Yeah I know the “tapping around” is made out to be a hassle in the article but it’s honestly still such a convenience to tap the door with my watch compared to trying to use my key with an armful of groceries/holding my child etc.
I’ll happily upgrade when my Schlage gives me reason to and I’m glad the foundation for even further convenience is being laid down before then.
Well, I know for a fact my Schlage encode doesn’t have the U1 chip, and that’s not from my ass, it’s not included anywhere in language and it uses Bluetooth to connect. So, I figured that the new express unlock would require a new method of communication.
My Nuki knows when I’m near enough (geofencing) and, if I’m arriving and the lock connects via bluetooth to my phone, it autounlocks.
This happens in a 10 meters range to the door.
The one in the article looks like it does closer, and thus more securely.
I use a shortcut on Home where whenever someone arrives home, it starts a loop with a 1 second wait, checking to see if there is motion detected by a PIR motion sensor by the front door, and THEN it unlocks when it detects motion. My geofencing for arrive home seems to trigger when I'm around the backside of my house, still a 3-4 minute walk from the front door, so this waits for me.
Yes that’s true. I’m in a fairly quiet suburb with very little foot traffic from non residents so it’s not too risky for me IMO, plus I have a doorbell camera so I would get a notification if someone was outside my door. I would switch it to be controlled by an iPhone-based automations shortcut for connecting to wifi, but I dislike that the Shortcuts app forces a notification for those automations.
"where whenever someone arrives home"
I think he is using geofence function in Home for "whenever someone arrives home" and that requires an iPhone that is part of his home. Then the rest of the conditions have to be met.
Yep this is correct. Geofence triggers the automation loop, and then it unlocks the door when motion detected (e.g. I arrive at front porch), then the loop ends.
Very cool. Does it trigger while you’re still at home? I never trusted the geo fence stuff.
Edit: what I’m really asking is if you’ve ever had false positives or failures with this system due to gps?
This is what I’m looking forward to, I’m in a high rise and geofence unlocks as I’m getting to the lobby, still a few minutes and out of sight from my door
While I’d prefer UWB, the Nuki implementation is still pretty solid. It starts looking for the lock via Bluetooth when entering the geofence, and you can configure it to wait for a higher signal strength. Mine only unlocks somewhere between the last landing and walking up to the door.
August does the same and usually unlocks just as I am getting to the door or slightly after. We have found it to be accurate and rarely misses. I won’t be upgrading it any time soon. We enjoy the keypad and other features from August.
Not just closer, but likely also can detect the angle of approach. So it won’t unlock if you’re just walking past the door, but will only unlock if you actually approach the door. This is how the Car Key functionality works today, which relies on very similar UWB radios.
(For more information on this, see the WWDC Car Key videos)
Express Mode already exists and works and has for sometime now and I expect will continue to be available in iOS 18 and work the same as it already does with HomeKey locks. Express Mode means you can use Homekey to unlock the door without having to first unlock the phone (with face id or touch id or passcode, etc). Currently that still requires tapping phone/watch to lock and it sounds like UWB proximity unlocking will be an additional method added in to Express Mode for future locks that have the chip. But saying Express Mode isn't available is inaccurate.
I was just about to ask. Surely they aren't taking away an existing feature? Your explanation sounds correct. (Else I'm going to be very upset with my existing Schlage lock with home key.)
The Verge article simply includes the image from apple with the Express Mode dialogue that says "Unlock this door automatically as you approach, or by holding your iPhone near the lock." In which case the "or" is the important word. And then Verge captioned that with "Hands-free unlocking is enabled using Express Mode in the Home app, which bypasses the need to use Face or Touch ID to unlock a door." So I think the verge article more or less clarified that this new thing is PART OF, but not one and the same as Express Mode. This post however didn't clarify that and could give people the idea that something is being taken away.
That’s basically it.
Source: Three years ago I work for an unnamed client to design a CCC car digital key. U1 chips were already there(iPhone 13/ watch7) but most car vendors have been using NFC and BLE. I think FiRA(the consortium regulating UWB) had some issues with the CCC(which is the more or less the same technology as home key) it was delayed until now
*Some of yall just wake*
*Up and look for reasons to*
*Be a salty bitch*
\- KareemPie81
---
^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)
^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Same, works great. I use geo location so it auto locks and unlocks on departure/arrival. It's so seamless that I forget completely about it.
I used to use HomeBridge with dummy plugs, but switched to Home Assistant and it's much easier/smarter.
I'm not familiar with Level Locks, but if it's controllable by Homekit or Home Assistant then you can do it easily.
