FYI: I have not yet purchased the hub, so I'm using this door like their standard PetDoor with the scanner. (=I'm not using the app.) Try first, upgrade later was my thought.

All I really wanted was a pet door with a timer. Unlock both ways in the morning, lock both ways at night so I could finally get some sleep. Simple. My job would be to make sure the cats were inside when the door was locked at night. No biggie. I don't care about keeping other animals out during the day, so I didn't really want the cost of a scanner. But the cats are chipped, so I gave it a shot. I saw that the scanner could be turned off if need be, and I thought I'd found the holy grail of cat doors.

This door would work for my purpose IF the scanner worked consistently to allow the cats in. But it doesn't always work, and it's too hot for the cats to ever be locked out. So I turned OFF the scanner, and I thought I had the problem solved. But no.

When in curfew mode WITHOUT the scanner, any cat (or animal) can come in, even after curfew. This is to prevent your cat from being locked out all night. I get that. But I monitor my cats closely. I make sure they're in for the night, and then I want the door locked, both directions. Not so much to keep animals out, because I don't have that problem. But my extremely clever blind cat has figured out that, while the door might be locked against pushing outward, it's unlocked if she claws it and pulls the flap inward. Yikes! Cat parties outdoor at night! Not acceptable.

I realize this is not a typical concern; most people find the scanner works for them to prevent the door from being gamed from the inside. But it would have been be *so easy* for the company to have this double-locking mode programmed in! They already have 29 custom modes. Why not 30??

As it stands now, I will have to turn backflips to make the scanner work perfectly for entry, because that's the only way to prevent Ms. Clever from clawing open the door at night. This product is installed in a metal door, which is a known problem for the scanner. Because of certain space issues, I can't really use the adapter they recommend for metal doors. (And I would have bought the dual scanning model, but it doesn't have a curfew mode! What??)

If I can't get this scanner to work consistently so the door can be locked at night, then basically I just bought a door that I have to manually unlock in the morning and manually lock at night. You can get doors like that with sliding partitions for $15.

So in spite of the fact this door has multiple ways of being customized, my simple need is not one that they cover, and that lack is a safety hazard. Minus three stars for that.

To their credit, customer service with Natalie has been outstanding in trying to make the scanner work more reliably for me. Time will tell. I'll upgrade this review if we find a solution. The product quality is excellent, the programming is simple. So close to perfect.

Note that the manual that comes with this "Connect" version has several errors and omissions in it, and some ambiguous passages. They're working to publish a corrected manual soon. They really need a better copy editor.

Small niggles:
* Two pairs of door magnets were far too strong for my small cats. I took out both internal magnets to train the cats with the door swinging freely. I've added back one magnet to get the door to swing into position. So one pair of magnets seems more than adequate. If you have strong cats, or dogs, the 2-pair design might be fine.

* I wish the LCD display had a backlight.

If you have a hollow steel door like mine, make sure you have the necessary space to use their suggested circular adapter (it's pretty big). If you're not sure what kind of door, try a magnet. If you don't have a metal door, I think you will love this product.

We have a raccoon problem and I searched far and wide and came to this product (with the hub) and was quite excited about it. Unfortunately it doesn't come with 'raccoon deterrent' mode by default. You can contact support and have them enable it. Why that's necessary, who knows.

Now the real problem is that 'raccoon deterrent' mode doesn't work - at all. The mode functions by detecting if any animal is unchipped and immediately locks the door for exiting. The door is always locked for entering. The trouble is, it takes quite a few seconds for the door to detect an 'unknown animal' and it's easy for a smart raccoon to learn that. They find a way to pry the door open. The first few times, it may trigger the lock, but soon they figure out how to run up to the door and open it fast and just enough to stop the lock from engaging, pull it open and walk right in.

I have raccoons in my house EVERY SINGLE NIGHT with this door. That's $260 down the drain. I'm looking for other deterrents now that won't bother the cats. Unfortunately all of them (ultrasonic, chemical, natural) seem to be anti-cat as much as they are anti-raccoon (if those would even deter a determined raccoon anyway)

This review is for both the Pet Door Connect and the Hub.

I previously owned the basic Sureflap microchip-reader pet door and wanted a pet door that I could control from my phone, as I do go on several walks each day and had to lock my old door manually before going out so my cats would not follow me (and then remember to manually unlock when I returned home). I have been using this new product for about two months now and so far, I quite like it.

