Look out, August. A European retrofit smart lock is gunning for you

Price When Reviewed

$159, for the lock alone. Bundled with the Nuki Keypad 2 fingerprint reader (as examined): $299

Best Prices Today: Nuki Smart Lock

Nuki has been producing good locks for Europeans since 2015 and is simply now getting into the U.S. market. With 10 years of growth below its belt, Nuki has reached a stage of sophistication that few rivals can boast of—and stateside householders get to skip the awkward rising ache years that mar so many early-generation good residence merchandise.

The U.S. launch of the Nuki Smart Lock is the fifth era of the product, and it has developed significantly from its preliminary design, which had a big battery pack fused to its underside. It now appears to be like like a shrunken model of the now-classic August Smart Lock. Like the August, the Nuki is a retrofit lock that replaces solely the inside escutcheon in your door, leaving the outside as is. As such, it carries no ANSI or BHMA ratings, which aren’t issued for retrofit locks.

Nuki

Also just like the August, the lock is designed as a cylinder that turns in its entirety to lock and unlock the deadbolt, though measuring simply 2.25 inches throughout, small fingers will discover it a lot simpler to grip in comparison with the reasonably thick August.

Anyone purchasing for a retrofit good lock is prone to additionally think about the Level Bolt, which is even much less visually obtrusive than the Nuki Smart Lock. I’d say the most important benefit the Nuki provides over each August’s and Level’s choices is its rechargeable battery. More on that in a bit.

Installation and setup

Installation proceeds very similar to some other good lock, though Nuki doesn’t embrace printed directions with its packaging. Rather, you solely get a QR code printed on a slip of cardboard—and since I reviewed this lock earlier than the Nuki formally launched, scanning it took me solely to the house web page of Nuki’s web site.

I presume future customers may have a extra elegant expertise, however in any case, I discover good locks to be a lot simpler to arrange when you could have printed set up directions, no matter how refined the app is.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Nuki app at the least does a satisfactory job at strolling you thru setup. That, mixed with years of expertise reviewing related merchandise, I used to be in a position to get the lock mounted on the door with out a lot bother. The course of consists of attaching an adjustable body to the door, then utilizing your present lock’s bolts to attach via your present deadbolt and into the outside escutcheon. (Unlike another lock producers, Nuki doesn’t present the additional bolts that I all the time recognize having available.)

Next, you select considered one of three included adapters to slide into this body and fasten to the lock’s tailpiece, relying on its form, and you then simply clip the Nuki lock straight into the body, with no additional {hardware} required. There are a couple of additional items within the field whose perform I wasn’t solely positive of (once more, no handbook), however they look like designed to be used with locks which have longer than customary tailpieces. The excellent news is that, presuming you could have a typical door and lock, the complete affair goes along with simply two screws.

A chargeable battery

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Nuki lock is a sealed machine with a chargeable battery inside. Nuki says the battery ought to provide as much as 12 months of life earlier than it wants a refill by way of a magnetic cable with a USB-C plug on the opposite finish. Just clip the cable to the charging level on the underside of the lock, join the opposite finish to an influence supply, and it’s off and working. The lock will be charged whereas on the door if in case you have energy close by (which permits the lock to proceed working), or popped off by way of a hid button and charged elsewhere.

Note that the charging cable is simply about 6.5 toes lengthy, and no A/C adapter is included. While the comfort of the magnetic charger is sweet, I’d have been happier with a typical USB-C port, which might enable me to make use of my very own (longer) cable—I’d additionally fear much less about misplacing Nuki’s.

Using the Nuki Smart Lock

Nuki

Physically, the lock works precisely as you’d anticipate: Just rotate the lock in some way to interact or disengage the lock, as you’ll with a daily thumbturn. (A calibration mechanism throughout setup routinely orients the rotation path.) There’s additionally an illuminated button on the face of the lock that may be pressed to provoke a lock or unlock sequence while not having to twist the lock itself.

