[GTO]

We're thinking of getting one of these solutions for visitor management in our building. Am sure many BHPians living in apartment complexes would have detailed insights on these solutions.

Please share pros, cons, pricing, tips & recommendations. Thank you!

[aps88]

We have used Nobrokerhood app for visitor management in the society. If properly taught to the watchman and he is using it properly, the app can notify that a delivery person has come. A notification/call can be sent to the flat owner's registered number and one can approve/deny/request to keep with the watchman.

It also has an option to add visitor/guest details in advance and the security can check the same and allow them inside. You can go to history and check which visitors (guest/delivery) you had in the past and at what time. There is a photo of the person as well in the log.

Depending on how well the watchman is educated in functionality and how he implements it in actual, you can find the app useful.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by GTO

We're thinking of getting one of these solutions for visitor management in our building. Am sure many BHPians living in apartment complexes would have detailed insights on these solutions.

Please share pros, cons, pricing, tips & recommendations. Thank you!

If you are big on privacy then don't try any of the apps and see some other solution like traditional number code or a key card.

Mygate leaks data like mad. You will see insane number of ads and when you place an order on Swiggy or Zomato mygate will auto approve entry cause zomato/swiggy send the delivery guy details to mygate and map it. You can disable this auto approve but doesn't mean data isn't shared.

[ghodlur]

I have stayed in multiple societies where the big 3 i.e Mygate, Apna complex and NoBorkerhood have been used. Mygate did have the lead as they were the initial movers but slowly their services went down drastically with lots of bugs, ads and issues with system updates. Plus the ease of usage for residents diminshed. Apna complex on other hand is flexible, good to use, lots of features and less system updates. Nobrokerhood is similar in performance to Apna complex. All the 3 allow rent payment plus other utility services like cab booking, plumbing, electricity services etc. In addition the charges of the 3 apps vary depending on the no of resident enrolled.

My recommendation - Apna Complex. Hope this helps.

[KL01toKA03]

I stay in an apartment where we moved from ApnaComplex to Mygate and then to Nobrokerhood.

I found Nobrokerhood to be the best because the gate approval system works best in that app. Also, they did not charge anything extra for maintenance payments using UPI, whereas the association had to pay MyGate extra money to enable the payment of maintenance using the app.

Also, Nobrokerhood paid the association a few lakhs to move from Mygate to Nobrokerhood.

[vinu_h]

I am an office bearer in the RWA I live in and also am a part of WA/telegram groups that we RWA's have to exchange notes on such and other matters.

If privacy is what you're after - best to stay away from apps that claim to be free of cost and promise revenue in ways of marketing activities/events. Look for apps that charge a fee and give you the option to share or not share your data with other RWA's. If you won't pay, you give them no choice but to look for ways to monetize your PII and data is everything today.

[montsa007]

We use Mygate app, though all watchmen (3 of them) are educated we often face the following situations.

We also have intercom, where watchman calls to approve the entry.

1. No notification on Mygate, no intercom & person shows up
2. No intercom, notification on mygate for approval
3. Intercom, no notification on mygate for approval
4. Person shows up at our door & we get mygate notification sometimes after he's left
5. Zomato guys we get an intercom but Mygate notification is very moody (Sometimes we get it, sometimes we dont)

Yes, Mygate app (Wife has it in her phone, I don't) is full of ads, not sure about bugs.

Always remember this quote, "If its free you are the product".

[RSMM]

I am portal admin to Apnacomplex since 2014. Here are my observations on this and similar apps

1. None of these platforms are created for the true need of administering a RWA. These are products created without consulting customer voice.

2. All of them have innumerable bugs and support provided is very minimal. Almost no bugs reported (more than 30) are fixed so far even after paying subscription and staying with them for over 9 years !

3. I suspect all platforms (especially those who offer free or guaranteed revenue to RWA) share user data outside and privacy is highly compromised

4. Result from Visitor management app is more dependent on efficient / educated security staff. If they keep changing or less trained, entire effort becomes futile

5. It is almost impossible to ensure all residents of RWA to use the app on phone or update resident database regularly. Most often, outdated database or unwilling residents to use app will make entire effort going to drain

6. Each app has equal number for strong features and weak ! Many of them do not provide enough time to evaluate them on a dummy portal. We will come to know about all flaws only after using the system

7. It is not easy to migrate from one platform to another, specially if you have started using most features offered in incumbent platform. Hence stay away from idea of changing them frequently

[SoumenD]

We had ApnaComplex initially but I was abroad back then so can't comment much on this. But have extensively used MyGate for last 3 years and now switched to NoBroker since last 6 months(not sure of the reason for this decision by committee). I would stick to MyGate without a doubt as its a much sorted product.

