Property management

Maintenance phones and leasing tablets that keep the keys safe.

Property management companies use NounDesk to manage the company Android phones their maintenance techs carry and the tablets in the leasing office. Maintenance phones get the Field Worker policy with a stronger screen lock, encryption and the work-order app kept installed. Leasing tablets run in kiosk mode on the rental application. A lost phone holding lockbox and gate codes can be locked or erased in minutes, and a departing tech's phone is reassigned without a reset.

Recommended policy: Field WorkerDevices: Maintenance techs' phones, leasing-office tablets and shared showing phones

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The situation

A property manager's phones carry the keys to the portfolio: lockbox codes, gate codes, alarm codes, tenant phone numbers and unit notes. Maintenance techs move between buildings all day, leasing agents hand a tablet to strangers, and staff turn over. Nobody in the office is an IT person.

What NounDesk does for a property management company

Access codes behind a real lock

Lockbox, gate and alarm codes live on maintenance phones. Require a strong screen lock and encryption in the security policy, and turn on lost mode the minute one goes missing.

A leasing tablet that only takes applications

Lock the leasing-office tablet to your online rental application with kiosk mode. Enter the application's web address and it runs full screen, with settings blocked and the screen kept awake.

Turnover without a reset

When a tech leaves, the offboarding dialog asks what happens to their phone. Keep it managed and unassigned, then hand it to the next hire with every app still installed.

Tenant details harder to copy off

Block screenshots, USB file transfer and SD cards with data protection on leasing and office devices, so tenant names, numbers and applications are not copied off by a screenshot or a cable.

Recommended setup

Setting	Choice
Policy template	Field Worker with a 6-digit PIN or stronger for maintenance and showing phones; Kiosk for leasing tablets
Groups	One per property, plus “Vendor loaners” and “Spares”
Required apps	Your property management or work-order app, Google Maps, messaging
Kiosk app	Your online rental application, as a web app from its URL
Blocked	Apps from outside Google Play; screenshots and USB file transfer on leasing tablets
Alerts	Lost mode, offline over 24 hours, required app missing

Why Field Worker, not Standard Business

Most of your devices are maintenance phones that spend the day between buildings, taking photos of leaks and broken appliances for work orders. Field Worker keeps the camera and maps working and installs updates overnight. Raise its screen-lock rule, because a maintenance phone holds more access codes than a typical office phone.

Why property managers pick NounDesk

Setup is a QR code, not a site visit, so a tech at a property across town can enroll their own phone. Offboarding never erases anything by accident. And the privacy line is easy to say to staff: no calls, messages, browsing or location outside lost mode. Read the security and privacy page for the full statement.

In property management the phone is effectively a key ring. A maintenance tech's phone holds lockbox and gate codes for every building they cover, plus tenant names and numbers, and the leasing tablet takes applications from strangers. NounDesk keeps both locked to work and lets you act the moment one goes missing or someone leaves.

How a rollout works for a 13-device portfolio

A typical small property manager covering a few hundred units runs 6 to 15 maintenance phones, a tablet in each leasing office and one or two shared showing phones.

1. Two policies
Field Worker with a stronger screen lock for maintenance and showing phones, and Kiosk for the leasing tablets.
2. Groups by property
One group per community, plus Vendor loaners and Spares. Each community's group pushes its Wi-Fi network.
3. Property apps by name
Add the property management or work-order app your team uses from managed Google Play, for example AppFolio or Yardi, plus maps and messaging.
4. Enroll and assign
Factory-reset each phone, scan the profile's QR code and assign it to its tech. The leasing tablet comes up on the application form.

Kiosk mode →Groups and employees →

Enrollment profile: Crew phones

GroupField crewSet
Security policyField WorkerSet
Naming patternVan-01, Van-02…Set
EmployeeChosen at enrollmentOptional

What 13 devices cost

A portfolio with 8 maintenance phones, 3 leasing tablets and 2 showing phones: 13 devices × $1.50 = $19.50 a month.

