Is an apartment intercom the same as a buzzer?

In everyday use, yes. Both name the entry system at your building's front door that lets a visitor ring your unit so you can let them in. 'Buzzer' is the common word in Canada and 'intercom' in much of the US, but they usually describe the same telephone-entry panel. The meaningful differences are about the specific hardware, not the two words.

Does my intercom or buzzer ring my phone or a box on the wall?

Select your own unit at the entrance panel and see what happens. If your cell phone rings, you have a telephone-entry or call-box system that dials out, and it can be pointed at any phone or app. If a handset on your apartment wall chimes instead, you have a hardwired intercom that never leaves the building. Which one you have decides what you can do with it.

What is the difference between an intercom and a video intercom?

A plain intercom or buzzer carries audio only, and many just place a phone call. A video intercom adds a camera at the door and usually an app, but it is hardware the building has to install, like ButterflyMX. A software app such as Lowkey gives you the app experience on your existing audio panel without mounting anything new.

Blog / Intercom vs. Buzzer: What's the Difference?

Intercom vs. Buzzer: What's the Difference?

By Ty · 2026-07-16

If you have lived in apartments in different cities, you have heard the same front-door system called a buzzer, an intercom, a call box, and a telephone entry panel. That is confusing when you are searching for help, so here is the short version: intercom and buzzer usually mean the same thing. “Buzzer” is the everyday word in Canada; “intercom” is more common in the US. Both name the panel at the entrance that a visitor uses to ring your unit so you can let them in.

The differences that actually matter are not between the two words, they are between the kinds of hardware hiding behind them.

The distinctions that matter

System	What it is	How you let someone in
Telephone-entry / call box	The panel places a real phone call to your unit’s number	Answer the call and press the release key, usually 9
Hardwired wall intercom	A handset mounted inside your apartment, wired to the door	Lift the handset and press the door button on the unit
Video intercom (e.g. ButterflyMX)	Camera panel plus an app, installed by the building	Tap to open in the app
Buzzer (Canada) / intercom (US)	Regional names, most often for the telephone-entry type above	Depends on which of the above it actually is

The single most useful thing to know is whether your system dials a phone. Most modern apartment “intercoms” and “buzzers” are really telephone-entry panels: pressing your unit places an outbound call. If yours does that, the entry code a visitor enters simply rings you, and you can route that call anywhere, including to an app that answers for you. If instead a box on your wall buzzes and no call is placed, it is a hardwired intercom with nothing to forward.

For a walkthrough of actually opening the door on each type, see how to use an apartment intercom.

Where Lowkey helps

If your panel dials a phone number, which covers most apartment and condo systems whatever your building calls it, Lowkey turns it into an app on every phone in your home. It answers the intercom or buzzer call and opens the front door for you, automatically or when a visitor enters a 4-digit passcode on the keypad, so it never matters what the panel is named or whose phone it happens to call.

There is nothing to install on the wall and no camera to mount, so it works with the audio panel you already have. You get a push notification and an activity history for every entry, on 99.99% uptime, and the 14 Day Trial lets you confirm it works on your building’s system first.