Set up Igloohome for Rentalbuddy: Igloohome account, Igloo Connect and syncing your locks

Igloohome locks get a new PIN code for every booking. For that to work, three things must be in place, and when codes suddenly stop, one of them has almost always lapsed:

1. An Igloohome account that your locks are paired to, in the Igloohome app on your phone.
2. Igloo Connect, Igloohome's platform for partner apps such as Rentalbuddy, with a payment method added. Igloohome refuses to hand out codes without it.
3. The connection from Rentalbuddy to that Igloohome account, made once under Settings → Integrations.

This guide sets up all three, then covers keeping the connection alive, the PIN code warnings, and moving off the old Igloo Developer key. Adding the synced locks to a location, giving them products and switching them on is in the guide Add and manage your locks on the Locks tab.

Steps 1 and 2 happen on Igloohome's side. Rentalbuddy can't see or change them, and Igloohome's screens may look different from what is described here. If they do, check Igloohome's own help.

Where to start in Rentalbuddy

The setup guide Connect with Igloohome ("Create and connect your Igloohome account with Rentalbuddy to integrate your locks.") opens from any of these:

• Settings → Integrations → Smart locks → Guide to setting up Igloohome.
• A location's Locks tab → Add lock → Igloo lock → Get started with Igloohome (shown while the account isn't connected).
• Sync Igloohome locks → Get started with Igloohome (same).
• The setup Guide on the home page: the Connect with Igloohome button at the locks step, or the item Connect igloohome in the seven-step Guide that new accounts get.

It has three steps, Download the app, Pair your locks and Sync with Igloohome, moved through with Next. The last step's button, Connect With Igloohome, makes the connection.

Connecting needs an account owner or account member. Account viewers can't connect.

Step 1: Create an Igloohome account and pair your locks in the Igloohome app

This happens in Igloohome's app. Follow Igloohome's instructions if they differ.

1. In the guide's Download the app step, choose iOS or Android and use the download link, or scan the QR code with your phone. Install the Igloohome app and create an account if you don't have one yet ("Install the app on your phone and create an account if you don't have one yet.").
2. In Pair your locks, Open Guide opens Igloohome's own quick-start guide in a new tab. Pair each lock in the app, following it.
3. Give each lock a clear name in the app. It is shown in Rentalbuddy's Igloo name column. In Rentalbuddy you set the locker number customers see separately.
4. Keep a lock on the charger while you pair it. A padlock that has sat unpaired and uncharged can look completely dead until it has charged for a while.

Use one Igloohome account for all your locks, and the same one you will connect to Rentalbuddy. Rentalbuddy only sees locks paired to the Igloohome account it is connected to. A lock paired under a colleague's private Igloohome login won't show up.

Only locks are fetched. Other devices you pair in the app (such as a bridge) aren't listed in Rentalbuddy.

Step 2: Add a payment method in Igloo Connect

This happens on Igloohome's side, in the Igloo Connect portal.

Igloohome charges for using Igloo Connect, and Igloohome, not Rentalbuddy, bills you for it. The guide's last step says it plainly under Important: "After you authorize Rentalbuddy with Igloohome, before your locks can sync, add a payment method in Igloo Connect under Settings → Payment Method."

1. Use Open Igloo Connect portal (in the guide, in the checklist, or in the Payment method required message). It opens the Igloo Connect portal (connect.igloocompany.co).
2. Sign in with the same Igloohome account your locks are paired to.
3. Add a card under Settings → Payment Method (Igloo Connect's screens are in English).

Prices and billing terms are Igloohome's. Check them in the Igloo Connect portal or with Igloohome, not with Rentalbuddy support.

Don't look for Rentalbuddy among the connected services in the Igloohome phone app. The payment and partner settings are in the Igloo Connect portal on the web, not in the phone app.

