The best smart door locks give both you and your guests flexible access to your property along with smart home features like voice control. Fire up your Alexa; it’s gonna be locking your doors for you from now on. Auto-lock lets you set rules and schedules for when your door should lock automatically, whereas auto-unlock tracks your phone’s location and unlocks the door when you get home. August Smart Lock Pro installation usually takes about 10 minutes. If you want to skip the bridge, August does make model with the Wi-Fi built in. Check out our August Wi-Fi Smart Lock review. August does sell a separate keypad you can use to enter with an access code. But you have to find somewhere on your door to put it, which can be tricky if you already have things like a doorbell camera taking up space. The lock is also ADA-compliant, so it’s a good choice for people with certain disabilities or for a rental property you want to make more accessible. Plus, this lock comes with a built-in siren. That makes it like a hint of a security system all by itself. If someone tries to bust through the lock, the Schlage will sound an alarm. You can also set schedules and rules for each access code. If you only want the dog walker to have access between 3 and 4 p.m., then you can do that. You can also set codes to expire automatically after a certain time, which is great if you just need to give someone one-off access for a couple of hours. This way, you don’t have to meet people in person for check-ins, and you can set the codes to automatically expire after their check-out time. Easy peasy. If the touchscreen thing really drives you nuts, Kwikset offers a version of the Halo Smart Lock with a traditional rubber keypad. The Yale also offers a handful of smart home integrations with a caveat: you have to buy a separate module. You can choose from an August, Z-Wave, or HomeKit module, depending on if you want the lock to work with August, Z-Wave, or Apple HomeKit. (You can’t have all of them.) If you don’t care about HomeKit very much, then we recommend the Z-Wave module. That way, the lock works with Samsung SmartThings and Wink, two of the most popular smart home hubs. Other than that, the biggest inconvenience with Wyze is the lack of keypad. You can buy a keypad separately, but if not, you’ll have to use a key or your phone to get inside. Like the August, Wyze does have an auto-unlock feature, so you could also go with that if you like. But sometimes an access code is just easier. Without a keypad, the Wyze Lock makes it harder to give guests access to your house. That person coming over to fix your furnace is going to have to download the Wyze app before you can grant them access and, let’s be real, that’s way too big a hassle. August Smart Lock Pro: Most versatile—The August Smart Lock Pro uses your existing deadbolt but gives you all the smart home features of a full-on smart door lock—and then some. The August gives you mobile control, voice command, and more. Schlage Encode Smart Wi-Fi Deadbolt: Best Wi-Fi smart lock—If you want a super-secure lock with accessible code entry and built-in Wi-Fi, then it doesn’t get much better than the Schlage Encode Smart Wi-Fi Deadbolt. Kwikset Halo Smart Lock: Best for rental properties—The Kwikset Halo has a stubborn touchscreen. But its customizable access codes are great if you run an Airbnb or rental property and want to control guest access. Yale Assure Lock SL: Best keyless entry—If you’re ready to ditch your keys forever then the Yale Assure Lock SL removes the key option entirely. Just know you have to buy an extra module to get certain smart home features. Wyze Lock: Best budget buy—The Wyze Lock retrofits your existing lock, a lot like the August Smart Lock Pro—but for a much lower price. Do you use a smart door lock? Do you still carry keys every day? Tell us about your experience in the comments! That said, smart locks have some security flaws that regular deadbolts don’t. For example, if you use auto-unlock, anyone who has your phone can get into your house. Smart locks can also be opened by anyone with the access code—the same way a regular lock can be opened by anyone who has a key. The nice thing about smart locks is you don’t have to change the entire lock to deny someone access—you can just change the passcode. You also don’t have to lend out spare keys that could potentially be copied or that you could forget about. Most smart locks let you assign temporary access codes that you can deactivate later. This feature can be convenient, but it can also be a security risk. If someone steals your phone, they can get into your house. Your lock can’t tell the difference between you and a stranger. Auto-unlock can also be a bit glitchy. Sometimes it will unlock your front door when you go in through your garage, for example. That means your front door could be sitting unlocked without you knowing. In the case of smart locks, you can also look for features like bank-grade encryption. However, Wi-Fi-connected smart door locks offer more advanced smart features. Connecting your device to Wi-Fi enables your smart lock to integrate with other smart devices, and allows you to lock and unlock your door from anywhere, while also receiving security alerts straight to your phone.
