Understanding the Difference Between Users and Residents

Understanding the Difference Between Users and Residents

On a property, you can associate two types of occupants — Users and Residents. Both are linked to the property and both appear in your community's resident lists, but they serve different purposes and hold different information. Understanding the distinction helps you decide which to create for each member of a household.

Users

Users are individuals with a MyWatchtower account and a defined role.

• Has a role — on a property, that role is Owner, Manager, or Resident. (The former Tenant role has been removed.)
• Login access — each user signs in with a unique email address.
• Optional contact details — a phone number can also be added.
• Vehicle association — vehicles can be tied directly to a user.

Users are the people who actually interact with MyWatchtower: they manage guests and vehicles, create entry codes, receive notifications, and see property information according to their role. Users can also hold community-level roles — the default community roles are Super Admin, Admin, Supervisor, Gate Attendant, Resident, and Pending Resident — but most household members only need a property role.

Residents

Residents are simpler records used to represent people living at a property who do not need to sign in.

• Basic information only — first and last name.
• No email or phone number required.
• No role assigned — they are always treated as residents in the system.

Residents are ideal for recording occupancy when you don't need a full account for each person — for example, children or household members who will never manage guests themselves. Gate staff still see them when looking up the property, so their names are recognized at the gate.

How They Appear in Community Lists

In the community's lists, both kinds of records show up side by side, labeled by type, so staff can tell at a glance whether an entry is an account-holding user or a simple resident record. Some flows treat them together — for example, when creating an entry QR code, users and residents are merged into a single "resident" list to pick the code holder from.

Which Should You Create?

• Choose a User when the person needs to sign in — to manage guests, vehicles, or entry codes, or to receive notifications.
• Choose a Resident when you only need the person's name on record at the property.

A resident record can always be supplemented later: if that person eventually needs app access, they can create their own account and request access to the property.