Emergency opening and offline PIN

RemoteGuard always keeps a safe way out, even if Bluetooth, the app, the internet or Chaster fail. Here is exactly how it works.

Normal opening

When it is time to open, you open the lock over Bluetooth from the RemoteGuard app with a phone in range. That is the everyday path.

If Bluetooth or the app fail: the offline PIN

At pairing, RemoteGuard sets a permanent emergency code directly on the lockbox. You can type it on the box keypad to open it, with no internet, Bluetooth, app or Chaster needed. This is your safety valve if a phone breaks, a battery dies, or you are somewhere without signal.

Getting the code if your phone is lost or broken

The code lives on the lock itself, so it keeps working at the keypad no matter what happens to your phone. You only need a way to look it up:

• On a working phone: open RemoteGuard and start the emergency opening, it shows the code.
• Phone lost or broken: sign in to RemoteGuard on another phone. Your encrypted backup restores the code on the new device.
• No way to use the app at all: contact [email protected] and we will help you recover access after confirming that you are the account owner. Your keyholder is informed.

Your keyholder is always informed

Whenever you reveal or use the emergency code, your keyholder is notified and it is written to the shared activity log, and to Chaster as well if the lock is linked there. The safety valve never happens silently.

Why you cannot pick your own code

The emergency code is generated by the app, not chosen by you, and you only receive it through the emergency flow. A fixed code that the wearer knew in advance would let them open anytime without the keyholder ever knowing, which would defeat keyholding. So the code stays out of reach until the emergency path hands it over, with the keyholder informed. It is also rotated automatically over time.

Where the code is stored

• On your device: in the secure system keystore (iOS Keychain, Android Keystore). This is the primary copy and works offline.
• Encrypted backup on our servers: so the code survives a phone change or reinstall and you never lock yourself out. It is encrypted at rest, access is owner only, and every access is logged.

This is recoverable by design (server side encryption), not end to end encryption: the point is that you can get back into your own lock after losing a phone. A database leak alone does not expose the code, because it is stored encrypted.

Exclusive control: the lock is cleared at pairing

To make RemoteGuard as secure as possible, pairing removes every other way into the box first. With your consent, RemoteGuard deletes all existing keypad codes, all fingerprints and all cards on the lock, and rotates the admin PIN to a fresh RemoteGuard controlled one. After that the only access that exists is RemoteGuard’s managed access plus your emergency PIN, so no old code, fingerprint or card can open the box behind the keyholder’s back.