MyGate is a specialist which was built for this purpose and hence their app is very sorted. The forums and maid entry/exit details are all easy to find. Even a simple call that you receive from gate(for delivery) has better details(Raju from Flipkart or Mahesh from Amazon etc). Rating/Review system on house helps and availability was well maintained.

As for NoBroker, their primary business was something entirely different. They have now entered into this space & hence their app is kinda crappy in comparison. I don't see the queries raised on forum after like 1-2 weeks. The calls from gate at times don't mention basic details on who needs permission. Even the availability of house-helps aren't visible here. Its more like a beta version as of now.

However one new thing NoBroker introduced is fastag based boom barriers at the gates. We have linked our fastags to the app and now don't have to wait for guards to open the barrier. But as you know compliance in India is a HUGE issue and its almost impossible to get everyone to adhere to one way of doing things, so guards still carry a remote to operate the gate.

P.S: Ours is a 2000+ apartment society with 6000+ residents & around 70+ guards(shuffling in shifts). So such apps are an absolute necessity.

[Rajeevraj]

Have had experience with many of these apps in my apartment over the last few years. My inputs

• MyGate was the first mover in this space and have a fairly robust Security and Entry Exit Management App.
• The 2 other major providers who already existed in this space, ApnaComplex, Apartment Adda were more focused on Facility And Asset Management, Financial Management etc.
• Once MyGate became popular, these facility management providers had no option but to add a gate management module.
• Once they did this, MyGate had to get into the Facility Management space as complexes did not want to pay for 2 Apps.
• This then got into a race to improve features on both sides, massive discounts to keep the customers and what not.
• In between further new players like Nobrokerhood came into the picture.

As others have mentioned, the privacy of data collected is very vague and it is safe to assume the data is sold/misused to a large extent. The other way to look at the privacy aspect is that it is just another way in which data is used for ads/marketing/targeting. Even without this, we give out our phone numbers in plenty of places, we knowingly or unknowingly allow google, WhatsApp, Insta, Facebook and the likes to mine our data. So there is nothing drastically different that happens when data is shared to these Apps.

In summary, currently it is in the state where all of them do the job fairly well and have their own set of issues. For your use case which is only visitor management, all of them will work. I would recommend Mygate because it comes with less of the adjacency headaches like for example Nobrokerhood which is just a by product for NoBroker or Apnacomplex whose core product is still facilities management.

[lamborghini]

Some of the larger & premium complexes I've visited have been using Apna Complex and my experience with them has been smooth but not the best.

In fact one of the apartments in a complex I have on lease uses Apna Complex as well. It's got all the info of my tenants' staff, etc. on it as approved for entry, push notifications are there for various maintenance activities.

However, I found 2 issues -
- I seem be getting some spam notifications. Not sure if it is because the builder has tied up with some companies, like LivSpace for example and are using Apna Complex to broadcast the same or if it is something done by Apna Complex. Either ways, it is one notification here and there so not a big issue.
- My tenant mentioned to me about the facility management team going around installing mosquito nets for free and if I could request for the same on Apna Complex. I just couldn't find the right tab & ended up emailing the facility management team directly. All the other options were there however - for plumbing, CCTV, lights, other help, etc.

[warrioraks]

Having used mygate, nobroker and adda - I like Adda the most. It not only solves the basics around gate entry management but was also successful in creating a feeling of community across the residents through it’s social media like features. The dependency on ad-hoc whatsapp and telegram groups at a society level has greatly come down.

[sameerg]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

If you are big on privacy then don't try any of the apps and see some other solution like traditional number code or a key card.

Mygate leaks data like mad. You will see insane number of ads and when you place an order on Swiggy or Zomato mygate will auto approve entry cause zomato/swiggy send the delivery guy details to mygate and map it. You can disable this auto approve but doesn't mean data isn't shared.

Can't agree more. The key business model for all these apps is spam.

Since one would almost never block notifications from these apps, they sell their notifications to advertisers and spam users. It is such a pain that I have suppressed their notifications. As a result, security people always have to call me to approve entry but I don't mind this. So I have made it into an intercom only to prevent spamming.

[null]

Offtopic, but how & how much do these apps charge (pricing details) to the society for these features? None of the comments talk abou the pricing & hence asking. I have a friend who is developing such a service (in Gujarat) and hence interested in knowing this side of the story from anyone here who is aware of it.

[Puntoo]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Having used mygate, nobroker and adda - I like Adda the most. It not only solves the basics around gate entry management but was also successful in creating a feeling of community across the residents through it’s social media like features. The dependency on ad-hoc whatsapp and telegram groups at a society level has greatly come down.

We also use Adda in our apartment and they say our data is not used (only Adda people knows what happens to our data). Our society has more that 450 units and it works flawlessly. We don't have any issues so far.

Features:

• Gate management systems
• Announcements from management committee
• Pre-approved gate passes for maids, visitors etc
• Classified for our society and other society which uses ADDA
• Discussion forum like social media