, but on my phone (recent iPhone) it sometimes decides to show the "Set up" button even though I have already set it up in LatchApp . Clicking on the button and then going back to the home screen is often sufficient to show the keys again in the widget, but it often takes a couple of back and forth between LatchApp and the home screen.
2. When I search for keys in LatchApp , the results of the search are hidden behind the keyboard, and I need to press the "Search" button in order to minimize the keyboard, often to notice I made a typo, tap the search bar again to edit the search, and tap search again to minimize the keyboard in order to select the key. It's a little bit tedious and it would be great to be able to see the first few results without having to minimize the keyboard.

Often when I try to open a door I will have to stand their waving my phone around the sensor and physically touching my phone to the sensor in order to get it to work and it can take quite a bit. It’s also super inconvenient when your hands are always full and you have to get out your phone, unlock it, open LatchApp and then hold it up to the sensor waiting for it to unlock. Then you pick your stuff back up, but by the time you get the door open it’s locked again. I’ve had two phones since I started using LatchApp at my new place, the Samsung Galaxy 10 and now the iPhone 12 Pro. The iPhone works a little better, but not much. I also just got an Apple Watch. That app actually seems to work pretty well on there and since the watch is always unlocked and doesn’t involve holding a bulky (compared to keys) phone it’s the only way I can handle living here. LatchApp is so bad I would probably break the lease if it weren’t for the watch.

I cannot even call it a smart lock as there are no smart functions to it. In fact it’s less useful than a key. Each update of LatchApp seems to remove more functionality. It seems in one of the recent updates the ability to use Siri shortcuts was removed which was the one saving grace of not having to physically get my phone out at most doors. Now even that doesn’t work, good luck if you’re carrying groceries or anything else in. Even when the Siri shortcuts were functional they only worked at public area doors and not your own personal lock so I only had to sit everything down and get my phone out once instead of at every door like now. There is no unlock on approach feature with Bluetooth or WiFi like actual smart locks have.

If you’re looking to move into a building that forces these locks on you be aware of the monumental pain they are.

LatchApp is soooo finicky. I have to use it just so and hold it just right for it to work. Honestly I’ve had to quit LatchApp and reopen. The amount of times I’ve been stuck in the elevator because the doors close, and then it won’t register—it happens all the time. Not user error, so many of my friends who live in different buildings and need to use latch—they also have the same frustration. Also! I used to do door dash, and Instacart especially in the pandemic, but you cant allow the dasher or Instacarter to deliver ! They get stuck in elevators and always call. Because of the pandemic this is fine, I’ll come down, but I miss the days of just pressing 9 on my phone and they were able to get the food delivered outside my door.

Pro, yes it’s super safe. If it can be this hard for me to get to my apartment, and I’ve been using latch for over a year, then I can only assume that no one is getting in who shouldn’t be.

Absolutely awful app, and I say this after more than a year of using it. It feels to me that the developers don’t even use their own product here.

Here’s a list of concrete things I would improve:
- Disable screen rotation on the watch app. I’ve noticed LatchApp malfunctions when the screen on the watch rotates upside down. I have no idea why LatchApp allows that at all. Every time I have to wiggle my wrist so that LatchApp rotates back and starts working again.
- Allow better handling of the list of doors. Let me pin a bunch to the top or something, my apartment complex has like 80 doors.
- Do not insert new doors at the top of the list. I went through the task of bringing the 6 or so doors that I actually care about, only to have them pushed down into the middle when my complex opened two additional buildings.
- Why is the widget limited to 4 doors? I use 7 doors frequently. This limitations seems entirely arbitrary.

This are clear UX issues that have not been fixed in over a year. As I said, I don’t think the developers use their own product here.

In general the amount of time that unlocking a door fails or locks LatchApp for half a minute, is astonishing, but I don’t have concrete suggestions about that.

One has to be VERY concerned about the functionality of a product when so many people are experiencing problems that you can’t even get through to customer support!! It also does not bode well for the company that their customer service technology fails miserably!!!!

As I write this, I have dialed customer support at least 20 times, each time getting the message that there are long hold times. It offers an option for someone to call back if you press “2” but when you press the number, the feature does not work. The same recording about long hold times prattles on! It repeats for three cycles, then disconnects.

