The sensible house is getting smarter, however not everybody needs to fully eliminate their previous techniques. For instance, whereas there are many sensible locks on the market designed to fully substitute your previous lock in favor of a keypad or new keyhole, some individuals wish to maintain the flexibility to make use of their older keys.
That, nevertheless, is the place August is available in with the August Sensible Lock Professional, which inserts onto your current deadbolt and permits you to maintain utilizing your previous key if you (or your landlord) needs to, whereas nonetheless including the advantages of a wiser lock.
However whereas August is hailed by many as one of the best producer of those retrofit sensible locks, the August Sensible Lock Professional nonetheless isn’t low-cost: At $229 (round £179, AU$300) for simply the lock, and $279 (round £219, AU$380) for the lock with the “Join” Wi-Fi adapter, the August Sensible Lock Professional is an funding.
Is it value shopping for anyway? We put in one in our own residence to seek out out.
Design and setup
Once you first take the August Sensible Lock Professional out of the field, you’ll discover that it’s a nice-looking lock. It’s definitely cumbersome at three.Four-inches large and, at 2-inches deep protrudes out of your door, but it surely’s clearly well-built with a pleasant aluminum end. The end result isn’t overly uninviting or opulent, the best way some sensible dwelling tech may be.
Putting in the gadget is simple: All you’ll have to do is obtain the August app, create an account, then open the menu and hit the “Arrange a brand new gadget” button.
The app is sweet at strolling you thru the steps of putting in the lock, however even when it wasn’t, doing it your self may be very straightforward. Merely take off the within of your current lock, discover the fitting adapter, slot the lock into your door, and set up the batteries. Actually anybody with a screwdriver can do it – which is sweet information for those who discover the idea of changing their lock a bit daunting.
Organising the Join Wi-Fi adapter can also be fairly straightforward. Like with the lock, you merely need to open the menu and hit the “Arrange a brand new gadget” button. Then faucet on the Join and do because the app says. (We discovered that when organising the Join it’s finest to have it plugged into an outlet as near your lock as doable.) It’ll seemingly be capable of attain your Wi-Fi community fairly simply, however the Bluetooth connection inbuilt to the lock by default is a bit more restricted.
There are some things in regards to the lock’s design that lend themselves to a simple expertise. For starters, it’s extraordinarily straightforward to make use of the lock manually. Merely flip the surface ring of the lock clockwise to lock the door, or anti-clockwise to unlock it. That’s good for many customers, contemplating your associate is more than likely rather less inclined to undertake new sensible dwelling tech than you’re.
On high of that, the lock includes a ring of lights on the entrance, indicating standing, and it’s extraordinarily straightforward to interchange the batteries just by urgent in on the August brand to take away the entrance cowl.
Typically the set up of the lock may be very straightforward, and whereas the gadget is a bit cumbersome, it’s nonetheless well-designed and straightforward to make use of. It ought to match proper at dwelling in any modern-looking home and can maintain the owner completely happy ought to they cease by for a go to.
Day-to-day use
We’ve already mentioned the truth that the app makes it tremendous straightforward to put in the lock and associated equipment, however fortunately it additionally makes it very straightforward to make use of the lock in day-to-day life, too: Once you open the app, you’ll be greeted with an outline of your properties and locks, which makes it straightforward to leap to every lock, when you’ve got a number of arrange. Faucet on a lock, and you may shortly lock or unlock it just by tapping on the inexperienced or crimson circle.
Generally, we discovered that the app took a number of second to seek out the lock and react to your command, however on the whole the app was very fast.
Merely locking and unlocking the August Sensible Lock Professional isn’t all you are able to do from the app, nevertheless. It’s also possible to arrange automation, which may be useful for those who wish to arrange their lock after which neglect about it. From the app, you possibly can set the lock to robotically unlock if you depart a 200-foot radius round your own home, which means the door ought to be able to open as quickly as you get dwelling.
It’s also possible to set the lock to robotically lock after a sure time frame – although we want you might apply the identical location-based automation as you possibly can with unlocking the gadget.
Final however not least, you possibly can set “sensible alerts” to let you know when the door is locked or unlocked, when the door is left ajar, when the door is robotically locked or unlocked, and so forth. In different phrases, it ought to be straightforward to at all times maintain tabs on the standing of your lock, if that’s one thing you wish to do.
Operate apart, the August app is comparatively well-designed and straightforward to navigate. It seems to be fairly trendy, and may match proper at dwelling on any flagship smartphone. We did the vast majority of testing on an iPhone 7 Plus, and it labored completely positive.
Sensible dwelling compatibility
Fortunately, the August Sensible Lock Professional doesn’t simply work inside the August app – you may also use the lock with different sensible dwelling units.
For starters, it really works with Apple’s HomeKit … although, sadly, getting the Join adapter doesn’t imply you’ll be capable of use it remotely by way of HomeKit with out a HomeKit hub like an Apple TV or HomePod. When added to HomeKit, you possibly can management the lock along with your voice, which is further useful. With a hub, you may also arrange automation and notifications for the lock’s standing, which may be very useful.
On high of HomeKit help, the August Sensible Lock Professional additionally works with Z-Wave Plus merchandise just like the 2nd Gen Amazon Echo and Samsung SmartThings Hub, and, when you’ve got the Join, it’ll work with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, too.
There are a number of techniques lacking from the record, like Wink, however many of the main gamers are all coated.
Verdict
The August Sensible Lock is a good way to present your lock sensible options with out taking out the nice ol’ key. It’s responsive and tremendous straightforward to make use of, plus the app seems to be and works nice, too. In fact, it’s not good – the lock is a bit bulkier than we might have appreciated, and it’d be good to have extra sensible dwelling integration.
For those who use HomeKit, Google Assistant, or Alexa, this could be the best way to go … however It’s not the one strategy to go. In case you are comfy with taking out your previous key, then a tool just like the Schlage Sense is likely to be extra handy for some, and it really works with about as many sensible dwelling techniques.
Nonetheless, for people who find themselves renting, reside with somebody preferring utilizing a key, or who merely need a tremendous easy-to-install and comparatively well-designed gadget, the August Sensible Lock Professional is a good possibility, and one which’s straightforward to advocate.