Aqara Launches Smart Lock U200 With Apple Home Key Support

[richpjr]

A rechargeable battery AND batteries for the keypad? My Yale lock uses AA batteries to power both.

 

[MALmen]

On the Aqara site, it says that you can ask Siri to open the door. This might be a stupid question, but how does one prevent someone saying that fairly loudly from the crack at the bottom of the door into the house and have a HomePod unlock it?

You can only do this on the phone when it’s unlocked

 

[MALmen]

Hmmm, give them to 'The Lock Picking Lawer' on YouTube then we'll see how robust they are.

This lock has nothing to do with the mechanical safety of the original lock. It just turns the knob on the inside of the door so the lockpicking lower has to actually hack the lock to open it remotely in that case.

 

[pappl]

I don‘t like a visible device mounted outside onto the door.
Nuki Smartlock uses the existing locking system and unlocks over Bluetooth or Thread over Apple Home. Much better because thiefs don‘t know anything about my smart system. Hoping for a solution to add invisible Apple Homekey to Nuki Smartlocks over invisible NFC Tags or Matter/Thread

 

[bigboy29]

Locks with large keypads mounted toward the street are a bit of a joke, IMO. Go to any place that has keypads on doors (like some stores, some places in the airports, etc.) - it is very easy to see the PIN as people enter it. Kind of PINs on phone screens, actually (or those hilarious sign-in patterns on Android phones).

IMO, I love the ability to have a keypad but I want it to be remote. Level lock allows this. So I can install the keypad but install it in a way that it is hidden when people type a PIN.

 

[Yammabot]

$300 to replace a $25 keyed lock is just wrong. Especially if it’s in need of batteries a phone/watch and most likely a spare key for when it just doesn’t work. I have a $50 electronic lock on my inner garage door and a year after installing it (and liking it) I came home late from an over seas trip and it was just dead. No warning no nothing just dead. So at 1am after a 8hr flight and two hour car ride I had to break into my own home because the lock crapped out. Needless to say I was not happy and it cost me $800 to fix the door which now has a keyed lock again.

 

[richpjr]

$300 to replace a $25 keyed lock is just wrong. Especially if it’s in need of batteries a phone/watch and most likely a spare key for when it just doesn’t work. I have a $50 electronic lock on my inner garage door and a year after installing it (and liking it) I came home late from an over seas trip and it was just dead. No warning no nothing just dead. So at 1am after a 8hr flight and two hour car ride I had to break into my own home because the lock crapped out. Needless to say I was not happy and it cost me $800 to fix the door which now has a keyed lock again.

Breaking a window would be a whole lot cheaper than destroying a door. Keeping a spare key hidden somewhere would have saved your $300 investment.

 

[BJMRamage]

$300 to replace a $25 keyed lock is just wrong. Especially if it’s in need of batteries a phone/watch and most likely a spare key for when it just doesn’t work. I have a $50 electronic lock on my inner garage door and a year after installing it (and liking it) I came home late from an over seas trip and it was just dead. No warning no nothing just dead. So at 1am after a 8hr flight and two hour car ride I had to break into my own home because the lock crapped out. Needless to say I was not happy and it cost me $800 to fix the door which now has a keyed lock again.

this makes your Mechanical/Keyed door smart. This only adds a smart latch turning piece to the inside of your house/door. Then a Keypad on the outside. Both of these parts have batteries and can die at any time...but the lock on the outside has NOT changed...you can use your key at any time if both batteries are dead.

I'd like a Smart Lock for convenience. The big brand people talk about is Schlage and our house does NOT have Schlage keys and all of our keys are matched. So, this means I would have to buy several locks at once (and have those rekeyed) to maintain a consistent single key. With the Aqara retrofit lock I can change one lock to be smart and hold off on the remaining doors all while keeping the same single key.

 

[pnds]

For anyone who has the questions I had to answer for myself:

• You do not need the Aqara Matter hub despite what the Aqara app appears to suggest through omission of any HomeKit related setup guidance.
• Setup was a pain, but the lock works great when in place.

