Hacker News Reader

My current apartment has a "smart lock" system for entry into the building. The system becomes unresponsive with no electricity, which means you're locked out.

But you can kick open the door anyways, so at least that's an alternative to being locked out.

View on HN

In my apartment building all of the external access doors are held closed by electromagnetic "locks" that require a key fob to open, unless we lose power, in which case there's no battery backup and they're all unlocked.

Jesus, what if that failed in a fire?

Nearly all smart locks can be mechanically unlocked from the inside (as required by fire safety regulations).

In the case of a fire tenents try to get out of the house and usually there is a normal manual turn lock on the inside of the door that works without electricity.

For the fire fighters, I assume they break down the door anyways?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com