ButterflyMX

My building got this system and I was kinda unsure about it at first. I wasn’t entirely sure what i was doing. I didn’t know if the people calling from the intercom could see me, or not, when I answered. I didn’t know if they could hear me right away, or did I have to press the speaker button in the app first? From what I remember, I think the system would lag and take about 2-3 seconds. So, I would hit the speaker button, but I was actually turning the speaker off each time because of the lag. (Cause the system had it on automatically). Or something like that. Could be vice-versa and I’m saying it backwards. In any case, I think I mentioned something to the building people in passing, and I don’t remember how, but the employees from this app and system spoke to me through email. They were SUPER nice and accommodating. Any question I had, they answered. Any problem I had, they fixed. We spoke back and forth a number of times. They wrote back immediately. It was pretty awesome, to be honest lol. I never felt so much like what I cared about personally, mattered so much. Not even from the employees from the building I live in. So it was great! 😂 Anyway, it’s been at least a year or maybe 2 since that happened, but I thought I’d give my review since I guess I never did and they did a great job. Thanks again, guys!

I seriously don’t know how I lived without ButterflyMX at my old place. My new apartment has the butterflymx intercom and it’s so convenient. I love being able to open the door to my building with my phone (I use the swipe to open pretty much every time I come home) and it’s waaaay easier to let my friends in now that I don’t have to go downstairs to open the door for them. Also easier to let postmates/Uber eats drivers in and get food delivered right to my door. Plus I can actually see who’s at the door from my phone instead of just opening it when someone buzzes (dangerous) or having to go downstairs to check So far I havent had any issues with the he app - it was easy to set up and navigate. Works smoothly and video calls come through clear. I love that in the app I can make a virtual key (I use them for my dog walker, the key is set up to let her in every weekday while I’m at work which is super useful). My building also has a package room which is awesome because I get a notification when I receive a package and don’t have to worry about it being stolen or lost. Overall I’m sooo glad I have ButterflyMX at my building and the app works really well. No complaints here!

I recently moved into a building that has ButterflyMX. I hadn't heard of ButterflyMX before, but I am sooooo grateful to have it. I have underlying conditions that make me more susceptible to Covid-19 and I go out of my way to avoid touching things. With ButterflyMX, I can open the door of my building using the app on my iphone. I also just discovered a way to do this via Siri. I set it up so all I have to do is say to siri "open door," and the door magically opens. I don't have to touch anything. The other thing I appreciate is that when deliveries come (I order food a lot), I can see the delivery person through the mobile app and can let them in. In my old apartment, I had to walk to the kitchen and speak into the intercom system that was on my wall. Now I can do it from my phone. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but it actually is very useful. The last thing worth mentioning is that the ButterflyMX customer service team is awesome. When I moved in, I wanted to make some small customizations. So I found the ButterflyMX phone number and just called. The customer service team walked me through all the steps to make the necessary changes. Was super easy and they were so friendly. I really like this app, especially during this crazy time we are living in.

The idea is sound. Problem is the app and connectivity. First off, you have to have your phone nearby at all times to know a call is coming through. And if your phone is on vibrate there’s a high chance you won’t notice a visitor. When it rings if your phone is locked you have to unlock it before you can open the door, which takes time. And that time matters bc there’s a delay between the doorbell being pushed and the phone ringing (not long but sometimes long enough for people to leave). It’s not compatible with any home hubs other than Brilliant. The Alexa skill only lets you open the door. It doesn’t ring when someone’s at the door. I like it but it needs a few tweaks. The first tweak should be to improve the app. Make it so that it’s easier to open the door when someone rings and have the camera pop up immediately. I think the second tweak would be to make it more compatible with home hub devices so I don’t always have to have my phone at the ready and others can open the door when a visitor rings.

