Because the exterior part of your deadbolt will remain, you can still use your physical keys but also lock and unlock the door from a smartphone app. Two of our picks are retrofit smart locks, which only replace the part of the lock that’s on the interior side of your door. The list includes models from August, Bosma, Eufy, Kwikset, Schlage, and Yale. “Depending on the model, you can view the status of your lock from anywhere and track who opens your door and when.”īelow you’ll find the 10 best smart locks from our tests, listed alphabetically and split into five categories.
“Smart locks can add an invaluable level of peace of mind,” says Misha Kollontai, CR’s test engineer for door locks. It’s a combination of hardware and software that third-party lock makers can leverage, so you can unlock your door with just a tap from an iPhone or Apple Watch. In addition, Apple has now indirectly entered the smart lock market with the creation of its Apple Home Key system. There are even some models with built-in fingerprint scanners, allowing you to unlock your door with the tap of a finger. Either way, you can create, revoke, delete, and limit access to certain time periods with a few swipes on your smartphone. Instead, many smart locks have keypads for PINs and/or electronic keys, where the “key” lives in an app on your smartphone and communicates with your lock wirelessly. conventional deadbolts is that you never have to carry a physical key. It can be unlocked via a passcode, the Schlage app, or a physical key, and I'm partial to the fact that it can smarten up almost any door with a traditional door handle.One huge advantage that you get with smart locks vs.
The Schlage Encode Wi-Fi lever smart lock has turned out to be a good fit for our laundry room door that doesn't have a deadbolt. Our previous Hugolog used to auto-lock at four seconds, which worked well for us. Since the door to the garage is always closed, and it's one we close as soon as we pass through, I've set up the Schlage Encode lever lock to auto-lock at five seconds. I sometimes go into the house through the garage and other times through the front door, and I don't want either lock unlocked if I'm not using it. The Encode lever lacks auto-unlock, but I'll admit this isn't a feature I use often. Many other smart locks allow for auto-unlock, which automatically unlocks the door when you arrive via geofencing or Bluetooth. CloseĪlso: How the Eufy Indoor Cam S350 became my favorite motion-tracking indoor cam If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping.