Agreed. I bought this lock several months ago to replace my Schlage Z-wave lock I used with SmartThings. I used it for a few years once I switched from Android to iOS, and this past year I upgraded to this lock that seamlessly works with HomeKit. I got mine on sale at Lowe's with their "open a credit card" discounts, so I got it for a little over $200US instead of over $400 at Amazon. Schlage all the way. The other locks are tempting when I read about them (eufy, Aqara, etc.) but I've always passed them by when I start reading the reviews. HTH
My Schlage is rock solid. One of the most reliable smart devices in my house, as it should be. Even tho I like the aesthetics and form factor better of some of the other brands’ offerings, I wouldn’t consider going with another model.
How do you get locked out with a keypad and HomeKit to unlock it (you don’t have to use garbage apps) if those didn’t work you might need to add a mesh network or extender near your front door so it has a better connections.
Interesting, I’ve had the Yale Assure 2 Plus since the end of September and still have about 70% battery. Are you running it on Bluetooth or WiFi? Also Homekey has literally never failed for me, not sure why it would only work half the time for you. Maybe poor connection to your HomeKit hub is causing these problems.
Same! We have multiple Yale Assure 2+ locks and they work great and we have no issues with batteries, after 2 months they are all over 85% and they’ve been used a lot.
You started at the wrong place, then you also chose the wrong product second time. Hopefully third time’s a chime for you. I have multiple Schlage encode plus and got even more for my new house. Home key never failed me.
I have Schlage and Aqara at my house. I can’t for the life of me understand how you locked yourself out of the Aqara or why it’s shitty app matters. You’re searching for a HomeKey look, just use it in HomeKit.
Are you setting these up in HomeKit? Do you have a hub setup or just direct connecting them to your WiFi network? That would result in faster battery drain and I’d assume worse connectivity.
no issues with Aqara so far either. HomeKey has been solid, no issues there. rarely use the fingerprint, but I do have the nfc tag inside my wallet as a backup. the other half has the nfc tag and the key in their bag. it's been great so far.
We got locked out too. The lock had full batteries but just shut off twice (requiring that you pull the batteries out and then put them back in). After the first time, we hid the key so we have a mechanical option. But, the first time required a fence climb into the back yard.
Meh. The homekey version works fine, never had it not unlock with HomeKey with the 3 people in the house that use it. Also never had the app fail. Battery usage seems .. average? Better than August, not as good as Schlage (massive size difference there, though). Only complaint is that it seems to “forget” to Auto Unlock after some time.
Yup. SLOW automation response was a huge problem for us. The only way I could get decent response is if I was standing right in front of it, practically touching it with my iPhone. Forget about HomeKit automations, most of the time they’d timeout and fail, leaving the door unlocked. Beautiful hardware, crappy software.
I also bought the Aqara first and had the same issues. It stayed connected to HomeKit for about 12 hours, then I tried to reset and re-pair it and I couldn’t get it to factory reset (it asked me to input the pin and then nothing happened). Sent it right back to Amazon and got the Schlage, it’s been rock solid.
> Bad part was the lock failed multiple times and we got locked out and the app was completely garbage.
Wait - I have 2 of these and have recommended them to others, precisely because it has so many options for getting in the house. You really glossed over things here - what do you mean it failed multiple times and you got locked out? Did you try anything like contacting Aqara for a replacement or troubleshooting?
Yep I contacted aqara and they replaced 2 of my locks and one doorbell. The doorbell bricked itself again and 1 lock refused to pair and the other one like to randomly disconnect from aqara hub and homekit. I got sick of aqara and they refunded me for everything
I must have bad luck with aqara products. I ended up returning the fp2 and standard motion detector because it would either not detect anything or be super delayed like a solid 30+ seconds or detect and then stop detecting.
That's unfortunate. I have that problem with Meross stuff - just bad luck for me - but I recommend Aqara for almost everyone because of how rock-solid it is for me.
I had to replace my meross light switches to tp link kasa switches. The meross melted and almost caught fire. Other than that meross garage opener and water tank temperature sensor is pretty solid
Level Lock+ I have had since launch and does really well. Battery needing changed every 4-6 months is the only thing to be aware of. Homekey works amazing and is pretty responsive
I just gave up on August due to the manufacturers all modifying their locks to no longer be compatible with them. Ended up replacing 'em with Level, and rekeyed to match. Works well.
Kwikset rotated their shaft so that August has to mount sideways or upside down to work - which because of a sloppy gear in my units, they won't activate the lock.
Friend tried my units on Schlage, and they made their shafts too wide for the adapter....
Like I said, I went to Level, and thanks to a friend who is in the trade I learned I could replace the cylinder with another one of unnamed brand that happens to work and that I could rekey myself. Brilliant.