Online, when you click customer support “contact us”, the page says “Ooops, page does not exist”, so.... I tried the phone number.

The Latch app works decently well. Not the best, but sufficient for what it is designed to do. When it doesn’t work, the customer support process for LAtch users is the WORST I’ve ever encountered....Seriously!!! Worst than trying to call the cable company.

Latch is a good concept for a secure, digital key system, but the execution by this company is abysmal. My apartment building is owned and operated by Tishman Speyer, which apparently had some deal to work with Latch, and it has been nothing but trouble. Give me an old fashion physical key, it would be better than this.

There are constant bug issues with LatchApp , causing me to have to close it out or turn off and back on my Bluetooth to have it operate properly — sometime I even have to turn off my phone. Something that should save me time and hassle, now causes me more stress.

It seems that out of nowhere the system decides to boot me from doors I previously had access and I have to contact my management team to get access added back. And even that part is super stressful because it isn’t easy for the building to just add and take away access, it always seems to be some sort of process to get anything done with LatchApp .

I’d you are a building considering implanting this system… think again. It will likely be the biggest headache you will put up with in terms of resident complaints, just as it has been at my apartment building.

My apartment complex is strictly electronic locks so it’s convenient for quick entry, especially since I work late nights and don’t like fiddling with a key or a lock in the dark. At first my phone couldn’t connect to the lock for some reason, but after my locks were changed it works perfectly. I don’t even have to be in front of my door, but can unlock as I’m walking up to my door so I can go right in.

It’s a great option for single women living alone.

Overall, LatchApp does work most of the time as intended. However I have issues with how managing guests are handled and the lack of Apple wallet features. I can use my phone ( while out of battery) for a bus, a train, but not my front door? That seems ridiculous.

Additionally, managing guests is a nightmare, if you want to “edit” a guests privileges, you have to revoke them, then create an entirely new key…. Why can’t we just have a simple “edit” function for this. This also makes it a nightmare if you want to use a food delivery service in an apartment building.

I’ll increase this rating if the devs implement some of these simple features, but for now, this leaves a lot to be desired.

If you have very minimal cell service LatchApp does not work if you’re inside the elevator LatchApp does not work you literally need to unlock the elevator before the doors close everyone in the building 32 story building that I live in everyone is complaining about LatchApp not working and yeah nobody does anything about it have talked with new construction buildings they have opted to avoid installing this product because of the issues that it is known to have unfortunately where I live this is the only way we can get into our units from floor to floor or even into the building and the thing is down more than it’s up and running. Avoid purchase of this product and it’s services a key fob works much better.!!!!!!!

I don’t know who in their right mind prefers using their phone to unlock doors as opposed to a programmable fob that you can put on your keychain. First, if you happen to go somewhere, say, to throw out the garbage, and forget to take the phone, or it runs out of energy, you are basically screwed. Good luck finding a building manager in the middle of the night to let you in. Second, something like 20-25% of the time the Bluetooth simply doesn’t work, and you are left there restarting LatchApp or asking others for help. LatchApp design is not too bad, but the whole concept and the reliability of the Bluetooth connection is seriously flawed.

LatchApp is super nice, I can share access easily for set amounts of time with others and the UI is super sleek.

I also have to say as a computer security guy, I read some of their materials on the technicals of the locking system and I think they did a really nice job with how it is implemented.

That being said, adding 2FA is high priority, and I would love to see an API that I can use myself.

I work in technology. I like technology. But some things were better as they were. Latch proves that.

Their app is uncomfortably glitchy. Half of the time you try to unlock your front door or your elevator to your floor, it won’t work. You’ll have to close and reboot.

Every once and a while you’ll be trying to get into your home and your session will expire. Hopefully you remember your password, otherwise you’re going to be holding a lot of groceries for an uncomfortable amount of time.

The units run in on double AAs. Yes, they signal home when they’re running low, but do you trust that all the time?

In the best case scenario, it will take two time longer to open your door than it would with a key, and your phone requires unlocking while your keys do not.

Overall, why would you do this to your home? It’s a solution in search of a problem. It’s a solution that creates more problems than it solves. Please, just put a keyhole in your door.

