CES 2020: August Debuts Smaller and Sleeker Wi-Fi Smart Lock With HomeKit Support and No Bridge Required

[Coffee50]

Smart lock? Locking at that picture a dumb criminal can just smash the glass, put his hand in, turn the “smart lock” and they are in. Can’t do that with a deadlock!

That isn't specifically limited (or the fault of) the smart lock. The August lock attaches to your existing deadbolt. If the smart lock wasn't on there....a criminal could still smash the window, put his hand in, turn the "non smart lock" and they are in. That door would have exactly the same vulnerability without the August lock because it's still a deadbolt with a window next to it.

The August lock (and pretty much all smart locks) don't offer any more & less protecting than the lock they are replacing. What it does do is give the resident more control & options in terms of locking & unlocking & who enters (as well as not worrying about physical keys).

I like knowing every time my door is opened & closed (and assigning digital keys is so much better). Even if the "above thief" opened your door....you'd at least get a notification that your door was just unlocked.

 

[RecentlyConverted]

That isn't specifically limited (or the fault of) the smart lock. The August lock attaches to your existing deadbolt. If the smart lock wasn't on there....a criminal could still smash the window, put his hand in, turn the "non smart lock" and they are in.

The August lock (and pretty much all smart locks) don't offer any more & less protecting than the lock they are replacing. What it does do is give the resident more control in terms of locking & unlocking (as well as not worrying about physical keys).

I like knowing every time my door is opened & closed (and assigning digital keys is so much better). Even if the "above thief" opened your door....you'd at least get a notification that your door was just unlocked.

It’s a US / Europe thing. In Europe a deadbolt needs a key to unlock both sides (some exceptions). For ultimate security key both side is best, but I believe in US that’s not allowed.

 

[cmaier]

It’s a US / Europe thing. In Europe a deadbolt needs a key to unlock both sides (some exceptions). For ultimate security key both side is best, but I believe in US that’s not allowed.

That sounds incredibly stupid. What if there’s a fire? You can’t get out without a key?

 

[canman4PM]

It’s a US / Europe thing. In Europe a deadbolt needs a key to unlock both sides (some exceptions). For ultimate security key both side is best, but I believe in US that’s not allowed.

Canada doesn’t allow an inside keyed deadbolt either. It’s against building codes. If you don’t have the key and there’s a fire, you cannot easily exit the building.

As for breaking the glass to get in, that is easily prevented by applying a security film to the glass making difficult or impossible to break in by breaking the glass.

 

[spazzcat]

Smart lock? Locking at that picture a dumb criminal can just smash the glass, put his hand in, turn the “smart lock” and they are in. Can’t do that with a deadlock!

All locks are there to keep honest people out, if someone wants in your house, they are getting in...

 

[jparchem]

As others below have said -- you are incorrect.

"In order to connect to any August Smart Lock remotely, a Wi-Fi bridge such as Connect or Doorbell Cam is needed" (source)

You can unlock the door via Homekit w/o a bridge if you have a later model of Apple TV that is within bluetooth range of the lock.

 

[camarograna2]

Yet another lock that connects to homekit via bluetooth 4.2. For those of us with bigger houses this is another lock that ultimately would get returned because of connectivity issues. Yawn let me know when someone brings one that can connect to homekit with bluetooth 5.0.
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Smart lock? Locking at that picture a dumb criminal can just smash the glass, put his hand in, turn the “smart lock” and they are in. Can’t do that with a deadlock!

hate to break it to you but on all the new house builds i have visited no one has a double keyed deadbolt. You bring up excellent point though why would someone with a glass door not choose to install a double keyed deadbolt

 

[DeanL]

So much misinformation in this thread. I have two August Smart Lock Pros in my house. One Apple TV is all I’m using as a bridge for both locks. And I can use the August app remotely.
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Lmao August states "*Remote access feature requires a Connect Wi-Fi Bridge " on their own website.
Maybe you bough the August Pro that comes with the Connect Bridge?
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You can unlock the door via Homekit w/o a bridge if you have a later model of Apple TV that is within bluetooth range of the lock.

