Schlage Sense HomeKit-Enabled Smart Deadbolt Now Available for Pre-Order

[arijaycomet]

They're here! They finally shipped me the darn locks... so I got a chance to install. Full blog post:
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/11/03/quick-look-schlage-sense-smart-deadbolt-with-apple-homekit/

TL;DR
Works great. But like most HomeKit devices that run on Bluetooth, even with my new Apple TV 4, reliability of connection is not grand. Still, when your'e within BT range you can bark at your Apple Watch to unlock the door and with minimal latency, it works! I'm impressed! Not a cheap piece of kit, but if you're looking to go smart and you're on this site, chances are you want to stay with Apple. And overall I think the Schlage stuff is the best HomeKit lock option right now!

 

[OCDMacGeek]

They're here! They finally shipped me the darn locks... so I got a chance to install. Full blog post:
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/11/03/quick-look-schlage-sense-smart-deadbolt-with-apple-homekit/

TL;DR
Works great. But like most HomeKit devices that run on Bluetooth, even with my new Apple TV 4, reliability of connection is not grand. Still, when your'e within BT range you can bark at your Apple Watch to unlock the door and with minimal latency, it works! I'm impressed! Not a cheap piece of kit, but if you're looking to go smart and you're on this site, chances are you want to stay with Apple. And overall I think the Schlage stuff is the best HomeKit lock option right now!

Nice post! The range of the Bluetooth is definitely a concern for me. I now have a new Apple TV 4th Generation -- does that version even work the same as the 3rd generation for HomeKit?

 

[sammyman]

Nice post! The range of the Bluetooth is definitely a concern for me. I now have a new Apple TV 4th Generation -- does that version even work the same as the 3rd generation for HomeKit?

4th and 3rd Gen Apple TV's work with the lock, but not very well. I find the lock works remotely about 75% of the time in the first couple days of using it.

http://www.amazon.com/review/RFXWNVTA7N10W/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00YUPDUYE

 

[arijaycomet]

Nice post! The range of the Bluetooth is definitely a concern for me. I now have a new Apple TV 4th Generation -- does that version even work the same as the 3rd generation for HomeKit?

I'm going to disagree with sammyman here and say that the ATV-4 works PERFECTLY! When I am away from home, and use Siri for voice commands, things work perfectly in certain circumstances. For example, my wifi devices (Lutron, Philips Hue, etc) that are HomeKit compatible, work 99.9% of the time with the ATV-4, whereas they worked 0% of the time with my ATV-3.

However, where sammyman is correct is that the Bluetooth devices work less frequently. However, I have a split level home (actually, a trilevel). And my ATV-4 is located in the corner of the lowest level. This puts it VERY far away from my Elgato Eve hardware (I have the Room, Weather, and Door/Window-- all three, and all are Bluetooth). I also have TWO Bluetooth Schlage Sense door locks. The one that is nearest tot he ATV-4 works 50% of the time or more-- but the other hardware, which is just at the edge of BT range, work less solidly.

I talk a little bit about this in my blog post-- but will be addressing it even more in detail in my next blog post which I'm working on now and should be live in the next few weeks. (My next blog entry will compare HomeKit to devices like SmartThings, Wink, and even Amazon Echo for voice control). Ciao!

 

[shamus99]

schlage recommends less than 40 ft from apple tv in order to work remotely.

 

[OCDMacGeek]

I'm going to disagree with sammyman here and say that the ATV-4 works PERFECTLY! When I am away from home, and use Siri for voice commands, things work perfectly in certain circumstances. For example, my wifi devices (Lutron, Philips Hue, etc) that are HomeKit compatible, work 99.9% of the time with the ATV-4, whereas they worked 0% of the time with my ATV-3.

However, where sammyman is correct is that the Bluetooth devices work less frequently. However, I have a split level home (actually, a trilevel). And my ATV-4 is located in the corner of the lowest level. This puts it VERY far away from my Elgato Eve hardware (I have the Room, Weather, and Door/Window-- all three, and all are Bluetooth). I also have TWO Bluetooth Schlage Sense door locks. The one that is nearest tot he ATV-4 works 50% of the time or more-- but the other hardware, which is just at the edge of BT range, work less solidly.

I talk a little bit about this in my blog post-- but will be addressing it even more in detail in my next blog post which I'm working on now and should be live in the next few weeks. (My next blog entry will compare HomeKit to devices like SmartThings, Wink, and even Amazon Echo for voice control). Ciao!

One of the things stopping me is far more mundane: I have Kwikset locks and I think it will be a pain to get new keys! In my research it doesn't seem possible to put a Kwikset cylinder in a Schlage lock.