There is so much wrong with this app that could be fixed... I have to wonder, do any of your developers actually use it themselves? Please please please, you MUST figure out how to make it work from a locked screen so that guests can open the door without being given access to my email... text messages... basically all my private data. The whole system is a failure when the simple possibility of a guest answering the doorbell requires a potential violation of privacy... Also... how about letting the user decide when to turn on and off the entry camera!? Also, as it stands, one user on an account can’t switch to do-not-disturb without turning the other user to the same. I can’t tell you how many times I missed a delivery before we figured out our controls weren’t independent from each other. It’s a pointless function as it stands. I have had long conversations with your phone support about these things and they seem to agree with me about how serious and frustrating these problems are... they assure me it will improve... but it’s been a while. I want to like your app. Please fix it.

I live in Portland OR. To open my front door, the system needs to connect to New York office, process, and route a call back to me. This process takes forever and is at the whim of “busy times” when all the other apartment building in the country are trying to do the same. Here it takes 10 to 12 “rings”on call box finally start routing the call to my phone . The callbox just makes a pretend “ring” sound, but in fact the call has not even been routed at all. By the time it gets routed, most deliveries have given up and left (average rings for a person to wait is 6, in general). Shame on this company for overselling a service and not keeping their servers up to the demand. This is very costly to the residents: besides the terrible inconvenience of basically not having a doorbell, deliveries are missed, appointments need to be rescheduled, and now our building is even blacklisted for Instacart services. Their customer support does not even answer the phone. This is misleadin advertising, unfair business practice, and basic malice to falsely pretend the phone is ringing while in reality it is not doing so at all until minutes later

My building just introduced the ButterflyMX service and I was in immediate disbelief that I ever functioned in NYC apartments without it. The app allows you to create ‘virtual keys’ for preapproved visitors, so I created one for my dog walker who comes every weekday around lunchtime. Now he enters the building without having to buzz a bunch of my neighbors’ units until someone lets him in. We also have a key fob on our elevator, so when I ordered seamless I’d have to go downstairs to grab my food. But somehow ButterlyMX unlocks the elevator for the delivery guy to only get to my floor, so I no longer have to go down to the lobby to grab my deliveries. Incredible convenience! Mobile app is great too!

I gave 1 star out of five because that was the lowest. If I could choose, 1 out of a 1000. I really, really dislike this app - it’s usability is 0. Great idea, really great. Execution - terrible. I don’t know why but we’ve missed all calls - the delivery person just quits. The sound starts, the phone locks and the slider is as easy to use as opening a can with oily fingers. It just slides all over the place. I have to go down and rescue every poor soul locked in our building. I can’t imagine an app so poorly designed for its one function. I mean a 100% failure rate, there’s no signs given by the company offering instructions. The app doesn’t need high quality video (if that’s what’s killing its startup time) This is great idea and if they executed 10% it would be almost usable. Disappointing at how companies can make such awful decisions while acting in the pretenders of looking after the customer. Or, clearly, not even knowing who the customer is.

Why do I have to have my phone near me in order to answer the doorbell? This is not progress, it makes my life harder and wastes more of my time. Interface is confusing and jumbled, both on the app as well as the intercom panel. The intercom is especially bad, it’s not intuitive and requires too much effort for any delivery person in a rush - almost every delivery I get, the person just calls my phone anyways, which is exactly what I don’t want. Also, I live with another person but the app will only “buzz” one of us depending on who the visitor selected in the intercom (in the rare instance where someone doesn’t give up and call my cell phone first). An improvement that I’d suggest is giving the option for all residents in a unit to get simultaneously buzzed when a visitor calls anyone in your unit. But honestly even that change still won’t make this thing even remotely worthwhile. Quick update, Just missed another important delivery. Changing review from 2 stars to 1. Worthless.

This app is possibly the most frustrating development in technological history. Conceptually it’s great, but in practice, it’s a headache. The touch screen is not intuitive so deliveries and guests often give up and call me. Then, because theres no way to remotely open the door without getting called on ButterflyMX, I have to stop what I’m doing and go down to the lobby to let them in. And if it’s a package, forget it, they’ll be back on the truck by the time you get downstairs. A feature that allows you to open the front door unprompted is essential. Also, when you do get a call on ButterflyMX all your devices start lighting up like a Parade and don’t stop even if you let someone in on one of the apps. God forbid you’re in a meeting with your phone and iPad, you’ve got to go digging in your bag to make it stop. While I believe this type of technology is the future, the past systems are still superior to this dreck.

