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Unlock Your Door by Tapping Your iPhone With Schlage's New Smart Lock

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Apr 12, 2001
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Schlage today released its Encode Plus smart lock with support for Apple's home keys feature in the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch. The smart lock is available in a variety of finishes at The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Build.com for $300 in the United States.

schlage-encode-plus-iphone.jpeg

Apple's home keys feature lets you add a key card to the Wallet app, eliminating the need to use a physical key. Upon doing so, you can simply hold a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch near the Encode Plus to lock or unlock the door that it is installed on. The feature, powered by NFC technology, requires an iPhone XR or newer updated to iOS 15 or an Apple Watch Series 4 or newer updated to watchOS 8.

Express Mode allows you to unlock the door by simply holding your iPhone or Apple Watch near the lock, or there is an option to require Face ID or Touch ID as an additional layer of security. With Power Reserve, you may still be able to tap to unlock the door for up to five hours after your iPhone has run out of battery.

Encode Plus also supports HomeKit for controlling the lock with the Home app or Siri voice commands on an iPhone or Apple Watch, as well as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The lock has a physical keypad and a keyhole to unlock the door without a device if necessary, providing peace of mind if you are without your iPhone or Apple Watch.

With built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, the Schlage Encode Plus does not require a smart home bridge or any other hardware. The lock is battery operated, with four AA batteries included and a low-battery indicator built into the keypad.

In the Home app on an iPhone, you can set up access codes for guests who need temporary access to your home.

Encode Plus is the first smart lock to support Apple's home keys feature, but additional options should enter the market over time.

Article Link: Unlock Your Door by Tapping Your iPhone With Schlage's New Smart Lock
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/31/schlage-encode-plus-now-available/
Last edited:
Will the wallet action work if you give guests access to someone NOT on your Apple Home App list of people?

I would say yes??
 
That's cool, but I never understood these. Won't you still need a key to unlock the door knob? All my exterior doors have a lock on the door knob and a dead bolt. This seems to just replace the deadbolt and unlock that. You still have to take out a physical key to unlock the door knob.
 
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Tokenfreak said:
That's cool, but I never understood these. Won't you still need a key to unlock the door knob? All my exterior doors have a lock on the door knob and a dead bolt. This seems to just replace the deadbolt and unlock that. You still have to take out a physical key to unlock the door knob.
Click to expand...


In our case, since we never replaced the doorknob. we do not lock it.

BUT we have to NEVER lock it.

LOL. cause if you lock the doorknob you are not getting in without that key.


it's weird. but yes. we never lock the bottom. We got used to it.
 
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Tokenfreak said:
That's cool, but I never understood these. Won't you still need a key to unlock the door knob? All my exterior doors have a lock on the door knob and a dead bolt. This seems to just replace the deadbolt and unlock that. You still have to take out a physical key to unlock the door knob.
Click to expand...
I guess that's your setup, but it's not everyone's. I have a door knob with no lock, and only the deadbolt as my only lock on my front door. This will work perfect for my home.
 
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Tokenfreak said:
That's cool, but I never understood these. Won't you still need a key to unlock the door knob? All my exterior doors have a lock on the door knob and a dead bolt. This seems to just replace the deadbolt and unlock that. You still have to take out a physical key to unlock the door knob.
Click to expand...
Yes, but I have never used the knob lock in any house I have lived in. The deadbolt is far more secure so I never really saw the point of the added hassle. That said, I don't see myself ever going keyless. The off-chance of my phone quitting while I am out exists, and I am not a fan of leaving spare keys hidden about.
 
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Got the availability email this morning and ordered immediately (Camelot in Satin Nickel) along with a pack of Eneloop Pro AAs, which should hopefully provide a nice long battery life in this unit.
My grandmother now has severe mobility issues and can’t answer the door for anybody, so we were looking for a smart lock that we could open remotely. We held out as long as we possibly could so we could get this version which has HomeKey support, which is really a major plus. Looking forward to installing it.
 
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Hope these work better than the Schlage Sense locks. Siri frequently has trouble finding my door locks even though most other HomeKit accessories have no such issues. Worse, I sometimes cannot remotely lock/unlock the door for guests, which means overall that I cannot rely on the Schlage Sense.
 
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WinstonRumfoord said:
Yes, but I have never used the knob lock in any house I have lived in. The deadbolt is far more secure so I never really saw the point of the added hassle. That said, I don't see myself ever going keyless. The off-chance of my phone quitting while I am out exists, and I am not a fan of leaving spare keys hidden about.
Click to expand...
If you use a deadbolt, there isn't much to be gained by also locking a doorknob.
 
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My problem is not the tech, which I would love to have at my front door, but the lack of variety of styles. These locks will not become really popular, until there are styles that won’t be eyesores when replacing what the door came with. This is still not a good match for a colonial-style home. If you have a thoroughly modern home, some of the other brands will look fine. This one, however, is ugly either way.

Maybe I’ll wait another couple of years. Hopefully, they’ll be cheaper by then, too.

Oh, wait! With 10% of annual inflation now, this one will be $360.
 
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Tokenfreak said:
That's cool, but I never understood these. Won't you still need a key to unlock the door knob? All my exterior doors have a lock on the door knob and a dead bolt. This seems to just replace the deadbolt and unlock that. You still have to take out a physical key to unlock the door knob.
Click to expand...
I hate the doorknob locks, and it's the first thing I change whenever I move. In my opinion, the front door should never automatically lock behind you. As a kid, I was getting locked out all the time because of these stupid doorknob locks.

Either way, I've found they're falling out of favor. Most new houses I see have front entry handles that are not lockable. Only the deadbolt locks.
 
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Soon hackers will steal not only digital stuff but also physical, from your home. They already steals cars with just a pc...
I already imagine in 50 years from now, companies selling super-safe (and VINTAGE of course), mechanical locks at 20x current prices (+inflation %) :)
 
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So what's the major benefit to this Homekey? I am neck deep in HomeKit products and will likely get this for no reason other than my "original" August garage lock has become worthless. But most of these locks unlock when I come home automatically and lock automatically when I leave. Is there anyone that uses the geolocation feature of these locks and will get a major benefit out of the Homekey support?

I also don't lock the handle lock. Stopped doing that years ago.
 
Tokenfreak said:
That's cool, but I never understood these. Won't you still need a key to unlock the door knob? All my exterior doors have a lock on the door knob and a dead bolt. This seems to just replace the deadbolt and unlock that. You still have to take out a physical key to unlock the door knob.
Click to expand...
Replacing the mechanism for that knob with one without lock is trivial and should be rather inexpensive.
 
WinstonRumfoord said:
That said, I don't see myself ever going keyless. The off-chance of my phone quitting while I am out exists, and I am not a fan of leaving spare keys hidden about.
Click to expand...
It also works from a code. So you can go keyless and phoneless pretty easily. The only time you'd need a key is when the batteries are dead. I have another Schlage smart lock on my doors, and it starts warming you of low batteries early enough to do something about it.
 
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oneMadRssn said:
I hate the doorknob locks, and it's the first thing I change whenever I move. In my opinion, the front door should never automatically lock behind you. As a kid, I was getting locked out all the time because of these stupid doorknob locks.

Either way, I've found they're falling out of favor. Most new houses I see have front entry handles that are not lockable. Only the deadbolt locks.
Click to expand...
it mostly depends on the country you live. I lived in italy and every home has auto-locking doors. Now i live in poland and every home has not lockable handles. I installed the auto-locking as i prefer it. It's only a matter of habit.
 
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