Push Notifications
The Elk M1 alarm panel does not natively support Push Notifications, but eKeypad has developed a solution to support Push Notifications for the Elk M1.
These notifications allow you to stay informed of significant changes in your Elk M1 with real-time, custom messages sent directly to your iOS device. You will receive these notifications even if eKeypad is not running, the iOS device is locked, or even if the device is sleep mode.
The eKeypad solution has no limit on the number of notifications defined and no limit on the number of devices receiving the notifications. For less time sensitive messages, the eKeypad solution also can also send messages via email.
eKeypad can also, optionally, send health status information directly to installers to proactively identify installation issues.
Key Features of the eKeypad Push Notification system include:
- Local monitoring. No cloud servers or third-party access to your equipment or network
- Flexible message distribution. You can define any number of push messages to be sent. You can configure individual devices or distribution groups to receive messages.
- Privacy and security. All Push Notifications use anonymous IDs to maintain privacy. You can also optionally define security tags to increase the security of messages.
- System network health monitoring. Optionally enable tracking of the Elk M1-XEP, local network, and internet connection for issues and send a special notification if problems are detected.
- Automatic or custom messages. Human-readable messages are generated for all events automatically. You can define custom messages and titles for events.
- Recurring notifications. Re-send notifications for events that last for an extended time.
- Time of day restrictions. Define a time window during the day to prevent notification messages from being sent.
Hardware
The eKeypad Push Notification system uses a dedicated hardware device to monitor your Elk M1 alarm panel. Each physical location will require one dedicated push monitor. Push monitors can monitor multiple alarm panels on the same network. Remote monitoring of alarm panels is not supported. The push monitors use an iPhone or iPad device running a copy of eKeypad Pro with a special configuration and iOS setup. These devices are dedicated to this purpose and will run eKeypad continuously to monitor the alarm panel and send the configured push and email notifications.
To support the monitoring device, an ethernet interface will need to be added to give it a wired connection to the local network. The specifics will vary based on the device used for the monitoring device. Contact us, and we will be happy to help you get everything you need.
Licensing
Support for receiving Push Notifications is built into the eKeypad application “eKeypad” and “eKeypad Pro.” Legacy eKeypad applications should be upgraded to eKeypad Pro. An upgrade bundle is available for this purpose.
The push monitoring device, responsible for sending notifications, will also require a one-time license for eKeypad Pro, plus a push notification subscription. This subscription can be found on the Modules screen at the bottom of the main Config screen in eKeypad.
For more detailed setup instructions, see the Push Notification Setup document.