It works to open the door. I’ve never had difficulty with it connecting. But two aspects of answering a call from the front door make it incredibly annoying: (1) You are unable to answer an incoming call from the door with audio only, it always uses your camera to video conference the front door. I would frankly prefer the ability to access the call like I’m viewing a security camera, where I can hear and view the door feed without my audio or video being automatically shared. (2) If your phone is locked when you receive a call from the door, you are unable to open the door from the call when you answer. You have to answer the call and then unlock the phone within the active call to access a screen that allows you to open the door.

Should you seek a new residence, I strongly advise against selecting a building equipped with ButterflyMX. This purported "upgrade" to my living situation has proven to be an egregious detriment. Countless instances of being locked out ensued due to the app's unreliability, frequent interruptions in the connection to their system, spotty internet connectivity, misconfigured account settings impeding proper door access, erroneous indications of door status, randomly resetting PINs with a narrow window for input, and more. Notably, meticulous tracking of entry and exit times becomes an unwarranted intrusion into privacy. In the absence of a conventional key, one is left vulnerable in scenarios such as a broken or lost phone or inadvertent phone confinement within the apartment. This deficiency caused me to awkwardly wait outside, alongside others similarly unable to gain entry. The reliance on three distinct apps for location-specific access to my residence is quite absurd.

This app works all the time for me. I open the door for myself every day when walking up to the building, which is great because I don’t have to pull out my keys. When I’m having people over I send them a virtual key so they can let themselves in, and I receive a notification that they’ve used the key. The best part is I no longer miss deliveries while I’m at work because the video calls come straight to my smartphone allowing me to see it’s the delivery person and grant access so they can drop the packages off inside the vestibule, saving me trips to the post office to pick up stuff they can’t leave outside.

When I first moved into my building, my property manager showed me the different amenities we have. They’re great but I don’t really use them too much. We just got Butterflymx before COVID and I have to say I can’t believe how much I use it. I can let deliveries in safely workout interacting with anyone using the video call to my app. They also have a virtual key that I’ve sent to my girlfriend that lets her in without even calling me. She loves it too cuz it’s so easy for her to get in. Can’t wait until our building opens back up and I can invite friends to a rooftop party! It’s a super cool touchscreen too!

Our condo switched over to this system a year ago and we’ve had nothing but problems when it comes to deliveries. Delivery services that should have their own codes either don’t have them or don’t use them, meaning they call us directly. Which, fine, but I thought the purpose was to give companies their own codes so they didn’t have to call specific residences. Either way, the app is fluky when it comes to receiving calls—half the time the call never registers and just is sent to a missed notification. If it does happen to ring, the app doesn’t automatically open and we’ve missed deliveries that way as well, scrambling to try and find where to open the door. We’ve had dozens of deliveries returned at this point.

This app is great. I read some of the other reviews before leaving mine and I can honestly say I never have any issues. The only time the app hasn’t worked is when I don’t have an internet connection, which makes sense to me since it’s web based. I did email the support team about situations when I might not have internet due to data restrictions or caps, and they told me they’re rolling out a bluetooth feature that will allow me to open the door just using a bluetooth connection. Seems fair. I’ll continue to use this app because it’s convenient for me and my guests.

We have key-fobbed elevators in our building, which used to mean that whenever I had visitors over I would have to go down to our lobby to meet them. Since we installed ButterflyMX, whenever I grant access to our building the elevator to my floor is temporarily unlocked - allowing my guests to make it up to my apartment without me going downstairs. What's even cooler, all virtual keys that I issue to my friends or family unlock the elevator too. It has made living in my building so much more convenient. I love this product and use it every day.

This app works as intended - I can easily open my apartment gate, let my visitors in, and give family a temporary key while they’re visiting. The only issue I have is that when I am trying to swipe across the screen and open the gate, I often end up accidentally dragging and scrolling down the screen rather than actually moving the lock icon. Unless you use the app for opening gates of at least 5 separate properties, I don’t see why the scroll function needs to be enabled automatically. If this could get addressed the app would be perfect. Thanks for reading!

