Sign in to view
member only content

UK operation SureFlap is taking its already advanced pet door to another level – by adding in smartphone connectivity so owners can spy on their feline’s comings and goings.

Building on its Microchip Pet Door – which connects to the cat’s internal microchip and only opens for them (keeping out strays and greedy neighbouring cats) – the Microchip Pet Door Connect will let users lock and open the door remotely from their smartphone (iOS and Android) using the accompanying app. It’ll also inform owners when the door’s been used so they can trace the cat’s movements, plus it comes with scheduling functionality so owners can impose curfews (so a user could, for example, program it to stay shut between 10pm and 7am if they didn’t want Molly out in the middle of the night).

Customers can also share the app with multiple users, so if someone had a cat-sitter looking after their pet while they were on holiday, both users could play Big Brother and keep an eye on the pet’s movements.

The door will connect to the internet using Xively’s IoT hub, and providing customers have at least 1Mbps of bandwidth their cat’s private life will be under surveillance. The door will retail at GBP 119.99, the hub for GBP 49.99, or both together for GBP 159.99. Owners of older models of the door won’t be able to just buy the hub and connect, as earlier models of the door don’t have the required communication technology to connect to the internet. But SureFlap has said it’ll look into upgrade options further down the line.

We’re seeing more and more innovations being developed to help users look after their pets, such as the ProBowl which manages food intake and gps collars such as Buddy that monitor a dog’s health. What other ways could smartphones be used to make pet-owning less stressful?