FAQ FAQ, for installers
Questions buyers ask.
What happens when the broadband goes, where your data lives, what it costs to run. Straight answers, no sales call required.
The questions your customer will ask you, and the ones you’ll ask us. Answered here, so nobody has to improvise.
Day to dayWhat the customer will ask
What happens when the internet goes down?
The doors carry on. Each Bolt.Access BDC2 controller holds its own people, rules and schedules, so it keeps deciding who comes in without the internet, or our cloud. Door events are stored on the controller and catch up when the line comes back. What waits for the connection is changing things: adding people or editing rules from the app.
Nothing for you to drive out to. Credentials, rules and schedules live on the controller, and events queue on it until the line returns. If a lockdown is on, it can be lifted at the controller itself.
Do I need a server?
No. There’s nothing to install, patch or back up on site. The software runs in Bolt’s UK cloud and the controllers connect out to it over the internet: no VPN, and no holes in your firewall.
No Windows server to build, no VPN, no firewall holes. Enter the claim code from the box and the controller joins the customer’s account.
Do visitors need an app?
No. The host sends an invite, the visitor fills in a short form from the link, and gets a time-limited pass by email or QR code. Where there’s a Bolt.Tap sticker by the door, they tap their phone. Nothing to download, no account to make.
Is there a mobile app?
A native app for iPhone and Android is in testing, not yet in the App Store or Google Play. Today, Bolt.Tap stickers open doors from any phone with no app at all, and the web app runs in any browser, including the one on your phone.
Money and data
How is it priced?
Low cost by design: no server to buy, priced per door rather than per user, and doors, cameras and Spaces on one bill. You license doors and cameras by the unit and cloud video storage by the terabyte, monthly or annually. Building-control zones will be licensed per zone once Bolt.BMS is out of development. Your installer quotes the hardware and licences together.
You quote it. Per door, per camera, cloud storage by the terabyte, monthly or annual, with no per-seat fees. The quote stays short, it’s low cost for the customer, and it renews every year.
Where is my data kept?
In the UK. Bolt is hosted in the UK with the database in London. Backups run nightly, are stored off-site and are kept for 90 days. You’re the data controller; we act as your data processor and sign a DPA that describes what we actually do. If everything has to stay in-house, Bolt can also run on a server on your own network, on request.
Can Bolt run on our own servers?
Yes, on request. As well as the UK cloud, Bolt can run on-premises on a server on your own network, for sites that need everything kept in-house. Same app, same controllers. Talk to us about your site and we’ll go through it with you.
Yes, on request. For a customer who needs everything kept in-house, Bolt can run on a server on their own network instead of the UK cloud. Same app, same controllers, same fitting. Talk to us before you quote it.
What if Bolt goes away?
Your doors keep working. The controllers hold their own rules and keep letting in everyone already enrolled, with no connection to us. Your data is yours: ask and we’ll hand it over in a format you can take elsewhere. What you’d lose is the cloud side: changing people and rules from the app, remote unlocks and new features.
Hardware and fitting
What hardware do I need?
For doors: a Bolt.Access BDC2 controller for every two doors, a Bolt.Reader or Bolt.PINReader at each controlled side, and a Bolt.PSU. Only one controller needs a cable; up to eight more join it over Bolt.Mesh. For cameras: a Bolt.VisionConnector, which records 4 or 8 cameras on site. Your installer specifies the lot.
Seven parts, one stock list. Bolt.Access BDC2 for every two doors (eight relays, 12–24 V DC, OSDP reader bus), Bolt.Reader or Bolt.PINReader, Bolt.PSU-1 or PSU-2, Bolt.W2O for Wiegand readers, and Bolt.VisionConnector for 4 or 8 cameras. One ethernet drop serves up to eighteen doors over Bolt.Mesh.
Can I keep my existing readers?
Usually, yes. OSDP readers, HID Signo included, connect straight to the Bolt.Access BDC2 reader bus. Older Wiegand readers can stay on the wall too: Bolt.W2O converts Wiegand to OSDP, with secure channel on the exposed cable run.
OSDP v2 readers, HID Signo included, go straight on the A+/B− bus. For Wiegand, fit a Bolt.W2O behind the reader: Wiegand in, OSDP out, secure channel on the exposed run, and the controller assigns its address for you.
Who installs it?
An installer who fits Bolt. Book a demo and tell us about the building, and we’ll put you in touch with an installer in your area who quotes, fits, commissions and looks after it. You deal with one name.
You do. We sell through installers, and an enquiry from your patch goes to you, not quoted around you.
How do I become an installer?
Apply on the installer page. Electrical, alarm and network firms are welcome. We reply within one working day, have a short call about your patch and the jobs you do now, then onboard you with a demo kit for your bench.
Support and training
What support do I get?
UK support, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 17:30, by email at support@boltaccess.co.uk. A person reads it. Your installer is the first call for anything on site, and we back them up.
UK support, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 17:30, at support@boltaccess.co.uk, straight to the people who build it. Your customer calls you; you call us.
Is training free?
Yes, for installers. Fitting, commissioning and running Bolt are covered at no charge, so the installer who hands your building over knows the system properly.
Yes. Training is free for installers: fitting, commissioning and running Bolt, with a demo kit on your bench to practise on.
Safety and the law
Does Bolt help with Martyn’s Law?
Martyn’s Law is the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025. It became law in April 2025, with the Security Industry Authority as regulator and a preparation period of at least two years before it’s enforced. Premises expecting 200 or more people need procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication; larger premises have further duties. Bolt doesn’t make anyone compliant, and it isn’t certified for the Act: the procedures, training and notifications are yours. What it gives those procedures is tooling: lockdown groups that seal a set of doors in one action, exit buttons that still let people out during a lockdown, lockdown that can be lifted at the controller if the internet is down, and an evacuation list of visitors on site.
It gives the customer’s procedures tooling, not a certificate. Lockdown groups seal a set of doors in one action, exit buttons still let people out during a lockdown, the controller can lift a lockdown locally, and there’s an evacuation list of visitors on site. Mechanical emergency release on every door stays your job, as it is today. Don’t sell it as “Martyn’s Law compliant”; nobody can.
Didn’t see your question?Ask us the awkward one.
Ask the people who built it. A person reads every message and replies.
Wiring, commissioning, margins, the customer’s IT lead. Ask, and the people who built it will answer.