My building recently switched from a typical buzzer to this platform. I am so far really disappointed with this change. The platform requires your guest to call or text you from the tablet by the door - no option to simply “ring the doorbell”. And now I have to have my phone on me at all times in case I get an alert - which might interrupt work or other phone calls at any time. It’s also not clear that I can edit the directory, which is a problem since others in my apartment were not initially added. So now I have to wait on my landlord to get around to fixing this problem. The user interface of the app itself is also confusing. I’m supposed to be able to see who is at the door via a video call, but have no idea how to do that (and I’m not 75 so I should be pretty good at using a basic phone app!). Also, why does a video call help, when I obviously don’t recognize a random UPS guy on sight? Overall this app is just a fancy solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. It’s hard to use and makes answering my door a challenge, for no actual benefit. Don’t bother!

Not only do I work for ButterflyMX, but I also have the pleasure of living in a ButterflyMX building, and I seriously don’t know how I ever lived without it. I used to have to rearrange my schedule to make sure I was around to receive deliveries, and now I no longer have to worry about missing them. I also love being able to see who is at the door before letting them in. This product has added convenience to my life as well as an added sense of security. I love it!

There are 3 big issues. First, when your device is not already open, the app inconsistently wakes the device up when someone buzzes. Seems to work on my phone but doesn’t on my iPad. Second, the process of opening your phone and getting to the app to see who is there is pretty cumbersome. It should be as quick as on a dedicated hard line- pick up the device and see the person who’s ringing- ideally on the lock screen. By the time I get to the app the person has often hung up. Third, there needs to be a way for me to open the buzzer unit’s camera to see who might be there even after they’ve hung up so that I can let them in after the fact. This is for now the most important missing feature of the system.

This app this is a lifesaver. We have a house cleaner that comes every 2 weeks and before ButterflyMX I had to give her a key to get into our building, which always made me uncomfortable. After our building installed ButterflyMX, I’ve sent her a virtual key that only works when she needs access to the building. What’s more, whenever the key is used, I receive a push notification with a picture of the person who used it. If I decide to switch house cleaners, I can revoke the virtual key at anytime from the app. It’s awesome.

We live in a small condo building, so we never thought we could have one of those fancy intercoms used in large properties. Butterfly made it happen. Not only we have an excellent way to control access to our building but we can keep track who enters and exists the building. The app is phenomenal. If you are thinking about getting an intercom system, this is the one for you! Even better than the ones from large condo buildings.

The new UI in the app to show “access” is really annoying. To have to click the notification bell and then another section instead of having it on its own tab is super frustrating esp when you are trying to check really fast if your guest was allowed access. The previous UI interface was way better and made more logical sense for users. Also, the picture that is automatically taken from the device now is cropped to a square and zoomed in instead of showing the full width of the taken shot. Not sure why there was a decision to change the UI but I don’t see any positives except to make it more confusing for no reason but just because.

I want to love this! It’s cool tech! It works pretty well. But 80% of food delivery drivers can’t figure out how to use it. What’s the one thing people want to do with a front door intercom? Punch in a unit number and get buzzed in, right? Doing that with this is totally hidden and non-intuitive. (Tap directory, put a unit number in the search field, tap the persons name in the search results.) The whole street-side UI is completely geared toward your guests knowing your name, but most food delivery apps don’t give your name to the driver. If this was a big screen with a number pad, where you punched in a unit number and got connected to the unit, I would be it’s biggest fan. It’s cool hardware and rest of it works great. But food deliveries at my new building are 100x harder than at my old building with its 40 year old intercom, because the UX of this thing is too hard for visitors to figure out. (Also, showing anyone on the street my name if they know my unit number?? Gross!)

Our building has had the system for a couple years and nothing but problems. Currently our system has been down for over two weeks because of a power surge. How could getting parts and getting this fixed take so long? Even when the system is working, deliveries are often not delivered or are left outside (this is downtown Boston) because delivery people can’t understand how to use it or it fails to connect to tenant. It usually takes 8 or so seconds between calling someone and the app actually popping up. Touch screen is flakey, often doesn’t respond to touch, u have to press a button several times to get it to do something.

