CellGate Mobile Connect 4+

We just recently had this product rolled out to our HOA. The app is just not great. Given their release notes show that their last major revision (4.0.0) was released nearly 2 years ago and list as just being bugs and fixes, I don’t have high hopes for real user-driven improvements.

Some suggestions:
1. Bluetooth proximity options - if my Tesla can open when I get near it without me needing to do anything, why can’t my gate?
2. Don’t like #1? How about Apple Shortcuts integration so I can setup a shortcut to open my gate with one button instead of 4 (i.e. open app, choose community, choose gate, press open gate).
2. Apple Watch integration - 1-click actions from my Apple Watch since I may not always have my phone with me.
3. Redesigned homepage with favorite actions. While I only have 1 gate to worry about, this would likely benefit those with many gates where they can easy setup those they access most from the Home Screen.
4. In-app onboarding - how do I even use your app as a new user? I’m guessing the users of this app (not the buyers, per se) may not always be the most tech savvy. Why not help them a little instead of lobbing this app over the fence and hoping for the best?

Those are just a couple. I could keep going. Doing a little user empathy work might uncover even more insights that could generate more opporunities, that ultimately could lead to more $$$ for your bottom line. Happy customers talk.

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.