Yes, but that's not through the August App, that's through the Home App. That's what we're talking about.
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https://support.august.com/how-do-i-access-my-lock-remotely-BJlVv8JCOM

If that's true, then their own support doc is very misleading. Either way, the hub is needed if you want to use the keypad and enable guest users and key codes, etc. So it's nice that the new lock has wifi built-in for this functionality.

People on this thread are confusing two things:
- A HomeKit Hub (e.g. Apple TV, HomePod, iPad)
- August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge

The HomeKit Hub only processes requests sent through the Home app.
August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge only talks remotely to requests sent through the August App
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Don’t know about that. When someone bumped our bridge out of its socket, HomeKit couldn’t see the lock any longer. I have both an AppleTV 4K, a couple of iPads and a couple of iPhones operating in the house. So their presence alone wasn’t enough. As soon as the bridge was plugged back in, the lock appeared again.

https://august.com/pages/how-it-works
The Connect Bridge is not required for HomeKit.

 

[camarograna2]

Lmao August states "*Remote access feature requires a Connect Wi-Fi Bridge " on their own website.
Maybe you bough the August Pro that comes with the Connect Bridge?
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Yes, but that's not through the August App, that's through the Home App. That's what we're talking about.
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People on this thread are confusing two things:
- A HomeKit Hub (e.g. Apple TV, HomePod, iPad)
- August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge

The HomeKit Hub only processes requests sent through the Home app.
August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge only talks remotely to requests sent through the August App
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https://august.com/pages/how-it-works
The Connect Bridge is not required for HomeKit.

one would think since this is a site related to apple that they would care purely about homekit

 

[RecentlyConverted]

All locks are there to keep honest people out, if someone wants in your house, they are getting in...

You are right there. A good friend of mine fitted a proper wired burglar alarm for me. When finished I felt quite secure, until he pointed out how burglars got round each device. Turned out he knew people who “go shopping at night”.

I wonder if there are any smart locks that meet all EU countries insurance company requirements?

 

[Kabeyun]

Interested to know the low temperature tolerances of this lock. Subfreezing temps have plagued smart locks in the past.

 

[kingtj]

Yeah, I've owned two of the original August smart locks with HomeKit support for well over a year now. I wound up buying a used AppleTV to put in my garage on my wi-fi network JUST so the lock on the door out there could communicate with it via Bluetooth reliably.

I did try that August bridge device but returned it to the store after 2 days of fiddling with it, because the thing simply had too weak of signal strength. It literally had to be placed within a foot or so of the Smart lock to communicate well with it. In my situation, that meant some nonsense installation where it hung down from the door frame on an extension cord.

I'd welcome a version that #1, worked over wi-fi instead of Bluetooth, but #2 had better battery life as well. I find that these locks go through sets of 4 AA batteries at a time, every 1-2 months, depending on how much the door gets used. Granted, I can buy a big pack of AA alkaline batteries pretty cheap on sale at places like Lowe's or Home Depot when they do sales on them. But it's inconvenient and can negate all the supposed convenience of the product if the battery is too low to open the door for you when you try to use it to get in.

The other problem I run into is that doors tend to settle a bit in their frames as it gets hot or old outside. And these smart locks just don't have enough torque to force a dead-bolt into the fully locked position when the door isn't quite lined up perfectly. I've messed around with the striker position and hollowing out a bit more wood where the bolt slides into the frame, in attempts to resolve it when it happened to us here. But eventually, the problem always comes back. With my outside garage entry door, you often have to pull a bit on the knob at the same time you turn a key in the deadbolt, and the smart lock has no way to do anything equivalent on its own.....

 

[WilliamG]

Lmao August states "*Remote access feature requires a Connect Wi-Fi Bridge " on their own website.
Maybe you bough the August Pro that comes with the Connect Bridge?
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Yes, but that's not through the August App, that's through the Home App. That's what we're talking about.
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People on this thread are confusing two things:
- A HomeKit Hub (e.g. Apple TV, HomePod, iPad)
- August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge

The HomeKit Hub only processes requests sent through the Home app.
August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge only talks remotely to requests sent through the August App
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https://august.com/pages/how-it-works
The Connect Bridge is not required for HomeKit.

The Connect Bridge is NOT required for either HomeKit OR August app support. An Apple TV works perfectly in its place.