I previously worked at a property that has a ButterflyMX system in place, and I absolutely loved it! The ability to be able to open my property from my phone is phenomenal, and the app itself is super user friendly and easy to use. I would definitely recommend ButterflyMX as your access control solution if you are in the market. Keep up the great work!

Loving this app. My favorite feature is the 3-D touch, which allows me to open the door without ever opening the app. It’s a thoughtful feature that tells me that thought about the user experience and the way people use their product every day. No one wants to constantly go in and out of apps, especially for something like opening the door. It’s the little things that make this product great.

That’s not confused voiceover and siri The app has options to use siri but that is still not helpful. I am a voiceover user meaning that I am blind. This application needs improvement because they are many buttons that I am unable to negotiate through voiceover. It simply says, button or it wouldn’t say anything. It is frustrating. My building recently changed to use this application to open the door but for someone, I am not considered went develop in the app just yet. Please improve and check with Accessibility. Thank you.

I love the app. I use it every day to let myself into the building. It's never failed me and they are constantly releasing updates to make it better. Just the other day they pushed out an update that allows me to open the door from my Apple Watch. I'm not sure what's with all the negative reviews about stability - my guess is it's something with the user's internet connection or mobile device.

This is the worst app. It gives a false sense of security by making it seem as if I have control over when the door is opened. It never works. I was excited to have an alternative in case I left my key fob and was unable to enter the building. Any time this happens, I am still unable to enter using the app. When visitors request to be let in, the app does not open the door. It’s a useless tool that never works when needed. I would prefer to not have the system at all over my current experience of having it but never being able to use it.

This app is great. I see who is at my building’s front door before letting them in. I send virtual keys to my family, friends and our dog walker so they can get in whenever. My key-fobbed elevator is even unlocked when people call me or use a virtual key, which is awesome because I no longer have to walk down to the lobby to let them up. Looking forward to new features, like an Alexa integration.

I dread deliveries since ButterflyMX has been installed in our building. The system is so complex that no delivery person really understands how to reach us. So they end up calling our cells and we have to go down six floors (no elevator...) This could be fixed with a simple feature: a button in the app that would open the door remotely. Every intercom system has this. Even the ones that were installed decades ago. I recommend the developer to quickly do some user research to understand what users really need. And to hire UX designers with a bit more user empathy. I can recommend people if you want.

The butterfly mx system was recently installed in my community and I understand that it’s going to take some time to adjust but if I could give this app negative stars I def would for one simple reason. There’s no button that simply opens the gate for delivery drivers or guests for that matter. Everyone has to search for your name or call you which is annoying because if I’m at work I might miss a call. Please add an option on the UI that simply says guest and a guest pin that I can give out if I’m having a large party at my house. And delivery drivers need a pin too that we can remotely change at our convenience.

My apartment complex added me to this app, but no matter how many different doors people use. I can’t buzz them in. I’ve had my account reset. I’ve had my app deleted and reinstalled and still people cannot get into the elevators when I unlock them. They cannot get into the doors when I unlock them. I’m not sure what this supposed to do, but I can tell you that it’s not unlocking doors and it’s not giving access to visitors that I need to give access to.

ButterflyMX panels seem to be out front of every building in Minneapolis and I have learned why. Every feature is helpful and simple to use. I love how fast the lock reacts especially when I’m heading in on a cold day. Opens just as fast whether I’m swiping from the app, using the long press on the home screen icon, or activating the unlock from my watch.

This app is great. Lets me open the door from my smartphone which is super convenient when I don't want to pull out my keys. It also lets me see who is at the front door before i let them in. I would have given a 5 star but they don't have an integration with my electronic unit lock but i spoke to their team and they said they are creating one. Once they do, ill change my review to 5 stars!

Love the new update that lets me open the door from my Apple Watch. It’s nice not having to pick up my phone whenever someone calls me from the intercom. I get the notification right to my watch and then can open the door with my watch as well. Also, when someone uses a virtual key I get a push notification on my Watch. It’s really convenient!