Tapping the button gently causes a hoop round it to light up: A strong circle means the lock is engaged; a U-shaped design means the lock is open. (When the door is unlocked, an LED flashes periodically as a mild reminder; when the door is locked, all lights stay off.)

Nuki’s app is a little bit convoluted however moderately simple to grasp, beginning with a walkthrough that connects the lock to each Bluetooth and your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi community. A (prolonged) guidelines system then steps you some primary settings earlier than throwing you into the administration system. By default, you may both swipe left or proper on the app’s residence display screen to lock or unlock the door, or faucet as soon as to entry the power to lock or unlock with a second faucet.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The settings menu provides you deep-dive entry into superior options corresponding to fine-grained management over how the button on the lock face works, an evening mode that routinely locks the door at evening, an auto-unlocking or auto-locking scheduling system, and an computerized lock timer that re-locks the door after it’s unlocked (settable from 30 seconds to 30 minutes). I didn’t have bother with any of those modes. A geofencing auto-unlocking system can be out there, which was largely efficient at registering my arrivals throughout my testing.

Note that via all of this you may be confronted with a barrage of come-ons for Nuki Premium, a subscription service whose goal won’t instantly be obvious. Turns out Nuki Premium ($5.90 per thirty days month) is required if you wish to use any of the lock’s options over Wi-Fi and to obtain real-time exercise alerts. Plot twist: This plan is free for all times should you purchase the lock and enroll in this system prior no later than September 30, 2025.

Add-on gadgets

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Nuki lock provides a number of add-on peripherals: an exterior numeric keypad ($59), a keypad/fingerprint reader combo ($159), and a door sensor ($59). I obtained the keypad/fingerprint reader with my take a look at lock; it’s available as a bundle with the lock for $229 at Amazon. I discovered the slim keypad to be elegant and efficient, with buttons that emit a reassuring click on when pressed together with a dependable fingerprint reader. The six LEDs throughout the highest are particularly helpful, as they illuminate, one after the other, once you enter a PIN, so you realize for positive that your digits had been efficiently entered. Oddly, all PINs should be exactly six digits lengthy.

User administration is a little bit haphazard, as permissions should be set per machine—lock or keypad—individually. With the lock, you may share app-based entry (which will be time restricted based mostly on hours of the day and day of the week), which creates a QR code that you simply ship alongside by way of different means. With the keypad, entry will be configured with a PIN or each PIN and fingerprint (however not simply fingerprint), and this entry can be equally time-restricted. Up to 200 PINs are allowed, however solely 20 fingerprints. There is not any choice to create one-time entry codes.

If you don’t just like the Nuki app, observe that the lock additionally helps Matter over Thread, and I used to be simply in a position to join it to an Apple Home ecosystem. As with most good locks managed over Matter, all you may actually do is lock and unlock the door (in addition to obtain iOS notifications about these modifications), however that is nonetheless a handy choice should you don’t need to dig into the Nuki app simply to open the door. Considering the Nuki app is commonly fairly sluggish, having this out there, at the least as an choice, is a good suggestion.

This overview is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best smart locks.

Should you purchase the Nuki Smart Lock?

My solely main subject with the Nuki lock is how loud it’s. When I first heard it in motion, I believed there was one thing mistaken with it; however no, that’s simply how the motor sounds: lots like an old-school dot matrix printer. If you’re not anticipating it, the abrupt, grinding noise may even make you soar a bit.

At $159 (for the lock alone), Nuki is aggressive in value with August’s flagship lock and most different retrofit locks, nevertheless it’s a lot cheaper than the Level Bolt with Bluetooth + Matter ($229, plus $59 for a numeric keypad). Like that lock, the Nuki’s petite, inobtrusive presentation makes it an interesting alternative for householders with a robust sense of aesthetics.

That stated, there’s room for enchancment with the scattered and ploddingly sluggish app—and one thing should be completed in regards to the noisy motor.