Kiosk and lost mode included
Every feature is in the $1.50, including kiosk mode for the leasing tablet and the location trail in lost mode. No tiers.
Win a building, add a phone
No minimum and no annual contract, so the bill follows the portfolio as management contracts come and go.
Try it on the whole team
The 14-day free trial covers up to 50 devices and needs no card.

Pricing →

Common situations

What happens when…

The situations that actually come up, and what you do about each one.

A maintenance phone with lockbox codes is lost

Turn on Lost mode from the office. The phone locks with your number on the screen and reports where it is, with a trail of recent locations, for as long as lost mode is on. The codes on it sit behind the screen lock and encryption your policy required. If it is not back by the end of the day, erase it. Change the lockbox and gate codes it held anyway; that is the safe habit with any lost phone.

Applicants wander off the application on the leasing tablet

Lock the tablet to your online application page with kiosk mode, with the Home button off and settings blocked. Applicants see the form and nothing else, and cannot open another app or the settings menu.

A maintenance tech leaves

Deactivate them on the employee page and choose Keep managed, unassigned. The phone keeps the work-order app and policy, ready for the replacement. If they keep the phone, turn on Lost mode with a message asking for its return, or erase it. Factory reset protection stops it being set up by anyone outside your company.

A vendor needs gate codes for a week of work

Rather than texting codes to a personal phone you cannot manage, lend a phone from a Vendor loaners group with only the work-order app and messaging, and assign it to the vendor as an employee. When the job ends, unassign it and change the codes they used.

Tenant phone numbers are on every tech's phone

They sit behind a screen lock and encryption, apps from outside Google Play are blocked, and USB file transfer can be turned off so nobody copies the contact list to a laptop. NounDesk itself never sees app content, messages or calls.

You take on a new community

Make a group for it with the property's Wi-Fi network pushed, enroll its leasing tablet from the same kiosk profile, and move the maintenance phones that cover it into the group in one bulk action.

Three leasing agents share one showing phone

Keep it in the leasing group without assigning it to one person, with the listing and messaging apps Required. Whoever picks it up gets the same setup, and if it is left at a vacant unit, Lost mode puts your number on the screen.

Features this industry leans on

Data protectionNew

Stop company data leaving work phones. Block printing, SD cards and USB drives, screenshots and USB file transfer per policy, or turn them all on at once.

Lost-device recovery

Lost company phone? Lock it in lost mode, show your number on screen, see where it last reported and erase it if needed. Location only in lost mode.

Kiosk mode

Android kiosk mode with no kiosk app to install. Lock a tablet or phone to one app, a few apps or a web page in a four-step wizard, and see each kiosk's health.

Groups & employees

Group company Android phones by team, site or customer with their own policy, assign them to employees, and choose what happens when someone leaves.

Other industries

Field service Construction Cleaning & home services Delivery & logistics Security companies Restaurants & retail Clinics & small healthcare Small schools & training Transportation All industries

From the blog

Property management: questions answered

Which policy template should a property management company use?

Field Worker for maintenance and showing phones, because techs need the camera for work-order photos and maps between buildings. Raise its screen-lock rule to a 6-digit PIN or stronger, because those phones hold access codes. Use Kiosk for the leasing-office tablet and Standard Business for office staff phones.

Can we install AppFolio or Yardi on the phones?

If the app your team uses is on Google Play, yes. Search for it by name in NounDesk, mark it Required, and it installs on every maintenance phone and stays there. NounDesk installs and keeps the app; it does not connect to the app or see what is inside it.

Does NounDesk track where maintenance techs are?

No. It reports a phone's location only while you have put it in lost mode, and never sees calls, messages or browsing. Use your work-order software for job status.

Can vendors and contractors be added?

NounDesk manages Android devices your company owns, not a vendor's own phone. If a vendor needs work orders or access codes for a job, lend them a managed phone from a loaner group and take it back when the job ends.

Do the phones need to be new?

No. Any Google-certified Android 8 or newer phone or tablet works, but it has to be factory reset when it is enrolled. Phones bought through an authorized zero-touch reseller enroll automatically the first time they are switched on.

Ten phones. Ten minutes. Protected.

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