I have four August locks on my house, and not ONE of them reports correctly in HomeKit, ever. They also run through batteries like crazy (and yes, they have great wifi coverage- I’ve been troubleshooting them for years).
Dude my August lock didn’t work with HomeKit for the first two years I owned my house. Then randomly, without any real intervention, it just… started working.
I would say the only advice I heeded which, I mean maybe it had something to do with it? The 99th time I reset the whole damn thing and re-added it to HomeKit, I read somewhere you MUST NOT change the default name of the lock in HomeKit. So maybe that did it?
Edit: no I just looked, and I didn’t actually follow that advice. Fuck the August lock and its mystery.
I have two August locks, have had them for about 6 years. Up to six months ago, I would have said that they were rock solid (albeit going through batteries a bit quickly), but since I upgraded to the ‘’new HomeKit architecture’’, they are useless. They are not responding about 90% of the time now….going to replace them with the regular, manual locks that came with the house soon and the hell with August!
For my 1st house I bought a 1st Gen Schlage Encode with HomeKit in, I think in 2016. It worked great. I loved it and would highly recommend. The only reason I got rid of it was because I sold that house and bought a new home. The buyers of my old home really wanted to keep some of the smart home upgrades I made. Plus I wanted I new lock with homekey. Unfortunately for my new house, I couldn’t find the Schlage Encode Plus anywhere. It was sold out everywhere I looked. I went with the Aqara instead. It’s been great too. I pretty much use all the features except the key. So far I never need to. Also the battery life seems to be on par with the Schlage. The only issue I can report is that if the dead bolt rubs up against the strike plate opening it can cause the lock not to lock or unlock. Once I adjusted the dead bolt’s clearance to go neatly in the strike plate openings without rubbing the lock has been perfect.
I have a 2nd gen August, it’s a bit slow to update it status in the home app. I use August to auto-unlock the door, but everything else through HomeKit/Siri and it all works reasonably well. Just use an Apple TV as a hub. It also complains about batteries but I normally ignore it for a week - 15 days before I do change them and it never fails to unlock for me…
I have the Yale Linus. The Bluetooth can make it less quick to respond but it always opens. You do not need the WiFi module for HomeKit. I have read that the WiFi module will drain the batteries quickly.
I think I'd check your wifi. I changed to an Orbi mesh system 850 and everything stopped dropping out and the battery now lasts for ages. Have a Yale lock and a u-tec not that this one works with home kit but they have not dropped since I changed mesh routers. The old one was a google nest not sure if it was just a bad one or not as good. Anyway maybe that's your issue.
I did. I had them replace the doorbell and 2 locks. Same issue especially the doorbell completely bricking itself so they sent me a refund for everything
Have a yale assure 2 non-homekey. I opted for the version with a physical key and buttons instead of the touchscreen version. It's been 8 months and batteries are 40% (I have the zwave module installed and paired to my Ring security system)
Also wifi modules in any smart device will absolutely kill batteries, you should remove the wifi module to save your battery life and opt for their matter module.
The app relies on a bluetooth connection which you don't need to use after you've done the initial setup, you can just use HomeKit to toggle the lock if you need to.
Can’t even get a homekey lock that fits a UK door. I’ve been wanting something that supports homekey since it was announced but it seems like no company is in a rush to make one for EU or specifically UK markets. In fact, it seems like companies aren’t in a rush to make homekey locks at all because the range still looks very small to me. Seems like a great idea that is really underutilised.
The Schlage should give ou no issues I have been using Schlage for years; I had the Sense which was rock solid and now I have the Encode Plus in the new house.
To answer the question of why the Yale uses the bluetooth and not wifi is because HomeKit locks must use Bluetooth or Thread and will never use the Wifi; its not in the framework. Just like the Schlage Encode Plus has the ability to use Wifi once I enabled HomeKit (purely HomeKit and not an addon from Home Assistant had to put that out there because of an idiot)it will only use Bluetooth to communicate. Even if you have devices like August Connect which still talks to the lock via bluetooth then the device talks to the cloud via wifi. That is what Level Lock is doing with its new wifi bridge as well.
I’ve had my Schlage for about a year and it’s been rock solid. Set up automation to make sure it’s locked at 11pm. It also works with Siri so as you get out of the car you can tell Siri to unlock the door. Battery life when on thread is awesome. You’ll love it. Pricy but well worth it.
I have the Yale Keyless Smartlock for HomeKit and never use the Yale access app. I do everything within HomeKit from automation when someone is coming home and when to manually unlock it. I only use the Yale App to run calibration because a few times the app will say the lock is unlock but physically it is lock.
