Triggering a Watchman Gate: Open for a Moment, Hold Open, or Close

Jul 16, 2024  |  Support Resource, TrueCloud Connect

From the TrueCloud Connect dashboard you can operate any gate by hand, from anywhere: pop it open for one visitor, hold it open for a delivery window, or close it. Three buttons, three different jobs.

Choose the gate

Sign in to the TrueCloud Connect platform and select the gate you want to control by name. Every command below acts on the gate you have selected, so on a multi-gate property confirm you are on the right one. The same controls appear in the CellGate app, so you can do all of this from your phone as well.

1) Momentary open: let one visitor through

Click Trigger Gate for a momentary open. The gate opens, lets the visitor through, and closes itself on its normal cycle, exactly as if someone had entered a valid code. This is the everyday action: a visitor calls, you recognize them, you trigger the gate.

2) Hold open: keep it open for a window of time

Select Hold Open to keep the gate open for an extended period rather than a single cycle, for a move-in, a delivery, or a stream of guests. The gate stays open until you close it or its hold period ends. Because a gate held open is a gate anyone can walk through, close it as soon as the reason has passed. Watchman models send a prop-open notification if a gate stays open beyond a few minutes, so an accidental hold does not go unnoticed.

For a hold that should repeat on a set schedule rather than a one-off, set a gate schedule instead of holding it by hand each time.

Close the gate

Click Close Gate to close it, whether it was held open from here or left open otherwise. This is the counterpart to Hold Open: any authorized user can close the gate from the dashboard or the app, from anywhere, so a gate left open never has to wait for someone to drive back.