For residents & visitors.
How do I pre-approve a guest before they arrive?
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Open the resident app, tap "New visit", select the guest's name (or add them), choose the date and time window. The app generates a 6-digit code valid for that window — send it via WhatsApp, SMS, or read it out. Your guest types it at the gate keypad and walks in.
I'm a visitor — what happens to my details at the gate?
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Your name, the resident or unit you're visiting, and the time of arrival are recorded. The record is held under the property's lawful purpose for visitor safety, retained for the period the property has set in its DPA register, and accessible to you on request. Your data is held in secure, encrypted cloud infrastructure and protected to the standard Kenya's data-protection law requires.
Where do I see what I owe?
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In-app levy statements — running balances and exportable history — are coming in a future release. During the pilot, levies and special assessments are managed outside the platform.
I'd like to file a complaint or report an incident.
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Tap "Report" in the resident app. Pick a category — noise, security, maintenance, common-area issue. Add a photo if you have one. The complaint is routed to the responsible person, given a number, and tracked until closed. You'll see updates in-app.
I forgot the gate code.
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Open the app — your codes are visible under "My visits". For a walk-up arrival, the guard registers the visitor at the gate and the resident on file is notified to approve and issue a one-time code from their phone.
What if a resident or visitor doesn't have a smartphone?
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No-one is locked out for not having a smartphone. A visitor can reply to the invitation SMS with their code from any phone — including a feature phone — and receive their entry PIN back by SMS. For domestic staff and elderly residents, the guard can register the arrival at the gate and the resident approves by phone, or manual gate logging is used. Manual entries land in the same audit record as the digital ones.
Is it available in Kiswahili?
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The apps are built bilingual from the ground up — English and Swahili — with a language switcher built in. English is live today; Swahili is being rolled out ahead of the first Swahili-primary estate going live. Dates and times follow Kenyan conventions (EAT).
How are deliveries, boda riders and ride-hailing handled?
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Residents issue a one-time delivery code from the app and share it with the rider or courier over WhatsApp or SMS. The driver enters it at the gate and the resident is notified on arrival. For parcels, the courier desk logs the drop-off against the unit. Every delivery is captured on the same record as any other arrival.
Do residents pay anything to use the app?
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No. The resident and visitor apps are free for residents and their guests. The platform is billed to the property, not to individuals.
For managers & committees.
How long does onboarding take?
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Apartment block — typically 2 weeks: directory import, gate-keypad install, resident-app rollout, first board pack. Estate — 4–6 weeks: multi-gate, patrol routes, contractor registry, resident communication. Private city / portfolio — 8–12 weeks, scoped per development.
Can residents opt out?
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Yes — manual gate logging continues to work for any resident or visitor who declines the digital flow. The audit log captures the manual entry the same way it captures the digital one. No-one is locked out for not adopting the app.
What happens to data if we leave?
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All your property's data is exportable — structured JSON for the audit log, CSV for residents and finances, original PDFs for board packs. Export is a self-service workflow available to the data controller at any time. After offboarding, retention follows the policy you set in your DPA register.
Does the platform integrate with our accountant?
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The platform exports levy invoices, vendor payments and transaction records as JSON and CSV — importable into any accounting workflow. Direct integrations with accounting software are on the product roadmap.
What if our gate hardware is already installed?
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The platform is designed hardware-agnostic at the gate-controller layer. Onboarding includes a hardware assessment — common keypad and access-control vendors are supported. Camera and plate-recognition hardware integrations are planned for a later release.
What happens at the gate if the internet goes down?
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The gate keypad operates with offline-tolerant behaviour — pre-approved codes are validated locally and continue to work during connectivity drops. Events are queued and written to the audit ledger once the connection is restored. No entry is missed or unlogged; it arrives in the record once the link is back.
How is it priced?
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Residential properties are priced per unit per month — a standard KES 500 per occupied unit. Commercial buildings and company tenants are on a flat monthly rate — KES 35,000–85,000 depending on building size. Portfolio operators start at an 8% discount. A one-off setup fee — from KES 60,000 per gate, and negotiable depending on what's already in place on-site — applies at conversion and is deferred during the 30-day pilot. See the
pricing page for the full rate card.
