CES 2017: August Unveils Smart Lock Mortise Kit and Integration With Logitech POP Switch

[MacRumors]

At CES today, smart lock maker August announced the newest addition to its home security line, called the August Smart Lock Mortise Kit. The company called the new product the first solution in North America that converts mortise style door locks into smart locks. Mortise locks are typical in multi-unit apartment buildings and integrate the locking bolt functionality directly into a door's handle.

With the new kit, August said that building managers can install smart locks in their properties and control access to the building, as well as individual units, all from the connected August smartphone app. The August Smart Lock is installed on the inside of the door, so all of the fixtures remain unchanged on the outward-facing side, and users can still use a traditional keyed entry if they desire.

August has given the Mortise Kit to some property owners in a beta test:

"We've been Beta testing the August Smart Lock in our properties. We embrace innovation that serves our customers and the new mortise solution offers benefits for our apartment residents, and for us as the property owner," said Yat-Pang Au, CEO of Veritas Investments, owner operator of $2 billion in urban mixed use multi-family and retail property in San Francisco.

"Residents appreciate the control and improved home security August offers. As a property owner, the flexibility to offer residents shared-economy services including laundry pickup, cleaning and grocery delivery is a great benefit too."

Additionally, August announced a partnership with Logitech's POP home switch system. With the collaboration, users can create home automation recipes through a POP switch without having to interact with any connected smartphone apps after the initial set-up process. For example, a switch next to your bedside table can send a signal to an August lock, and lock up your house when tapped at night. Logitech sells the POP switch on Amazon at $99.99 for the starter pack of two switches and one bridge, while additional switches can be added on at $39.99.

For those interested in the August Smart Lock Mortise Kit, which encompasses a mounting plate and adapter, the company mentioned that it will be available for certified locksmiths, property developers and managers for $100. That'll be added on top of the base price of the August Smart Lock, which costs $229 and was last updated with HomeKit and a new design in April 2016.

Article Link: CES 2017: August Unveils Smart Lock Mortise Kit and Integration With Logitech POP Switch

 

[2457282]

I have electronic keypad style deadbolts on most of my exterior doors. When I started an Airbnb, we looked at switching to august and other wifi enabled locks to quickly change the combo after a renter leaves. However the overwhelming majority of people running Airbnbs reported significant reliability issues. So I stuck with the electronic keypad.

I do hope this segment of IoT matures quickly, because this is something that has real potential in situations like mine. In addition to reliability, i would also be concerned about ensuring that the system would be extremely hard to hack.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I have electronic keypad style deadbolts on most of my exterior doors. When I started an Airbnb, we looked at switching to august and other wifi enabled locks to quickly change the combo after a renter leaves. However the overwhelming majority of people running Airbnbs reported significant reliability issues. So I stuck with the electronic keypad.

I do hope this segment of IoT matures quickly, because this is something that has real potential in situations like mine. In addition to reliability, i would also be concerned about ensuring that the system would be extremely hard to hack.

Yeah, I like mine overall but they have some issues, I wouldn't rely on August in a commercial setting.

 

[Fall Under Cerulean Kites]

Not a fan of the August format of needing either a key or a phone with you. A phone is still a key. I prefer my Schlage lock, whereby I can use a key, phone, OR manually type in a PIN.

Unfortunately though, all of these locks are still ugly. August is just ugly on the inside. There’s just too much bulk. It will be nice when the electronics can be shrunk down significantly, or even housed completely within the door prep.