Step 3: Connect Rentalbuddy to your Igloohome account

1. Go to Settings → Integrations. The Smart locks card ("Connect Igloohome to control smart lock access for your bookings and guests.") shows the Igloohome button with Connected or Not connected.
2. Press Connect with Igloohome app (or Connect With Igloohome at the end of the setup guide).
3. Igloohome's sign-in page opens in a new browser tab ("Redirecting to Igloohome…"). Sign in with the Igloohome account that holds your locks, and approve Rentalbuddy.
4. You are brought back to Rentalbuddy, to the page you started from (the Locks tab or Integrations). The Smart locks card now shows Connected.

If you get "This Igloohome account is already connected to another Rentalbuddy account. Sign in to Igloohome with the account that holds your locks, or contact support.": one Igloohome account can serve only one Rentalbuddy account. Sign in with the right Igloohome account, or ask support to release the other connection.

If the connection fails with an error page instead, try again from Settings → Integrations. If it keeps failing, contact support.

Step 4: Sync your locks

Once connected, press Sync Igloohome locks on the location's Locks tab (or under Settings → Integrations → Smart locks). Tick the locks, choose a location for each, mark storage locks, and press Add locks (n). Every placed lock gets a test code straight away, so you know right then whether the Igloohome side works. The full walkthrough is in Add and manage your locks on the Locks tab.

If the sync shows Payment method required ("Payment method required. Please add a valid payment method in the Igloo Connect portal to sync your locks."), go back to step 2, then press Fetch again.

If a lock you paired doesn't appear:

• Tick Show connected locks. It may already be at a location.
• Check in the Igloohome app that it is paired under the account you connected.
• If it is listed under Already on another Rentalbuddy account, another Rentalbuddy account has it. Contact support to have it moved.
• If your Igloohome account holds a very large number of devices (more than about a hundred) and a lock never appears, contact support.

"Connected" doesn't prove codes are working

Connected on the Smart locks card means Rentalbuddy holds a login for your Igloohome account. On its own that doesn't prove the login still works, that the payment method is valid, or that each lock is still paired. So Rentalbuddy also checks:

• Every night (around 03:30 UTC) Rentalbuddy asks Igloohome whether your saved login still works, for every account with at least one switched-on lock synced from Igloohome. A refused login is asked again at 04:00 and 04:30. After three refusals in a row, a red notice igloohome connection needs attention appears on Home, on the Smart locks card under Settings → Integrations, and on the Locks tab of every location with synced Igloo locks: "Rentalbuddy can no longer reach your igloohome account (since {{date}}). Until you connect again, new bookings will not get PIN codes." When Igloohome says the Igloo Connect account has no payment method, the notice reads "igloohome is refusing requests because your Igloo Connect account has no payment method (since {{date}}). Until you add one, new bookings will not get PIN codes." If Igloohome refuses every customer at once, Rentalbuddy treats it as an Igloohome-side problem and shows nothing.
• When you sync, Igloohome may answer Payment method required.
• When codes are requested, a lock that keeps failing is marked red on the Locks tab and on Home as Bookings without PIN codes (see PIN code warnings below).

The notice clears as soon as you connect again (the connection is then known to work), or at the next nightly check once Igloohome accepts the login. The connection notice is not emailed: watch Home.

If codes stop, reconnect first (press Connect with Igloohome app again and sign in), then check the payment method. Reconnecting also retests every lock marked as failing, clears the marks of those that work again, and releases the bookings waiting for a code, which then get their codes within a few minutes.

A successful test code also doesn't prove the physical lock is charged or working. Igloohome works out the code without contacting the padlock. Unless you have an Igloohome bridge, a padlock is offline, and Rentalbuddy can confirm a code was created, not that the lock opened. The battery level in Igloo sync metadata is the value from the last sync.

Keep the connection alive: the reconnect warning

The connection to Igloohome doesn't last forever. From about three months before it runs out, Rentalbuddy shows a Warning! dialog when you sign in: "Your Igloo home connection expires in" so many days (or "Your Igloo home connection have expired!"), "Click below to reconnect", with the button Reconnect with Igloo home.

Reconnect when you see it. It takes a minute: sign in to Igloohome again with the same account. Don't dismiss the dialog and move on: once the connection has run out, Rentalbuddy can no longer get new codes for your bookings.

