I like the idea of a digitally connected gate and all that comes with it: a cell phone app, video conference, and the ability to create QR codes for visitors. All these functions work well when the app connects but it’s the connecting part that’s clunky. When someone calls me, my cell phone tries to open the app like a call, so I swipe to accept the call. Then it tries to open the Cellgate app, which needs my finger print or face recognition all the while the person at the gate is waiting. Even when the biometric is complete and I get into the call, it may or may not time out. All the while the person at the gate is still waiting. I’ve combated this by manually opening the gate to let the person in, but now I’ve negated all the good things this app could have done. I’m hoping Cellgate takes some time to really update this app and make it as good as it could be.

For our home use it works OK. It is painfully slow to use. Every time you open the app, it want’s to go to the main menu and it takes a few seconds, then you can click the button to go to the gate and again it takes several seconds to display the next menu where you can trigger the gate. This happens every time you open the app or even if you switch apps for a second you have to go through the whole painfully slow process. This is so annoying that we ended up getting another gate trigger to open the gate with a remote from our cars and use the gatecell device only for guests. I don’t know why the app has this behavior, perhaps it is authenticating with their cloud service every time you use the app and this is extremely slow. If for whatever reason the app switches from wifi to Celular then the app just sits there thinking for a long time, usually several minutes so the best is to kill it and open it again or like we did just buy a remote. Overall, the app works well for home use, it is just super slow.

I have installed several Cellgate systems for both multi family and single family applications. This is a very simple to use and functional entry system which allows the user a lot of flexibility in obtaining information regarding usage. The system is perfectly capable of telling the user whether the gate is open if magnetic sensors are installed on the gate. This works good on slide gates but due to movement of swing gates by the wind, the system will show the gate being open when it is closed. This is not the fault of the Cellgate system but a function of slop in the gate hinges and gate operator connections.The app is easy to use and easy to understand. The photo of the person at the gate is crisp and clear and comes to the user's cell phone very promptly and allows clear voice communication. The ability to roll from one unanswered phone to several others is a very good feature.These units can be set up with standard 120 VAC or solar so they can be installed anywhere there is cellular service.

This video streaming for this app works beautifully as long as the device that is called from the gate or door requesting access is currently connected to Wi-Fi. If you are out of Wi-Fi connected areas when someone calls from the gate, the app won’t connect and the call is redirected to your regular phone number as an incoming call and you will not get video streaming. When this happens, you will have to separately access the app in order to open the gate. That would have been a good thing to let this user know because I thought the video streaming just wasn’t working when I tested it while 200 yards away from Wi-Fi at the gate. The app should have the capability to select the option to: stream via WiFi, or through cellular data when WIFI is unavailable-similar to FaceTime. You would have to understand that this would increase data usage and additional charges might apply but people should at least have the option to do so.