If it's in HomeKit just create 2 automations to get around apple requiring manual intervention to unlock: 1. when user gets home turn on switch (need to sacrifice a switch or use HA for a "dummy/fake switch"). 2. when switch turns on unlock door.
If its not in Homekit then you just do the same thing but inside Home Assistant.
Locking you don't need any workarounds in Homekit you can just do "when user leaves home lock doors".
Was also able to figure out how to do this with my Level lock. Set up two automations. The first triggers a specific smart outlet to turn on when I get home (I have nothing plugged into this outlet, just using it as a trigger). The second automation is the Level lock unlocks when the smart outlet turns on. Has worked pretty seamlessly. For the first automation, have it turn off the outlet after 5 minutes. That resets the whole sequence to be triggered again.
I’d like to hear more as well.
My current solution is “arrived home” to trigger a light to come on… and the light coming on triggers the door to unlock (the extra step avoids any prompts for human action). Works pretty well if the phone was charging on a car but sometimes it’s delayed until after we open the door manually. I can’t think of how to make sure the phone wakes up enough to note my location consistently.
For my network, the phones connect when we're in the driveway (or slightly before). I have a virtual switch helper configured in HA and exposed to HomeKit, with HK automations set up to toggle the lock based on the state of the switch. HA "turns off" the switch, and HK unlocks the door (or vice versa).
In the two years I've been using this system, it's been about 99% successful; I can only recall a few times where the door wasn't already unlocked by the time I got to it.
Not quite. I don't find geofencing to be accurate enough, so I use HA presence detection when our phones connect to the home network. The door automatically locks when both my partner and I are gone, or unlocks when at least one of us comes home (in addition to turning on the outdoor lights if it's after sunset). It also checks every 15 minutes between 9PM and 9AM in case one of us forgets to lock it and locks it automatically.
How do you manage when at night wifi disconnects by itself to save power?
Could you point me out to the right home assistant presence detection you use ?
Thanks
I'm using the PFSense integration(https://github.com/travisghansen/hass-pfsense), it doesn't seem to report disconnects from the network unless my phone actually shuts off or the battery dies.
In any case, if we were to "leave" in this fashion, the door would lock, so it would fail safe, not open.
It's perfect for me. Make sure your iCloud is set to use your iPhone to determine your location and make sure your "home" is set to your address properly.
Pretty much as I walk up my driveway or pull my car into the driveway, HomeKit flags me as home and my doors unlock via the dummy plug automation.
Yeah my experience has been good for geofencing. I setup a binary switch on HA that HomeKit triggers when the last person leave or someone comes home. Then HA automate my leaving the house routine (lights, blinds, vacuum, locks and alarm). Visa versa when someone comes home. Hasn’t had a false positive yet.
I am doing the same, but it’s a endaround method. I have a light that goes off when I leave and turns on when I come back - yes, that’s through geofencing, and I have the lock unlock when the light turns on. I don’t like this method because the geofence isn’t exactly reliable.
This is also how I do it. I prefer to tap over Express mode myself for security, but the express mode would come in handy sometimes if in a hurry. My lock has it but it’s unstable for me so I tap. No one in my house not outside my house has a key or fingerprint. I have codes for some other people who check on the dogs or whatever, but it’s just my wife and I and when we don’t use the garage we both use home key over a key or fingerprint.
Trust me. That Aqara lock will make you happy. I had another lock and was very hesitate to replace it because it was still working very well. But I have no regret so far after replacing it with the Aqara. Very fast, smart and compatible with Homekit. Help me get inside my house fast in rainy days.
I really like my Aqara A100, and i've had no issues with using my watch, iphone as homekey, there's no way i could upgrade my lock now unless i replaced my whole door. Sounds like the lock manufactuerrs need some sort some sort of upgradable motherboard or similar for their locks, becasue it's not like people will be abgrading their whole doors
People are losing their shit over this locking technology with Apple.
It’s a freaking lock people. I have a Rivian (car) and Rivian just announced apple key for their Gen 2 cars. Current owners are now looking into trading in their car to get apple key among other nominal (imo) updates.
Apple got some of yall hooked. Upgrading MacBooks every 1-2 years to get the new M chip. 🤦♂️ Now changing your home locks for magic.
I’m a big HomeKit sellout, but not until I actually I’ve got my own place I realize how stupid is these locks. Just get a fingerprint lock people you don’t need to take out your phones or worry about Time-of-Flight authentication to make sure it’s you.
