The Apple Watch is a great way to unlock all sorts of aspects of your life, from better health to your bank account. Heck, it’ll even unlock your Mac. But will it unlock your door? It can now.
Make posted great instructions on how a DIY-minded individual — or, in their case, a DIY-minded magazine — can hack any door to open just by waving an Apple Watch in front of it.
Make explains:
We started this project to help solve a real-world problem: prevent our employees from being locked out of our office. Our security system automatically locks the doors outside of normal business hours. If someone steps out of the office without their security card or keyfob, they’re locked out. When this happens, people use their phone to call or email people at the office to let them back in. This showed us that people may forget their security card — but they don’t forget their phone. With this insight, we set out to create an mobile app that would serve as a virtual security card. The Apple Watch would make this even more convenient, and since Apple Watch apps are extensions of iPhone apps, we created a bundle that includes both apps.
All it takes is some programming know-how, an electronic door strike, an RFduino microcontroller, and 10 to 12 hours (which is probably the most onerous requirement for the hack). The hardware in this hack costs about $100 per door.
As someone who’s always forgetting his keys, this hack has me sorely tempted, although I’m not sure I’m an advanced enough maker to tackle it myself. Any takers?
Source: Make
