ButterflyMX

I recently moved into a building that has ButterflyMX. I hadn't heard of ButterflyMX before, but I am sooooo grateful to have it. I have underlying conditions that make me more susceptible to Covid-19 and I go out of my way to avoid touching things. With ButterflyMX, I can open the door of my building using the app on my iphone. I also just discovered a way to do this via Siri. I set it up so all I have to do is say to siri "open door," and the door magically opens. I don't have to touch anything. The other thing I appreciate is that when deliveries come (I order food a lot), I can see the delivery person through the mobile app and can let them in. In my old apartment, I had to walk to the kitchen and speak into the intercom system that was on my wall. Now I can do it from my phone. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but it actually is very useful. The last thing worth mentioning is that the ButterflyMX customer service team is awesome. When I moved in, I wanted to make some small customizations. So I found the ButterflyMX phone number and just called. The customer service team walked me through all the steps to make the necessary changes. Was super easy and they were so friendly. I really like this app, especially during this crazy time we are living in.

This app works all the time for me. I open the door for myself every day when walking up to the building, which is great because I don’t have to pull out my keys. When I’m having people over I send them a virtual key so they can let themselves in, and I receive a notification that they’ve used the key. The best part is I no longer miss deliveries while I’m at work because the video calls come straight to my smartphone allowing me to see it’s the delivery person and grant access so they can drop the packages off inside the vestibule, saving me trips to the post office to pick up stuff they can’t leave outside.

I gave 1 star out of five because that was the lowest. If I could choose, 1 out of a 1000. I really, really dislike this app - it’s usability is 0. Great idea, really great. Execution - terrible. I don’t know why but we’ve missed all calls - the delivery person just quits. The sound starts, the phone locks and the slider is as easy to use as opening a can with oily fingers. It just slides all over the place. I have to go down and rescue every poor soul locked in our building. I can’t imagine an app so poorly designed for its one function. I mean a 100% failure rate, there’s no signs given by the company offering instructions. The app doesn’t need high quality video (if that’s what’s killing its startup time) This is great idea and if they executed 10% it would be almost usable. Disappointing at how companies can make such awful decisions while acting in the pretenders of looking after the customer. Or, clearly, not even knowing who the customer is.

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This app is possibly the most frustrating development in technological history. Conceptually it’s great, but in practice, it’s a headache. The touch screen is not intuitive so deliveries and guests often give up and call me. Then, because theres no way to remotely open the door without getting called on ButterflyMX, I have to stop what I’m doing and go down to the lobby to let them in. And if it’s a package, forget it, they’ll be back on the truck by the time you get downstairs. A feature that allows you to open the front door unprompted is essential. Also, when you do get a call on ButterflyMX all your devices start lighting up like a Parade and don’t stop even if you let someone in on one of the apps. God forbid you’re in a meeting with your phone and iPad, you’ve got to go digging in your bag to make it stop. While I believe this type of technology is the future, the past systems are still superior to this dreck.

This app is great. I read some of the other reviews before leaving mine and I can honestly say I never have any issues. The only time the app hasn’t worked is when I don’t have an internet connection, which makes sense to me since it’s web based. I did email the support team about situations when I might not have internet due to data restrictions or caps, and they told me they’re rolling out a bluetooth feature that will allow me to open the door just using a bluetooth connection. Seems fair. I’ll continue to use this app because it’s convenient for me and my guests.