August's New HomeKit-Enabled Wi-Fi Smart Lock Now Available to Order

[Crzyrio]

Im hoping we see something similar to what UWB was promised soon and then I will be sold on these.
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Solution looking for a problem, in my honest opinion. Might be useful for those who are physically less able, but I see nothing wrong with a well-looked after key and modern lock.

It's convenience. You walk in and out and never have to think twice about locking your door or weather or not you locked it.

 

[justperry]

Solution looking for a problem, in my honest opinion. Might be useful for those who are physically less able, but I see nothing wrong with a well-looked after key and modern lock.

Forgetting a key is easier done than forgetting your phone nowadays, so even if you forgot your keys you can open it with your phone.
Happened to me a couple of times....

 

[tony1984]

Does anyone have any experience with these sort of locks? How long does 2 CR123 batteries last? A month, a year, multiple years? Then what happens if the batteries die, can I still lock the door from the inside? There's a lot in information lacking on their website, especially if they're trying to sell a lock 5x the cost of a generic one from HomeDepot.

I have an August smart lock and love it. It’s takes 4 AA batteries and last about 3 months. You can still do manual lock even if the batteries are dead, but the you do get notifications letting you know the batteries are low and the expected life left in them. I do like the assurance of being able to check and see if my door is locked or unlocked while I’m away

 

[ChromeAce]

These same people fear-mongering about Russians hacking their locks are the ones back in the day skeptical of credit card use on the Internet. Real burglars use lock-picks. Worry more about them unlocking an election... again. As for locks, this one is useless as it attempts to maintain a WiFi signal using a coin battery. Good luck with that. I’ll stick to my Yale HomeKit locks that implement the HK standard properly using low-energy Bluetooth and  TV or iPad as a hub for remote access.

 

[darkslide29]

I have been looking forward to this since the CES announcement. The smaller footprint, and the fact that this simply goes over your existing deadbolt on the inside of the door with no physical modifications necessary, makes this ideal for apartment renters. The outside of the door will look the same as before, and continue working with existing keys.

Since this is a new product, $249 makes sense, but I was naively hoping for $199. Mainly because their previous gen units regularly go on sale for $150, but they are larger and require a hub. It's probably the stay-at-home talking, but this will be more appealing to me personally when I am leaving the house/going to work on a regular basis again.

 

[imola.zhp]

i must be old-fashioned or paranoid, but i don't trust these "smart" locks. smart lights i'm ok with, maybe a smart ac, but the idea of a smart lock seems just too vulnerable to me.

We started with one from the garage into the home, the door that is used 95% of the time. It has a keypad and you can tell it is a smart lock from the outside, but the outside is in the garage, away from prying eyes. Later I added add-on locks to the other two doors which you cannot tell are smart from the outside.

Your concerns are valid, but let me flip the coin and say that its nice having our "goodnight" scene set to make sure the doors are locked. No need to check them before bed or when leaving home, if one of them was unlocked and forgotten, it will lock on its own. We've also enjoyed leaving for various events in a ride-share car or with friends and not having to take keys. Walk out the front door and tell Siri to lock it, when returning, tell her to unlock it.

If you like smart lights, you'll love smart locks. I'm less concerned about someone breaking into our home via our smart lock than them breaking into the home via almost any other method. All of our entry doors have glass, they could break the glass a lot easier than somehow hacking my smart lock.

 

[darkslide29]

These same people fear-mongering about Russians hacking their locks are the ones back in the day skeptical of credit card use on the Internet. Real burglars use lock-picks. Worry more about them unlocking an election... again. As for locks, this one is useless as it attempts to maintain a WiFi signal using a coin battery. Good luck with that. I’ll stick to my Yale HomeKit locks that implement the HK standard properly using low-energy Bluetooth and  TV or iPad as a hub for remote access.

Interesting, I hadn't considered if the August lock will be problematic with their battery system. Something I'll be looking into. Do you mind sharing which model of Yale lock you use? I've recently started using my ATV as a home hub for HomeKit, so this sounds intriguing.

 

[vailMike]

Also, if your locking cylinder doesn't align well and it experiences more than normal friction when locking/unlocking, that will definitely shorten the life of the batteries. I took the time to adjust the cylinder hole (whatever it's called) so that it engaged smoothly.

I had to do this for myself too. Bought a dremel from Home Depot and ground out the bottom of that metal piece in the door frame. Now, manually when I lock/unlock from the inside there is zero friction which I would also think saves the battery.

 

[Tokenfreak]

How does it unlock the door if I have two locks on my door? I have a deadbolt and a lock on my door knob. If my door knob is locked I will still need a key to get in right? Seems not really useful in that scenario.

 

[ryanasimov]

I own the current generation and love it. I'm sure August has done lots of battery testing, but I wonder if my Bluetooth + WiFi bridge has better battery life than a pure WiFi solution?

 

[eoblaed]

Haven't locked the front door to my house in over 15 years. The features on this particular device have me considering it as a 'why not' kind of thing.

 

[topdrawer]

i've had august for a few years now. a regular key is way faster and more convenient. the only good use for this is that it locks the door behind you. also it eats batteries fast.

 

[44267547]

I’d have to look more into this product. It does interest me, but I don’t know how much ‘practicality’ this would offer me in terms of additional security, as it would just for the added convenience. Personally, I’m fine with manual key entry, i’d rather continue to keep investing in the security for my home through CCTV.

 

[icanhazmac]

yeah because some guy in Moscow possibly unlocking your door is definitely gonna be a problem.

This is exactly the reason I would have no use for it. We already have issues with camera footage being exploited by employees of security companies so how long before someone working for a lock company starts selling access to your home on the darkwebz? Or hackers finding a way to open them with a phone or device?