Had my first visitor, got a notification banner at the top of my phone. Tapped it and nothing happened. So I went to the home screen and opened the app directly. Got another banner, but the app never advanced to show me any video because it said I had a poor internet connection, despite being connected to my (very fast) home WiFi. The swipe to open the door feature worked but I was never able to interact with my visitor on video or even see them. This app is trying to be like the Ring doorbell system but isn't there yet.

This is a great app and hardware. My apartment just upgraded to this and it’s been a life saver. I left my keys upstairs one day but was able to get back in the building using the app. It’s also nice if I’m at work and a package comes because through the FaceTime feature i can remotely let a delivery person into the building all while communicating where they’re leaving the package. So far i have had a really good experience and am happy it works as well as it does.

As a Property Manager, I find this app to be frustrating and completely unreliable. Some days I have zero issues allowing visitors into my building and other days the app has zero function and freezes each time I try to acknowledge a call or release the door. In my opinion, this is completely unacceptable as this is one of the first impressions that a prospective resident or vendor has of our community. The tech support team is not very helpful and suggests the usual “delete and reinstall.” I actually sometimes miss our old, outdated system because at least it was reliable.

Updates notes claims new activity changed to the home screen bell icon to make it faster access, it was on the bottom of home screen with activity label on it, so HOW is it faster by hiding it elsewhere? Also, now all the activities don’t show the picture unless you tap on each individual activity to see. Before, it was a lot easier quickly going through the activities by looking at the pictures. So overall just an useless update, changing something that works before.

It’s so convenient. I misplaced my keys today & no longer have to go downstairs to letPeople in the building. I can see their face on my phone and also open the lobby door with my phone. The only bad thing is since my name starts with the letter a people buzz me to get access to the building. But like I said I can see them and hang up. -Anana

Broken again. A daily occurrence. Total failure. Horrible product. What’s the point of having a computerized door system to let people in if it’s always broken. You all have built a failure. What a boondoggle. Just saw the name of the LLC is “Runs Like Butter” and had to come back. “Runs Like Doodoo Butter” is more like it. This product has made my life infinitely more complicated. Especially during Covid. The. Worst. Came back to say the screen is down again. Stacks of delivery people milling around door. Another 90 degree day of choosing whether to walk down four flights or get in an Covid dice roll elevator. I reiterate, total failure.

I actually really like this new system and app with which my management company recently replaced our old intercom system. I love all of the options, especially the video capability to see who is at the gate. It would be really cool if the app for Apple Watch had the capability to connect to the watch when someone is calling from the callbox. If they fix this, I’ll give 5 stars.

Using this app for contactless entry into my building is amazing. I no longer need to touch the door handle, I just use the app and the door automatically opens. I also sent a virtual key to my brother and whenever he scans it to get into my building not only does the door automatically opens for him but I also get a notification whenever he uses it. I love it!

I I enjoy using less because it’s very convenient when someone’s at my gate I can open Gate with my phone and I always have my phone it’s so convenient and I love this so much for helping me so much and you get a notification when someone is at a gate so it’s easy to know when they open it

Pretty good app. Only issue is the ui was clearly made for boomers. There is no reason for 5 screens that could have been consolidated into one screen with a date picker and time picker. Instead i was tricked by thinking “Full Day Access” meant literally full day access until the expiration date. Noooope it means one day access. Aaaaaand now my apartment sitter can’t access my apartment while I’m traveling in Europe. Great job team

Since butterfly was introduced at my apartment complex it has made my Life so much easier. Without having the dreadful walk to the front door, I no longer have to pause activities to let someone in. One click of a button. And boom you have a visitor! Over all I love this app and recommend it anywhere!

The ButterflyMX intercom/entry system is awful, and the company is more interested in adding new customers than servicing existing ones. Terrible software flaws remain years after Butterfly acknowledged and promised fixes that never arrived; the system is unreliable and often down, inconveniencing residents and worse for visitors or renters; and the interface is illogical and tedious to use — all-in-all, a zero-star product. Avoid any Butterfly building, and do not consider installing this terrible system.