Keeping guard over your belongings in the air might be something your phone can help with, as luggage security get smarter.
Keys may well be the way we keep most of our goods secure, but with the world heading to the wireless ways, it’s hardly surprising that the standard lock and key is being rethought, too.
At home, there are smart locks, able to be opened simply by holding a phone nearby. Soon you may be able to use security cameras to work out who is at the door and have the locks open automatically.
Things are a little different when you’re travelling, however. The locks aren’t bolted in and security cameras aren’t likely to be attached to your luggage. That’s a little crazy.
But modern locks can be attached to luggage, and they can even be opened using a phone or tablet, something that Bluetooth has made possible with the support of an app available for either iOS or Android.
That’s the technology found in the AirBolt, a smart travel lock that offers weather resistance and TSA acceptance, meaning it should be good for travelling through America without being cut off.
We say “should”, because the Transport Security Administration has been known to cut through TSA-approved locks, meaning it might be a gamble throwing this lock in anything but carry-on, though AirBolt’s distributors in Australia did tell Pickr that it had little in the way of problems in its use.
For those who do use it, however, you’ll find the AirBolt is recharged through microUSB and unlocked through an app, with that app able to tell you the history of when the lock was accessed.
If you lose your phone or have the battery run down, the downside of a Bluetooth lock means you might be locked out, though AirBolt offers two solutions: either grab a phone or tablet and login using the app, or program a backup using the few buttons found on the lock itself.
While that’s an interesting side to it, one of the more useful additions may well be location tracking, using crowdsourced tracking based on other people using the AirBolt app for their luggage.
In essence, that means if your luggage is picked up by someone else using the app, they won’t be able to unlock your luggage, but it will inform the network where your luggage was last seen.
The catch of this is obviously the prevalence of the AirBolt app in the first place, but it’s a start, and if more people are using the app and its lock, theoretically this luggage GPS becomes useful.
Whether or not that’s worth the $119.95 price tag you’ll be able to find it for is more a question for you, but if you can justify it, you’ll find the AirBolt in FoneKing stores across the country.
