Your Garage Door Makes Life Easier with These 8 Benefits

The world is becoming more technological by the minute. Consider all of the new innovations around the home, for example. Smart devices and connected homes can make our lives easier. If you feel the same, you will enjoy the latest LiftMaster by Chamberlain garage door openers. They have more utility than you might imagine.

LiftMaster started using WiFi with their garage door openers years ago. Most of the models that have been available for the past couple of years have MyQ technology. This lets owners monitor and operate their garage door using a smart device, such as a phone or tablet.

You read that right. You can open your garage door with your phone whether you are at home, at work, or in another country.

Of course, this is just the beginning of the features and the technology that you will find with the LiftMaster 85503. This is the first garage door that features:

• A built-in camera
• Two-way audio
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• Controls for smartphones or tablets

Have you ever wondered what’s happening in your garage?

You will love the features of the camera that is built into the opener. It includes:

• Motion detection
• Night vision
• Manual 360-degree rotation
• Live-streaming 1080p HD video

Why Do You Need a Camera?

You can see anyone that comes through the door. This includes the kids when they are coming home from school, a neighbor that is returning an item they borrowed, etc. You will always know what’s happening in the garage.

The image above shows what you will see when you are looking at the garage through your smartphone.

Anyone that has access to the garage when it opens with the garage door opener will be shown on video and in real-time.

Getting into the Garage

You can provide access to your garage with your smart LiftMaster garage door opener and the MyQ app. There are two different ways that you can do this depending on the situation. Let’s look at both.

1. Someone who needs one-time access to the garage:

• Have the person sent you a text once they arrive at the garage door, and you can then open the door for them.
• You can then watch them enter. It might be a repairman, someone returning a tool, or a friend that is picking up something you left for them.
• After they’ve entered you can close the garage door, or you can leave it open if they are only going in and out once, quickly.
• You can follow these steps for anyone who comes to the home that you want to have access to the garage.

However, it can be inconvenient when someone needs to get into and out of the garage and you are busy and can’t get to your phone. Maybe you don’t want to think about having to open and close the garage each time. In these cases, you can use the second option.

2. Provide access to people using the MyQ app

You will find 3 easy-to-use access methods that can be used:

1. First, there is the option for recurring weekly access. This would work well for someone who comes to the house at a specific time each week. This might be a weekly housekeeper, for example.
2. Second, you could choose temporary access. This could be for someone who is coming to work in the house for a limited period. For example, a plumber that will be coming to the house. You could set up a day and time for them to be granted access.
3. Third, you could provide someone with permanent access to a trustworthy person.

Check out the following images to see how simple it will be to provide someone with access:

This is how the app looks on a smartphone. You can choose your relationship with the person who will be getting access, and then can choose the access period whether it is recurring, temporary, or permanent.

It’s easy to use. The app is user-friendly. When offering temporary and recurring access, you can choose one day, several days, and determine the time of day that the person gets access.

The guest user will receive an email for the invitation. They can then download that app and create their own account on it. You can then keep watch of what’s happening. The MyQ app can let you create notifications, so you can see what each of the users is doing with their devices. You can see this in real-time or by looking at the event history.

Important Info – Your guest users won’t have access to everything, so you don’t have to worry. They can’t access:

• The Event History
• Camera feed
• Configuration functions
• Commercial operators or gate openers

Why would you need to access this feature to know what’s happening with the app for other users? Check out these examples.

• Maybe you hire someone to come and clean the house once a week. You give them access to get into the house on that day. You can make sure that they are coming to the house at that time and that they aren’t bringing other people with them who don’t belong there.
• Do you need someone to come to the house at the same time each week to take care of a certain task? Recurring access will let you know when the person arrives and leaves.
• Do you have some furniture that’s being delivered? If you won’t be home for the delivery, you can provide temporary access on the day they will arrive. You can let them know that you are providing a limited amount of access and that there will be a record of the event history to know how long they’ve spent on your premises.

This garage door opener has a lot to offer, as you can see.

However, it gets even better!

You can enjoy two-way audio to communicate with people or even pets in the garage!

The audio feature of the LiftMaster 85503 offers:

• Live 2-way communication
• Volume control that is easy to adjust
• You can opt to enable or disable the microphone

Depending on how you set up your alert notifications, you can be informed when someone enters the garage in real-time. You can then communicate with them if needed.

When someone enters the garage to walk your dog, for example, you can let them know that you have some new treats for your dog that they can have after the walk is done, for example. There are tons of ways you can use this technology.

Safety and Security

The LiftMaster 85503 also provides some fantastic safety features that you will appreciate.

• Battery Backup. You never have to worry about your car getting stuck in the garage. Even if the power is out, the battery backup will ensure that the door will open and close.
• Electronically Protects against forced openings. What happens if a burglar tries to force open the garage door? The door detects this type of intrusion and will push back against the attempt.
• SECURITY+ 2.0 safeguards garage access by sending a new code with every click. Some thieves take remote controls and go through neighborhoods, clicking the remote in front of all of the garage doors, hoping that it will open. With this model, though, there is no chance of that happening.
• Alert-2-Close flashes the light and makes a sound. This sound will alert people to when the door is closing. If you aren’t at home when you close the door, the sound can let others know that they need to get out of the way of the door.

• Safety Sensors. The opener also has photo-cell safety beams. These are safety features that will stop the door from closing if there are obstructions detected in the door’s path.

  
• Motion-detection lighting. When you walk into the garage, the lights will come on for you automatically. This means no worrying about tripping or being surprised in the dark.

So much you can see and do with your smartphone

The first things we mentioned about the garage door are some of the top features. You can open and close the garage door no matter where you might be, you can give access to whoever you need, you can see what’s happening in the garage in real-time, and you can react to what’s happening by speaking to people.

However, these are just some of the features. Here are some of the other great features of the LiftMaster 85503 smart garage door opener.

1. Alert Customization. Determine when you want to receive notifications and what notifications you want to receive.
2. Did you shut the door? How many times have you forgotten whether you left the garage door open in the morning? Now, you can see whether the door is open or closed from your app. Check the status and close the door if needed. This will give you some peace of mind.
3. Easy in-garage deliveries when ordering online. Because stealing packages is a thing and weather can be tricky to determine, you will love the option of in‑garage deliveries.
4. Check the history using the 7‑day or 30‑day video storage option, which you can get with a monthly subscription.

Are You Ready to change your garage door opener?

Do you have an old garage door opener? If you have a decades-old opener from before 1993, you probably don’t even have safety sensors, which are now required by law. The older doors were often easy to open with remotes that weren’t even yours, which could give thieves easy access. In fact, 9% of burglars enter the home through the garage door. If you have an older model, it’s time to think about upgrading.

Uncertain if you need all of these features?

Don’t worry. You will find plenty of other door opener models that might work well for you.

Since it can be difficult to know which option you should choose, you might want to learn a bit more before making a choice. Here is a helpful Infographic.

Get in touch with us today at 1-800-409-3667.

At A‑1 Overhead Door Systems, we understand garage doors and garage door openers. We can answer all your questions and provide advice based on your garage, your needs, and your budget.

In some cases, you might want to replace the garage door at the same time as the opener. Getting a new opener with a new garage door is a good option. Use our 3 styles to find the solution that’s right for you. Consider checking out the pictures of doors we have available, or even checking out the Design Centre to get more creative.