Hosting
Hosting in a buzzer building means someone spends the evening as the doorman — every arrival is another interruption. Arm a four-hour key before guests arrive and the building handles arrivals itself: friends buzz, the door opens, and you never leave the kitchen.
How do party arrivals work?
Create a key named for the night — "Dinner Party" — and give it 2, 4, or 8 hours. Every guest who buzzes during the window is let in automatically. When the window closes, the buzzer goes back to ringing you.
Want a velvet rope? Add a PIN and put it in the group chat: guests say the code at the panel and walk up. Gate-crashers don't.
What if someone arrives early?
Nothing changes — before the key is armed, buzzes forward to your phone (and your household's), so early arrivals reach a human. Arm the key when you stop wanting the interruptions.
Still unsure what the panel in your lobby is actually connected to? Read the apartment buzzer guide once and the rest of this page makes more sense.
Does this leave the front door standing open?
No. A key props nothing open and rewires nothing. It answers the call placed to your unit and triggers the entry your building already grants when you press the button on your phone, one visitor at a time. Between arrivals the entrance is shut exactly as the building intends.
That distinction matters in a shared hallway. What your neighbours see is people arriving and the door closing behind them, which is precisely what they see on any night you spend running up and down to the panel yourself.
How it works, step by step
Name the key after the night
Game Night, Birthday, Sunday Roast. A named key is a single tap on the dashboard, which matters when both hands are covered in flour.
Give it four hours, not the whole evening
Keys run from five minutes to twelve hours, or permanent with a PIN. Four comfortably covers arrivals; twelve leaves the entrance answering itself long after the last guest walked in.
Add a code if the invite list matters
A PIN can be said out loud or typed on the keypad. Paste it into the group chat with the address and only invited people get through.
Arm it fifteen minutes before the first knock
Until you arm it, buzzes ring every phone in the household, so the friend who shows up early still reaches a person instead of a locked lobby.
Let the window close itself
When the hours run out the buzzer returns to normal on its own. The activity log keeps the arrival times, which is its own quiet record of the night.
Frequently asked questions
Can I extend the key if people stay later than planned?
Arm another one. Durations go up to twelve hours, and there is no limit on how many keys you create or how often you use them.
Most hosts find the opposite is the real need: a shorter window, armed later, so the entrance is not automatic during the part of the night when nobody new is coming.
What if a stranger buzzes my unit during the window?
While a plain key is armed, any buzz to your unit is answered. That is the trade you are making for not walking to the panel twelve times.
If that bothers you, add a PIN. The window then opens only for people who know the code, and the group chat is the only place it exists.
Do my guests need to install anything?
No. Guests use the panel in the lobby exactly as they always have. Enterkey is an iPhone app for the people who live in the unit, and visitors never see it.
Can my partner arm the key while I am cooking?
Yes, once they have joined your group through shared access. Everyone in the household can arm keys, add PINs, and read the same log, on one subscription.
Spend the evening with your guests instead of walking to the panel every ten minutes.