Kisi
For facility managers, enterprise security administrators, and coworking space operators.
Kisi is an established business app that is available. With a 4.8/5 rating from 24.6K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate digital key functionality provides a convenient alternative to physical fobs for gym access, though mandatory location and bluetooth permissions create privacy concerns and battery drain for users remains a common concern.
What is Kisi?
Kisi is a cloud-based door access control and security solution for enterprise and facility management on iOS and Android.
Users hire Kisi to replace physical keys with mobile credentials, reducing administrative overhead for facility managers while providing secure, remote-managed access for tenants.
Current Momentum
v72.8 · 2w ago
Maintenance- Integrated Shortcuts support in latest release.
- Ships frequent stability and connectivity patches.
Active Nemesis
Schlage Mobile Access
By Schlage Lock Company
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
BusinessRating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
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What Are The Key Features?
Unlocks doors via hand wave detection without requiring physical interaction with the mobile device.
Allows administrators to grant or revoke access, send temporary links, and set scheduled unlocks.
Enables two-way communication with visitors via video format directly through the smartphone app.
How much does it cost?
- Free app for authorized users
- Enterprise/Business subscription with hardware-dependent pricing
B2B SaaS model anchored in hardware sales and recurring software fees for facility management.
Who Built It?
Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does KISI Incorporated make?
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 75 of 159 total reviews analyzed · Based on 159 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate digital key functionality provides a convenient alternative to physical fobs for gym access, but report mandatory location and bluetooth permissions create privacy concerns and battery drain for users and unreliable door unlocking performance causes significant friction during daily facility entry attempts.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Kisi?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The Business Market?
How does it evolve in the Business market?
Kisi holds the #98 Free position in the US Business category, reflecting a specialized B2B focus rather than mass-market consumer reach. The high 4.78 rating across 20,000+ reviews suggests strong utility for its core enterprise user base despite the niche chart rank.
Rank progression
14 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is Kisi in?
to manage and unlock secure building doors
Explore the full Access Control Companions niche
Every app in this space — 9 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Schlage is a direct competitor in the physical security space, leveraging its massive hardware footprint to challenge Kisi's cloud-based access control dominance.
Differentiators
- Deep integration with legacy Schlage hardware provides a massive barrier to entry for enterprise clients.
- Administrator provisioning tools are optimized for large-scale physical security deployments rather than Kisi's agile cloud focus.
Head to head
Kisi must double down on its software-defined agility and UX superiority to win over modern, tech-forward offices while Schlage dominates traditional legacy installations.
Contenders(2)
Pure Mobile competes by offering electronic credentialing that bridges the gap between physical hardware and mobile access.
Differentiators
- Focuses exclusively on Pure Access hardware ecosystems, limiting its utility compared to Kisi's agnostic approach.
- Lacks the modern, high-frequency update cadence required to maintain parity with current mobile OS security standards.
Zentra targets the same centralized management market as Kisi, focusing on mobile-first credentialing for modern commercial facilities.
Differentiators
- Centralized management interface is specifically tailored for multi-site facility managers needing unified access control.
- Aggressive release cadence suggests a focused effort to capture market share from cloud-native incumbents like Kisi.
Same space(4)
ENGAGE operates in the same physical security ecosystem, focusing on the configuration and maintenance of connected electronic locks.
Differentiators
- Provides granular hardware configuration tools that Kisi lacks, catering to specialized security installers.
- Focuses on system maintenance and activity monitoring rather than the end-user mobile access experience.
This app targets the same mobile credentialing space, specifically emphasizing NFC and Apple Wallet integration.
Differentiators
- Native Apple Wallet integration provides a frictionless user experience that Kisi has yet to fully replicate.
- Zero-rating footprint indicates a new market entry that lacks the established user base of Kisi.
While in the Business category, it shares the 'mobile-first operational tool' persona, though it serves logistics rather than security.
Differentiators
- Dominates the logistics sector with automated check-calls, a feature set entirely distinct from access control.
- Massive review volume indicates a high-scale network effect that Kisi cannot replicate in the security vertical.
This app serves the broader building management and utility ecosystem, often overlapping with the same facility managers who procure Kisi.
Differentiators
- Offers a comprehensive product catalog and live expert support, positioning it as a utility-first platform.
- Barcode and QR scanning features facilitate asset management, contrasting with Kisi's focus on door access.
New entrants(1)
A niche operational tool that demonstrates how mobile-first remote monitoring is expanding into specialized industrial sectors.
Differentiators
- Provides specialized remote recovery and resource analytics for railway infrastructure, outside Kisi's current scope.
Compare Kisi against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Kisi
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Cloud-native architecture enables instant remote credentialing updates
- MotionSense hardware integration provides a differentiated hands-free entry experience
Critical Frictions
- 0.7★ Android-iOS rating gap indicates platform-specific connectivity instability
- Mandatory location permissions drive high-frequency battery drain complaints
Growth Levers
- Native Apple Wallet integration would bypass current app-based connectivity failures
- Wearable device support would capture the high-value fitness-tracking segment
Market Threats
- Schlage’s offline credentialing reliability creates a moat cloud-only systems cannot match
- Rising privacy scrutiny on location-tracking apps increases churn risk
What are the next best moves?
Ship native Apple Wallet integration because it is the top-requested feature to bypass connectivity failures → increase daily entry reliability.
Sentiment data shows native wallet support is the #1 requested feature to solve connectivity friction.
Trade-off: Pause the video-intercom feature expansion — connectivity reliability is a higher churn risk.
Audit background location triggers because battery-drain complaints are a top-3 frustration theme → reduce negative sentiment churn.
High-frequency complaints regarding battery drain and privacy are eroding user trust.
Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.
Refactor authentication email delivery because sign-in failures prevent new-user conversion → stabilize top-of-funnel growth.
Medium-frequency reports of broken authentication flows prevent initial user onboarding.
Trade-off: Deprioritize UI polish on the management dashboard — onboarding is a critical revenue blocker.
A counter-intuitive read
The reliance on a dedicated app for door access is a strategic liability, as native wallet integration will eventually commoditize the mobile-credentialing layer and shift the competitive focus entirely back to hardware reliability.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Native Apple Wallet integration (available in Romanworks Mobile Access but absent here)
- Granular hardware configuration tools (available in Allegion ENGAGE but absent here)
Key Takeaways
Kisi maintains a strong enterprise niche through cloud-native agility, but persistent connectivity failures and permission friction threaten its long-term retention, so the PM must prioritize native wallet integration to stabilize the user experience.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The commercial access market is shifting toward native wallet integration, which exposes Kisi's cloud-dependent connectivity model to significant churn risk. Unless the team pivots to native wallet support, the current reliance on background location permissions will continue to drive negative sentiment and battery-drain complaints.
Persistent connectivity failures in the latest version erode daily entry reliability, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
Recent addition of Shortcuts support demonstrates active feature investment, which provides a path to improve user-initiated entry speed.