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So You’re Looking for a Smart Lock?

Keep home and valuables safe with an added layer of style and convenience

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Control your front door from anywhere in the world with the August smart lock.

august.com
Control your front door from anywhere in the world with the August smart lock.
august.com

By reducing the common burdens of physical-key based locks, smart locks have become a robust sector of the intelligent home market.

Here are our picks (get it?) for smart locks to consider.

Defending Your Doors Via Digital Means

There is nothing inherently safer about smart door locks. Many smart locks are retrofits—attachments that cover or integrate with your current door locks. And even the smart locks that wholly replace your existing lock situation still rely on the tried and true locking mechanisms (deadbolt, etc.) that we’ve known for years.

Smart locks will, however, add a layer of convenience to securing your home and valuables by allowing you to build digital profiles for the trusted individuals in your life—family, friends, workers—so they can gain access to your home without ever possessing a physical key.

More:Discover the Latest & Greatest in Smart Homes Gadgetry

Or to open doors by voice command, by pairing your connected keyless entryway with third-party programs like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri—certainly a useful feature when you arrive home with arms full.

Or performing the slightly more physical task of tapping on an app to grant a visitor entry to your guesthouse while you’re halfway around the world.

But there are a few differences both in style and function among smart locks. Let’s start with the latter.

Smart locks, like nearly every smart product, are connected technology, interacting within an internet of things. For smart locks this primarily takes three forms—Bluetooth, Z-Wave, and Wi-Fi. The breakdown is basically this:

• Bluetooth—Limited range (300 feet max), but requires less regular charging (up to a year likely); Can includes some range-based features like automatically unlocking or locking as you approach or leave range.

• Z-Wave—Requires a Z-Wave hub (Like Samsung’s Smart Things, Wink Hub) which must be within 120 feet of the smart lock (if you’re not using a range extender), but offers a near limitless level of third-party and cross-integration. Want to lock your front door whenever you turn off the living room lights? Easily done.

• Wi-Fi—Will likely require a power outlet plug-in "bridge" to connect your router to the smart lock, but offers control over your smart lock from anywhere in the world, provided you’re connected to the internet. It is a fairly simple setup and also offers a range of third-party integrations.

More:A High-Tech Closet Offers Smart Storage Solutions

For most people, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or a combination of the two, will suffice for their needs, and the smart locks that pique our interest fall in these categories.

The August smart lock ($229) is a bluetooth/Wi-Fi-enabled lock that works with your current door lock situation and offers a range of integrations and abilities.

The August will use Bluetooth to automatically unlock as you approach (and lock as you depart) and Wi-Fi, via the $79 Connect peripheral, to allow you to unshackle your entry from anywhere.

Users can create virtual keys that will only work for specific time ranges, and track the history of who has entered their home with the accompanying August app.

Better still, August integrates with Apple Homekit, so you can simply say "Siri, open my door." (A "Please" wouldn’t hurt either of course).

The Kwikset Kevo Touch-to-Open ($229) smart lock offers many of the same features as the August, but includes a clever additional ability—one which its name may have already betrayed.

Like the August, users can utilize Wi-Fi, with the addition of the Kevo Plus ($99), to build virtual keys, track entries and receive notifications anytime a door has been breached—but Kevo owners can also simply tap their physical door lock with a finger to open or close their door.

And should you be worried that anyone would have this tactile ability, it is bluetooth technology paired with your touch that makes it all possible.

The Kevo, which prides itself on a range of stylish options, also pairs nicely with other common smart home products and services, like Nest, Ring, Skybell, Amazon Echo and IFTTT.

Unlock is the new knock.

Bring a Bit of Bond into Your Life

For those looking for a bit more security (and style) at the expense of greater connectedness, biometric locks are like something out of a superspy movie.

Westinghouse offers a range of fingerprint locks ($810 to $1,215) that require a VERY specific key for entry.

Westinghouse

These locks, which may be more appropriate for protecting valuable store rooms versus front doors, can accommodate up to 1,000 different users, offer multiple levels of access (admin on down), can be scheduled to lock and unlock at certain times and dates and provide audit trails on who has used the door in question.

If a fingerprint is not enough security for you, Maglocks.com provides a complete facial recognition kit ($979) that requires eyes on confirmation before it grants an individual access to a prized location.

Maglocks.com

These high-end, ultra-secure devices may require some professional installation.

And because your valuables don’t exist solely in the physical space, there is myris by EyeLock.

The portable, lightweight peripheral which connects to a PC via USB will scan a user’s eye before it unlocks the computer, essentially creating an unhackable password.

And if you have some particularly grim, or enterprising, enemies, make them aware that the myris will only unlock the computer if it reads that the eye is connected to a living being.

Contact EyeLock for pricing.

For the Dogs (and Cats)

Humans aren’t the only ones looking for unfettered access to your home, but to make sure that only the appropriate furry friends gain entry, there is the Petsafe Electronic Smart Door ($139).

The intuitive entrance, which comes in two flap sizes (large and small), coordinates with a smart key on your pet’s collar, opening only for dogs (or cats) that have the appropriate digital approval.

The flap and smart key system, which can accommodate up to five pets, will give Fido free reign of the neighborhood, while keeping out the neighbors’ beagles or any lithe burglars.

More:Modern Technology for Man’s Best Friends

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