What's needed at the gate, and who provides what?
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At minimum: a guard device — an Android tablet or phone, included in the one-off setup fee — and a working internet connection at the gate. Mobile data is fine; the system tolerates 2G–4G and brief drops. The estate provides power and connectivity; we provide and configure the software and the guard device. The platform is hardware-agnostic at the keypad and controller layer, so common existing access hardware can usually be kept. If the connection drops, pre-approved codes keep validating offline and sync to the record once it's back.
Is there a contract or lock-in after the pilot?
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No long lock-in. After the 30-day pilot, billing is monthly with no minimum term beyond the first month; annual billing saves 10%. Portfolio and enterprise agreements are scoped individually, with terms agreed during the technical walkthrough. See the
pricing page for the full rate card.
What happens at AGM or committee handover?
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Admin access is role-based and transferable. An outgoing committee reassigns the property-manager and admin roles to incoming members without losing any data or history. Every access change is written to the append-only audit log, so the handover itself is on record. The property is the data controller and keeps all of its data across the transition.
What if residents are slow to adopt it?
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Adoption is never all-or-nothing. Manual gate logging works from day one for anyone not yet onboarded, and it lands in the same audit record as the digital flow. Onboarding includes a resident-communication rollout, and in practice adoption climbs as residents see faster entry for their own guests. The gate never stops working while adoption grows, and no resident is locked out.
Does it integrate with our CCTV, intercom, biometrics or electric fence?
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The platform is hardware-agnostic at the gate-controller layer and runs alongside your existing systems. Camera and number-plate-recognition integrations are on the roadmap; accounting data exports today as JSON and CSV, with direct integrations planned. One firm line: we never collect biometric data — no fingerprints, no face data, ever.
What happens to our data if Secure Labs ever shuts down?
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You are never stranded. Your property's data is exportable at any time as a self-service workflow by the data controller — structured JSON for the audit log, CSV for residents and finances, original PDFs for board packs — so you always hold a current, portable copy independent of us. There is no lock-in on your data, and nothing about it depends on Secure Labs staying in the picture.
Data & privacy.
Where is my data processed and stored?
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Production data — visitor records, access event logs, pass holder data, authentication records — is held in secure, encrypted cloud infrastructure, protected to the standard Kenya's data-protection law requires.
How do I get a copy of the data you hold about me?
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Email dpo@securelabsystems.com with the property name, your relationship (resident, visitor, staff), and what you'd like to see. The law allows up to 30 days to respond; we aim for 72 hours.
How long is visitor data retained?
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Default retention is 90 days for visitor PII, configurable per property in line with the lawful purpose declared in their DPA register. The audit log is append-only — the application never edits or deletes it — so access events remain available for as long as the property holds an account, in line with the property's retention policy. After the retention window, visitor PII is deleted on a documented schedule — not silently kept.
What exactly does the guard record when a visitor arrives?
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At arrival the guard's app captures: the visitor's name, the resident or unit being visited, time of arrival, and whether entry was pre-approved or a walk-up. If the property has enabled PHOTO ID (off by default — requires a board resolution), a photo is taken at the gate. Vehicle plate numbers can be logged manually. No biometric data is ever collected. All records write immediately to the append-only audit log.
Are you registered with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner?
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Secure Labs Systems is in the process of registering as a data processor with Kenya's data-protection regulator under the Data Protection Act, 2019. Each customer property is its own data controller; we operate under a Data Processing Agreement with each one.
How do you stop a guard or admin from altering or deleting records?
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The audit log is append-only by design — the application has no path to edit or delete an access event, and that's enforced at the database level, not just in the software. Every entry is attributed to the person who made it, including manual overrides. Each property's data is isolated and encrypted, so no-one can reach across into another estate's records. The ledger is the one thing nobody — not a guard, not an admin, not Secure Labs — can quietly rewrite.