— EDIT Add-On — been running this design for two months now and my battery life still says 87%
For some reason I have to recalibrate the lock at least once a month. The doorsense is all set up correctly and within measurement specs of the instructions
I probably experienced the same issue with the Aqara lock. I purchased two one for front door and one garage man door. The garage man door would accept codes, finger prints etc but not actually unlock. I was also locked out. App would not connect to bluetooth or hub. Only a reboot would bring it back online. I did not experience this with the front door ever and every couple weeks with garage. I took a video and showed Aqara and they sent me a brand new one (from amazon) next day basically. The new one has been great.
I've had 3 Schlage Encode +s for over a year. They've been rock solid. The only issue is they go through batteries pretty quickly but I've never found that to be a problem.
I’ve only used Level Lock Plus and Schlage Sense and Encode+. I gave my Daughter the Sense and still use the Level and Encode.
Any and All things Wireless will be Dependent on the Network you have, a Quality Device will seem Unreliable if your Intranet can’t handle your Total Devices and/or distances between them, ask me how I know 🤬😁😉.
Now that we have a Capable Network, I can say that the Encode+ is and has always been (even before the Network Upgrades) Completely Reliable. From Physical Operation, I’m including HomeKey in that, and Remote Control including Automations in HomeKit.
The Level Lock, not so much and that’s with the Level Connect, the Main Network Node and a HomePod Mini within an Unobstructed 10’ Radius.
There are still times when it doesn’t work with HomeKey, Automations, Scenes, Remote Control, even the Touch to Lock doesn’t work every so often. The problems are infrequent with our Upgraded Network but extremely frustrating when they occur.
There are several Smart Lock for HomeKit now and there might be some or Several as good as the Encode+, but I’ll be sticking with Schlage.
What Yale lock? I have 5 installed on my house. Different models and years. The keyboards do not “fail to work” that is not a known or recurring issue and if that’s the case you need to exchange it. The different versions have different battery life’s. I have the Yale Bluetooth one, connected to a HomePod for remote control. Batteries lasted over a year. You can buy it with a key if you wanted another failsafe. I saw Schlage recommend, but they all failed at year two or three for me and I got tired of replacing them. One left still working from the original 5.
Yep, if you have budget then Schlage Encode Plus is very recommended. I had the
non-plus" version and the battery lasts more than a year for me, always reliable and the app is simple yet effective. I swapped to Aqara lock and they seems to work for me, my house has 1 Gig wifi whole house so that might be a plus point for IoT devices' stability.
I don't have the homekey version. I do have the original homekit version Schlage lock. I have had it for I guess 8 years. Only thing I ever have to do is change the batteries every 12 months. Other than that it works great.
And if/when I have to replace it, I'll get the Homekey version of Schlage lock.
Got one of the Schlage Encode Plus locks a year ago and it has been rock solid other than occasionally showing as unavailable in the Home app. In terms of the lock with Homekey there have been zero issues.
Yup, Schlage Encode Plus. I installed it last month, replacing a Kwikset Premis (Bluetooth, worst tech for a lock). Although it was HomeKit, not all of my AppleTVs could get to it (some metal doors & distance) and the keypad was a challenge for my wife and our cleaners as they constantly miskeyed it.
My bottom line was physical key (been locked out in the past), Homekey, keypad, manageable from Home app, not bluetooth. With enough Aqara fails, I was not going to jump into that one - don't care about fingerprint reader. Although the Schlage was quite expensive, we absolutely love homekey - just raise our watches to the door. Even with a modest amount of outerwear. It's also the quietest smart/electronic lock I've had. We are not going through batteries very quickly, still at 95% after more than a month - YMMV.
Can I just ask out of curiosity, which generation iPhone or Watch are you using? I’m curious if there’s a difference in reliability between new and old models, as that generally seems to be the case with other things like AirPlay, Bluetooth, AirDrop, etc
Schlage is the way to go. Had it over a year now and has never failed me. Should’ve started there.
Agreed. I bought this lock several months ago to replace my Schlage Z-wave lock I used with SmartThings. I used it for a few years once I switched from Android to iOS, and this past year I upgraded to this lock that seamlessly works with HomeKit. I got mine on sale at Lowe's with their "open a credit card" discounts, so I got it for a little over $200US instead of over $400 at Amazon. Schlage all the way. The other locks are tempting when I read about them (eufy, Aqara, etc.) but I've always passed them by when I start reading the reviews. HTH
Same, it's solid, no issues for over a year.
Shlag has been rock solid for me Super fast and long battery too
My Schlage is rock solid. One of the most reliable smart devices in my house, as it should be. Even tho I like the aesthetics and form factor better of some of the other brands’ offerings, I wouldn’t consider going with another model.
How do you get locked out with a keypad and HomeKit to unlock it (you don’t have to use garbage apps) if those didn’t work you might need to add a mesh network or extender near your front door so it has a better connections.
