Top 5 Smart Locks for 2020
A smart lock is one of the most essential parts of a new-age smart home. It will enable you to come and go as you wish along with monitoring your visitors when you are away. Some smart locks can be operated from your smartphone or tablet. A range of smart locks lets you assign a special privilege pass to your family/friends or the cleaning staff. Whereas you can activate some locks with the help of a voice command.
What is a Smart Lock?
A Smart Door Lock costs a hell lot of money compared to the traditional locks. There are a few low range ($100~) smart locks, however if you want more features for your smart lock you will need to spend somewhere in the range of $200-300~. Most smart locks have a dedicated mobile app to let you lock/unlock doors with a single tap. There are some locks which provide a web app to control the settings through a computer/laptop.
How to install a Smart Lock?
It is extremely easy to install a smart lock and doesn’t take more than 15-30 minutes to install a smart lock depending on your existing setup. Most smart locks available today use the normal pre-drilled holes so no need to drill new ones. Moreover, there are smart locks available that can be attached to the inside of your door. These locks are built to use your existing hardware which means you don’t have to make difficult changes.
Let us look at the top five smart locks for 2020 along with features and price range:
August Wi-Fi Smart Lock
The stylish August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is extremely easy to install and has great features in its concise frame. It is the smallest smart lock model by the brand at $249.99 and is the first to offer Wi-Fi compatibility. The good part is compatibility with Google Assistant, Alexa, Apple HomeKit just like the previous models. The smart lock is available in silver or more stylish matte back with a textured grip and an August logo indicating the status of the door. You can use it as a manual lock by turning left or right to unlock or lock respectively. The only drawback is a short battery life and a pricey product.
Wyze Lock
The Wyze Lock uses your door’s inherent keyed cylinder, deadbolt and hardware. It comes with a plug-in gateway module, 4 AA batteries, a mounting plate, adapters and user guide at $89.99. Impressive right? Certainly. The Wyze Lock sports a minimalist design with an aluminium finish. The LED on top of the lock will be green during installation, dark green if the door is locked/unlocked and will turn red when it fails to lock/unlock. The Wyze lock runs on four AA batteries and has an embedded Bluetooth and Zigbee network, however there is no Wi-Fi compatibility.
Nest X Yale Lock with Nest Connect
The most recent addition to the Nest smart home devices is the Nest X Yale Lock with Nest Connect available at $279. It is a hi-tech smart door lock that can be controlled remotely using a mobile app or web app. The Nest X Yale is pretty easy to install and provides features like One-Touch locking, Auto-lock and a timeline depicting who locked/unlocked the door at a particular time. A small speaker and terminals can be used if the batteries run out of juice. The keypad is slick and remains dark till you touch the Yale logo. Once you touch the logo, it displays the keypad, a check button, back button and settings option. We would advise you to go with Nest X Yale Smart Lock if you have other products from the Nest family.
Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro + Wi-Fi Bridge
The Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro is a versatile smart lock that enables you to unlock your door through a mobile app, fingerprint scan, a keypad, a conventional key or even a voice command. So cool, right? The Ultraloq smart lock comes with a Bluetooth radio, devoid of Wi-Fi radio. It enables you to lock/unlock the door with Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands, however there is no support yet for Apple HomeKit. There are some cool features like Auto-Lock which locks the door after a set period of time and Auto-Unlock which uses your smart phone’s location to unlock the door when you are near the door and a Magic Shake which allows you to unlock the door when you shake your phone in front of the lock. Also, there is a feature to set temporary/permanent pin codes and you can configure according to your needs.
Schlage Sense
The Schlage Sense deadlock allows you to use your iPhone to lock/unlock doors, customise access codes and set up access schedules. The Schlage Sense is a compact single cylinder lock with a luminous keypad and low battery alert. It is easy to install, easy to program it manually or using the user-friendly mobile app to add users, set up schedules and access codes. Priced at $229, it comes in two variants: the modern century style and a classic Camelot style. The only cons are the price and compatibility only with iOS devices and hence would also require Apple TV for remote control.
If you are interested to buy a smart lock but don’t want to make a change to your existing hardware, it is best to choose one of the above smart lock options available based on your budget. Do let us know in the comment section which topic you would like to see in the next “Top 5 every week” blog.
Keval Padia is the founder & CEO of Nimblechapps, a fast-growing mobile app development company. The current innovation and updates of the field lures him to express his views and thoughts on certain topics.