Why codes stop when the Igloo Connect card lapses

This is a common cause of "suddenly nobody gets a code", and it's quiet:

• When the payment method on Igloo Connect expires or is removed, Igloohome refuses new code requests.
• Codes created before that keep working. Codes are created about 14 hours before a booking starts, so the next bookings get no code, and the fault can first show when a customer is at the lock.
• Rentalbuddy notices it when it asks Igloohome: a sync shows Payment method required, the nightly connection check can show igloohome connection needs attention on Home, and locks whose code requests keep failing are marked red as Bookings without PIN codes. If such a lock has a booking that starts within 12 hours, your Account Contact E-mail addresses get a problem alert email.
• Bookings that are still waiting for a code are retried automatically until they end. Once the card is added, press Sync this lock from Igloo on a marked lock (or reconnect Igloohome), and the waiting bookings get their codes within a few minutes.

Keep a valid card on Igloo Connect all year, and check it before the season starts.

PIN code warnings: what they mean and how to fix them on the Igloohome side

These appear on a location's Locks tab. A lock that customers can book but that gives no code is shown in red: a red banner above the tables (for example "Lock 12 can't create PIN codes. Customers who book it get no code."), a red Locks tab mark with the tooltip Bookings without PIN codes, a red warning icon on the lock's Bluetooth id (hover it for the reason), and Bookings without PIN codes on Home. An old lock added by Bluetooth ID, which can't be switched on at all, is shown in amber instead, and the location's readiness strip lists Locks can't create PIN codes. The lines under the banner name the cause:

"Warning: Some Igloo locks at this location cannot create PIN codes." (added by Bluetooth ID, amber) The lock was typed in by hand (the old way) and isn't linked to your Igloohome account.

1. Make sure it is paired in the Igloohome app under the connected account.
2. Press Sync Igloohome locks. The sync finds it by Bluetooth ID and links it in place. Its number, product, bookings and QR code stay.
3. Still marked? It isn't paired in that Igloohome account. Pair it, or replace it with one of your synced locks (Replace lock).

"Rentalbuddy could not get a code for them the last time it tried…" (red) Igloohome refused the lock's code requests: at the test when you placed it, or twice in a row for bookings close to their start.

1. In the Igloo Connect portal, check the payment method.
2. In Rentalbuddy, reconnect Igloohome under Settings → Integrations (this retests the marked locks).
3. In the Igloohome app, check that the lock is still paired and hasn't been removed or reset.
4. Use Sync this lock from Igloo on each lock that is still marked. Lock synced from Igloo means it works again.

"They may not be able to create PIN codes. First use “Sync Igloohome locks”…" (red, Igloohome no longer lists the lock) At the last sync, Igloohome didn't list the lock for your account, or another Rentalbuddy account has synced it.

1. Sync again first. That clears the warning for every lock Igloohome still lists for you.
2. Still marked? The lock was removed from your Igloohome account or paired under another one. If it belongs in your account, pair it there again and sync.
3. If it now lives in another Igloohome account on purpose, move its upcoming bookings to another lock, delete it on the Locks tab, and sync it from the Rentalbuddy account connected to that Igloohome account. Contact support if you are unsure.

The email "Lock {{number}} at {{location}} cannot create PIN codes: a booking starts soon" Sent (in English) to your Account Contact E-mail addresses (or, if none are set, to the users who can manage users) when a lock fails to create the code for a booking that starts within 12 hours. At most one such email goes out per account per 24 hours. Follow the second case above. A lock that fails without a booking that soon, for example at the test when you place it, is not emailed: it is only shown in the admin.

Bookings that are still waiting for a code are retried automatically until they end, and get their codes within a few minutes once the lock is fixed. How to help a customer who is at the lock right now is in the guide Customer has no PIN code.

Move from the old Igloo Developer key to Igloo Connect

Some older accounts get their codes through an Igloo Developer API key (legacy). The field is no longer shown to you under Settings → Integrations: only Rentalbuddy staff can see or change it. If you aren't sure whether your account still has one, ask Rentalbuddy support. Igloo Developer is being replaced by Igloo Connect, and locks set up the old way are a common cause of missing codes.

