Using Smartphones as a Secure Access Control

Access with Smartphone, thanks to Tapkey

The number of smartphone users in Germany continues to grow and will amount to around 58 million in 2019.¹ The intelligent mobile phones have become an important part of everyday life for many. It is not surprising that, as an alternative to conventional chip cards or RFID tags, the use of smart devices for access control is increasingly being used. Mobile access solutions effectively combine mobility, innovation and absolute security.

The mobile all-rounders are everywhere

In recent years, the smartphone has not only become a digital all-rounder, it is also being used more intensively and more universally. The results of a Statista survey show that the smartphone is not only used for making calls. 90 percent of those questioned use the camera function for photo and video recordings. 70 percent call internet search engines on the phone and 69 percent listen to music with it. In addition, 46 percent of respondents use their smartphone for online and 43 percent for online shopping.² The smartphones can now be used for a variety of applications.

Smartphone more secure than ID cards

Another application is the opening and closing of doors using Bluetooth or NFC. A study by HID Global shows that the need for smartphone-controlled access control is growing rapidly and the use of NFC technology is rated positively.³ When evaluating the test series, over 80 percent of the testers stated that it was much more pleasant to open doors with a smartphone than with conventional access cards. The participants emphasized that they found the use of cell phones to be safer and more practical than chips, for example. A clear advantage is that employees are more likely to carry their smartphones with them and less like to lose them compared to NFC transponders. This largely protects against abuse.

Broad approval for mobile access solutions

Mobile authentication is increasingly accepted and promoted by society. With a view to the “Mobile Access” model, smartphones will be used for many other applications. For this it is important to enable secure, reliable and permanently available mobile authorizations. It is important to fully understand digitization. A promising approach is to no longer just speak of pure access – but to see access as part of the whole. For this reason, the topic of integration plays an enormous role. Access control must be seen as a complementary feature in software (visitor management / property management).