How to Open the Padlocks

When you first open the app, you’ll need to sign in, either with the information and password sent in the email from Master Lock, or with your new password if you registered using the Master Lock web page. After you’re signed in to the app, you will stay signed in when you use it in the future. I suggest that you exit the app and then restart it before you unlock a padlock. It is good practice to exit the app after each use, because it seems to get flaky if left open for long.

To unlock a padlock, open the Master Lock app. Its icon looks like the image below, and the page you see when it first opens shows a list of all locks available. There will usually be at least 20 locks, so this list isn’t very useful. At the top—difficult to read in the photo, it says “AUTHORIZED” and “AWAKE”.

Click on AWAKE, and you’ll see no locks listed, with an instruction to “Press any button on your lock to wake it up.” Do that, a blue light appears on the lock and the display will promptly show that lock, with a key button.

Press the key button on your cellphone, the cellphone will display a green count-down timer, and the light on the padlock turns green, indicating that it is unlocked. Just pull the padlock open. The app then shows a symbol showing that the padlock is open.

When you later lock the padlock, just close it. You don’t need your cellphone.

PROBLEMS:

It seems that if the app is left open for too long, it may get confused and fail to see an awake lock that it should see. The solution is to fully exit from the app and then restart it.

Also, I have occasionally had a lock that is balky about opening, but will open after several tries. You have to wait until the timer runs down before you can try to unlock the lock again. I’ve also had locks balk at re-locking, but if the lock is closed, I think it will eventually re-lock. I have not yet been able to test that. All the locks have now been sprayed with a dry Teflon lubricant, which I hope will solve those problems.

There may be times—July 4, for example—when you cannot open a lock because it has been set to be available only to the boat owner’s household, or possibly when a boat has been reported as damaged and is taken out of service until it is repaired. In this case, the lock will not appear on your app when you push the button on the lock.