 

[arijaycomet]

OCDMacGeek - you are probably correct. I can't speak from experience, but I remember reading the same data. You'd need to switch to Schlage keys for your Schlage locking doors. Frankly I am much a fan of Schlage, so I would migrate over to them entirely. That is my two cents... but yes, a hassle/cost involved. But once you're using their hardware, you are solid. I was able to swap the cylinders form my old Schlage locks into these, myself (no hardware store visit needed) which means my existing keys still work. Brand loyalty pays off, I suppose.

shamus99- that sounds true, 40 feet. However, in the case of my side door and my Apple TV 4, I'm maybe 25 feet away (and one internal wall of drywall) and it can still be flaky about 30-40% of the time, sadly.

 

[Zorn]

They're here! They finally shipped me the darn locks... so I got a chance to install. Full blog post:
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/11/03/quick-look-schlage-sense-smart-deadbolt-with-apple-homekit/

TL;DR
Works great. But like most HomeKit devices that run on Bluetooth, even with my new Apple TV 4, reliability of connection is not grand. Still, when your'e within BT range you can bark at your Apple Watch to unlock the door and with minimal latency, it works! I'm impressed! Not a cheap piece of kit, but if you're looking to go smart and you're on this site, chances are you want to stay with Apple. And overall I think the Schlage stuff is the best HomeKit lock option right now!

The August uses Bluetooth and geofencing to automatically unlock the door when you get close. Does Schlage Sense offer this option too? Or do you always have to manually mess with the phone to unlock the door?

 

[arijaycomet]

The August uses Bluetooth and geofencing to automatically unlock the door when you get close. Does Schlage Sense offer this option too? Or do you always have to manually mess with the phone to unlock the door?

Right now the Schlage Sense doesn't show any geofencing built into the app that I see. It also uses Bluetooth, so it would be pretty easy to allow a similar method for opening the door.

Keep in mind that HomeKit allows triggers and conditions too. For example, I already have certain lights turn on when I arrive home. I'm able to do this all within the framework of HomeKit. And I don't even have to be on my home wifi or within Bluetooth range as my Apple TV handles the commands for me. It would be very easy to add my door locks too, but I don't enter through my door but rather my garage with my car most times. So this is better than August, though their new HomeKit version will work the same soon anyhow.

 

[Zorn]

Right now the Schlage Sense doesn't show any geofencing built into the app that I see. It also uses Bluetooth, so it would be pretty easy to allow a similar method for opening the door.

Keep in mind that HomeKit allows triggers and conditions too. For example, I already have certain lights turn on when I arrive home. I'm able to do this all within the framework of HomeKit. And I don't even have to be on my home wifi or within Bluetooth range as my Apple TV handles the commands for me. It would be very easy to add my door locks too, but I don't enter through my door but rather my garage with my car most times. So this is better than August, though their new HomeKit version will work the same soon anyhow.

How can you do this? I have Hue lights and have always had to set up the lights to come on via the Philips app. Is there another way?

Edit: I do have the HomeKit bridge for the Hue.

 

[arijaycomet]

How can you do this? I have Hue lights and have always had to set up the lights to come on via the Philips app. Is there another way?

Edit: I do have the HomeKit bridge for the Hue.

Make sure you have the new "square" shape bridge, like this:
http://amzn.to/20x8Wft

You MUST have that new bridge. And it must be setup for HomeKit. Follow Hue's instructions for getting your NEW Hue bridge setup for HomeKit, here:
http://www2.meethue.com/media/2110752/HowTo_SetupSiri.pdf

You need to add it to HomeKit with the code. You can go into Settings -> Siri to make adjustments there. You need to give each bulb a unique name. And from there, you should be able to simply use Siri to control things. For example, I have mine work so that i can say "Siri, turn off the Laundry Room Bulb" (That is what i named the bulb in my laundry room-- "laundry room bulb")...

Does this help? Let me know if you have further questions that you can answer from the data/links above.

 

[Zorn]

Make sure you have the new "square" shape bridge, like this:
http://amzn.to/20x8Wft

You MUST have that new bridge. And it must be setup for HomeKit. Follow Hue's instructions for getting your NEW Hue bridge setup for HomeKit, here:
http://www2.meethue.com/media/2110752/HowTo_SetupSiri.pdf

You need to add it to HomeKit with the code. You can go into Settings -> Siri to make adjustments there. You need to give each bulb a unique name. And from there, you should be able to simply use Siri to control things. For example, I have mine work so that i can say "Siri, turn off the Laundry Room Bulb" (That is what i named the bulb in my laundry room-- "laundry room bulb")...

