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One question we get a lot is "Can my child open the Power Pet Door and just walk out?" Not with our Child Lock feature.
A smart pet door is built to be easy for your dog to use. Unfortunately, anything that's easy to operate is also easy for a curious toddler or a button-happy pet to operate. The manual control panel on the door is a great convenience for adults, but little fingers and paws tend to treat a row of buttons as an invitation. The Power Pet Door Child Lock was designed for exactly that moment, and it takes just one tap in the app.
What Child Lock actually does
Child Lock disables the manual control panel on the door itself. Once it's on, pressing the buttons on the door does nothing, so your child (or your pet) can't change the door's settings or operate it by accident. The lock is aimed at the panel, the one part of the door that's within reach of small hands.
The control stays with you, and it lives in the Power Pet Door app rather than on the door. That means the person who sets up the door decides when the panel is live and when it isn't, right from your phone.
How to turn Child Lock on and off
There's nothing to install and no tools involved. From the home screen of the Power Pet Door app:
- Open the app and stay on the home screen.
- Turn on the Child Lock setting. The manual control panel on the door is now disabled.
- When you're ready to use the panel again, switch Child Lock back off from the same home screen.
That's the whole routine. Because the setting sits right on the home screen, turning it on before a houseguest's toddler arrives, or off again once the coast is clear, takes seconds.
Where Child Lock earns its keep
Child Lock is most useful in the situations where the control panel is easiest to reach and hardest to supervise. A few common ones:
- Crawlers and toddlers. A panel at kid height is a magnet for curious fingers. Child Lock takes the buttons out of play.
- Button-pressing pets. Some dogs and cats are happy to nudge, paw or sniff their way through a panel. With Child Lock on, those presses don't register.
- Visiting kids. Grandchildren, cousins and neighborhood friends don't know your door's settings. Switch Child Lock on for the visit and off afterward.
- Busy households. When several people are coming and going, a locked panel means nobody changes the door's settings by accident.
Keeping the door smart and the house safe
Child Lock is one more way the Power Pet Door app puts control in your hands. It's built for peace of mind inside the home, alongside the features that protect it from the outside, like a door built to keep out uninvited critters and signals designed to keep out the wrong pets. Together they let you set the door up around how your family actually lives, whether that's a household with a new baby, a rowdy puppy, or both.
It's also a small thing that's easy to overlook when you're shopping for a door. Most people compare size, power and price. Few think to ask who else in the house might be able to operate the door, and whether they can turn that off.
Related Reading
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Ready to Upgrade?
If there are little ones or curious pets in your home, a door you can lock down from your phone is worth a look. Child Lock is a small feature with a big payoff: one tap in the app home screen and the manual control panel is out of reach, one tap more and it's back. Explore the Power Pet Door lineup and find the door that fits your dog, and your family.