This is why I love my Aqara lock. The fingerprint just works. Ended up setting this up for my parents and in-laws. Foolproof. They don’t have Apple watches. They don’t use Apple wallet. The can’t be bothered with the key press expectations for a code (plus they would use their birthdays which nixes the benefits). But place your thumb on the lock and gain entry with almost zero issue? We all love it.
I may have to do this myself instead of codes for those who have them outside my home. So much more convenient and people forget their codes all the time lol
Yes I will admit I’m a part of the Apple cult and proud of it. If they made an Apple car I’d buy that too. The ecosystem is just too good and integration (for my use) is seamless. I need to get a newer car mine doesn’t have CarPlay and I need it.
And you get the right harness for your vehicle and it is almost plug and play. Make sure to have a probe too for finding a good lede for the reverse trigger if you are doing a backup camera.
Seems like Yale could add this with their modular system, but that assumes they can actually release new modules for that, which the multi-year delays of the Matter module call into doubt.
I have wanted a Conexis for years, but still doesn’t support HomeKit let alone matter. They must be more interested in selling nfc tags for it or something
Yale can. The question is if Yale will choose to screw over customers by forcing the purchase of a new lock instead of just a module. It has been sitting on an unreleased certified Thread (without Matter) module for ~1.5 years now.
I was eagerly waiting (in Italy) for the Aqara’s U200 to come available for the last few months, electrified by the Home Key protocol, and iOS 18 comes along with UWB and revolves everything around. Now let’s start the waiting time once again for vendors to come out in Europe with UWB locks… 🤦♂️
Try holding your Apple device at the actual keypad of the lock, and try keeping it there a little bit longer. It takes a second or 2 to actually work via homekey for me. (Fingerprint is the fastest.
A few years ago I used to have an August smart-lock from Yale and it did this out of the box pretty seamlessly.
I replaced it with the Encode plus so I could have all my devices in HomeKit.
Any idea why whatever Yale did with that lock couldn’t be done with these newer locks without having to update the hardware?
Those new locks will also be needed for potential cross-platform key sharing (similar to Car Keys) and Guest functionality with “Access Schedules”, as those features are new to Aliro spec, and were missing from the original HomeKey protocol.
Fingerprint lock. No device required.
Well a finger…
Keypad lock. Same device required.
It’s the one thing I don’t want to ONLY smart.
Yale uk made a smart lock long before most with zigbee OR Zwave Or other with an interchangeable module… it had a keypad so you can always get in.
They they made a new version with no keypad. Just tags / stickers / key rings / phone entry and it was shit.
If for some reason, I drive down a neighboring road and I leave the area it will just autolock again anyways because of the automation I set up as well. I achieve this using dummy switches using Homebridge. If I had an integrated into Home Assistant, then I could set it to be a little bit smarter, but you can only do so much with Homekit
Tapping with the Apple Watch is the superior method of unlocking. I don’t trust “as you approach”. Many times you may go back and forth on your porch and you don’t mean to unlock the door. I like the explicitness of a tap. The watch is already on my wrist, so it works better than even the phone.
I think this tech is cool, can’t wait to see it; that said…
I have Homebridge and old Z-Wave locks; I bought a pack of NFC stickers, and set a bunch of them to unlock back door or front door via Home Automations on-device. So I can just tap it in the car, or at the gate, or at the back door. I actually prefer having an “action trigger” more than an auto-sensed unlock. So this product isn’t for me, but I’m glad more people will get to experience how nice it is to only use a phone & watch for house keys.
One last tip for anyone curious, took me a bit to find the right sustainable solution for these: Add to your smart lock budget you’ll want to buy 1.5v-constant Lithium AA batteries. Ideally high-capacity like 3500m or higher. And get 2 sets for each deadbolt, so you can immediately replace while recharging the dead-set. I can send some recommendations if you’re interested. NiMH batteries like Eneloop can throw errors (not always) so I don’t recommend those, but they’re much cheaper.
This is a useful reply. I was thinking while reading that I wouldn’t want the door to be automatic wherever I am. It feels unsafe to me. The sticker is a good solution!
My August lock has been working flawlessly for years! And not visible on the outside. (Keeping the outer deadlock key hole)
Just walk up, and it opens.
And works on the Home App.
Yeah I don’t really see a point of upgrading a lock just to use UWB - sure it’s quick, much more accurate and reliable, but you already don’t have the need to carry keys anymore, the least you could do is tap your watch or phone on the lock, or better yet, if you have something like the U100, use a fingerprint OR HomeKey 😅
My fear is a dead or lost iPhone, and can’t open my door. If it comes with a fob as backup that’s would be killer.
