Kindoo Access Control System

[ELHawkes]

Reading this Kindoo web page, it indicates that there is a monthly fee per user seat (I assume that means license)

While Kindoo has a monthly license option, that's not what the Church is using. FM groups are required to purchase permanent one-time licenses, which the Church gets at a discount ($20/license). These licenses are permanently assigned to the stakes.

I see, so where it said "additional" , I took that to mean that was in addition to the permanent licenses.
So it's actually one or the other of the two options.

I guess I still have a hard time with having a brand new Sicunet eLock system that was just installed in our Stake Apr 2023 and the cost was around 15k, and it works just fine, just to turn around and replace it already with a different system and spent another 10-15k.
Anyway thanks for helping me with all of my questions.

[ELHawkes]

Does the smartphone have to have internet connectivity each time the Kindoo app unlocks a door?

Yes, Internet connectivity is required. It can either be through the phone provider or you can use the building Wi-Fi. I understand the Church was going to bypass the firewall for Kindoo commands so you don't need first pass the TOS screen, but I haven't tested that.

One other question,
In addition to having to have both Bluetooth and Internet connectivity enabled, does the Kindoo app also require Location services to be on/enabled?

[swigginton]

In addition to having to have both Bluetooth and Internet connectivity enabled, does the Kindoo app also require Location services to be on/enabled?

I does ask for location permission, but I'm not sure why. I asked about that a while ago and was told they don't use it, so not sure why it's needed.

[ELHawkes]

In addition to having to have both Bluetooth and Internet connectivity enabled, does the Kindoo app also require Location services to be on/enabled?

I does ask for location permission, but I'm not sure why. I asked about that a while ago and was told they don't use it, so not sure why it's needed.

Okay, thanks.
We'll have to experiment once we get the new system installed and see what happens when location services is turned off or on.

[ELHawkes]

In addition to having to have both Bluetooth and Internet connectivity enabled, does the Kindoo app also require Location services to be on/enabled?

I does ask for location permission, but I'm not sure why. I asked about that a while ago and was told they don't use it, so not sure why it's needed.

Okay, thanks.
We'll have to experiment once we get the new system installed and see what happens when location services is turned off or on.

So I asked my daughter that is in a stake in southern Utah that is using Kindoo to see what happens when she turned off location services on her phone.
When she truned it off, the Kindoo app gave her a message that said it needed to be truned on for BLE (Bluetooh Low Energy) and that the Kindoo app itself doesn't use it.
That got me courious since the Sicunet Open Cesamee app also uses BLE. So I truned location services off on my phone and tried unlocking a door. The Open Cesamee app didn't give me any message, but it would not unlock the door until I turned the location services back on.
Now I know another possibility why a small handfull of users could not get the app to unlock a door even though everything appeared to be setup correctly.

Another intresting thing I found in talking with the FT missionaries today, and in reading the instructions they were given for using Kindoo by the Ogden UT Mission, is that they are also instructed to install the Chrome browser on their phone and make it the default browser. I sure hope that is not a requirement in general for Stake users too.

[swigginton]

When she truned it off, the Kindoo app gave her a message that said it needed to be truned on for BLE (Bluetooh Low Energy) and that the Kindoo app itself doesn't use it.

Yeah, a quick Google search tells me location services are required for BLE, so that answers that question.

Another intresting thing I found in talking with the FT missionaries today, and in reading the instructions they were given for using Kindoo by the Ogden UT Mission, is that they are also instructed to install the Chrome browser on their phone and make it the default browser. I sure hope that is not a requirement in general for Stake users too.

I've never seen or heard of any issues related to the browser from any of the 3000+ Kindoo users in our area. Kindoo does use the Church's single sign-on for initial authentication. I don't know if that's done through a browser, but certainly should not require Chrome exclusively. I just checked the official Kindoo document for our missionaries and it doesn't include any browser instructions. The 2 requirements for the missionaries in the Ogden mission may be unrelated.

[MurdockM]

So, is the plan to give all who now have 'authorized' physical keys to the building Kindoo access?

I'm a Ward clerk and just learned today that I am also a Kindoo 'manager'. People are starting to ask me for access.

I've set up the Bishops counselor who is also the building person. However, I want to fully understand the intent before I go too much further.

When reading about the system I saw that there is a cost per user.

[swigginton]

So, is the plan to give all who now have 'authorized' physical keys to the building Kindoo access?

Building access is determined by the stake president, so it's ultimately up to him. For us, our FM group is providing a list of recommended leaders who should receive access. In Kindoo, access rules are configured for each building and for the stake leaders. The Kindoo managers assign those rules to the appropriate ward/stake leaders. Once things are stable with Kindoo, the locks get changed. Only the stake presidency, PFR and security folks get physical keys (which unlock all stake buildings), along with bishops, who get a key for their building.

When reading about the system I saw that there is a cost per user.

There is a license fee per user. That cost is managed by the FM group and they will allocate the appropriate number of licenses to be distributed across your stake.

[russellhltn]

What's going to be interesting is that there's likely a number of people who will loose access in the process. For example, perhaps the chapel clean up coordinator. In that case, the solution may be to require a someone from the ward council to attend each cleanup.

Does the Kindoo system itself require internet access? If so, I'd hope the STS gets a physical key to be able to fix a broken network.

[dlpyro1957]

Kindoo The system will either work on your Wi-Fi system or hardwire into your switch. There shouldn’t be any reason why your facilities people cannot have access. In our case each Ward was giving 30 licenses to use. I’m the manager for Stake in with that number, we still have plenty reserved. May want to just run a report showing your Collans with their email addresses. You can do an input via an XL file. Becomes very easy.