Are There App-Controlled Storage Unit Locks? Your Options

Are there app-controlled storage unit locks? Yes, and if you run a facility you have more choices than most vendor pages let on. Tenants can open a unit from a phone over Bluetooth, through a site network, or with an NFC tap. The differences that matter to you sit behind the door: where the lock gets its power, what your site has to install, and how fast an access change reaches the lock.

This guide is written for operators choosing a system. If you're a tenant picking a lock for one unit, our guide to the best locks for storage units is the better read. We build battery-free NFC locks, so we have a stake in this comparison. We've tried to be fair about where each type wins, and we spell out where ours doesn't fit.

App-Controlled Storage Unit Locks: What a System Includes

An app-controlled storage unit lock is any unit lock a tenant opens with a smartphone. It's the unit-door end of your access control system. In practice the lock is one of four parts of a self storage locking system, and you're choosing all four at once. Industry coverage of self storage smart locks, such as the smart-lock overview from Inside Self Storage, describes the same mix of Bluetooth, WiFi and NFC locks.

Part	What it does	What to check
The lock	Holds the door and checks the tenant's credential	Power source, weather rating, how it fits your doors
Tenant app	Carries the tenant's access and opens the lock	Phone requirements, what happens without signal
Management software	Where staff grant, change and withdraw access and read access records	App, web portal, or both; software terms
Site infrastructure	Gateways, mesh repeaters, cabling, or nothing at all	Installation work and who maintains it

With our locks, the management side is the Kenrone Net app or its web portal, and the infrastructure line stays empty because the lock takes its power from the tenant's phone. Three things often sold under the same label don't count here:

• Code or QR padlocks with no electronics. They're mechanical, even if an app hands out the code.

• Keypad locks. They're electronic, and tenants open them by typing a PIN code on the keypad.

• Gate-only systems. They only control the driveway.
  

Sorting Self Storage Electronic Locks by Power and Network

We find it clearer to sort self storage electronic locks by two questions than by brand. Where does the power come from, and what does your site need to install for the lock to work? The answers decide most of your installation work and most of your running cost.

Type	Power	What your site needs	Fits best when
Wired smart latch	Building power, often PoE	Cabling to every door	You're building new or can run cable
Bluetooth smart lock	Battery in the lock	Nothing at the door; the phone connects	You want app access without site hardware
Networked battery lock	Battery in the lock	Gateways or a mesh or low-power wide-area network	You want remote management and live status
Battery-powered NFC lock	Battery in the lock	Nothing at the door; the phone taps	You like the tap and accept a cell to maintain
Hybrid Bluetooth and NFC	Battery, with NFC as a backup path	Usually nothing at the door	You want Bluetooth features plus a dead-battery fallback
Battery-free NFC lock	The tenant's phone, during the tap	Nothing at the door	You want no cells and no network hardware

The last three rows show why "NFC" alone doesn't tell you much anymore. Some NFC locks carry a long-life battery, and at least one newer hybrid uses NFC energy harvesting only after its battery runs out. A battery-free lock like ours takes all of its power from the phone, so when a vendor offers you a smart lock for storage unit doors, start by asking which row it belongs in. If you're weighing cabling against batteries against neither, our comparison of wired, wireless and battery-free storage locks goes deeper on installation and upkeep.

How Access Changes Reach the Lock

Opening a unit is the easy part. Running a facility means a steady stream of access changes: move-ins, move-outs, tenants who fall behind on rent, staff, and contractors who need a door for one afternoon. Vendors tend to answer whether unlocking needs a network. Ask them a second question as well: how does a change you make in the office reach the lock, and how do you know it worked?

Event	What to ask every vendor	How it works with our locks and Kenrone Net
Tenant starts renting a unit	How is access delivered, and does it need a connection?	You grant access in the app or web portal; the tenant opens by tapping
Lease ends or tenant falls behind	When does a withdrawn credential stop working? Does the lock confirm it?	Revoking access takes effect immediately; the lock doesn't report back, so there's no locked-out confirmation
Staff, contractors, auction visitors	Can access be limited by time or by number of openings?	Temporary access with a time limit and a cap on openings
Disputes and audits	Where are access records kept?	Each opening is recorded in the access log

Two limits are worth knowing before you plan your processes around our locks. Remote authorisation lets you change who may open a unit from anywhere, but nobody can open the unit from the office, because the lock only wakes up when a phone touches it. For the same reason, it can't show you live door status.

With Kenrone Net, unlocking needs a network connection. With Kenrone Pure, binding and everyday unlocking work offline, though sharing access by QR code needs a connection. If you overlock delinquent units today, our guide to overlocking in self storage shows how that process changes when the overlock becomes a software permission.

What Each Type Costs to Run Over Five Years

Most competing pages quote battery life and stop there. Janus states a "2 year battery life" for its Nokē ONE lock, and OpenTech quotes "6+ year" AA battery life for its INSOMNIAC SmartLock. Both are fair numbers to plan with. What they leave out is the labour behind each swap and the software fees, often a monthly subscription, that come with many networked systems, so ask every vendor for both before you compare prices on electronic locks for storage units.