Plan the move for one go, ideally outside the season. As soon as your account is connected to Igloohome, every new code for every Igloo lock is requested through Igloo Connect. The Developer key is no longer used for them. A lock that isn't yet paired in the connected Igloohome account then gets no new codes. Codes already created keep working.

1. On Igloohome's side (follow Igloohome's instructions): take the locks out of Igloo Developer, pair them in the Igloohome app under the one account you will use, and add a payment method in the Igloo Connect portal. Locks set up through Igloo Developer have to be removed there before they can be added in Igloo Connect.
2. In Rentalbuddy: connect Igloohome under Settings → Integrations (step 3 above).
3. Open each location's Locks tab and press Sync Igloohome locks. Your existing locks are matched by Bluetooth ID and linked in place. Their numbers, products, bookings and QR codes stay, and nothing needs to be added again.
4. Check each Locks tab for PIN code warnings, and use Sync this lock from Igloo on any lock you want to test.
5. When no lock is marked any more, ask Rentalbuddy support to remove the old Igloo Developer API key (legacy) from your account.

If you'd rather not do this yourself, contact support before you start.

Before the season: re-sync and check

After a winter break, before your first booking:

1. Sign in and reconnect if the Warning! reconnect dialog appears.
2. Check the payment method in the Igloo Connect portal.
3. Charge the locks, and check in the Igloohome app that they are all still paired.
4. On each location's Locks tab, press Sync Igloohome locks and check that no PIN code warning is left.
5. Make a test booking.

The full spring checklist is in Get ready for a new season.

Common questions

Why do my customers suddenly get no PIN codes? Most often the payment method in Igloo Connect lapsed or the Igloohome connection ran out. Sync to see Payment method required, add a card in the Igloo Connect portal, and reconnect under Settings → Integrations.

The sync says Payment method required, or loads and shows nothing. What do I do? Add a payment method in the Igloo Connect portal under Settings → Payment Method, signed in with the Igloohome account that holds your locks, then press Fetch again.

Who pays Igloohome, and how much? Igloohome bills its Igloo Connect charges to the payment method on your Igloo Connect account, not through Rentalbuddy. Prices and terms are Igloohome's, so check them in the Igloo Connect portal or with Igloohome.

I can't find Rentalbuddy under Igloo Connect in the Igloohome app. The partner and payment settings are in the Igloo Connect portal on the web (connect.igloocompany.co), not in the phone app. The connection itself is made from Rentalbuddy under Settings → Integrations.

It says Connected, but no codes come. How can that be? Connected only means Rentalbuddy holds your Igloohome login. Look for igloohome connection needs attention on Home and for red warnings on the Locks tab, reconnect, and check the Igloo Connect payment method.

Home says "igloohome connection needs attention". What do I do? Igloohome refused your saved login three times in a row at the nightly check, or refuses it for a missing payment method. Connect again under Settings → Integrations (or add the payment method in the Igloo Connect portal and sync). Bookings waiting for a code get it within a few minutes after that.

I fixed the payment method. Do the customers who got no code get one now? Yes, if their booking hasn't ended. Waiting bookings are retried automatically; reconnecting or Sync this lock from Igloo on a marked lock makes them come within a few minutes.

We set up our locks with Igloo Developer. Do we have to change? Yes, move to Igloo Connect. Pair the locks in the Igloohome app, add a payment method, connect and sync, and do it in one go, because connecting switches every lock to Igloo Connect. Afterwards, ask Rentalbuddy support to remove the old key.

I can't find the Igloo Developer API key field any more. It is now shown to Rentalbuddy staff only. To check, change or remove an old Igloo Developer key, contact Rentalbuddy support.

Can two Rentalbuddy accounts use the same Igloohome login? No. One Igloohome account serves one Rentalbuddy account, and a lock can only be on one Rentalbuddy account.

Where do I find an Igloo lock's master PIN? In the Igloohome app: Home → select lock → Access → Master PIN Code. Rentalbuddy doesn't store Igloo master PINs.