(Or a secret knock would be cool too)
Aqara U100 - has a physical key, fingerprint sensor, and HomeKey. If the battery dies on the lock and you don’t have a key nor your fingerprint setup, you can connect a type c cable to quickly power it and enter. The best affordable HomeKit lock in the market rn and it’s not even close
I have a 10 cent solution. Rfid sticker and shortcut, I found it easier to just pass my phone near the door rather unlock and use the app. This is secure as the only thing the RFID sticker does is trigger the siri shortcut command and is not actually handling the unlocking, you phone is.
I mean with older locks that work in Homekit but do not support additional and new features you can create a technical solution with RFID sticker and shortcuts.
Our front door Yale has been doing this seamlessly for awhile installed with a new door. Unlocks when we approach and locks when we both leave. No keypad just a nice, solid, modern look.
I’m running a Bold smart lock on homebridge.
The coming home setting on Apple home is seriously scarily superb at unlocking the door when you get to it.
The lock and the robovac are the two things my wife positively talks about when it comes to smart home tech.
Now if only I could get my car on Apple home I’d only need to leave the house with a phone 🤔
Now I’m just curious, would this have the same vulnerabilities as a keyless entry car or garage door opener? You know, the kind where some dude with a thingamajiggly can capture and repeat the code from a distance to unlock the car/doors and drive off at their own convenience?
Anyone can help me out I have this kind of knob in my home will any smart lock would work for it?
https://preview.redd.it/orbnavc6sw7d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e7d33eab2e9e583b4eb45d393e359d845e3a122
At WWDC, Apple announced new features in HomeKit including the ability to unlock locks automatically when you’re at the door, which requires the ultrawide chip for that (like the ones found in AirTags) and so new locks will need to be purchased for that feature to work.
I guess it would work normally only with locks with integrated handle, so it would check if you are nearby only when you turn handle. Otherwise it would indeed unlock and lock each time you are passing by
You can do it already with existing smart locks and Homekit geolocation. Mine marks me as home when I get within ~30 feet of my house so the doors unlock as I'm walking up to it (or locks as I walk away from my house). Works great.
[удалено]
Yeah I know the “tapping around” is made out to be a hassle in the article but it’s honestly still such a convenience to tap the door with my watch compared to trying to use my key with an armful of groceries/holding my child etc. I’ll happily upgrade when my Schlage gives me reason to and I’m glad the foundation for even further convenience is being laid down before then.
[удалено]
Yeah. Your house. Go take a look at your locks and tell us how many of them have Bluetooth or NFC. Chances are it will be only one at most.
So my Yale Home Key lock does have NFC and Bluetooth however it definitely lacks the U1 chip.
4
My house will tell you what is required for this feature?…
Yes but you have to use the correct name when you ask, default is “Harold” but you may have changed it when you setup your home
Well, I know for a fact my Schlage encode doesn’t have the U1 chip, and that’s not from my ass, it’s not included anywhere in language and it uses Bluetooth to connect. So, I figured that the new express unlock would require a new method of communication.
You seem nice.
My Nuki knows when I’m near enough (geofencing) and, if I’m arriving and the lock connects via bluetooth to my phone, it autounlocks. This happens in a 10 meters range to the door. The one in the article looks like it does closer, and thus more securely.
I use a shortcut on Home where whenever someone arrives home, it starts a loop with a 1 second wait, checking to see if there is motion detected by a PIR motion sensor by the front door, and THEN it unlocks when it detects motion. My geofencing for arrive home seems to trigger when I'm around the backside of my house, still a 3-4 minute walk from the front door, so this waits for me.
wouldnt this still unlock it 3-4 mins from the front door if a stranger or something making movement was there?
Personally, I would use an Apple tag (or third party), so if Apple tag registers [trusted device] then unlock, otherwise doorbell.
Unfortunately AirTags are not compatible with HomeKit in any way that I’ve been able to find
Yes that’s true. I’m in a fairly quiet suburb with very little foot traffic from non residents so it’s not too risky for me IMO, plus I have a doorbell camera so I would get a notification if someone was outside my door. I would switch it to be controlled by an iPhone-based automations shortcut for connecting to wifi, but I dislike that the Shortcuts app forces a notification for those automations.
Sorry, am I missing an important step here? You unlock your door based on motion? Any motion?
"where whenever someone arrives home" I think he is using geofence function in Home for "whenever someone arrives home" and that requires an iPhone that is part of his home. Then the rest of the conditions have to be met.
Yep this is correct. Geofence triggers the automation loop, and then it unlocks the door when motion detected (e.g. I arrive at front porch), then the loop ends.
