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Doors that keep working when the network goes down

GateStride decides at the door, not in a data center. Each door node keeps a cached, signed copy of who may open it, so phones still work when the office network, the internet or the GateStride center is down. Your existing access system keeps working through all of it.

By Tom Jin · Updated October 2026 · Early access

When the internet drops, nobody should be stuck in the hallway

Offices lose connectivity more often than anyone likes to admit. The ISP has an outage on a Monday morning. A switch in the comms closet dies over the weekend. Someone unplugs the wrong cable while moving a printer. The landlord's contractor cuts a line in the ceiling. None of this is rare, and none of it is the office manager's fault.

If phone access depends on a remote server, every one of those events turns into a door problem. Staff stand in the corridor refreshing an app that cannot reach home. Someone props a door open so the team can get to work, which is exactly what access control is supposed to prevent. The front desk starts handing out spare cards that nobody tracks. An outage in somebody else's data center becomes a security gap in your building.

We built GateStride for the opposite case. The decision to unlock happens on the door node at the door, using information already stored there. The network is needed to change who has access, not to use it.

Where the unlock decision is made

When an enrolled phone comes to the door, the door node sends it a one-time challenge over Bluetooth. The phone signs it with a private key that was created in its secure element (StrongBox on Android, the Secure Enclave on iOS) and never leaves the device. The node checks the signature, checks that this person may use this door at this time, and then unlocks through your existing access system.

All of that happens between the phone and the node. The GateStride center in your comms room is not in the real-time unlock path. It is where you add people, set door rules, issue visitor passes and read the audit log. If it is busy, rebooting or unplugged, the moment of entry does not wait for it.

The phone does not need the internet either. Bluetooth works with mobile data off and with no Wi-Fi at all, which helps in stairwells, basements and back entrances where signal is weak.

A cached, signed credential set on every door node

Each door node holds a cached copy of the credentials and rules it needs: which phones may open that door, and when. The set is signed, and the node checks the signature before it trusts it. A node will not accept a credential list that someone edited or slipped in from outside.

When the connection to the center is lost, the node keeps working from that signed set. A phone it can verify against the set gets in, within the rules that applied when the set was last synced. A phone it cannot verify gets refused. The node does not guess, and it does not fall back to letting people through because it lost contact. When the connection returns, the node resyncs with the center and picks up any changes made in the meantime.

Your existing system keeps working regardless

GateStride sits on top of the access control you already own. It does not replace the panel, the readers, the locks, request-to-exit or fire release. Cards and fobs keep working whether GateStride is up, down or uninstalled. If a door node fails outright, that door behaves exactly as it did before GateStride was added.

Free egress stays with the certified system. GateStride never requires a phone, a card or anything else to leave a room or the building, online or offline.

This is personal for me. Our own office came with a four-door Kantech system the previous tenant left behind. It still worked as a card system, and it still does, with GateStride added on top. You can read that story in how we revived our office's Kantech system.

No cloud dependency and no relay

Many newer access products are built around a vendor-hosted cloud. Every unlock, every rule change and every log entry passes through servers the customer does not run. That model can be convenient, but it ties your doors to an internet connection and to another company's uptime.

GateStride offers no hosted service and no relay. The door nodes and the center both run on your premises. Administrators who need to manage the system from home connect over your company's own VPN, the same way they reach other internal systems. There is no GateStride server in the middle that could go offline and take your doors with it. More detail is on our security page.

What still works, and what waits for the connection

• Keeps working offline: phone unlock at each door node, checked against that node's signed credential set and door rules; cards and fobs on your existing system; free egress.
• Waits for the connection: changes you make in the center, such as new people, new rules or new visitor passes, reach a door node once it can talk to the center again.

Revoking someone is normally fast. When the network is healthy, a removal or suspension in the center reaches every door node in about a second (see instant revoke). A node that is cut off cannot hear about that change until it reconnects, which is why it is worth fixing a network fault promptly and, for urgent cases, also disabling the person's card on the existing system.

What happens during an outage, step by step

1. The network, the internet or the GateStride center goes down. Your existing access system carries on as normal.
2. Each door node keeps its last signed credential set and keeps answering phones over Bluetooth.
3. An enrolled phone arrives. The node sends a one-time challenge, checks the signed answer against its cached set and the door's rules, and unlocks through the existing system.
4. A phone the node cannot verify is refused. Cards still work on the existing readers, and free egress is unchanged.
5. The connection comes back. The node resyncs with the center and picks up changes made while it was cut off.

What it does not do

• A door node that cannot reach the center does not receive changes made in the meantime, including a revocation, until it reconnects.
• Offline mode does not let anyone in who was not already in the node's signed credential set. New people and new visitor passes need the connection first.
• GateStride is not a life-safety system. Fire release, request-to-exit and egress stay with your existing certified system.
• If a door node itself loses power or fails, phone unlock at that door stops. The existing card system at that door is unaffected.

Questions

Does GateStride need the internet to unlock a door?

No. The phone and the door node talk over Bluetooth, and the node checks the phone against a signed credential set it already holds. The internet is not part of the unlock.

What if the GateStride center is down?

Door nodes keep verifying phones from their cached, signed credential set. The center is not in the real-time unlock path, so it can be down for maintenance without stopping entry.

Can someone exploit an outage to get in?

A node refuses anything it cannot verify against its signed set. It does not fall back to unlocking when it loses contact, and an edited or unsigned credential list is rejected.

If I revoke someone during an outage, when does it take effect?

On a connected node, about a second. On a node that is cut off, when it reconnects and resyncs. For urgent cases, also disable the person's card on your existing system.

Do cards still work if GateStride fails?

Yes. GateStride does not replace your panel, readers or locks. Cards, fobs, request-to-exit and fire release keep working exactly as before.

Does the employee's phone need mobile data or Wi-Fi?

Not to open a door. The unlock runs over Bluetooth between the phone and the door node.

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