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Interesting idea... Cheap wireless doorbell is $5 delivered from Amazon. That's your biggest competition for the straightforward case. And that's easier to ins

by tln 2y ago

Interesting idea... Cheap wireless doorbell is $5 delivered from Amazon. That's your biggest competition for the straightforward case. And that's easier to install, and easier to use. There are plenty of scenarios where a Qr -> optional form -> notification is useful, eg hosting an event -- so maybe explore/emphasize those rather than the simple approach. Fighting abuse and the resulting customer service, bad reviews, etc will be a constant drain/challenge. There might be some market overlap with generic notification apps like Pushover.

dirkc 2y ago
Thanks, that's good feedback!
ramses0 2y ago
I'm actually your target market here, but I want to replace my old exterior garage-door keypad with a (weather-protected) QR code. Same same, but text/twilio/home-assistant URL to allow me to trigger/confirm the garage door opening, probably IFTT. Agree also with the "scan this code when you arrive to the party" => are you here? Y/N => notification. Pop a geo-permissions prompt and geo-fence "YES" in certain cases, and you're getting somewhere.
- rootusrootus 2y ago
  For your own garage door, if you are going to need your phone anyway to scan the code, why not just use regular automation tools? I.e. Just press a button on your home screen and you're done. Something like Home Assistant can do that easily enough.
  - ramses0 2y ago
    It's the "external user" use case, and a case of the over-complicators gloves... instead of changing the 9v battery in that box every "$N" years, put a QR code up that gives you the regular pin pad thing and then triggers HA in the back end. (that's why I suggested "IFTTT" integration). Obviously there's 100's of easier ways to manage things which is why I haven't done anything on it yet. It just seemed like an adjacent use-case worth sharing to the creator. I'm not wiring up a "doorbell" to my back garage, but popping an "approve/deny" thing that eventually hits an API endpoint or IFTTT integration (with geo-location?) isn't that far off from what he has and is an entirely different value-prop of utility.
- dmonitor 2y ago
  Why QR over NFC? NFC's tap-to-activate functionality is usually way faster than my camera app
  - ramses0 2y ago
    ..see my adjacent reply: it's the universality of access (kindof) that's tempting in replacing a physical keypad with a "virtual keypad". "Scan to enter => 1234 => Access Granted!" Yeah, yeah, hackers, open API endpoints, DOS, rate limiting, etc., but it's an interesting use case: "Virtual Keypads" near doors.

by tln 2y ago

dirkc 2y ago

Thanks, that's good feedback!

ramses0 2y ago

I'm actually your target market here, but I want to replace my old exterior garage-door keypad with a (weather-protected) QR code. Same same, but text/twilio/home-assistant URL to allow me to trigger/confirm the garage door opening, probably IFTT. Agree also with the "scan this code when you arrive to the party" => are you here? Y/N => notification. Pop a geo-permissions prompt and geo-fence "YES" in certain cases, and you're getting somewhere.

rootusrootus 2y ago
For your own garage door, if you are going to need your phone anyway to scan the code, why not just use regular automation tools? I.e. Just press a button on your home screen and you're done. Something like Home Assistant can do that easily enough.
- ramses0 2y ago
  It's the "external user" use case, and a case of the over-complicators gloves... instead of changing the 9v battery in that box every "$N" years, put a QR code up that gives you the regular pin pad thing and then triggers HA in the back end. (that's why I suggested "IFTTT" integration). Obviously there's 100's of easier ways to manage things which is why I haven't done anything on it yet. It just seemed like an adjacent use-case worth sharing to the creator. I'm not wiring up a "doorbell" to my back garage, but popping an "approve/deny" thing that eventually hits an API endpoint or IFTTT integration (with geo-location?) isn't that far off from what he has and is an entirely different value-prop of utility.
dmonitor 2y ago
Why QR over NFC? NFC's tap-to-activate functionality is usually way faster than my camera app
- ramses0 2y ago
  ..see my adjacent reply: it's the universality of access (kindof) that's tempting in replacing a physical keypad with a "virtual keypad". "Scan to enter => 1234 => Access Granted!" Yeah, yeah, hackers, open API endpoints, DOS, rate limiting, etc., but it's an interesting use case: "Virtual Keypads" near doors.