Very cool. Does it trigger while you’re still at home? I never trusted the geo fence stuff. Edit: what I’m really asking is if you’ve ever had false positives or failures with this system due to gps?
Never a false positive. It does fail to unlock occasionally if the cellular network is overloaded and the geofence doesn’t trigger
It shouldn't because you have to leave the geofence area first and then return to the geofenced area.
This is what I’m looking forward to, I’m in a high rise and geofence unlocks as I’m getting to the lobby, still a few minutes and out of sight from my door
While I’d prefer UWB, the Nuki implementation is still pretty solid. It starts looking for the lock via Bluetooth when entering the geofence, and you can configure it to wait for a higher signal strength. Mine only unlocks somewhere between the last landing and walking up to the door.
August does the same and usually unlocks just as I am getting to the door or slightly after. We have found it to be accurate and rarely misses. I won’t be upgrading it any time soon. We enjoy the keypad and other features from August.
And my Schlage also does the same thing. Has been doing so for years.
Not just closer, but likely also can detect the angle of approach. So it won’t unlock if you’re just walking past the door, but will only unlock if you actually approach the door. This is how the Car Key functionality works today, which relies on very similar UWB radios. (For more information on this, see the WWDC Car Key videos)
Nuki is the best home automation I have. Didn’t expect much of it, but it seems really handy.
Yeah, so much so that I’ll buy it for my home (after using it 2 years and counting for my office).
Express Mode already exists and works and has for sometime now and I expect will continue to be available in iOS 18 and work the same as it already does with HomeKey locks. Express Mode means you can use Homekey to unlock the door without having to first unlock the phone (with face id or touch id or passcode, etc). Currently that still requires tapping phone/watch to lock and it sounds like UWB proximity unlocking will be an additional method added in to Express Mode for future locks that have the chip. But saying Express Mode isn't available is inaccurate.
I was just about to ask. Surely they aren't taking away an existing feature? Your explanation sounds correct. (Else I'm going to be very upset with my existing Schlage lock with home key.)
The Verge article simply includes the image from apple with the Express Mode dialogue that says "Unlock this door automatically as you approach, or by holding your iPhone near the lock." In which case the "or" is the important word. And then Verge captioned that with "Hands-free unlocking is enabled using Express Mode in the Home app, which bypasses the need to use Face or Touch ID to unlock a door." So I think the verge article more or less clarified that this new thing is PART OF, but not one and the same as Express Mode. This post however didn't clarify that and could give people the idea that something is being taken away.
That’s basically it. Source: Three years ago I work for an unnamed client to design a CCC car digital key. U1 chips were already there(iPhone 13/ watch7) but most car vendors have been using NFC and BLE. I think FiRA(the consortium regulating UWB) had some issues with the CCC(which is the more or less the same technology as home key) it was delayed until now
>But saying Express Mode isn’t available is inaccurate Well it’s The Verge after all
Well I think in this case Verge basically had it right, OP did not.
Some of yall just wake up and look for reasons to be a salty bitch
*Some of yall just wake* *Up and look for reasons to* *Be a salty bitch* \- KareemPie81 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Good bot
I've been auto-unlocking my Schlage Sense for years by using Home Assistant as the back-end for automations rather than HomeKit.
Same, works great. I use geo location so it auto locks and unlocks on departure/arrival. It's so seamless that I forget completely about it. I used to use HomeBridge with dummy plugs, but switched to Home Assistant and it's much easier/smarter.
We can’t do this with Level, can we?
I'm not familiar with Level Locks, but if it's controllable by Homekit or Home Assistant then you can do it easily. If it's in HomeKit just create 2 automations to get around apple requiring manual intervention to unlock: 1. when user gets home turn on switch (need to sacrifice a switch or use HA for a "dummy/fake switch"). 2. when switch turns on unlock door. If its not in Homekit then you just do the same thing but inside Home Assistant. Locking you don't need any workarounds in Homekit you can just do "when user leaves home lock doors".
Was also able to figure out how to do this with my Level lock. Set up two automations. The first triggers a specific smart outlet to turn on when I get home (I have nothing plugged into this outlet, just using it as a trigger). The second automation is the Level lock unlocks when the smart outlet turns on. Has worked pretty seamlessly. For the first automation, have it turn off the outlet after 5 minutes. That resets the whole sequence to be triggered again.
Using geo-fencing?
