1. How it works
A member holds their phone up to a tablet mounted at the lane. The code on their screen changes every few seconds and works once, so a screenshot sent to a friend is refused. If the code is valid and the membership allows entry at that time, a small relay in the turnstile cabinet closes a contact for about a second — the same signal your turnstile already accepts from a card reader or reception button — and the barrier turns.
The member’s phone is the credential and the tablet is the reader, so there are no cards or fobs to buy, issue or cancel.
Each entry is checked online. If the gym’s internet is down, the barrier doesn’t open on a code — staff let members through by hand. That’s acceptable at a staffed site and not at an unstaffed one, which is why the next section matters.
2. Is your site suitable?
In Gym Stack 360, a setup wizard asks these questions first and decides for you — you don’t pick an option that fails at 5 a.m.
| Question | What it means |
|---|---|
| Do you have a turnstile or barrier? | If not, you don’t need any of this — members check in on their phone or at the desk. |
| Is someone on site whenever the doors are open? | Required today. Sites that open before staff arrive, or have no desk at all, need a controller that keeps working offline. That version isn’t available yet — the wizard offers a waitlist instead. |
| Is there network where the turnstile stands? | A cable to the cabinet is best. Wi-Fi works, and is the most common cause of a barrier that opens “most of the time”. |
| Is there a wheelchair-passable route? | A standard tripod turnstile isn’t one. See the accessible lane. |
3. What your electrician fits
The wizard produces an install pack for your site to hand to your electrician. Per lane, it’s a small job:
- One relay module beside the turnstile controller, with potential-free (dry) contacts. It doesn’t switch mains to anything.
- A supply for the relay — most turnstile controllers have a spare 12 V feed.
- A two-core signal cable from the relay to the turnstile’s own momentary open input — the terminals its manufacturer documents for a card reader or reception button.
The relay connects out over the gym’s network, so nothing needs opening on your firewall and there’s no fixed IP address to arrange. The pulse is about one second: check your turnstile’s documented pulse limit before ordering, especially if its manual says one second or less. If the turnstile has separate entry and exit inputs, each direction gets its own channel.
While the cabinet is open, ask for a clear photo of the terminal block with its labels legible. It makes every future install on that model faster.
4. The fire circuit rule
That circuit must keep working exactly as it does today, including when the relay, the software and the internet are all down at once. If the only way to open the turnstile on a signal is to interfere with the fire or egress circuit, stop: that lane isn’t commissioned.
5. The accessible lane
At least one lane must be wide enough for a wheelchair and open on the same member code as every other lane. A wide gate that needs a different credential, or a member of staff to operate it, isn’t an accessible route. It’s a building obligation that existed before any software — the commissioning record simply shows whether it was met.
6. The six commissioning tests
Every lane is signed off by a person standing at the barrier, in this order. If test 1 fails, stop there.
- Fire the relay from the dashboard. The barrier should move within a second or two.
- Walk through. One person gets through and the barrier re-locks behind them. A barrier that stays open is an unlocked door.
- Scan a real member code. The barrier opens and the entry appears in the activity log with the member’s name.
- Present an old code. Screenshot a code, wait a minute, show it. The lane must refuse it.
- Confirm the fire circuit is untouched with your electrician. This can’t be answered “not applicable”.
- Check the accessible route opens on the same code.
In Gym Stack 360 each answer is recorded against the lane with the name of whoever did it, and a signed-off run can’t be edited afterwards — if something changes, you run it again.
7. Running it day to day
- If a barrier doesn’t open, staff let the member through and check the reason afterwards. The lane shows one neutral message, because a queue can read the screen.
- A member without their phone checks in at the desk as normal.
- Never prop a barrier open to work around a problem.
| How often | Check |
|---|---|
| Daily | Glance at the lane health screen for warnings |
| Weekly | Recent entries look like your real footfall |
| After any turnstile service | Re-run tests 1, 2 and 5 |
| Once a year | Re-run all six tests and sign them off again |
More on how it works in the product: Access control & turnstiles.