March 3, 2022 By Zack Whittaker
When Erik Johnson couldn’t get his university’s mobile student ID app to reliably work, he sought to find a workaround.
The app is fairly important, since it allows him and every other student at his university to pay for meals, get into events and even unlock doors to dorm rooms, labs and other facilities across campus. The app is called GET Mobile, and it’s developed by CBORD, a technology company that brings access control and payment systems to hospitals and universities. But Johnson — and the many who left the app one-star reviews in frustration — said the app was slow and would take too long to load. There had to be a better way.
And so by analyzing the app’s network data at the same time he unlocked his dorm room door, Johnson found a way to replicate the network request and unlock the door by using a one-tap Shortcut button on his iPhone. For it to work, the Shortcut has to first send his precise location along with the door unlock request or his door won’t open. Johnson said as a security measure students have to be physically in proximity to unlock doors using the app, seen as a measure aimed at preventing accidental door openings across campus.