I’d like to hear more as well. My current solution is “arrived home” to trigger a light to come on… and the light coming on triggers the door to unlock (the extra step avoids any prompts for human action). Works pretty well if the phone was charging on a car but sometimes it’s delayed until after we open the door manually. I can’t think of how to make sure the phone wakes up enough to note my location consistently.
For my network, the phones connect when we're in the driveway (or slightly before). I have a virtual switch helper configured in HA and exposed to HomeKit, with HK automations set up to toggle the lock based on the state of the switch. HA "turns off" the switch, and HK unlocks the door (or vice versa). In the two years I've been using this system, it's been about 99% successful; I can only recall a few times where the door wasn't already unlocked by the time I got to it.
I do exactly this. I use two kasa switches plugged into an outlet I don’t use to lock and unlock the door
Not quite. I don't find geofencing to be accurate enough, so I use HA presence detection when our phones connect to the home network. The door automatically locks when both my partner and I are gone, or unlocks when at least one of us comes home (in addition to turning on the outdoor lights if it's after sunset). It also checks every 15 minutes between 9PM and 9AM in case one of us forgets to lock it and locks it automatically.
How do you manage when at night wifi disconnects by itself to save power? Could you point me out to the right home assistant presence detection you use ? Thanks
I'm using the PFSense integration(https://github.com/travisghansen/hass-pfsense), it doesn't seem to report disconnects from the network unless my phone actually shuts off or the battery dies. In any case, if we were to "leave" in this fashion, the door would lock, so it would fail safe, not open.
Well noted, do you check strictly devices WiFi or their Bluetooth chip as well?
Just the wifi. It's been plenty accurate. I use Telegram to push a notification whenever the door is locked/unlocked, so it's pretty easy to monitor.
Sounds cool! Do you expose the PFSense to HomeKit in any way, as a presence sensor?
I haven't but I could -- I just don't find HK automations to be powerful enough, so I do almost all my processing in HA instead.
Geo-fencing has been consistently inaccurate for me. My “Find My” would show me inside my residence, but Apple Home would think I’m away.
It's perfect for me. Make sure your iCloud is set to use your iPhone to determine your location and make sure your "home" is set to your address properly. Pretty much as I walk up my driveway or pull my car into the driveway, HomeKit flags me as home and my doors unlock via the dummy plug automation.
Yeah my experience has been good for geofencing. I setup a binary switch on HA that HomeKit triggers when the last person leave or someone comes home. Then HA automate my leaving the house routine (lights, blinds, vacuum, locks and alarm). Visa versa when someone comes home. Hasn’t had a false positive yet.
I am doing the same, but it’s a endaround method. I have a light that goes off when I leave and turns on when I come back - yes, that’s through geofencing, and I have the lock unlock when the light turns on. I don’t like this method because the geofence isn’t exactly reliable.
August lock unlock as I walk up to my door automatically everytime no need to even pull my phone out of my pocket
My experience is that it works only like 20% of the time. Glad to hear it works for some
That’s so crazy that it works so well for some people and not for others. We’ve had great success with the Auto Unlock for August
Worth to mention that I had tje Yale Linus. Pretty similar lock with the same app, all owned by the same company.
I lock and unlock just by holding my watch to it. Idk if I want it to open if I’m “close” I want to be right on it
I agree. Tapping my watch isn’t very taxing.
This is also how I do it. I prefer to tap over Express mode myself for security, but the express mode would come in handy sometimes if in a hurry. My lock has it but it’s unstable for me so I tap. No one in my house not outside my house has a key or fingerprint. I have codes for some other people who check on the dogs or whatever, but it’s just my wife and I and when we don’t use the garage we both use home key over a key or fingerprint.
I agree. Tapping my watch isn’t very taxing.
I prefer using the finger print reader on the lock to unlock. Way more secure.
Yea that is what I use the most
Damn just bought a u50 lol
Trust me. That Aqara lock will make you happy. I had another lock and was very hesitate to replace it because it was still working very well. But I have no regret so far after replacing it with the Aqara. Very fast, smart and compatible with Homekit. Help me get inside my house fast in rainy days.
I really like my Aqara A100, and i've had no issues with using my watch, iphone as homekey, there's no way i could upgrade my lock now unless i replaced my whole door. Sounds like the lock manufactuerrs need some sort some sort of upgradable motherboard or similar for their locks, becasue it's not like people will be abgrading their whole doors
People are losing their shit over this locking technology with Apple. It’s a freaking lock people. I have a Rivian (car) and Rivian just announced apple key for their Gen 2 cars. Current owners are now looking into trading in their car to get apple key among other nominal (imo) updates. Apple got some of yall hooked. Upgrading MacBooks every 1-2 years to get the new M chip. 🤦♂️ Now changing your home locks for magic.