Does this help? Let me know if you have further questions that you can answer from the data/links above.

Yeah I have everything set up for HomeKit, and Siri can turn things on or off. But as far as setting it up to do this automatically when I arrive - for that I have always needed to use the geofencing feature of the Hue app.

 

[arijaycomet]

Yeah I have everything set up for HomeKit, and Siri can turn things on or off. But as far as setting it up to do this automatically when I arrive - for that I have always needed to use the geofencing feature of the Hue app.

Ahh sorry I didn't understand your question, originally. Now I see what you mean. So it turns out that this feature is part of iOS 9 and your phone can control it-- but most apps out there haven't added this feature yet. Actually, that is a huge short coming of MOST of these apps. Lutron Caseta, Philips Hue, and iHome are just a few people who have devices that work with HomeKit, but their apps do NOT control anything else except their own hardware. Alternatively, apps like Elgato Eve, and INSTEON+, all control pretty much ALL your devices. As far as free apps go, the Elgato Eve app is my favorite. You should download it (FREE), and see how nice it is to use that app to control ALL your HomeKit devices in a single app.

However, sadly, there is only one app on the market right now that I've found which uses iOS-9 "Trigger" capabilities. That app is called HOME. I did a review of it on my blog, with links directly to the app, here:
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/10/11/h...e-event-triggers-with-apple-homekit-in-ios-9/

With that app, you can create a "coming home" Scene (in HomeKit) (or sync the Hue scene you already have into HomeKit). Then, you create a trigger of geofencing. Essentially then your phone uses HomeKit built into iOS 9 to work. Keep in mind that if you have the trigger occur far enough outside of your home, it won't be on wifi, so you'll need an Apple TV to create that connection. That is one downside to how it all works.

For me, I have an ATV4, and geofencing setup in the HOME app, to run an "arriving home" scene when I get near my house. Even if that occurs during LTE, the signal gets sent to the cloud, down to the Apple TV, and it works great! Hope this helps... it is a bummer the HOME app is $15, so if you don't want to spend the money right now, hold tight-- rumor has it that Elgato is adding Trigger features to an app update in the coming months. And that hopefully would remain a free app, then.

 

[Zorn]

Ahh sorry I didn't understand your question, originally. Now I see what you mean. So it turns out that this feature is part of iOS 9 and your phone can control it-- but most apps out there haven't added this feature yet. Actually, that is a huge short coming of MOST of these apps. Lutron Caseta, Philips Hue, and iHome are just a few people who have devices that work with HomeKit, but their apps do NOT control anything else except their own hardware. Alternatively, apps like Elgato Eve, and INSTEON+, all control pretty much ALL your devices. As far as free apps go, the Elgato Eve app is my favorite. You should download it (FREE), and see how nice it is to use that app to control ALL your HomeKit devices in a single app.

However, sadly, there is only one app on the market right now that I've found which uses iOS-9 "Trigger" capabilities. That app is called HOME. I did a review of it on my blog, with links directly to the app, here:
http://arijaycomet.com/2015/10/11/h...e-event-triggers-with-apple-homekit-in-ios-9/

With that app, you can create a "coming home" Scene (in HomeKit) (or sync the Hue scene you already have into HomeKit). Then, you create a trigger of geofencing. Essentially then your phone uses HomeKit built into iOS 9 to work. Keep in mind that if you have the trigger occur far enough outside of your home, it won't be on wifi, so you'll need an Apple TV to create that connection. That is one downside to how it all works.

For me, I have an ATV4, and geofencing setup in the HOME app, to run an "arriving home" scene when I get near my house. Even if that occurs during LTE, the signal gets sent to the cloud, down to the Apple TV, and it works great! Hope this helps... it is a bummer the HOME app is $15, so if you don't want to spend the money right now, hold tight-- rumor has it that Elgato is adding Trigger features to an app update in the coming months. And that hopefully would remain a free app, then.

Coincidentally I did buy that Home app, because I had read about how good it is, but I haven't really been able to set it up since it seems really complicated. I'll have to play around with it some, didn't realize that it would enable geofencing functions for all HomeKit devices itself.

 

[arijaycomet]

Coincidentally I did buy that Home app, because I had read about how good it is, but I haven't really been able to set it up since it seems really complicated. I'll have to play around with it some, didn't realize that it would enable geofencing functions for all HomeKit devices itself.

Just be careful, as there are definitely still a lot of short-comings to what occurs inside of HomeKit. My blog, as I've linked to above a few times arijaycomet.com - is going to have a HUGE article/post about this, compared to other home automation systems, in a BIG comparative view coming soon. Some of the bullet-points to be aware of with HomeKit as you attempt to make things work...

