Enterphone
How an Enterphone buzzer calls your landline or cell, which key opens the door, and how to point your listing at Enterkey for hands-free entry.
Enterphone is the name on the entry panel in a huge number of older Canadian apartment buildings, especially in Vancouver and Toronto. Most Enterphone systems are telephone entry at heart: your unit's entry dials a phone number. Swap that number for your Enterkey number and the decades-old panel in your lobby gets auto-unlock, PINs, and scheduling.
Which Enterphone setups work?
If buzzing your unit rings a phone, cell or landline, your Enterphone dials out and Enterkey is compatible. Some older Enterphone installations ring an in-suite handset only; those have no outside line for Enterkey to receive, so they're not supported. If the only thing tying your unit to a landline is the number in the directory, see an apartment buzzer without a landline.
Buildings sometimes migrate these panels during renovations. If your building just modernized and your buzzer stopped ringing your phone, ask the property manager whether the directory entry can point at an outside number: usually it can.
For a wider look at telephone-entry systems beyond Enterphone, the apartment buzzer guide has the details.
Can an Enterphone call a cell phone?
Yes, on the panels most apartment buildings use. Viscount's Enterphone MESH brochure says a tenant can grant or deny entry from a landline or a cellular phone with the touch of a button, and that a secondary number can be programmed for each listing in case the first is busy or unanswered. A building manual for an Enterphone MESH tower describes the same thing: the panel reaches residents on standard, VoIP, cellular or digital phone service. If your Enterphone already rings your cell, the listing can hold your Enterkey number instead.
Which key opens the door on an Enterphone?
It depends on how the building set the panel up, so check your move-in package or ask the manager. One Enterphone MESH building manual tells residents to press 6 to release the door and * or hang up to refuse. The single-door Enterphone Solo uses the * key. Enterkey plays whichever digit your building uses when an active timed key or schedule lets a visitor in.
Sources: Viscount Enterphone MESH brochure, the Enterphone MESH installation guide published by Identiv (which now sells Enterphone), a resident's Enterphone MESH user manual published by the developer Onni, and the Enterphone Solo manual, all checked October 15, 2026.
Who changes the number on an Enterphone?
The property manager, strata manager or the access-control company that services the panel. Enterphone MESH listings are managed through its web-based software, and each listing holds the code visitors dial and the number the panel calls. Moving your unit to Enterkey changes only that number; this request template is written to be forwarded as is.
How do you tell if yours is compatible?
The test is simple: when a visitor buzzes your unit, does your cell phone (or a phone number you chose) ring? If yes, your system dials out, and Enterkey works by giving it a smarter number to dial. If your buzzer only rings a wired handset inside your unit and can't call an outside line, it isn't compatible.
Not sure? Ask your property manager one question: "Can the directory entry for my unit point at any phone number?" If the answer is yes, you're set: see how Enterkey works, and if you get stuck, support@enterkey.app answers within hours.
Ready to ask? This request template is written to be forwarded as is: it tells your manager exactly which field to change and how to undo it.
Try it on your own buzzer
Setup is one directory change by your property manager, and it costs nothing to find out.
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On a computer? Scan with your iPhone camera to open Enterkey in the App Store.