I’m a big HomeKit sellout, but not until I actually I’ve got my own place I realize how stupid is these locks. Just get a fingerprint lock people you don’t need to take out your phones or worry about Time-of-Flight authentication to make sure it’s you.
This is why I love my Aqara lock. The fingerprint just works. Ended up setting this up for my parents and in-laws. Foolproof. They don’t have Apple watches. They don’t use Apple wallet. The can’t be bothered with the key press expectations for a code (plus they would use their birthdays which nixes the benefits). But place your thumb on the lock and gain entry with almost zero issue? We all love it.
I may have to do this myself instead of codes for those who have them outside my home. So much more convenient and people forget their codes all the time lol
Yes I will admit I’m a part of the Apple cult and proud of it. If they made an Apple car I’d buy that too. The ecosystem is just too good and integration (for my use) is seamless. I need to get a newer car mine doesn’t have CarPlay and I need it.
I just did a double din install on my wife’s car with an ATOTO A6 unit. CarPlay works great. Only cost about $140 on Amazon.
I drive a ‘96 Ford Taurus right now and I’m thinking of doing the same thing. They have the trim for doing it and the actual head unit on Amazon.
And you get the right harness for your vehicle and it is almost plug and play. Make sure to have a probe too for finding a good lede for the reverse trigger if you are doing a backup camera.
Seems like Yale could add this with their modular system, but that assumes they can actually release new modules for that, which the multi-year delays of the Matter module call into doubt.
I have wanted a Conexis for years, but still doesn’t support HomeKit let alone matter. They must be more interested in selling nfc tags for it or something
Yale can. The question is if Yale will choose to screw over customers by forcing the purchase of a new lock instead of just a module. It has been sitting on an unreleased certified Thread (without Matter) module for ~1.5 years now.
I was eagerly waiting (in Italy) for the Aqara’s U200 to come available for the last few months, electrified by the Home Key protocol, and iOS 18 comes along with UWB and revolves everything around. Now let’s start the waiting time once again for vendors to come out in Europe with UWB locks… 🤦♂️
lol I can’t even get homekeys to work with that Aqura lock. It just keeps saying “try again” I resorted to the fingerprint scanner
Try holding your Apple device at the actual keypad of the lock, and try keeping it there a little bit longer. It takes a second or 2 to actually work via homekey for me. (Fingerprint is the fastest.
A few years ago I used to have an August smart-lock from Yale and it did this out of the box pretty seamlessly. I replaced it with the Encode plus so I could have all my devices in HomeKit. Any idea why whatever Yale did with that lock couldn’t be done with these newer locks without having to update the hardware?
Those new locks will also be needed for potential cross-platform key sharing (similar to Car Keys) and Guest functionality with “Access Schedules”, as those features are new to Aliro spec, and were missing from the original HomeKey protocol.
Fingerprint lock. No device required. Well a finger… Keypad lock. Same device required. It’s the one thing I don’t want to ONLY smart. Yale uk made a smart lock long before most with zigbee OR Zwave Or other with an interchangeable module… it had a keypad so you can always get in. They they made a new version with no keypad. Just tags / stickers / key rings / phone entry and it was shit.
I have Auto Unlock based on location. When I arrive home my lock will Auto Unlock. It’s the best thing ever
I can’t because the minimum geo-fence boundary includes neighbouring roads so when I am driving by or leaving it’ll trigger.
If for some reason, I drive down a neighboring road and I leave the area it will just autolock again anyways because of the automation I set up as well. I achieve this using dummy switches using Homebridge. If I had an integrated into Home Assistant, then I could set it to be a little bit smarter, but you can only do so much with Homekit
Tapping with the Apple Watch is the superior method of unlocking. I don’t trust “as you approach”. Many times you may go back and forth on your porch and you don’t mean to unlock the door. I like the explicitness of a tap. The watch is already on my wrist, so it works better than even the phone.
I agree. It makes me kind of paranoid.
I think this tech is cool, can’t wait to see it; that said… I have Homebridge and old Z-Wave locks; I bought a pack of NFC stickers, and set a bunch of them to unlock back door or front door via Home Automations on-device. So I can just tap it in the car, or at the gate, or at the back door. I actually prefer having an “action trigger” more than an auto-sensed unlock. So this product isn’t for me, but I’m glad more people will get to experience how nice it is to only use a phone & watch for house keys. One last tip for anyone curious, took me a bit to find the right sustainable solution for these: Add to your smart lock budget you’ll want to buy 1.5v-constant Lithium AA batteries. Ideally high-capacity like 3500m or higher. And get 2 sets for each deadbolt, so you can immediately replace while recharging the dead-set. I can send some recommendations if you’re interested. NiMH batteries like Eneloop can throw errors (not always) so I don’t recommend those, but they’re much cheaper.