As my cats were already familiar with Sureflap's previous microchip door, coaxing them through the new door to scan in their chips was a breeze. Pets unfamiliar with the door can take several days to get used to the click the door makes while unlocking. This is pretty normal; within a couple of weeks, your pets will definitely be used to the sound. My own two cats are so used to the process that they have learned to stick their head near the door and wait until they hear the click before even attempting to push the door open.

The new ability to be able to set up curfews and lock/unlock the door from my phone, without having to do so manually, has been very convenient. The ability to also monitor when and how long my cats are staying outside for has also been very helpful. For example, my cats stick to a pretty regular schedule in terms of when they go outside to lounge on the porch/in the backyard and for how long. If they deviate from that schedule, I can see that on my app and can check to make sure they aren't feeling lethargic or sick.

Occasionally my cats have left the house quickly enough that the scanner does not identify which cat left. However, the app does require a thorough scan upon entering, so it will never do this for cats entering the house. There is also an option to update their location manually on the app if you let them out using the "human door". Initially I heard there were issues with the Hub marking entering cats as exiting if they had been let out via another door without updating their location on the app, but if this was an issue, it was addressed and updated by the time I purchased the door and hub.

The door will also send you updates if your cat peeks through the door but decides not to enter. You will also receive an "animal failed to get in the door" alert if an unregistered pet tries to get in. It's fun to check on these alerts and see who's at the door... during the day if I receive this alert, it's a neighbor's cat checking to see if mine are home and want to come out and play. If it happens at night after curfew, it's usually curious raccoons!

I do have a list of improvements that I hope Sureflap will take into account with future software updates to this pet door, ordered from LEAST to MOST important:

1. Sound changes for notifications. While I do want to be alerted to notifications, I do not like the strange "meow" noise Sureflap chose.

2. An option to turn off military time. I would prefer to use standard 12-hour clock format with AM and PM.

3. An option for granular notifications. Currently, there is only one option: ALL notifications on, or ALL notifications off. If my cats are feeling playful and frequently running in and out of the house and into the garden, my phone quickly blows up with alerts. It would be nice to have a list of different notification types and be able to pick which I want to be alerted for and which I do not.

4. Let users lock/unlock the door without disabling curfew time. I do not like disabling curfew, however, the app will not allow you to lock the door without turning off curfew first. If also have to wait several seconds (until you receive a notification about the status of the door changing) after turning curfew on or off before you lock/unlock the door, or the command will not go through.

5. Better troubleshooting options from customer service outside of the UK. It took over a week to connect the Hub to my account, even after I went through every step listed on the troubleshooting page. When I called customer service, I was told they can only prompt me to go through the same steps already listen online. I had to wait several days while they contacted the UK customer service department, only for them to tell me the hub was fine and nothing was wrong. On a hunch, I called customer service back and asked them to have UK check and make sure my hub's serial number wasn't already registered to another account. Turns out, I was correct. The hub I purchased "new" from Amazon had actually previously been sold, registered, and returned without being unregistered, which is why I was unable to register it to my own account. This would not have taken so long if customer service in the US were as comprehensive as in the UK.

6. ITTT compatibility with other apps for pet safety - for example, I have a Nest camera and smoke detectors connected to my phone. I want to set up my app so that, if one of the smoke detectors goes off, the pet door automatically unlocks so the cats can get out, even if it is in curfew mode or was manually locked.

7. The door needs to be able to re-connect itself to the hub/app quickly after server issues. Currently, if the servers go down and come back online, the app will say "Product is disconnected" when you try to view or control the door, so you cannot lock or unlock it. The "fix" for when this happens is to unpair the door from the Hub, remove the batteries from the door, wait a bit, and then put them back in and sync back to the Hub again. However, the last time this happened I was on a business trip and was unable to follow these steps. It took four days to reconnect itself. The main reason I upgraded to this door from my old one was the ability to control the door from my phone when I'm not home for my pets' safety. The unreliability server issues cause are a big safety issue, because the door remains on the mode you had it set to when the servers go down. Luckily mine was set to curfew mode, so my cats were still able to go out and come back in during scheduled times for those four days. However, if I'd had the door set to lock them out, they'd have been unable to get back inside until I could find someone able to go to my home and let them in. This absolutely needs to be addressed and fixed asap.