Brivo and Apple are launching a mobile access badge for the Apple Wallet

Brivo, a Bethesda, Maryland-based company that makes cloud technology for access control and smart buildings, just launched an employee badge that can be accessed via Apple Wallet.

Brivo, which offers mobile badge technology that lets employees swipe into buildings using their phone, is teaming up with Apple to add the badges to the Apple Wallet. Eliminating the need for a physical badge, employees can enter buildings by holding an iPhone or other Apple product near a reader to enter into key-card-protected spaces — all without needing to even open an app or unlock the device.

Using the Brivo Access platform, users download the Brivo Mobile Pass app and add the technology to their Apple Wallet. From there, the credential works on doors, elevators, turnstiles and more. It is also compatible with both the iPhone and the Apple watch.

In addition to office buildings, Brivo’s customers include small businesses, manufacturing plants, zoos and multi-family real estate developments. Something as centralized and cloud-based as a mobile badge, CMO Mary Clark told Technical.ly, increases flexibility and efficiency.

“We’re now seeing the rest of the industry catch up, where there’s been such a long-term hold on on-premises access control being something that’s managed on the premises of some physical structure,” Clark said.

Brivo first released a mobile credential option in 2015 and has issued 2 million in the years since. That technology utilizes Bluetooth to give employees access; in this version, the credentials live in the Apple Wallet. The badges themselves, though, are stored on the device, so Apple does not see the places employees are accessing to keep data private.

Working with Apple, Clark said, means an additional level of functionality and near-field communication to mobile badges. Brivo sees this agreement as a forward progression toward the future of access control.

“Whether it’s the watch or the mobile, having that mobile credential reside on this device, that is no more than two feet away from us at any moment of time during the day, it really helps ensure that user experiences are as positive as possible,” Clark said.

With this new collaboration, employees can access locations without needing to unlock or wake up a device and still use the pass even if a phone is out of battery for up to five hours. Employees can also disable the badge and use the Apple FindMy app to locate the device and either suspend or erase the device and key information. None of these assets are currently available with Brivo’s Bluetooth-dependent mobile pass.

Clark hopes that this collaboration is just the next step in expanding mobile credentials and making them more prevalent.

“This is just continuously improving the opportunity for us as consumers and individuals, as we go in and out of structures and buildings all the time throughout our lives, to have another way to do so that is is so easy and convenient and frictionless, but also providing us the safety and security that we need to have,” Clark said.