Knowledge Base › Sharing & Notifications

What are the different types of digital keys in the Nimbio app?

Nimbio uses three tiers of keys — Master, Shared, and Admin — plus three kinds of Shared Key you can create for family, guests, and service providers.

For: Residents Category: Access & Keys

The three tiers: Master, Shared, and Admin keys

Every key in Nimbio falls into one of these categories. Because keys are stored in the cloud, there’s no limit to how many Master or Shared keys can exist.

Master Key

Issued to a resident once their property manager or admin authorizes access. Scoped to whatever gate(s) that resident is actually assigned to.

Shared Key

Created by a Master Key holder for a visitor or guest — comes in three types: Family, Doorbell, and Recurring (below). Sharing a key never copies yours; it mints a brand-new digital key on the recipient’s own account.

Admin Key

Grants access to every gate across a multi-gate property, not just the ones an individual resident is assigned to. Only relevant for properties with many gates, or that deliberately restrict some residents to a subset of gates — smaller multi-gate properties often just give every resident’s Master Key access to all gates instead.

The three kinds of Shared Key

Choose the type that fits how much access the recipient should have.

Family Key

Opens the gate any time, with no restrictions — works like the holder’s own key.

Doorbell Key

Sends you a push notification every time it’s used, and you have 5 minutes to open the gate for the holder. Good for tracking service providers or visitors in real time.

Recurring Key

Only works during a repeating schedule you set — for example, a housekeeper every Tuesday and Thursday between 9 AM and 5 PM. Every use is logged.

Creating a Family or Doorbell Key

Both follow the same flow from the Sharing tab.

Open Sharing and pick the key

Tap Sharing in the bottom navigation bar, tap the key you want to share, then tap “Share this key with someone.”

Choose Family Key or Doorbell Key

Tap the button for whichever type fits the recipient.

Add the recipient and confirm

Type the recipient’s mobile phone number or name, select the contact, and tap Create.

Set optional permissions and send

Optionally toggle whether this person can create keys of their own from this key, and adjust Manage Notifications. Then send the key link via your preferred messaging option.

Don’t see a “Share this key” option?

Nimbio support can set a key share depth — a property-wide limit on how many times a key can be re-shared down a chain, configured on request. If that limit has been reached on a key, the Share button simply won’t appear — this doesn’t affect your other keys. This is separate from the per-key toggle you control when you share (whether that specific recipient can re-share it further). Contact your property manager or admin if you believe this is unexpected, and they can reach out to Nimbio support on your behalf.

Frequently asked questions

Is a shared key a copy of my key? +

No. Sharing a key mints a brand-new digital key on the recipient’s own account. That’s also why revoking or disabling your key cuts off every key that was shared from it.

Is there a limit to how many keys I can have or share? +

No — since keys are stored in the cloud, there’s no limit to the number of Master or Shared keys that can exist. Nimbio support can still set a key share depth limiting how many times an individual key can be re-shared down a chain, on request.

Can I see when a key I shared was used? +

Yes — every use of a shared key appears in your usage history under the Master Key it was created from.

Sharing access and notifications → Revoking a key or removing a resident →