A wireless ultra-low power portable lock may be realized as a lock apparatus including: a locking mechanism having at least locked and unlocked states, the locking mechanism operable to provide physical resistance to being unlocked when in the locked state; an actuator operable to move the locking mechanism from the locked state to the unlocked state in response to a received signal; and a controlling unit configured to control the actuator and to receive one or more signals from one or more devices external to the lock apparatus.