Apple Begins Selling Danalock V3, First Retrofit HomeKit-Enabled Smart Lock Available in Europe

[Robert.Walter]

Too expensive. Needs to be 1/2 the price.

 

[Smigit]

Most of us in the EU don't have deadbolts

Pretty simple to install one though, if anyone wants. You can probably leave the existing locks in place too should you ever want to use them, which of course prevents you using this device to unlock the door but might add some peace of mind if taking a vacation or whatever and you won't need easy access any time soon.

 

[hop]

Not sure why this is being sold in the uk. Nobody has a deadbolt here, they are all typically the type (I forget the name) which requires you raise the handle first to engage the catches.

I guess you could install an additional deadbolt for this but then what’s the point?

What we need is a smart lock that is able to trigger the catches automatically. It’s kind of surprising that it hasn’t been tackled yet.

This isn't a deadbolt, and in most cases a multipoint lock will still rely on a eurocylinder lock to actually function, which this includes, so should hopefully be able to work.
[doublepost=1529334437][/doublepost]

Pretty simple to install one though, if anyone wants. You can probably leave the existing locks in place too should you ever want to use them, which of course prevents you using this device to unlock the door but might add some peace of mind if taking a vacation or whatever and you won't need easy access any time soon.

Personally I don't find drilling a bunch of holes into my door to try to fit a lock type that isn't usually used in my country, to be "pretty simple" .

 

[mazz0]

Hmm, I do want something like this, but it seems to have too many compromises so far. For one I don't like the idea of it being battery operated - it's in a fixed location, it doesn't need to be portable - why can't it plug in (and ideally be built in to the door or frame)? Secondly, as others have said it should work like unlocking your MacBook with your Apple Watch works - a digital key stored on the Watch that unlocks the door when the signal is strong enough. Apple's Geofencing is far too slow and unreliable to use for this purpose.

 

[twistedpixel8]

This isn't a deadbolt, and in most cases a multipoint lock will still rely on a eurocylinder lock to actually function, which this includes, so should hopefully be able to work.

Yeah but you still need a way to engage the initial multi point hooks. And if you remove those, your insurance will rocket. Unless I’m misunderstanding?
[doublepost=1529429587][/doublepost]

I think they're called multipoint locks, Yale made a smart one called "Yale Conexis L1 Smart Door Lock" but can't rememeber if its HomeKit compatible.

Sadly, it’s not HomeKit compatible. They have an FAQ that mentions the usual BS that they are “working hard” to make it work with HomeKit. I’d bet my house they won’t, just like LIFX promised to make the older bulbs work with HomeKit (and now say they can’t, which is again, BS).

 

[nekonokami]

Danalock has support for geofencing and unlocks automatically when you approach the door.

Has support for and works reliable or even at all are two VERY different things.

 

[hagar]

Has support for and works reliable or even at all are two VERY different things.

I did use it in the beginning and it worked every well for me. But as I have a door with a latch and no handle on the outside the timing has to be perfect, otherwise the door with be closed again. So I disabled the feature for that particular reason.

But when it was on, it did work fine.

 

[name99]

Danalock has support for geofencing and unlocks automatically when you approach the door.

How robust is this? Or to put it differently, how well is the code implemented?
Nest uses geofencing and it's freaking RIDICULOUSLY non-robust. I basically have to ensure that I have just launched the Nest app every time I leave my house to be certain that geofencing will kick in as I leave.

Now given Nest's general iOS incompetence over the three or four years that I have used their cameras, I'd not be in the slightest surprise that this is PURELY because they do not know what they are doing, not a fault in Apple's APIs, and that other apps do a lot better. But I honestly don't know.
In particular I assume that most of these sorts of apps now use HomeKit defined geofencing (which requires that you have an aTV [or iPad] acting as a permanent server, and I haven't yet set that up). Is the median experience that HomeKit geofencing in general (and Danalock or August in particular) work robustly ALL the time? Even working 99% of the time is not good enough for this sort of functionality --- the system HAS to have a robust underlying protocol for how to handle all the errors that can occur, and the implementation low enough below the app developers that they have no chance to *$#! up their implementation.
[doublepost=1529533134][/doublepost]

I did use it in the beginning and it worked every well for me. But as I have a door with a latch and no handle on the outside the timing has to be perfect, otherwise the door with be closed again. So I disabled the feature for that particular reason.

But when it was on, it did work fine.

We clearly have different definitions of what counts as "working acceptably".
I have an extremely low-tolerance for crap that checks the boxes but is actually so poorly designed that every time you interact with it you weep in frustration.

 

[nekonokami]

I did use it in the beginning and it worked every well for me. But as I have a door with a latch and no handle on the outside the timing has to be perfect, otherwise the door with be closed again. So I disabled the feature for that particular reason.

But when it was on, it did work fine.

The device is supposed to relieve you of a hassle, not add one.

We tried it for several weeks and luckily we have a deadbolt as well, otherwise the door would have been visibly open several times during the night and when we were not at home.

And judging by the reviews on Amazon, we were not the only ones. More like the majority.

 

[x-evil-x]

The design of these locks is SO STUPID right now.
The right way to do this is to detect an Apple Watch-specific signature by (close) presence --- the way the presence of an Apple Watch unlocks a mac. Add the other stuff (opening via HomeKit, so that remote opening is possible) if you have to, but the DEFAULT operation should be that I walk up to the door and it opens for me --- no nonsense with taking out my phone, launching an app on my watch, or anything else.

I don't know why these lock companies are so stuck in the past. Do they not have a single intelligent person on their staffs? Are they not at least vaguely familiar with how employee entrance cards work in corporate environments, and how THAT (only done even better) should be what they are emulating?

My august does this and does it well. I Use my appletv as my hub or my iPad before but I just got the plug in module to test.
Living in an apartment on the 3rd floor sometimes it wouldn't open right when I walked up but with this plug in wifi connect its hasn't missed an unlock yet in my testing.
You can use normal keys with these locks but its Nice coming home with a lot of groceries or whatever In your arms and your door just opening without doing anything.
Gives you a notification the door was unlocked and locked if you want also.
[doublepost=1537967323][/doublepost]

How robust is this? Or to put it differently, how well is the code implemented?
Nest uses geofencing and it's freaking RIDICULOUSLY non-robust. I basically have to ensure that I have just launched the Nest app every time I leave my house to be certain that geofencing will kick in as I leave.

Now given Nest's general iOS incompetence over the three or four years that I have used their cameras, I'd not be in the slightest surprise that this is PURELY because they do not know what they are doing, not a fault in Apple's APIs, and that other apps do a lot better. But I honestly don't know.
In particular I assume that most of these sorts of apps now use HomeKit defined geofencing (which requires that you have an aTV [or iPad] acting as a permanent server, and I haven't yet set that up). Is the median experience that HomeKit geofencing in general (and Danalock or August in particular) work robustly ALL the time? Even working 99% of the time is not good enough for this sort of functionality --- the system HAS to have a robust underlying protocol for how to handle all the errors that can occur, and the implementation low enough below the app developers that they have no chance to *$#! up their implementation.
[doublepost=1529533134][/doublepost]

We clearly have different definitions of what counts as "working acceptably".
I have an extremely low-tolerance for crap that checks the boxes but is actually so poorly designed that every time you interact with it you weep in frustration.

My nest iq works well when I leave the apartment it turns on. sends me notifications of dogs barking and noises. The only issue with nest is it doesn't work with HomeKit.