So again, remote access for any number of locks means having one Apple TV 3 or later to do the trick.
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Yeah, I've owned two of the original August smart locks with HomeKit support for well over a year now. I wound up buying a used AppleTV to put in my garage on my wi-fi network JUST so the lock on the door out there could communicate with it via Bluetooth reliably.

I did try that August bridge device but returned it to the store after 2 days of fiddling with it, because the thing simply had too weak of signal strength. It literally had to be placed within a foot or so of the Smart lock to communicate well with it. In my situation, that meant some nonsense installation where it hung down from the door frame on an extension cord.

I'd welcome a version that #1, worked over wi-fi instead of Bluetooth, but #2 had better battery life as well. I find that these locks go through sets of 4 AA batteries at a time, every 1-2 months, depending on how much the door gets used. Granted, I can buy a big pack of AA alkaline batteries pretty cheap on sale at places like Lowe's or Home Depot when they do sales on them. But it's inconvenient and can negate all the supposed convenience of the product if the battery is too low to open the door for you when you try to use it to get in.

The other problem I run into is that doors tend to settle a bit in their frames as it gets hot or old outside. And these smart locks just don't have enough torque to force a dead-bolt into the fully locked position when the door isn't quite lined up perfectly. I've messed around with the striker position and hollowing out a bit more wood where the bolt slides into the frame, in attempts to resolve it when it happened to us here. But eventually, the problem always comes back. With my outside garage entry door, you often have to pull a bit on the knob at the same time you turn a key in the deadbolt, and the smart lock has no way to do anything equivalent on its own.....

Couple of things. If your door frame isn’t square so that the lock can’t easily move into position, then yes these locks will be useless. Second, the latest gen Smart Lock Pro battery life is leagues ahead of the earlier iterations. I’m going over a year currently on my Smart Lock Pros (one for front and one for back door). I would get 3-4 months on the previous generation, and even less than that on the first gen.

 

[Beerstalker]

It’s a US / Europe thing. In Europe a deadbolt needs a key to unlock both sides (some exceptions). For ultimate security key both side is best, but I believe in US that’s not allowed.

Double cylinder deadbolts are allowed in the US, otherwise stores like Home Depot wouldn't sell them.

I believe some local ordinances might not allow them on multiple dwelling units like apartments, etc, but most of them don't have windows on or next to the doors anyway so it isn't as big of a concern.

That sounds incredibly stupid. What if there’s a fire? You can’t get out without a key?

I had double cylinder deadbolts on both exterior doors at my old house because both of them had large windows. When we were home I would leave the key in them and they would act like a standard deadbolt, most of the time we didn't even bother locking the deadbolt while we were home though, just locked the doorknob. I would remove the keys when nobody was home. I figured that way I didn't need to worry about not being able to get out if there was a fire, and if someone tried breaking in while I was home it was likely our dog or one of us would hear it. When we weren't home there was no reason to worry about being able to get out quickly and I had a bit more security in the lock.

Couple of things. If your door frame isn’t square so that the lock can’t easily move into position, then yes these locks will be useless. Second, the latest gen Smart Lock Pro battery life is leagues ahead of the earlier iterations. I’m going over a year currently on my Smart Lock Pros (one for front and one for back door). I would get 3-4 months on the previous generation, and even less than that on the first gen.

The door frame doesn't even have to be out of square. Many new doors with good seals have to be pushed closed in order to get the deadbolt to lock. I've never understood why they haven't started tapering the end of the bolts so they can pull the door closed on the seals themselves.

 

[Coffee50]

Interested to know the low temperature tolerances of this lock. Subfreezing temps have plagued smart locks in the past.

The August lock only goes on the inside of the door, so it's never exposed (long term) to the outside elements. Granted, being apart of the door, there may still be some temp issues (the expansion of the door frame with heat / cold), but overall because it's on the inside, it avoids alot of the issues that keyless smart locks on the outside might deal with.

 

[DeanL]

The Connect Bridge is NOT required for either HomeKit OR August app support. An Apple TV works perfectly in its place.

So again, remote access for any number of locks means having one Apple TV 3 or later to do the trick.
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*Sigh* Re-read my comment.