 

[Fiestaman]

They should focus on making a smart lock that isn't complete garbage first. I have my August Connect with perfect line of sight from the top of the Connect to the lock at a distance of no more than 8 feet which is much better on all fronts than they ask for, but I still get continuous poor BLE signal. And the keypad? I'm lucky if it works 1/4 of the time. I've even had a new lock, keypad, and Connect sent to me and continue to have the same troubles. When it works, it's great, but it's much too frequently not working. My other two smart locks? Work perfectly. Not only that, but August refuses to work with the SmartThings community so they're shunned there. This thing is utter garbage and wasn't worth the $119 I paid when Amazon had it on sale. Still might return everything before the end of the month. Maybe it will work itself out. Haven't had this much trouble with any of my other 85ish smart devices.
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Not a fan of the August format of needing either a key or a phone with you. A phone is still a key. I prefer my Schlage lock, whereby I can use a key, phone, OR manually type in a PIN.

Unfortunately though, all of these locks are still ugly. August is just ugly on the inside. There’s just too much bulk. It will be nice when the electronics can be shrunk down significantly, or even housed completely within the door prep.

You can already get that depending on what you're looking for. If you don't care about any of the other features like alarm or not having to change hardware then there are several choices. In fact, Schlage makes locks that are more minimal, but don't have any connectivity. I also prefer my Schlage Connect due to it's superiority in protection on multiple fronts and it just plain works. Plus the custom device handler for SmartThings I use is awesome. Was definitely worth the $135!

 

[Alexlfm]

I have electronic keypad style deadbolts on most of my exterior doors. When I started an Airbnb, we looked at switching to august and other wifi enabled locks to quickly change the combo after a renter leaves. However the overwhelming majority of people running Airbnbs reported significant reliability issues. So I stuck with the electronic keypad.

I do hope this segment of IoT matures quickly, because this is something that has real potential in situations like mine. In addition to reliability, i would also be concerned about ensuring that the system would be extremely hard to hack.

Why not just use one of the current Z-Wave locks? You already have this functionality, plus the old fashioned key/code backups. I have a schlage touchscreen deadbolt and with my Wink system I can add/remove/change codes lock/unlock the door, see current status and past history as well as more from anywhere in the world. On top of that, running on the hub locally, it automatically locks the door when it's closed, turns on/off the garage lights when it's unlocked/locked, etc.

I've found the current Schlage lock to be extremely reliable with the Wink system, and when it does fail it's generally just something like failing to automatically lock when the door closes and not it failing to lock or unlock (for this I just added a check to lock the door again after it's been closed for 1 min).

 

[2457282]

Why not just use one of the current Z-Wave locks? You already have this functionality, plus the old fashioned key/code backups. I have a schlage touchscreen deadbolt and with my Wink system I can add/remove/change codes lock/unlock the door, see current status and past history as well as more from anywhere in the world. On top of that, running on the hub locally, it automatically locks the door when it's closed, turns on/off the garage lights when it's unlocked/locked, etc.

I've found the current Schlage lock to be extremely reliable with the Wink system, and when it does fail it's generally just something like failing to automatically lock when the door closes and not it failing to lock or unlock (for this I just added a check to lock the door again after it's been closed for 1 min).

I have been eying the wink system. So with your testimonial, I might just jump on that. I was really hoping that HomeKit would be the integration hub, but wink seems to be further ahead.

 

[44267547]

Not a fan of the August format of needing either a key or a phone with you. A phone is still a key. I prefer my Schlage lock, whereby I can use a key, phone, OR manually type in a PIN.

Unfortunately though, all of these locks are still ugly. August is just ugly on the inside. There’s just too much bulk. It will be nice when the electronics can be shrunk down significantly, or even housed completely within the door prep.

Schlage locks are not the most aesthetically looking, but they certainly are some of the best made. At least for the current price tag.

 

[Alexlfm]

Schlage locks are not the most aesthetically looking, but they certainly are some of the best made. At least for the current price tag.

It's actually even worse for me, I had to mount it upside down and in the regular handle spot since I have an older house which has a storm door on the garage for some reason and the keypad area protrudes enough where the touchpad hits the storm door handle if I mounted it right side up. It looks absolutely ridiculous . Still, the lock is one of the best purchases I've ever made. I've had it since it came out (I think 3 years now) and I now pretty much never carry my keys when I go out for a run/exercise and during the winter, I often completely forget where I put my keys in my coat (or even if they're in my coat) since I have a push start car and card key for the office and always use the combo entry since it's just easier. The Wink integration that they added really makes this lock the only one to consider for me and its made me consider buying a second one for my main entry door as well.

