Touch to Connect lets you open your LOQED Touch Smart Lock with a single touch even when you have stayed close to home. It is a convenient addition to Touch to Open, but because it works differently it also comes with a security trade-off. This article explains how it works, how it differs from Touch to Open, and how to use it safely.
Touch to Open vs. Touch to Connect
Both features let you open the door with a single touch and use the same inside/outside detection. The difference is when they activate:
Touch to Open (on by default) works when you leave the 500 m area around your lock and then come back. Your return wakes the lock, and the display shows “Touch to Open” automatically.
Touch to Connect (optional) works when you stay within the 500 m area – for example taking out the trash or visiting a neighbour. Because you never left, the geofence is never re-triggered, so Touch to Open will not activate. Touch to Connect lets you wake the lock yourself with a touch.
How does Touch to Connect work?
Touch to Connect is off by default. You first enable it in the LOQED app under your lock’s settings. Enabling it also tells your phone to actively scan for the lock whenever it is within the lock’s geofence. After that:
You touch the display to start. Unlike Touch to Open, the display does not turn on by itself when you approach. Touch the display briefly once. It shows “Connecting to Phone” and wakes both Bluetooth antennas.
Your phone connects. While the display shows “Connecting to Phone”, your phone connects to the lock – usually in less than 10 seconds. This requires the LOQED app to be running in the background with the correct permissions.
The lock checks if you are outside. Just like Touch to Open, the lock compares the Bluetooth signal strength between your phone and the outside antenna with that between your phone and the inside antenna. If the outside signal is stronger, the lock concludes your phone is outside and opens the door.
🚨 Important security information
Touch to Connect is convenient, but it carries more risk than Touch to Open. Please read this section before enabling it.
Why Touch to Connect is less secure than Touch to Open
With Touch to Open, the lock is only awake for 20 minutes after you return, and only for the phone (key) that triggered the geofence by leaving and coming back. The chance that someone else touches the display during that exact 20-minute window – while you, the authorised user, are outside but not touching it yourself – is very small.
With Touch to Connect, the display can be woken by anyone’s touch, and any authorised phone within Bluetooth range that the lock judges to be “outside” will authenticate and open the door. This means that if your phone is near the door, someone else could open the door by touching the display – so the risk of an accidental or unauthorised opening is bigger.
The inside/outside detection is not perfect
The inside/outside decision is based on a Bluetooth signal-strength (RSSI) comparison. In rare cases, a phone that is actually inside can have a stronger signal to the outside antenna than to the inside antenna – for example when there is a direct line of sight to the outside of the door, when the phone is near a window, or when the phone is very close to the door. In that situation the lock could wrongly conclude that the phone is outside.
Test your situation before relying on it
Because every home is different, test Touch to Connect before you rely on it:
Place your phone in several spots inside your home, especially near the door and near windows.
For each spot, go outside and touch the display.
In all cases, the door should not open.
⚠️ Make sure you have an access code or another way to get in during this test, in case you lock yourself out. If the door does open during the test, your situation is prone to misdetection and we recommend not using Touch to Connect, or using MotionSense (below) to reduce the risk.
Make Touch to Connect more secure with MotionSense
To enable or disable MotionSense, go to:
Menu → Account → MotionSense
What is MotionSense?
MotionSense disables communication between your phone and the LOQED Touch Smart Lock while the phone is charging, or when no motion is detected for 60 seconds. It only lets the lock connect when your phone is actually in motion, which minimises accidental or unauthorised opens. By reducing unnecessary communication between your phone and the lock, MotionSense also helps conserve battery on both devices.