Home > The iButton

What's an iButton?

The iButton is about the size of an average house key.

The iButton^® is a 16-millimeter computer chip enclosed in a stainless steel container. Each chip has its own unique ID number which is unaffected by magnetic fields, metal detectors, water and most common chemicals.
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The steel button is rugged enough to withstand harsh outdoor environments and durable enough for a person to wear every day. The silicon chip within the iButton is protected by the ultimate durable material: stainless steel.

You can drop it, step on it, scratch it or wear it swimming. The iButton is wear-tested for 10-year durability and can be reassigned quickly and securely. It is by far the best solution for both manufacturing and office environments.

In TimePilot's time and attendance systems and its iButton Lock systems, the iButton is part of a keyfob that attaches to an employee's keychain. The keyfob and button combination is about the size of a house key. The standard keyfob color is black; other colors are available.

To order black keyfobs with iButtons installed, click here.

To order green, red, yellow, orange, blue or purple keyfobs with iButtons installed, click here.

Who else is using the iButton?

Lots of companies are using the iButton for security, convenience or efficiency. Some examples:

The revolutionary Segway Human Transporter doesn't come with a set of traditional keys--it comes with three iButtons.
Employees at the U.S. Mint in Denver aren't allowed to carry money into the facility, so they use iButtons to operate the vending machines. Across Canada, many vending machines can be operated by iButtons or with cash.
There are more than 200,000 iButton-based keys in use on more than 10,000 apartment and condo buildings in the New York City area. The Trump Organization uses them in 43 of its buildings. A new 9,000-resident development on the Hudson River across from Manhattan is a major user of the iButton: all common area entrance doors, laundry room doors, mailroom doors and pedestrian gates are equipped with iButton-controlled locks. TimePilot offers iButton Locks, too. Click here for details.
A school in Celebration, Florida, issues iButtons to its students, who use them to open classroom doors and log onto computers. The school plans to expand the technology to its cafeteria, allowing students to pay for their meals with their iButton. This has the added benefit of privacy: Students are prevented from knowing which classmates are on a government-funded reduced-price or free meal program.
Ryder truck rental mounts an iButton on the side of each of its trucks. The button records the truck number, its rental location, the customer's name and odometer reading at the start of the rental; when the truck is returned the information is downloaded into the company's database for billing.
The mass transit system in Istanbul, Turkey, is one of the biggest users of the iButton. Some 1.4 million riders use iButtons to travel on the system's subways, buses, trains and ferries.