I think I should have been more clear… When I wrote about “adding wifi” it was intended to say:
…I sensed that people with built-in wifi seemed to have more problems with AU than people like me. This observation made me wonder if Utec had [designed the built-in wifi lock by] just add [ing a] wifi [channel] to my non-wifi lock [and then] funneling…
The wifi locks, I believe, were second generation and I was thinking it might have been an engineering shortcut (or necessity?) to put the WiFi onto the existing BT bus without letting the BT bus interrupt. That approach would have the same effect as (in my lock) the bridge communication over BT not being interrupted by the phone’s attempt to (auto)unlock.
I’m a little late to the party. I have the Ultaloq Bolt NFC for a couple months now. The auto unlock worked intermittently the first few weeks. Was very inconsistent. Past few weeks it hasn’t worked at all. I read thru all the comments here to troubleshoot.
My lock, with built in Wi-Fi, is on my guest 2.4ghz network. Yesterday, I shut off my router, as I read here to test, to see if that would allow the BT to send that unlock command but it did not work.
From your post it looks like you’ve understood how autounlock [appears] to work so all I can suggest at this point is a) put your phone on airplane mode but turn BT back on and then, b) with the door locked, go maybe 200 ft away, open your app, and then return to maybe 20 ft away, and finally c) try to unlock the door with the app. If it doesn’t unlock, go stand next to the door and try again.
Since AU is, as far as I can tell, strictly an app function, these steps will test whether the app is currently capable of finding the lock’s BT channel when you “return home”. If you can’t unlock the door this way, then there is a BT communication issue between your phone/app and the lock… and you need to work with U-tec to figure out if it’s that app (do you have the latest version) or the lock (do you have the latest firmware? or is it a hardware problem).
After doing this test, delete the app (and any “data”) and redownload it. All of your “data”, as far as I know, is stored on U-tec’s servers, so you shouldn’t have to re-enter anything (NOTE: “shouldn’t”), Reconfirm that AU is set up and that you have allowed the app to send you notifications (I forgot to ask above… have you been getting notifications when you leave and reenter the geofence?). Now leave the geofence (if you go several thousand yards away and don’t get a notification that you are “away”, look at Settings/AutoUnlock - it should show enabled and if so, click on “enabled” and at the top of the page it should show “Back Mode” as “away”. If not, you can go further away or just try clicking on “away”). Once you are sure the phone thinks you are away, return home (again you should get a notification, if you don’t, check “Back Mode” again), if the AU works, great (you should have received notification that you unlocked the door), if not, put your phone in airplane mode with BT enabled and see if you can use the phone to unlock the door.
Post here after trying these things. (BTW, I assume after it stopped unlocking you did check that the AU settings were still in place and correct - I had to ask, sorry)
thanks much for the detailed response! I do get the Away and Welcome Back messages- quickly followed by “Unfortunately, there was a communication error and Auto Unlock failed to open front door. Ultraloq will not try to unlock Front Door again until you leave and go back” upon my return.
Yes, all settings are set to auto unlock. I did toggle this setting on / off a couple times to no avail. I do have the latest version installed. I’m using a Pixel 8 Pro (Android) and I have a Deco mesh router.
I’ll give your suggestion a try. I really appreciate your help!
Hi Ed - From that error message it seems pretty clear that the problem is indeed making the BT connection. I have an iPhone so can’t comment on your app, but, as you realize, the router is not going to be the source of the problem since it is a BT command that is not getting through.
I tested it out as you recommended and the lock did unlock at 20’ - on airplane mode - with only BT on. i haven’t uninstalled the app yet - a bit nervous on the losing all the data
hey again Bruce- i finally got around to unistalling and reinstalling the app. yes, all my data and settings were retained. However, it did not auto unlock. i did receive messages that i was “away” and it would auto unlock upon my return, etc but upon my return it did not. i then put the phone in airplane mode, with BT still on and i could NOT unlock the door. i received a message stating ‘no network available’. i then looked for the bolt under my BT settings and when i tried to pair i received a error message “couldn’t pair with Bolt-NFC-W because of an incorrect PIN or passkey”. Interestingly, when i went to pair there were TWO Bolts listed - the above and one as well as a Bolt-NFC-W-H. i only have the one bolt lock. the latter now appears in my BT settings under Saved Devices, but when i select “connect” nothing happens. i’m frustrated and confused! appreciate your insight into this!
Hi Ed - the series of activities I suggested was intended to diagnose why your autounlock didn’t work. Obviously, we determined that the problem is the inability of your phone to communicate with the lock over BT.
Given what you wrote, I would delete all locks from your BT list and start the pairing anew. I don’t know what that process is for your lock/phone combination but I’m sure you know how. In fact, it would be even better if you have a second phone in your household that has never been paired with the lock… that would a truely “clean” pairing.
BTW, on an iPhone (and I expect all phones) the lock does NOT show up on my list of BT devices, never mind connected/disconnected, unless the app is running. See the two screenshots, one with the app closed, one with it open.
Thanks Bruce, the Bluetooth was working with my first test a week ago. Then I redid the auto lock set up and now it’s not connected. I deleted the lock in my BT settings on my phone and pulled the batteries out of the lock but I still can’t get it to pair.
Removing the batteries does not reset the lock’s firmware (otherwise you would be resetting the lock every time you changed batteries!). We’ve gone from the phone not sending the unlock command over BT by autounlock, to the phone not being paired at all. But reinstalling the software should not have affected that - I have switched back and forth between beta versions of the software and released versions with no problem.
This is complicated by you having seen two (at least one-time) paired locks in your BT device list.
How do you pair your phone to your lock? (that is what are the steps - I have a different lock and different phone)
when i first tested it i did have bluetooth but the fix still didn’t work. tho i did have BT connection. However, then after that didn’t work i selected under Auto Unlock, “reconfigure auto unlock”. that did not work either. but after that is when i completely lost the BT connection. i googled for directions as to how to reconnect BT and came up with the following:
These are the steps I found online which I did to no avail.
Standing right next to the lock (within 1–2 feet) with BT and Location Services both on, on my phone.
Reboot the Lock (instructions said: “This resets temporary pairing problems” by removing a battery for 10s then putting it back in.
Open the Ultraloq app to the lock in the device list. Then pull down to refresh the connection.
Then that didn’t work so I tapped the three-dot menu and selected “Settings”. Then I tapped “Firmware Version” — which the directions stated that this triggers a Bluetooth connection attempt in the background.
But none of it worked. I guess what’s next is removing the lock completely from the app and starting over from scratch.
appreciate your insight into this!
