August Smart Lock - do I need their bridge?

[boston04and07]

I’m thinking of picking up an August smart lock in the next few weeks and I’m not sure if I actually need their WiFi bridge or not, as I’ve read conflicting things online.

I have three fourth gen Apple TVs in the house, the closest of which will be about 15 feet away (albeit through a wall). I’m not sure if that will be close enough to connect reliably, first of all.

Second, I’ll mostly be using the Home app to control my lock, but occasionally I’ll want to be able to send temporary keys to people when I’m away from home using the August app, as I don’t believe that functionality is in the Home app. So, will I be able to remotely connect to my lock using the August app if I just have an Apple TV 4 as a bridge?

Thanks in advance for any info on this.

 

[cynics]

The August Smart Lock is a bluetooth smart lock. It will work with a smartphone whenever its within bluetooth range using their app or the Home app.

If you want remote functionality to lock/unlock and/or see lock status you need a hub to talk to it via bluetooth. An AppleTV 4th gen will serve that purpose. However for example, if you or someone in your family has an Android phone and wants remote access the AppleTV wont work (closed ecosystem) and you'd need the August Connect (again just for remote access).

As far as letting other people in when you are away.... Have them call you and you remotely unlock the door. Give them a key and you can verify they locked up after they left via the Home.app or August.app. If they have an iPhone you can just invite them to your Home.app then delete them when they don't need to come in anymore. Or have them download the app and set it up blah blah which IMO seems like a PITA for just stopping by to feed the plants and water the cat or whatever....

TLDR - your fine, just buy the lock and forgo the August Connect.

 

[boston04and07]

The August Smart Lock is a bluetooth smart lock. It will work with a smartphone whenever its within bluetooth range using their app or the Home app.

If you want remote functionality to lock/unlock and/or see lock status you need a hub to talk to it via bluetooth. An AppleTV 4th gen will serve that purpose. However for example, if you or someone in your family has an Android phone and wants remote access the AppleTV wont work (closed ecosystem) and you'd need the August Connect (again just for remote access).

As far as letting other people in when you are away.... Have them call you and you remotely unlock the door. Give them a key and you can verify they locked up after they left via the Home.app or August.app. If they have an iPhone you can just invite them to your Home.app then delete them when they don't need to come in anymore. Or have them download the app and set it up blah blah which IMO seems like a PITA for just stopping by to feed the plants and water the cat or whatever....

TLDR - your fine, just buy the lock and forgo the August Connect.

Awesome, thank you very much for your detailed response. I’ll do just that. I never even thought about giving guests temporary on-site access to my Home app...makes perfect sense, since if they’re staying with me they’ll need to control other things like the lights anyway. And all of my close family and friends use iPhones anyway. Thanks for saving me the $60.

 

[BrettStah]

Yeah, we have a HomeKit compatible August lock, and it's probably ~40 feet from the AppleTV, and it works fine.

What IS annoying though is that each person that needs to control the lock NEED the August app on their iPhone, even if you ONLY want them to control it via HomeKit. Without the August app and the "Siri permissions" (that's what the August app calls it) granted, then a user's iPhone cannot successfully even see the lock/unlock status, let alone actually lock or unlock it via the Home app.

 

[cynics]

Yeah, we have a HomeKit compatible August lock, and it's probably ~40 feet from the AppleTV, and it works fine.

What IS annoying though is that each person that needs to control the lock NEED the August app on their iPhone, even if you ONLY want them to control it via HomeKit. Without the August app and the "Siri permissions" (that's what the August app calls it) granted, then a user's iPhone cannot successfully even see the lock/unlock status, let alone actually lock or unlock it via the Home app.

Oh wow I wasn't aware of that.

I apologize @boston04and07 for the bad information. I'm single and live alone and while I don't currently have an August smart lock I download the native apps for firmware updates and finer control over devices when required so I never really thought about that being a restriction (limitation more accurately).

@BrettStah What do you find to be the best way to temporary share control of the lock to someone?

 

[BrettStah]

Oh wow I wasn't aware of that.

I apologize @boston04and07 for the bad information. I'm single and live alone and while I don't currently have an August smart lock I download the native apps for firmware updates and finer control over devices when required so I never really thought about that being a restriction (limitation more accurately).

@BrettStah What do you find to be the best way to temporary share control of the lock to someone?

I've only recently installed the lock, and haven't had tons of guests yet - but if they ONLY need to unlock the August lock, then they can just use the August app to control the lock. If you want them to also be able to control other HomeKit devices, then you also need to send them a Home app invitation.