#1 - Triggers
These are controlled by iOS. Meaning if you put your phone into airplane mode, or you have no data connection (3G, LTE, or wifi), they won't occur. This is important because you can have lights turn on/off at a set time with HomeKit, where the time of day is the trigger, but your phone is the device that makes the trigger occur. One "easy" way to fix this would be to keep an older iPod Touch at home, on the wifi, plugged into power, and logged into your iCloud. That would actually work great, but its a bit of a pain. So keep in mind, your phone is the trigger point-- so if it goes down, or is turned off or whatever, during a trigger time/event, it wont work.

#2 - Local vs Away
More to that point, I have a trigger for example right now where my Hue light strip turns on/off in sync with a Lutron light in my master bedroom. When I am local this works great. Part of this is because Lutron is sending the command locally, without issue. However, since Lutron isn't using HAP over the HomeKit Cloud (yet), if I am away, the command doesn't work. So the trigger in this case isn't time-based but characteristic-based, however again, an iOS device MUST be local to see this occur. This could be resolved by Lutron using HomeKit Cloud, but they aren't at this time. So if you want characteristics to control devices, you may have to be on the local wifi with your iOS device for them to work.

#3 - Apple TV
As noted above, you'll need an Apple TV to make this work. Easy way to test this is to turn off the wifi/bluetooth on your phone, so its on 3G/LTE, and ask Siri to turn on/off a light. (make sure you're able to first already turn that light on/off with siri when on wifi first, then test without wifi second). If indeed it works, your Apple TV w/HomeKit is working. I was never able to get my Apple TV 3 working with HomeKit, but my Apple TV 4 works perfectly. So again, your results may vary, but most ATV3 owners had same complaints. Once you have ATV setup, you can control Siri remotely. This is important as I stated in my prior reply, because if you want a geofencing task to work, it may TRY to trigger that event when you're "close to home" but not yet on the wifi. In those instances, for the trigger to succeed, you'll need the Apple TV so it can "remotely" send the command. For me, geofencing never worked right until I had my Apple TV 4 setup because of this short-coming.

There are probably other important points I could get into, but that is enough to get you going for now!

 

[OCDMacGeek]

Just be careful, as there are definitely still a lot of short-comings to what occurs inside of HomeKit. My blog, as I've linked to above a few times arijaycomet.com - is going to have a HUGE article/post about this, compared to other home automation systems, in a BIG comparative view coming soon. Some of the bullet-points to be aware of with HomeKit as you attempt to make things work...

#1 - Triggers
These are controlled by iOS. Meaning if you put your phone into airplane mode, or you have no data connection (3G, LTE, or wifi), they won't occur. This is important because you can have lights turn on/off at a set time with HomeKit, where the time of day is the trigger, but your phone is the device that makes the trigger occur. One "easy" way to fix this would be to keep an older iPod Touch at home, on the wifi, plugged into power, and logged into your iCloud. That would actually work great, but its a bit of a pain. So keep in mind, your phone is the trigger point-- so if it goes down, or is turned off or whatever, during a trigger time/event, it wont work.

#2 - Local vs Away
More to that point, I have a trigger for example right now where my Hue light strip turns on/off in sync with a Lutron light in my master bedroom. When I am local this works great. Part of this is because Lutron is sending the command locally, without issue. However, since Lutron isn't using HAP over the HomeKit Cloud (yet), if I am away, the command doesn't work. So the trigger in this case isn't time-based but characteristic-based, however again, an iOS device MUST be local to see this occur. This could be resolved by Lutron using HomeKit Cloud, but they aren't at this time. So if you want characteristics to control devices, you may have to be on the local wifi with your iOS device for them to work.

#3 - Apple TV
As noted above, you'll need an Apple TV to make this work. Easy way to test this is to turn off the wifi/bluetooth on your phone, so its on 3G/LTE, and ask Siri to turn on/off a light. (make sure you're able to first already turn that light on/off with siri when on wifi first, then test without wifi second). If indeed it works, your Apple TV w/HomeKit is working. I was never able to get my Apple TV 3 working with HomeKit, but my Apple TV 4 works perfectly. So again, your results may vary, but most ATV3 owners had same complaints. Once you have ATV setup, you can control Siri remotely. This is important as I stated in my prior reply, because if you want a geofencing task to work, it may TRY to trigger that event when you're "close to home" but not yet on the wifi. In those instances, for the trigger to succeed, you'll need the Apple TV so it can "remotely" send the command. For me, geofencing never worked right until I had my Apple TV 4 setup because of this short-coming.

