Sometimes you must open the gate without a visitor record, for example for a vehicle that needs to get in fast, or for a resident whose remote does not work. Mission Control has an Open gate button for this.
To record a visitor and open the gate together, use Approve entry instead. See *Record an Entry in Mission Control*.
Before you start
- Your role needs Gates set to Add & edit, and Entry points set to View to list the gates. By default, the Admin, Supervisor and Gate Attendant roles have both. Your community can change these permissions.
- Your community uses Brivo or HID access control. The button works the same way for both.
- Select the gate first. Open gate opens the gate in the Select Access Point selector. The button shows only after you select a gate.
Select the gate
1. Open Mission Control.
2. Select Select Access Point, then select the gate.
3. Optional: to keep this gate for the next time on this device, select Set Default.
The red Open gate button shows next to the selector.
Open the gate on a computer
1. Select Open gate.
2. The gate opens at once. MyWatchtower does not ask you to confirm.
While the gate opens, the button shows a spinner and you cannot select it. When the gate opens, a message names the gate, for example Gate "Parking Gate" opened successfully.
Open the gate on a phone
On a narrow screen, such as a phone, the selector fills the width of the screen. Open gate is under it, next to Scan License.
1. Tap Open gate.
2. The Emergency Gate Access dialog opens. It tells you that the action immediately opens the gate that you selected, and that each manual gate activation is logged.
3. Tap Yes, Open Gate to open the gate. To close the dialog and do nothing, tap Cancel.
The dialog shows only on a narrow screen. On a tablet or a wider window, Open gate opens the gate at once, as on a computer.
If the gate does not open
When the gate does not open, a message starts with Failed to open gate: and gives the reason, for example when the gate controller is offline.
If the problem continues, tell your community admin. The admin can see the status of each controller and access point under Settings on the Hardware Settings tab. See *Hardware Settings in the App*.
In offline mode
You cannot open a gate in offline mode. MyWatchtower does not send the request, and the message reads Failed to open gate: Write operations are disabled in offline mode. See *Using Offline Mode*.
Each open is recorded
MyWatchtower records each open from Mission Control in the entry history and in the audit log. The record names the gate and the account that opened it. On the staff dashboard, the entry shows as Manual Gate Open.
For routine visitors, record the entry with Approve entry. It opens the selected gate and keeps the name of the visitor in the entry history.