科学美国人60秒:Locked Out? There's an App for That

Few things can ruin your day like locking yourself out of your home. Usually your best option is calling someone with a spare key or, but [sitcom spare key confusion audio] then you might have to drop a few hundred bucks on a locksmith.

But Apple users now have access to a service that lets you make or share a spare key based on a digital photo of the original.

New York-based KeyMe says you have to take photos of both sides of a key in order to store a file as part of its service. KeyMe will mail you a replacement key based on the digital file on their servers.

If that’s not fast enough, your local hardware store may be able to make a copy based on info in your iPhone’s KeyMe app.

There’s no KeyMe app yet for Android or Microsoft and the service won’t work with fancy car keys. Still, under the right circumstances, this is a better option than using your smartphone to do this: [sound of window breaking]

—Larry Greenemeier with Vinz Clortho

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]