As stated above, lights, fans, coffee maker, if the a Russian wants to mess with that I will deal with it but locks and physical access? Nope.

 

[CarpalMac]

i must be old-fashioned or paranoid, but i don't trust these "smart" locks. smart lights i'm ok with, maybe a smart ac, but the idea of a smart lock seems just too vulnerable to me.

Given how easy it is for thieves to steal a car by basically cloning the keyless entry fob, I agree.
It'd also be interesting to know how many home insurance policies a device like this would invalidate, I am absolutely certain it would mine. The types of lock that are acceptable are specified within the policy.

 

[zhenya]

We've had the previous model for about 7 months. Still haven't changed the batteries. As previously mentioned, if your locking mechanism has drag, battery life will be greatly reduced.

Performance is basically flawless. We added the keypad to have a quick way for anyone in the family to be able to lock/unlock the door without needing a device. If we are away from home, it unlocks as we pull up to the house.
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Given how easy it is for thieves to steal a car by basically cloning the keyless entry fob, I agree.
It'd also be interesting to know how many home insurance policies a device like this would invalidate, I am absolutely certain it would mine. The types of lock that are acceptable are specified within the policy.

The vast majority of homes would have many far easier methods of breaking in to them than hacking a smart lock.

 

[alexandr]

We started with one from the garage into the home, the door that is used 95% of the time. It has a keypad and you can tell it is a smart lock from the outside, but the outside is in the garage, away from prying eyes. Later I added add-on locks to the other two doors which you cannot tell are smart from the outside.

Your concerns are valid, but let me flip the coin and say that its nice having our "goodnight" scene set to make sure the doors are locked. No need to check them before bed or when leaving home, if one of them was unlocked and forgotten, it will lock on its own. We've also enjoyed leaving for various events in a ride-share car or with friends and not having to take keys. Walk out the front door and tell Siri to lock it, when returning, tell her to unlock it.

If you like smart lights, you'll love smart locks. I'm less concerned about someone breaking into our home via our smart lock than them breaking into the home via almost any other method. All of our entry doors have glass, they could break the glass a lot easier than somehow hacking my smart lock.

thanks for this) really liking the idea of the goodnight scene + locks)

yea, like i said, i'm sure this idea is well thought through, otherwise so many people wouldn't be using it
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For many people it's actually more secure since I can set it to auto-lock after anywhere from 1 to 30 minutes. I never manually lock my door anymore, it does it for me.

yea, i get the advantage of that. i'll probably try it one of these days. if i can convince my wife...

 

[anastasis]

I just purchased a new build that included a Kevo that is just awful so I am likely going to replace it with this.

 

[44267547]

Given how easy it is for thieves to steal a car by basically cloning the keyless entry fob, I agree.
It'd also be interesting to know how many home insurance policies a device like this would invalidate, I am absolutely certain it would mine. The types of lock that are acceptable are specified within the policy.

You bring up a good point about home insurance policies on something like this, but how many homeowners would actually even get their insurance companies involve them directly? You’d have to have it notated on your account somehow that you installed a specific device like this for your home.

{Lastly, It’s not that easy to clone a key fob, you need specific implementation from tools and code-access to do that, I worked directly with a dealership on cloning keys, and ways to make tighter restrictions on that very matter.}

 

[Derekeys]

I've had the August Pro for 4 years. Number one issue without a doubt is people leaving my house and having no clue what to do. I like being able to use it for not carrying keys and HomeKit is nice. BUT, I cannot tell you how many times over the years that people just look at me and there's a small sense of embarrassment that your geeky lock is keeping them from leaving the house. Inevitably I have to walk over and turn it. It is not intuitive.

Then August came out with one that looks like a normal deadbolt, I am excited to get that one eventually. It's intuitive and people know what to do with it when they see it.

The circle just doesn't work well in the day to day.

That's been my experience, I would not get it again for mere functional issues.

 

[name99]

Does anyone have any experience with these sort of locks? How long does 2 CR123 batteries last? A month, a year, multiple years? Then what happens if the batteries die, can I still lock the door from the inside? There's a lot in information lacking on their website, especially if they're trying to sell a lock 5x the cost of a generic one from HomeDepot.

From the referenced web page:
"Intuitive design attaches right to the existing lock on the inside of your door - ***so you can continue to use your existing keys***"

There is a lot of crap in the IoT. That doesn't mean that you have to assume EVERY SINGLE DEVICE is crap.
HomeKit smart locks, in particular, have tended to be very well engineered from the beginning. The Apple certification demands a certain level of quality, while the fact that the lock makers know they will be sued into oblivion for obvious dumb errors adds a helpful second level of quality control...

 

[alexandr]

Given how easy it is for thieves to steal a car by basically cloning the keyless entry fob, I agree.
It'd also be interesting to know how many home insurance policies a device like this would invalidate, I am absolutely certain it would mine. The types of lock that are acceptable are specified within the policy.

very interesting points! yea, my fears are close to what your saying about the fob...

 

[name99]

Solution looking for a problem, in my honest opinion. Might be useful for those who are physically less able, but I see nothing wrong with a well-looked after key and modern lock.

Great. You live you life and I'll live mine.

 

[Vjosullivan]

...for the most part they work well...

I do love an oxymoron.

 

[spazzcat]

i must be old-fashioned or paranoid, but i don't trust these "smart" locks. smart lights i'm ok with, maybe a smart ac, but the idea of a smart lock seems just too vulnerable to me.

They are safer then normal locks, well some are, August and few others can tell if someone is tampering with them and can sound an alarm.
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i've had august for a few years now. a regular key is way faster and more convenient. the only good use for this is that it locks the door behind you. also it eats batteries fast.

First-gen sucks at battery life, the newer ones are much better and can auto-unlock when you get home, so the key isn't faster.