Opening/closing your garage door remotely w/a phone

[naturalbornhawk]

Can anyone name any good reasons why anyone would want to do this?

I'm garage door opener hunting, and I'm wondering....why?

To me it seems like paying extra just for another thing that could go wrong, with not much benefit.

 

[Funky Bunch]

Can anyone name any good reasons why anyone would want to do this?

I'm garage door opener hunting, and I'm wondering....why?

To me it seems like paying extra just for another thing that could go wrong, with not much benefit.

I leave my truck in my driveway. I also have a garage door opener in there. If someone broke into my truck they could then easily enter the house.

 

[BABiscuit]

Maybe to let somebody in to your house while you are not there.

 

[Pinehawk]

I was just thinking about this yesterday. Sometimes I don't have my opener with me and I wish I could open the door with my phone. Why not? More flexibility...

 

[naturalbornhawk]

Maybe to let somebody in to your house while you are not there.

The garage doors seem to all come with a keypad. I'll install that, so I could just tell them the code and change it after.

 

[TexMichFan]

I think it is more about the convenience than anything else.

 

[ICHawk-I]

Can anyone name any good reasons why anyone would want to do this?

I'm garage door opener hunting, and I'm wondering....why?

To me it seems like paying extra just for another thing that could go wrong, with not much benefit.

Invariably when we leave the house and get a few blocks away, my wife always asks if I closed the garage door. Before we used to drive back and check and always find it closed, now she can just check on her phone. That alone has been worth it to me.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

Can anyone name any good reasons why anyone would want to do this?

I'm garage door opener hunting, and I'm wondering....why?

To me it seems like paying extra just for another thing that could go wrong, with not much benefit.

Ol' Doodle and Mrs. D. love our Liftmaster belt-drive with MyQ.

One thing...Doodle can't count the number of times he's been up the road a bit and then suddenly wondered if he closed the garage door after leaving. Also, on more than a few occasions, Ol' Doodle has gotten a text from a neighbor who said the door was open...and almost ALWAYS Doodle specifically remembers pushing the button and watching it start to go down. So perhaps an errant leaf or some other obstruction got in the way of the sensors and made the door go back up while Doodle was happily and cluelessly motoring away from the house assuming that all was well.

Now, with the MyQ app, Doodle can not only open and close the door remotely from anywhere there is a cell phone signal...but the app shows you how long your door has been open or closed...so you can verify that no one else has opened it, say, while everyone was away from the house. The app also has a few settings you can adjust to alert you when the door is activated...so you'll know if the door is opening and whether or not it should be.

EDITED TO ADD: If you have teenagers, knowing when the door has opened and closed at any given time, could be extremely useful.

Is it a NEED to have? No, probably not. But Doodle would certainly characterize it as being a little bit more than merely a NICE to have.

 

[naturalbornhawk]

Ol' Doodle and Mrs. D. love our Liftmaster belt-drive with MyQ.

One thing...Doodle can't count the number of times he's been up the road a bit and then suddenly wondered if he closed the garage door after leaving. Also, on more than a few occasions, Ol' Doodle has gotten a text from a neighbor who said the door was open...and almost ALWAYS Doodle specifically remembers pushing the button and watching it start to go down. So perhaps an errant leaf or some other obstruction got in the way of the sensors and made the door go back up while Doodle was happily and cluelessly motoring away from the house assuming that all was well.

Now, with the MyQ app, Doodle can not only open and close the door remotely from anywhere there is a cell phone signal...but the app shows you how long your door has been open or closed...so you can verify that no one else has opened it, say, while everyone was away from the house. The app also has a few settings you can adjust to alert you when the door is activated...so you'll know if the door is opening and whether or not it should be.

EDITED TO ADD: If you have teenagers, knowing when the door has opened and closed at any given time, could be extremely useful.

Is it a NEED to have? No, probably not. But Doodle would certainly characterize it as being a little bit more than merely a NICE to have.

Good points here and in other posts. I didn't realize the it would tell you how long it's been open/shut and keep a running history. Like you said if teens are in the house I see where that could be useful.

 

[theIowaHawk]

I leave my truck in my driveway. I also have a garage door opener in there. If someone broke into my truck they could then easily enter the house.

No interior door you lock?

Do you always just use your phone to open it?

 

[Funky Bunch]

No interior door you lock?

Do you always just use your phone to open it?

I hardly ever lock the interior door. I don't have one of these fancy openers, was just giving a reason where it might be beneficial. If I did have one, I wouldn't put the remote in my car.

 

[theIowaHawk]

I hardly ever lock the interior door. I don't have one of these fancy openers, was just giving a reason where it might be beneficial. If I did have one, I wouldn't put the remote in my car.

I park in the driveway as well so I was curious. I was with the OP never thinking this was actually an item worth having, but you brought up something I'd never really thought about. I always lock my car and the interior door, figuring that if someone breaks in to my car they could just as easily break in to my home, but the remote does make it one step easier.

 

[Panic1769]

Can anyone name any good reasons why anyone would want to do this?

I'm garage door opener hunting, and I'm wondering....why?

To me it seems like paying extra just for another thing that could go wrong, with not much benefit.

You don't really have to pay that much extra. Cost difference is $20-$30 and there's no charge for the apple service. Units are now available with WiFi and very easy to program.

In addition to what else has been said, you can also control a NEST thermostat with the MyQ app. There are other devices you can hook up as well.

If you're looking for dealers in your area to price around, let me know as I'm in the industry and can recommend a few in your town. I would advise against a DIY unit at the store. Not the easiest to put together, much louder etc.