KeyMe app: Help or hindrance?

Getting locked out of your house or losing your house key is frustrating.

A phone app called KeyMe, which allows users to easily copy keys, is here to help. Or is it? It may seem convenient at first. But just how safe is the app?

After downloading the app, the user takes a photo of both sides of the key, laid on a piece of white paper. From there, the app creates an identical key and mails it to the user. (In several areas, like New York City, the app has kiosks, making the transaction that much quicker.) Again, this seems simple, but just how often do you keep tabs on your keys? It could be very easy for someone to use this app for the wrong reasons.

“The KeyMe app is as fascinating as it frightening,” PAR President Todd Umbenhauer said. “I have no reason to doubt the CEO’s representation that they have sophisticated security and have not had any problems. That is small comfort when one considers firewalls failing for companies, like Equifax and even the U.S. government. The app seems to solve a problem I didn’t know I had. Getting a key made has never proven to be burdensome task for me, so why add the potential for security risk? The larger issue is warning the public to be careful about where they leave their keys. Knowing that there is an app that will allow someone to easy and quickly copy my house key will compel me to never have my keys in plain view.”

WXPI in Pittsburgh reported that KeyMe CEO Greg Marsh said there have been no complaints of criminal activity with the app. Regardless, remind your clients to keep their keys in a safe spot during open houses and showings.