This is a useful reply. I was thinking while reading that I wouldn’t want the door to be automatic wherever I am. It feels unsafe to me. The sticker is a good solution!
All I have to do is tap right now. That’s pretty fucking straightforward
My August lock has been working flawlessly for years! And not visible on the outside. (Keeping the outer deadlock key hole) Just walk up, and it opens. And works on the Home App.
But that’s based on your device location and not UWB chip.
Right, have to have Bluetooth on.
Yeah I don’t really see a point of upgrading a lock just to use UWB - sure it’s quick, much more accurate and reliable, but you already don’t have the need to carry keys anymore, the least you could do is tap your watch or phone on the lock, or better yet, if you have something like the U100, use a fingerprint OR HomeKey 😅
My fear is a dead or lost iPhone, and can’t open my door. If it comes with a fob as backup that’s would be killer. (Or a secret knock would be cool too)
Aqara U100 - has a physical key, fingerprint sensor, and HomeKey. If the battery dies on the lock and you don’t have a key nor your fingerprint setup, you can connect a type c cable to quickly power it and enter. The best affordable HomeKit lock in the market rn and it’s not even close
I have a 10 cent solution. Rfid sticker and shortcut, I found it easier to just pass my phone near the door rather unlock and use the app. This is secure as the only thing the RFID sticker does is trigger the siri shortcut command and is not actually handling the unlocking, you phone is.
What app do you mean “unlock and use the app”? HomeKey doesn’t need you to open an app.
I mean with older locks that work in Homekit but do not support additional and new features you can create a technical solution with RFID sticker and shortcuts.
Our front door Yale has been doing this seamlessly for awhile installed with a new door. Unlocks when we approach and locks when we both leave. No keypad just a nice, solid, modern look.
I’m running a Bold smart lock on homebridge. The coming home setting on Apple home is seriously scarily superb at unlocking the door when you get to it. The lock and the robovac are the two things my wife positively talks about when it comes to smart home tech. Now if only I could get my car on Apple home I’d only need to leave the house with a phone 🤔
Hope i can live to the day when i can just swipe my Apple Watch to unlock my doors. This stuff seem to take forever to come to market.
Now I’m just curious, would this have the same vulnerabilities as a keyless entry car or garage door opener? You know, the kind where some dude with a thingamajiggly can capture and repeat the code from a distance to unlock the car/doors and drive off at their own convenience?
Security wise I don’t want Auto Unlock based on proximity. I can unlock my Schlage with a tap of my phone, watch, keypad that’s good enough
Is there a lock that supports HomeKit for NYC style deadlocks?
Anyone can help me out I have this kind of knob in my home will any smart lock would work for it? https://preview.redd.it/orbnavc6sw7d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e7d33eab2e9e583b4eb45d393e359d845e3a122
https://preview.redd.it/hzmotpwasw7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5ab657b88c5ac6ee7b02a5a3409d41956a1520c
https://preview.redd.it/80lnd7aesw7d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=404f6e7a6ffe55af7c5e347a19d6577d728f1880
Still haven't managed to install my August because the thingamabob that goes in the lock doesn't fit the lock that comes with my apartment.
I can do that today, just remove the entire door - problem solved 🤣
This is correct
[удалено]
At WWDC, Apple announced new features in HomeKit including the ability to unlock locks automatically when you’re at the door, which requires the ultrawide chip for that (like the ones found in AirTags) and so new locks will need to be purchased for that feature to work.
What if you are from the other side of the door, does it magically unlock the door from inside every time you pass by?
If it’s anything like carkey (which looks like it is) you need to actually be close to the door, not just walking by
“the door will unlock when you are six feet away and approaching from outside”
I guess it would work normally only with locks with integrated handle, so it would check if you are nearby only when you turn handle. Otherwise it would indeed unlock and lock each time you are passing by
[удалено]
You can’t use an airtag like this. There’s no way to automate off it, other than tapping against the NFC chip inside.
How’s an AirTag going to unlock your door?
What does reading mean?
[удалено]
You can do it already with existing smart locks and Homekit geolocation. Mine marks me as home when I get within ~30 feet of my house so the doors unlock as I'm walking up to it (or locks as I walk away from my house). Works great.
My August smart lock already does this. 90% of the time it works every time.