The process I took which ultimately (after hours of fiddling) was successful:

1. Pair with Aqara app (Bluetooth) by scanning the Aqara code under the cover of the locking mechanism.
2. Update firmware (when prompted to use the beta versions at this early stage, I selected yes)
3. I attempted and failed repeatedly at this step to pair with my homekit setup, removing the battery, pressing 'setup' etc. So I factory reset it by holding down the two bottom-most buttons on the keypad at the same time, and entered my pin when prompted.
4. When ready to go again, instead of pairing with Aqara I paired with HomeKit directly by
   1. Adding an accessory with the Home app, and scanning the Matter code under the locking mechanism cover.
   2. Waiting several minutes while "setting up" lingered in the home view.
5. I then paired again with Aqara per step 1 to calibrate the lock (as the lock defaulted to the European orientation when used through HomeKit, and the lock/unlock action reported it was doing something, but the mechanism only beeped while performing no mechanical action until after calibration was complete).

Much love!

 

[Dizzy714]

For anyone who has the questions I had to answer for myself:

• You do not need the Aqara Matter hub despite what the Aqara app appears to suggest through omission of any HomeKit related setup guidance.
• Setup was a pain, but the lock works great when in place.

The process I took which ultimately (after hours of fiddling) was successful:

1. Pair with Aqara app (Bluetooth) by scanning the Aqara code under the cover of the locking mechanism.
2. Update firmware (when prompted to use the beta versions at this early stage, I selected yes)
3. I attempted and failed repeatedly at this step to pair with my homekit setup, removing the battery, pressing 'setup' etc. So I factory reset it by holding down the two bottom-most buttons on the keypad at the same time, and entered my pin when prompted.
4. When ready to go again, instead of pairing with Aqara I paired with HomeKit directly by
   1. Adding an accessory with the Home app, and scanning the Matter code under the locking mechanism cover.
   2. Waiting several minutes while "setting up" lingered in the home view.
5. I then paired again with Aqara per step 1 to calibrate the lock (as the lock defaulted to the European orientation when used through HomeKit, and the lock/unlock action reported it was doing something, but the mechanism only beeped while performing no mechanical action until after calibration was complete).

Much love!

How exactly do you know it’s running Matter?

I reached out to customer support to ask if the hub is necessary for thread/matter or if it’s built into the device itself. Representative stated that you still need the hub for those features. Disappointing if true. If true, likely just going to go with the tried & true Schlage.

 

[pnds]

How exactly do you know it’s running Matter?

I reached out to customer support to ask if the hub is necessary for thread/matter or if it’s built into the device itself. Representative stated that you still need the hub for those features. Disappointing if true. If true, likely just going to go with the tried & true Schlage.

• The "Matter" text on the sticker which I scanned to add it to Apple Home was my first indication.
• Apple home sends "locked" and "unlocked" messages, which I presume to be coming through the HomePod mini (maybe 5 meters away), along with the apple key functionality being operational, which I took to mean that the Thread physical layer protocol was being utilized (given that only Bluetooth and Thread appear to be supported by the U200 - [ link ]).
• Other than my Apple TV, I do not have any other Aqara or Matter-hub hardware in the house, there's no other way the device could communicate with the rest of the ecosystem.

I think perhaps what is happening here is, through omission of compatibility through a lack of good documentation, Aqara may be attempting to drive sales of their Hub hardware (which as mentioned in my previous comment, is unnecessary per my experience), but perhaps "a hub" in your conversation can be an Apple Hub, or an Aqara one.
Despite this, I'm sufficiently convinced that the physical and data layers are being utilized in the manner Aqara advertises.
Like you, I have little patience for this type of lying through omission, lousy documentation and painful pairing process. I don't think I'll be buying from Aqara again unless "Matters" improve.

 

[BJMRamage]

Shane Whatley (?) has a YouTube video where he explains the Matter usage, Aqara and Homekit apps usage, and what you MIGHT use if you have the Aqara Matter Hub M3...I have an Aqara M2 hub but don't really see a need to update to the M3 just yet...I have a HPMini and TV that have Thread available if I want to buy/use this lock with Thread. I think you will need the Aqara App for things like one-time usage passcodes and Fingerprints. I am not sure if you can have (kids) use your phone to add fingerprints or if they'd need to have the Aqara App on their phones too...hope not the latter.