Question 1

Do we need cameras, gates, or any hardware?

Accepted Answer

No. Spider Eye is a phone app that uses the back camera. Nothing gets mounted, wired, or installed at the property, and there is no server of your own to run. It is on Google Play today, with the iPhone version on the way.

Question 2

How long does setup take?

Accepted Answer

The dashboard walks you through it: add your property, register vehicles, get the scanner, invite your team. Vehicles go in one at a time or by CSV import, and a preview runs the real import with writes off, so the button tells you exactly what it will do before you commit. Only the plate column is required.

Question 3

What does it cost?

Accepted Answer

There is a free plan for small lots, and paid plans are priced by registered vehicles and properties, never by people. Every paid plan starts with a 30-day free trial. Current plans and prices: parkspider.com/pricing

Question 4

Does every person who patrols need a paid seat?

Accepted Answer

No. Plans never count people. Anyone on your team can sign in to Spider Eye and patrol, and any member can issue a guest pass. Editing the vehicle list, adding residents, and sending invitations are for owners and admins.

Question 5

How does it read a plate?

Accepted Answer

State-of-the-art machine learning and computer vision, running entirely on the device. Point the phone at a car and the plate is detected, read, and validated against your registered list in real time. The verdict is on screen before you have passed the car.

Question 6

Does it work with no signal in a parking garage?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The registered list and active guest passes live in a database on the phone, so matching keeps working with no signal, and scans queue on the device and upload in batches once you are back in coverage. One deliberate limit: a phone that has never synced a property refuses to call anything unregistered.

Question 7

What happens if it misreads a plate?

Accepted Answer

The scanner accumulates confidence as it reads and only commits a plate once it is sure. If a read still comes out wrong, anyone can fix or void their own read on the phone, and a manager can correct any scan from the dashboard. The original record is never edited: corrections layer on top, stamped with who and when.

Question 8

What about residents who will not sign up?

Accepted Answer

The resident portal is optional. A manager can register every vehicle without a single resident signing up: only the plate is required, and a person can be added with just a name. Residents who do join can keep their own details current, request vehicle changes, and issue their own guest passes where you allow it.

Question 9

How do guests and visitors park?

Accepted Answer

Anyone on your team can issue a guest pass on any plan. On paid plans you can also let residents issue their own, capped by guest spots you set and a weekly allowance per resident. Passes expire on their own, and the host gets a warning email before one lapses.

Question 10

What is recorded for each sighting?

Accepted Answer

Each scan records the property, the plate, the verdict at that moment, the guest pass that covered it if there was one, the exact time, and who scanned. Scans cannot be edited or deleted by anyone. Corrections are separate records layered on top, stamped with who and when.

Question 11

How is "seen unregistered on 4 days" counted?

Accepted Answer

It counts distinct days, not sightings, so ten scans in one afternoon is one day. It only counts days since the plate's most recent allowed scan, inside a rolling window, and each property picks its own threshold for when a plate gets flagged. Every count opens into a timestamped trail in the property's timezone.

Question 12

Does Park Spider decide anything?

Accepted Answer

No. Park Spider is an informational tool for parking administration, not a security, enforcement, or towing service. Every enforcement action is your decision under your own authority, and the terms ask you to verify a vehicle's status independently before acting on a read.

Question 13

Where does resident data live, and who can see it?

Accepted Answer

On our servers, protected by state-of-the-art security practices. Data is only reachable through your organization's membership: owners and admins make changes, members read and scan, and a resident sees only their own residency. Payments run through Stripe, and card numbers never touch Park Spider.

Question 14

What happens if we cancel, or a payment fails?

Accepted Answer

Canceling never deletes anything: a downgrade runs to the end of the period you paid for, and an organization past its new limits keeps every vehicle and every scan. If a payment fails you get an email on each retry, and if it stays failed the account goes read-only and scanning pauses rather than guessing. Deleting a property or the organization is explicit, named, and confirmed.

Frequently asked questions

Before you commit

How the scanning works

Residents and guests

The record behind a decision

Your data, your account, your exit