App Smart Sliding Door Opener

(Update Sept 2024) The following post was written at a time when Wayzn did not have Pet Tags. They’ve since arrived and I’m planning on producing a short how-to video on their effectiveness. It will be posted here and on my YouTube channel.

At least a few times a week we have to leave our dogs at home alone. Short runs to the grocery store, or a quick hike. We wish we could take them, but it doesn’t always turn out that way.

There’s a large backyard for them, and they are never fully locked inside anyway because we ensure they have a safe exit.

But that’s the problem! We don’t want to leave the sliding door open (or any door for that matter) while we’re away. Not only is it does it give access to anyone, but it also lets flies and other critters in to roam freely into the house, too. Summer months are the worst.

The app smart door opener from Wayzn looks simple enough, and it’s also affordable.

Dogs need to be let outdoors to do their business at all hours of the day, so the problem is compounded by constantly having to open and close the door. There must be a simpler way to deal with it,? we thought to ourselves.

We’ve looked at different options that allow the dogs to go outside whenever nature calls, but most are ugly and are far from secure. Those traditional sliding door units that pop in with screws look awful, and they are flimsy. Then you have the other pet door units require a “remote” to open and close the door. That’s not going to work either. Something has to be more high-tech.

And, there’s no way we’re going to cut a hole in our wall to install one of those automatic pet doors with flaps. So what’s our alternative?

After doing some research we discovered several manufacturers who have developed very innovative automatic sliding door units that are triggered by the dog next to the door, waiting to go outside. The problem is the better units in this category are not cheap. They also require either drilling, cutting, or modification to your existing sliding glass door to install them. That’s not ideal.

Then there are other units that do not require that you permanently modify the door, and these are definitely cheaper to buy, and easier to install.

Wayzn is a manufacturer in the U.S. and it markets an innovative sliding glass door opener that is high-tech enough and cheap enough to fit our budget. It is relatively new on the market, and it seems to be simple to install and works with either their phone app or, by using Amazon’s Alexa. No remote required.

The problem is the most critical aspect of the Wayzn Smart Pet Door Opener called the Pet Tag doesn’t ship until March 2023, due to back orders. That was month’s ago and it is still on back order. Oh that’s not good.

Their patented Pet Tag senses automatically when the dog (or cat, or?) wants to come back into the house. You see, without it the Wayzn Smart Pet Door Opener only opens the door automatically, it does not reopen it once the pet is outside looking in, that’s unless you control it by the phone app.