The Connect Bridge is only required for REMOTE AUGUST APP. That's clear in my comment. I've never said otherwise.

The HomeKit Hub only processes requests sent through the Home app.
August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge only talks remotely to requests sent through the August App

 

[WilliamG]

*Sigh* Re-read my comment.

The Connect Bridge is only required for REMOTE AUGUST APP. That's clear in my comment. I've never said otherwise.

But that’s not true. It’s not “required” if you have an Apple TV.

 

[cmaier]

But that’s not true. It’s not “required” if you have an Apple TV.

Based on my own augusts, you’re both right. If you want to use the “remote” function in the August app, you do need it.

if you are willing to use homekit for remote access, you can get by with any homekit hub (e.g. Apple TV).

 

[DeanL]

But that’s not true. It’s not “required” if you have an Apple TV.

I just unplugged my Connect Bridge, turned off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on my phone to simulate being remote, and the August App was not able communicate with the lock while the Home app could.
The Connect Bridge is required to use the August App remotely.

 

[sirozha]

What is the battery life and communication reliability? I have a Schlage lock and the battery lifetime is pathetic. Moreover, reliability is a big problem. Lock often cannot be unlocked when I ask it to.

I have two Schlage Sense locks. Both work perfectly with HomeKit 100% of the time. They are proxied to HomeKit by my Apple TV 4. The batteries lasted a little over a year in both of them.

 

[WilliamG]

I just unplugged my Connect Bridge, turned off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on my phone to simulate being remote, and the August App was not able communicate with the lock while the Home app could.
The Connect Bridge is required to use the August App remotely.

Again, this is not true. With my two August Smart Lock Pros, with both BT and Wi-Fi off (I don’t own any August Connects), I’m able to use the August app without any issue.
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Based on my own augusts, you’re both right. If you want to use the “remote” function in the August app, you do need it.

if you are willing to use homekit for remote access, you can get by with any homekit hub (e.g. Apple TV).

Nope. See above. There’s clearly some other configuration issue at play. I’ve had all the August Smart locks and have never owned the Connects, and with my Apple TV as a hub I can use the August app without issue while away from home.

 

[jparchem]

I just unplugged my Connect Bridge, turned off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on my phone to simulate being remote, and the August App was not able communicate with the lock while the Home app could.
The Connect Bridge is required to use the August App remotely.

I have the August Lock Pro. I disabled both my Bluetooth and WiFi. Via the August app, I was able to unlock the door. I have never used the bridge. I wonder if somehow the August app is sending the commands thru HomeKit as a fallback or something if it sees it present there. Just pure conjecture on my part.

 

[cmaier]

Again, this is not true. With my two August Smart Lock Pros, with both BT and Wi-Fi off (I don’t own any August Connects), I’m able to use the August app without any issue.
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Nope. See above. There’s clearly some other configuration issue at play. I’ve had all the August Smart locks and have never owned the Connects, and with my Apple TV as a hub I can use the August app without issue while away from home.

while away from home you cannot use the August app to lock, unlock, or see door status unless you have a connect. That’s the entire purpose of the connect.

 

[deeddawg]

It’s a US / Europe thing. In Europe a deadbolt needs a key to unlock both sides (some exceptions). For ultimate security key both side is best, but I believe in US that’s not allowed.

You can buy double-keyed deadbolts off the shelf here in the US. You can also buy single-keyed deadbolts off the shelf. Choose which you want for your application. Use a single-key if there's not a window in reach, use a double-keyed if there is.

... but be smart about it. We keep a key in the egress deadbolt when we're home, and especially overnight, so the function is same as a single-keyed. When we're not home, we move the key out of reach of the door.

 

[cmaier]

You can buy double-keyed deadbolts off the shelf here in the US. You can also buy single-keyed deadbolts off the shelf. Choose which you want for your application. Use a single-key if there's not a window in reach, use a double-keyed if there is.

... but be smart about it. We keep a key in the egress deadbolt when we're home, and especially overnight, so the function is same as a single-keyed. When we're not home, we move the key out of reach of the door.

In most of the U.S., building codes say something along the lines of "Egress doors shall be readily openable from inside the dwelling without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort."

Because, you know, fires.