Ditch the Keys: How UniFi Access and TouchPass Replace Physical Key Systems for Small Businesses

Somewhere in your business right now there's a key that shouldn't exist. A copy made by a former employee. A spare that got passed around and nobody tracked. A master that gets handed to contractors without a second thought. Physical keys are the default for small businesses not because they're good, but because nobody offered anything better at a price that made sense.

That's changed. UniFi Access — paired with the TouchPass mobile credential — replaces your physical key system with one that costs less to operate, gives you a full audit trail, and takes about fifteen seconds to revoke access when someone leaves.

The Real Problem With Physical Keys

The cost of a physical key isn't the metal. It's everything that happens around it:

• An employee leaves and you're not sure if you got all the copies back — so you rekey the lock ($150–$300 per cylinder, per locksmith visit)
• A contractor needs access for a week and you hand them a key with no way to expire it
• You have no idea who unlocked the back door at 6am on a Sunday — or whether it was actually locked when they left
• Your office manager is the only one with the master, so when they're sick, someone drives 20 minutes to let in the HVAC tech
• Staff get locked out, you get the call, you drive in

These aren't edge cases. They're the operational reality of running a business on a physical key system. They add up — in money, in time, and in genuine security risk.

What UniFi Access Actually Is

UniFi Access is Ubiquiti's commercial-grade door access control system. At its core, it's a reader mounted at each door — flush with the frame, clean-looking, not a chunky keypad from 2004 — connected to a hub that handles authentication and logging. It runs on your existing UniFi network and manages entirely from the UniFi console, the same dashboard you'd use to manage Wi-Fi and cameras if you're already a UniFi shop.

Each door reader supports multiple credential types: NFC keycards, PIN codes, and the one most people want to know about — TouchPass, which is your phone.

TouchPass: Your Phone Is the Key

TouchPass is UniFi's mobile credential system. Once it's configured, an authorized user opens the UniFi Access app on their iPhone or Android, taps the reader — or holds their phone near it — and the door unlocks. No keycard to lose. No PIN to forget. No key to copy.

Under the hood, TouchPass uses NFC and Bluetooth to communicate with the reader. The credential lives in the app, tied to the user's account. When you remove a user in the UniFi console, their credential stops working immediately — not at the end of the day, not after a sync. Right now.

The Audit Log: Know Who's Coming and Going

Every time a door is accessed — by TouchPass, keycard, or PIN — UniFi Access logs it: who, which door, and exactly when. That log is searchable and exportable.

This matters more than people initially realize. When something goes missing from the stockroom, you can pull the log. When there's a question about whether someone was in the building after hours, you have a timestamped answer. When your insurance company asks about physical security controls after an incident, you have documentation.

Physical keys give you none of this. You either saw who came in or you didn't.

Schedule-Based Access: Staff Hours Without the Conversation

UniFi Access lets you set access permissions per user, per door, per time window. A part-time employee can have access to the front entrance Monday through Friday, 7am to 6pm — and their credential simply won't work outside those hours. No conversation required. No relying on them to return a key. No call from the alarm company at 11pm.

For businesses with contractors, vendors, or cleaning crews, you can create temporary credentials with automatic expiration dates. Access granted for Tuesday's delivery window. Gone automatically Wednesday morning.

Remote Unlock — Without Handing Over a Key

One of the most useful day-to-day features is remote unlock. If a vendor arrives when you're not on-site, you open the UniFi Access app, tap unlock, and they're in. You can see who's at the door if you have a camera on it. You don't have to drive in. You don't have to trust someone else with a physical key.

This works from anywhere you have a cell signal. On vacation. In a meeting. In traffic. If you're an Alpine Rescue monitoring client, you can also give Alpine IT limited unlock permissions for service calls — we can let your tech vendor in without involving you at all.

What the Installation Looks Like

A typical small business installation covers two to four doors — front entrance, back door, server room or records room, and sometimes a shared space or suite entry. Here's how the process works:

• Site walk: We identify which doors need readers, assess the existing door hardware and frame, and confirm power routing (most readers use PoE — Power over Ethernet — from the same cable that handles data)
• Installation: Reader and strike/maglock hardware mounted at each door. Hub installed and connected to your network. All cabling run cleanly and labeled
• Configuration: Users enrolled, access schedules set, doors named in the UniFi console. We configure the mobile credential (TouchPass) for each authorized user
• Handoff: Full documentation of every door, user, and schedule. We walk you through the admin interface so you can add users and adjust permissions yourself going forward

The whole install for a typical small business runs one day. There's no ongoing subscription for the UniFi Access platform itself — you own the hardware, it runs on your network, and the management software is included. TouchPass credentials for your users are free.

Works Best as Part of the Full Picture

Access control is most useful when it's integrated with the rest of your security infrastructure. A camera at each controlled entry gives you visual confirmation to go with the access log. A 5G backup connection means your access system stays online even if your primary internet goes down. UniFi's ecosystem — Access, Protect (cameras), and Network — all live in the same console, which is the main reason Alpine IT installs UniFi for small businesses: one place to manage all of it.

← Back to Blog