There are probably other important points I could get into, but that is enough to get you going for now!

Awesome tips. As far as triggers go, it is my understanding that they do not sync from one device to another. So you could leave an iPad at home for triggers to work when you're gone, but couldn't change them on the fly. Is that also your experience?

Since the triggers "live" on iOS, I have been using specific apps for schedules so that they are local. Like Lutron and Phillips' and iHome's apps. I'd rather use what HomeKit offers but for me it's not as reliable even when the phone is there...

You should do a YouTube video showing your setup...

 

[arijaycomet]

Honestly I haven't tried testing to see if triggers sync across devices. I was told by someone else (the maker of that $15 Home app) that I could "just use an iPod touch" to get the job done. But you could be correct that I'd need to use that specific device to CREATE the triggers. I haven't tried, because I do not actually possess an iPod touch at this point in time. The only triggers I am using right now are an arriving home geofence (which works GREAT with my Apple TV 4 handing the fact that I'm not on the wifi yet when it triggers), and then a trigger in my master bedroom that turns on/off my Philips Hue light strip whenever my Lutron wall switch is turned on/off. I can tell you that when I put my phone in airplane mode, or turn off wifi, that feature stops working. So I'm certain I have to be "local" for this to work. Though again the developer of the Home app tells me that Lutron could propagate their signals differently to resolve this. So I'll see if/when that changes in the future per an update hopefully.

I'm doing the SAME thing as you -- 100% for the same issues/reasons, OCDMacGeek. Right now I have lights that turn on in the AM when my wife/daughter/I get up. Those are all Lutron (my entire house is 100% Lutron Caseta, with only two switches out of 24 that aren't on it!). We have them turn off automatically too, at a set time during the week, after we've left (though I have a Pico remote near the door to garage that I typically use to turn it all off manually anyhow, old habits and all that jazz). Same goes for the Philips Hue, where I have the master bedroom light strip do a 30-minute slow-sunrise, and turn off as well. Same for evening lights, where it all comes on/goes off using their respective apps. I have found that if my WAN/Cable goes down, but the LAN remains up, the Lutron lights don't require any sort of cloud and I like that. Which is another reason why HomeKit needing an iOS device might not be great if it relies on the cloud. Local commands might work there -- something I should test. (Turn off WAN, leave on LAN, leave iPhone 6S attached, see if triggers/commands/timed events work).

But yes, I totally agree-- for the moment, the Lutron/Hue/iHome/etc apps work best for time-based triggers. Actually, for the Lutron, I also have the Apple Watch, and if I leave and left any lights on it notifies me. This is best because if I leave but the wife/kid are still home I don't want automatic lights going off, or if we leave kid with babysitter, etc. So instead if I accidentally left lights on, watch tells me, and with a quick tap I can dismiss, or turn off lights. That is a feature that is part of Lutron, which is great, but sadly this means that the Hue lights would potentially get left on. There is no way to propagate a command to Hue based on a "command" to Lutron, only trigger based on changes in characteristics (like a light going off).

Thanks for your interest in the YouTube video. I've really just been blogging a bit over a year now, and it started off as wearables but migrated into my smart home stuff -- as that is my primary hobby, anyhow. The wearables was just the jumping off point for the blog. I've tried to make a few videos, I do have a (rather boring) YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/arijaycomet
-- but down the road I definitely hope to add more HomeKit stuff. What sort of videos, specifically, do you think people might enjoy about HomeKit?

 

[luckydcxx]

Will this automatically unlock when you walk up to the door like the August lock is supposed to?

or do you still have to type in the code?

 

[Zorn]

Will this automatically unlock when you walk up to the door like the August lock is supposed to?

or do you still have to type in the code?

Not unless you use a 3rd party app to set that up. By default, it will only work with punching in a code, the key, or asking Siri to unlock it.

 

[arijaycomet]

Will this automatically unlock when you walk up to the door like the August lock is supposed to?

or do you still have to type in the code?

You should not need a third party "app" per se--- but that also depends on if Apple releases a HomeKit control app. Or if the manufacturer decides to include an app that will control it like how Elgato has a great app. But Hue's app sucks.

So as Zorn said you do right now need at least a third party app. Right now the $15 Home app is your best option. And since you'll likely be calling up the request when you're not yet in Bluetooth range you'd also end up needing an Apple TV to send the request. Down the road this may change but Schlage has said they might not add proxy unlocking for security reasons.

I've used my Apple Watch as walking up to the door to unlock. It works great. Voice is far better than geofence anyhow because you don't always come in the same door anyhow. And having auto unlock therefore proves a huge safety issue IMO