Have to use it every day as my building in Mountain View CA only supports Latch app access and no key card access. I have to key in once to enter the building, a second time inside the elevator and a third time to enter my apartment. It’s impossible to use if you are on the phone, so i had to wait outside of the building for 20 minutes so i could wrap up a conversation. It’s super slow to unlock and 1 out of 5 times it doesn’t work at all and i have to kill LatchApp and restart. It’s so slow that you will get in the elevator and miss your floor by the time it accepts access. Absolute piece of garbage. This 4.7 star rating must all be fake ratings because all i see if terrible reviews

Every single time I open LatchApp to use it to open my door(s) they’re in a different order. There’s literally a button at the top that’s supposed to let me reorder them so I can put my most used doors (like my FRONT DOOR) at the top and yet every time I close LatchApp they get shuffled around again. My apartment doesn’t authorize us to use codes so it’s LatchApp or nothing and at this point I’d rather leave my doors unlocked than have to scroll through 13 doors to find where my front door is hiding. Whoever wrote that software should be deeply, deeply ashamed of the absolutely worthless garbage job they did. I’d be embarrassed if I was ever that bad at my job.

The idea is really good. It’s nice to be able to let other people in, and it’s cool to be able to leave with just my phone or watch. It works like 95% percent of the time.

However, the remaining 5% of the time its incredibly frustrating to tap the widget to unlock a door, have it time out, then open LatchApp and have it fail to discover the lock. I often have to force-quit LatchApp to get into my apartment. Front doors need to work 100% of the time. Latch isn’t there yet.

How does this have 4.7 out of 5 stars? My new building uses Latch and really appreciate the concept but it’s incredibly slow and EVERYTIME I lock my door, when I start to walk away, it unlocks at least once before I have to go back and lock it again. I’ve never spent so much time getting in and out of my place. It’s really infuriating that I no longer have a key.

Suggestion: fix the glitches that unlock your door after you’ve locked it and use similar location -based technology that are used to remote unlock vehicles without having to pull your phone out and it would be great.

The amount of times LatchApp stresses me out more than helps me out is baffling!!! The application session time out/expired logout issue is serious, what if you need to access your home in critical timing? This is very scary in the event of an emergency, and as a woman getting into safety is all the more serious (women know why). LatchApp crashes constantly, I’m logged out after it appears to be unlocking, and sometimes it just purely won’t unlock (error codes). My apartment complex made a bad decision going with LatchApp, and I so wish that we could switch back to the key system.

LatchApp creates a freedom I haven’t seen anywhere else. Thank you for creating such app for this apartment. I only wish that more apartments could have this as well.

Sometimes it does lag and would suggest working on bug fixes. Other than that thank you so much !!!

Attention:
Chances are you have to use LatchApp because you live in a building that has installed it to halt the spread of COVID-19, what you may not be aware of is that LatchApp takes control of your Bluetooth functionality and can cause others to bypass your phones core programming— this isn’t easy but these flaws and security issues have never been patched or fixed and as a result have impacted the majority of users in the building I reside in and have lead to their private data being vulnerable to intrusion.

It gets worse but chances are you already downloaded this before reading the fine print that absolves the company from letting this occur.
🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠

Here’s an idea... let’s make a door lock that can open with your phone. But instead of just holding your phone to it, let’s make it so you have to unlock your phone, open LatchApp , wait for it to load, then hold it to your door. This 4 minute process is way quicker and more secure than keys right? Absolutely not. Widget doesn’t work, Bluetooth is unreliable, but don’t worry, if you don’t want to use use your phone you can manually input the 40 digit combo. Bottom line is my apartment is always unlocked now because potentially getting my stuff stolen is easier to handle than latch.

We have to use this for our Airbnb which was installed by our building and it messes up all the time! And in a review driven business it makes us look like idiots like we can’t operate it or we make mistakes. I’ve had to reset access all the time because LatchApp did it wrong or reset or timed out or didn’t send the access to begin with. Just god awful. No user functionality at all. You have to select every little door and can’t edit times/etc you have to remove the access and start all over.

It’s a very convenient app. It works quite well to open doors in my building. It’s also great that it works on Apple Watch. My biggest complaint about it is that LatchApp has to be open for it to be used. It would be much more convenient to be able to put the phone next to the lock without opening LatchApp first

Latch works so well. I really love all the features especially now equipped with Siri Shortcuts. I just wish it worked easier when my phone is locked. The widgets require you to unlock the phone even when on the Home Screen. Overall pretty good.