Device enabled identity authentication

This invention describes a system for controlling who can enter physical locations, like offices or gyms, using a person's smartphone. Users subscribe to a service, and their phone acts as a digital key for any location within that service's network. When a user approaches an access point, such as a card reader or a biometric scanner, at a subscribed location, the system checks their credentials against rules stored in a central cloud-based computer system to grant or deny access. The claims specifically narrow the access control device to either card readers or biometric readers that send information to the cloud for authentication.