Binding Locks¶

In Tapkey, binding a lock describes the process of registering a physical piece of locking hardware with an owner account. Once a locking device is bound to an owner, the owner is able to manage grants for the lock. Tapkey locks can be bound to an owner account in multiple ways, depending on the type of lock. This guide describes the different types of Tapkey locks and the methods available to register them with an owner account.

Binding Locks with Owner Card¶

Locks with owner cards have an owner-mode, which has to be activated before registering the lock. The owner card has to be brought near the lock, which toggles the owner-mode. When in owner-mode, locks can always be registered to a new owner account, no matter if they are already bound or not. That means, the Owner Card needs to be kept in a secure place, and locks have to be shipped with the Owner Card for customers to be able to register them.

Certain locks may also have a hardware button (i.e. the BLE-only furniture lock). On such devices, the owner-mode is activated by pushing the button rather than using the Owner Card.

Binding process¶

Locks of this type can be bound using the Tapkey Mobile SDK. The required functionality is not publicly available as of today, and will be added in a future release.

Binding Locks without Owner Card¶

Locks without Owner Card can be registered using the lock's binding code. If the lock is not bound, it can be bound to an owner account using the binding code. Locks that already are bound to an owner account, cannot be bound to a different owner account unless the binding to their current owner account is removed.

Binding process¶

Locks of this type can be bound using the Tapkey Access Management Web API. The

PUT/Owners/{ownerAccountId}/BoundLocks

operation can be used to register a new lock using its binding code.

Validity of binding codes¶

A binding code can be used to bind a lock as many times as required. The binding code does not change after a lock has been bound to a new account, and it does not change if a lock is unbound. However, locks with binding code can only bound to a new owner account if they are not currently bound to an owner account. That means, even if the binding code is known, it is not possible to bind locks that are already bound to an owner account.

Unbinding Locks¶

Both locks with Owner Card and locks with binding code can be unbound via the

DELETE/Owners/{ownerAccountId}/BoundLocks/{id}

operation.

Please note that the removed lock won't be notified of the change unless it is synchronized (or, in case it was bound to a new account again, opened by a smartphone with Internet connection). That means, that any key issued for the lock before it was unbound, will still be valid until the lock has been synchronized. Even though it was deleted using the operation above.