Review: MyQ Smart Garage Opener

The garage responds as quickly to the app as it does to a regular button clicker, with one caveat: Choosing to close the garage with the app causes it to flash its lights and beep several times before the garage will begin to close, and will still beep and flash until closing is complete. It’s for safety reasons, since the garage doesn’t know whether anyone else is in the garage while you’re closing it or whether you’re nearby to make sure the garage path is clear of anyone walking in or out.

The only way around this, sadly, is to not use the app. You can install the MyQ Smart Garage Video Keypad ($99) outside of your garage to close it without getting any beeping and to get a similar experience to a video doorbell and smart lock but for your garage. I tested one and it works fine—the key codes are easy to set up and you can close your garage beep-free, plus you’ll get alerts like a security camera for outside of your garage, but I had a mixed experience using the call button. You also have to drill it into your garage or home exterior (MyQ says it’s too heavy to use adhesive strips), which my home’s HOA sadly forbids me from doing. Still, it’s a good price for a combination lock and exterior video feed for your garage, if you’re allowed to install it.

Photograph: Nena Farrell

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The default owner of the MyQ (that is, whoever set it up first in your home) also gets an onslaught of notifications every time the garage is opened and closed, whether via app or with your standard garage door buttons. In comparison, when you’re an added user, you won’t get any notifications by default. Both parties can go into the app, select the gear icon on the garage door (or other MyQ product in question), and edit the notifications they’re getting for the specific product.

I set up both my and my husband’s phones to get notifications about our garage being open for more than 10 minutes, and another for myself if it was open for an hour. You can add a lot more notifications, and you can also set it up to work with Amazon Key to get deliveries right into your garage (and get notified about that too). I haven’t been able to talk my husband into using it, but the included camera in my model makes me feel comfortable giving it a try.

Speaking of video, MyQ does have storage subscription plans for its video products (the brand also has video garage door openers, a video keypad, and a stand-alone camera). The first tier starts at $20 a year and goes up to $100 a year, and depending on which tier you pick you get additional features like face, person, and motion detection, detection zones, and either seven or 30 days of storage.