Busybee Automation

I have to use this app because the “luxury” building I live in mandates that we use it in lieu of actual keys to our apartments. Its best feature is that you can control your thermostat, which is quite lovely when the app isn’t tripping over itself. The app has never been great but it has only gotten worse over time and the most recent update is the worst yet. You never know when the app is going to log you out, it seems to happen at least every few weeks but it also happens randomly. It’s a security feature, I guess, meant to protect your home from being unlocked in the event an unsavory character seizes your phone. So you may find yourself locking your doors when you leave for work, or go out of town for a few days, only to find out that the app had actually logged you out, the lock didn’t register, and your doors have been unlocked the entire time. I have actually had people enter my apartment when the basic functionality of the app has failed. I’ve also been locked out of my own apartment when the door lock mechanism has failed and lost connection to the app. Imagine paying $1600 in rent only to have to sleep in your car, or the building lobby, or at a hotel because an app named after a stuffed animal in the film Best In Show has failed to do the one thing it’s meant to do. Keys are better. BusyBee also has some kind of sensor alert functionality, which I don’t think actually works. The times my smoke or carbon monoxide detectors have gone off, the app has not notified me. My HomePod Mini has been a more effective system. The latest update seems to refresh the app every time you use it, even if you haven’t closed it, which makes using it as your “keys” even more frustrating. So you’ll find yourself standing in front of your door waiting for the app to load before you can unlock your doors; and if you have to log in again, it’ll be even longer. Even when the app is functioning as intended, you may find it rejecting your inputs because it’s not connected to the internet, but it can’t notify you as quickly as you can press a button. I like to raise the temperature of my AC when I go to work to save on energy costs, but often when I open the app the next time I find the delayed “not connected to internet” popup and discover that the temp never changed and my AC has been running all day long. This also happens with the door locks. BusyBee is unreliable and can put you, your family, and your things at risk.