I don't think I'd ever trust any of these new companies with something like a door lock. Schlage seems to take security both "the cyber" and physical seriously, as they should. They don't directly connect the lock over any vulnerable wifi/bluetooth, it requires the administrative code which is 6 digits to pair or un-pair it to a compatible Z-Wave hub, the lock uses the high quality schlage strike plate/anti-kick features and on top of that it has physical anti tamper and kick alarms/alerts. I don't understand why you would pay more for a worse product; Even if it is a little bit bulky it's a lock not a fashion item. To me it makes as much sense as buying a less secure alarm system just because the better one doesn't look as nice... What's the point of a security product that doesn't do security first?

 

[Alexlfm]

I have been eying the wink system. So with your testimonial, I might just jump on that. I was really hoping that HomeKit would be the integration hub, but wink seems to be further ahead.

I've tried HomeKit with my Ecobee3 and never had much success with it. It just didn't really do anything that impressed me (the fact that I don't have hey siri enabled and in general don't use it probably didn't help). I originally bought Wink because I had the schlage lock when Quirky went bust, right before the Techtronics announcement and the hub was on clearance at Meijer for $5.00 (no lie; man I love that place...). Figured what do I have to loose and if they went bust and shutdown; oh well. I now have a system with two touchscreen relay controllers ($70 each on clearance at Home Depot and 11% off eligible), 8 Z-Wave switches, 4 GE Link bulbs (once again HD clearance...) as well as a couple door sensors and motion sensors. Needless to say, I liked the system (although most everything is portable to any platform). Finally I recently caved and bought a Gen 2 hub (oh, and I have the Ecobee with it's sensors which integrate into the system for motion and temp as well). In total I probably have around $350-$400 into the system (not including the Ecobee) but it runs the entire house, and fantastically well. Over the past year and a half under techtronics Wink has HUGELY improved and gotten much more reliable. They have been adding tons of devices and are hinting at further large device support increases over the next year.

The gen 2 hub is extremely fast and reliable turning on the lights almost the instant I open the garage door, tap the button on my phone, or go down the stairs to the basement (where I have a motion sensor). The fact that it runs so much locally makes it the best hub on the market in my opinion. Also the Wink iPhone app works very well, has a comprehensive widget and a decent enough watch app although unfortunately it can only activate what they call shortcuts (I have one to open the garage and unlock the garage entry door). Sure Wink doesn't have as much customization or trigger complexity as SmartThings but it works, so there's that and Wink devices don't cost anything close to what I've seen with Home Kit devices.

On top of that I recently got an echo for Christmas and their plugin for Alexa is fantastic. I haven't tried Home Kit for anything other then the Ecobee but it seems just as good (on a side note, the Ecobee Alexa plugin skill blows major so I'm fairly confident the fact that Alexa works well with my Wink devices is due to Wink, not Amazon). You do have to manually set up groups which is a minus (it doesn't auto import them from the Wink app), but once that's done you don't have to use exact names and I can just say things like turn the lamp to low and it works perfect.

If you do go for the Wink (which would be my recommendation since it runs locally and has quite wide device support) make sure you get the Gen 2 and buy it locally from Home Depot if possible so that you can get the 11% rebate on it. If you buy it during a time when Menards is running their 11% off sale (they are doing the 15% off bag thing this week but it probably will be back in the next week or two since they generally do it every other week) you should be able to get the Home Depot 11% gift card match offer on it (I got it back on the Wink Relays I bought so I don't see why it wouldn't extend to the hub as well, though their whole 11% rebate is rather vague and hidden). The 11% is only for in store purchases though, not online.