We won't give you a price, because yours depends on your site. Here's the method we'd use to compare running costs over five years:

Cost line	How to estimate it	Applies to
Battery visits	Doors × (5 ÷ battery life in years) × minutes per swap × labour rate	Every battery-powered type
Cells	Doors × replacements × cell price	Every battery-powered type
Network upkeep	Gateways, repeaters or cabling, plus their maintenance	Wired and networked types
Software fees	Per-door or per-site fees × 60 months	Ask every vendor, including us
Hardware swaps	Whether the existing latch or hasp has to be replaced	All types

Run the same numbers for each option on your shortlist and the gaps become obvious. Rubik's guide to electronic locks in self storage makes the same point about battery fleets: hundreds of cells mean a standing replacement job, however long each one lasts.

Checking Tenant Phones and Door Hardware Before a Pilot

Before you commit, check two things on your own site: your tenants' phones and your door hardware. Our locks work with iPhones running iOS 12.0 or later and with Android phones that have NFC and run Android 8.0 or later. In our 2026 compatibility testing, we tried 84 phone models across most major brands, and 97% passed. The few that didn't were slow to unlock or had app display issues, and they all opened the lock on retest.

A battery-free lock asks more of the phone than reading a tag does. As the NFC Forum explains, NFC can carry power as well as data over a very short range, so the phone has to sit right on the lock's NFC zone. Here's what you'd show a new tenant at move-in:

1. Open the app and tap unlock.

2. Hold the top or back of the phone against the lock's NFC zone. On our disc padlock that zone is on the bottom of the lock.

3. When the phone finds the spot, it gives a short vibration and the lock opens in about 0.5 to 2 seconds.

That's more than twice as fast as our first-generation locks. Our storage-unit models open by phone only, so a tenant with a flat phone needs to charge it first, and a tenant without an NFC phone needs another plan. Ask about phones during move-in.

Door hardware is the second check. Most storage doors take one of two lock points, and each has a direct match in our range:

Your door	What it uses today	Our match	Fitting
Roll-up door with a hasp	Disc padlock	Disc storage-unit padlock (KR-NFC-PL96)	Replaces the padlock, no wiring
Roller-shutter door	Cylinder lock in a latch	Roller-shutter unit lock (KR-NFC-CL49)	Lock plus its own bracket, which acts as the latch

Both models are rated IP65, work from −20 °C to +60 °C, and use AES-256 authentication. In our installation tests, fitting either one takes a few minutes per door, so you can convert units one at a time as they turn over.

Where a Phone-Powered Lock Falls Short, and What to Ask Vendors

No single type of app-controlled storage unit locks fits every site, and every choice carries some security and operating risk. Here are ours, before you install anything.

A battery-free NFC lock fits when	Another type may fit better when
You want to stop battery visits across many units	Opening units remotely is central to how you operate
Parts of the site have weak or no signal (with Kenrone Pure)	You need live lock status on a dashboard at all times
You want to convert units at turnover, a few minutes each	You're building new and can wire every door
Tenants open their own units and you want access records	Many of your tenants use phones without NFC

If you want the locks inside your own software, we provide an SDK. Whichever system you lean toward, put the same six questions to every vendor of app-controlled storage unit locks, us included:

• Where does the lock get its power, and what does replacing it involve?

• What does the site need to install, and who maintains it?

• How fast does a revoked credential stop working?

• Does the lock confirm its state back to the office?

• What does it cost to run per door over five years?

• What are the full software terms and fees?

If you're still unsure, run a small pilot before you decide. Fit 10 to 20 vacant units, ask incoming tenants which phones they carry, and track install time and support questions for a few weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there app-controlled locks for storage units?

Yes. They include wired smart latches, Bluetooth locks, networked battery locks and NFC locks, which may or may not carry a battery. Each one opens from a tenant's phone and keeps an access record.

Do app-controlled storage unit locks need batteries?

Most do. Wired latches draw building power, and battery-free NFC locks are powered by the tenant's phone during the tap. Every other type carries a cell that needs replacing.

Can I change a tenant's access remotely?

It depends on the system. With our locks and Kenrone Net, you can grant, limit or revoke access from the app or web portal, and a revoked tenant loses access immediately. Someone still has to be at the door to open the unit.

Can tenants open their units during an internet outage?

It depends on the lock and the app. Bluetooth locks and our locks used with the Kenrone Pure app open without internet. Locks that check a cloud service at the door, including ours with the Kenrone Net app, need a connection.

The Bottom Line on App-Controlled Storage Unit Locks

App-controlled storage unit locks are real, and they come in several types. They split by power source and site network, and those two answers drive your installation work, your access processes and most of your running cost. Ask each vendor the same questions, run the same five-year numbers, and your shortlist gets short quickly.

If you'd like to compare a battery-free option with your current locks, see our self-storage access control solutions. To get a useful answer quickly, send us three things:

• Your door types: hasp, roller-shutter or both

• Roughly how many units you'd like to convert first

• Whether your site has reliable internet at the doors

We'll suggest the right model and app for a pilot, so you can test app-controlled storage unit locks on your own doors before you commit.

About the author: Hudson Hu is an Electronics Engineer at KENRONE with 10 years in the field, specializing in circuit and firmware development for NFC locks.