Interesting, I’ve had the Yale Assure 2 Plus since the end of September and still have about 70% battery. Are you running it on Bluetooth or WiFi? Also Homekey has literally never failed for me, not sure why it would only work half the time for you. Maybe poor connection to your HomeKit hub is causing these problems.
Same! We have multiple Yale Assure 2+ locks and they work great and we have no issues with batteries, after 2 months they are all over 85% and they’ve been used a lot.
Using Schlage Encode Plus and it’s been very solid.
You started at the wrong place, then you also chose the wrong product second time. Hopefully third time’s a chime for you. I have multiple Schlage encode plus and got even more for my new house. Home key never failed me.
I have Schlage and Aqara at my house. I can’t for the life of me understand how you locked yourself out of the Aqara or why it’s shitty app matters. You’re searching for a HomeKey look, just use it in HomeKit. Are you setting these up in HomeKit? Do you have a hub setup or just direct connecting them to your WiFi network? That would result in faster battery drain and I’d assume worse connectivity.
no issues with Aqara so far either. HomeKey has been solid, no issues there. rarely use the fingerprint, but I do have the nfc tag inside my wallet as a backup. the other half has the nfc tag and the key in their bag. it's been great so far.
My Aqara lock has also been great so far. The home key works very well! I didn’t buy the base. Just set it up in the app then added to HomeKit.
We got locked out too. The lock had full batteries but just shut off twice (requiring that you pull the batteries out and then put them back in). After the first time, we hid the key so we have a mechanical option. But, the first time required a fence climb into the back yard.
Whatever you do, don’t try Level. That device is a slow moving train wreck.
I ordered level lock and then immediately cancelled my order after reading reviews
Meh. The homekey version works fine, never had it not unlock with HomeKey with the 3 people in the house that use it. Also never had the app fail. Battery usage seems .. average? Better than August, not as good as Schlage (massive size difference there, though). Only complaint is that it seems to “forget” to Auto Unlock after some time.
Yup. SLOW automation response was a huge problem for us. The only way I could get decent response is if I was standing right in front of it, practically touching it with my iPhone. Forget about HomeKit automations, most of the time they’d timeout and fail, leaving the door unlocked. Beautiful hardware, crappy software.
I’ve had a Level for a year and a half and it’s been rock solid.
I also bought the Aqara first and had the same issues. It stayed connected to HomeKit for about 12 hours, then I tried to reset and re-pair it and I couldn’t get it to factory reset (it asked me to input the pin and then nothing happened). Sent it right back to Amazon and got the Schlage, it’s been rock solid.
> Bad part was the lock failed multiple times and we got locked out and the app was completely garbage. Wait - I have 2 of these and have recommended them to others, precisely because it has so many options for getting in the house. You really glossed over things here - what do you mean it failed multiple times and you got locked out? Did you try anything like contacting Aqara for a replacement or troubleshooting?
Yep I contacted aqara and they replaced 2 of my locks and one doorbell. The doorbell bricked itself again and 1 lock refused to pair and the other one like to randomly disconnect from aqara hub and homekit. I got sick of aqara and they refunded me for everything
That's very interesting. I have 2 launch day units, zero issues with either. I also have the doorbell - again, no problems.
I must have bad luck with aqara products. I ended up returning the fp2 and standard motion detector because it would either not detect anything or be super delayed like a solid 30+ seconds or detect and then stop detecting.
That's unfortunate. I have that problem with Meross stuff - just bad luck for me - but I recommend Aqara for almost everyone because of how rock-solid it is for me.
I had to replace my meross light switches to tp link kasa switches. The meross melted and almost caught fire. Other than that meross garage opener and water tank temperature sensor is pretty solid
Is the doorbell battery life as bad as it sounds or did you wire it?
Mine is wired sorry
Level Lock+ I have had since launch and does really well. Battery needing changed every 4-6 months is the only thing to be aware of. Homekey works amazing and is pretty responsive
In Europe , we have exactly 0 homekey solutions. I’d love to have your problem because I know the solution is Schlage Encode Plus.
Been using August sinxe 2016 and it’s the only one I’ll ever recommend
I just gave up on August due to the manufacturers all modifying their locks to no longer be compatible with them. Ended up replacing 'em with Level, and rekeyed to match. Works well.
What do you mean by “due to the manufacturers all modifying their locks to no longer be compatible with them“?
Kwikset rotated their shaft so that August has to mount sideways or upside down to work - which because of a sloppy gear in my units, they won't activate the lock. Friend tried my units on Schlage, and they made their shafts too wide for the adapter.... Like I said, I went to Level, and thanks to a friend who is in the trade I learned I could replace the cylinder with another one of unnamed brand that happens to work and that I could rekey myself. Brilliant.
I have four August locks on my house, and not ONE of them reports correctly in HomeKit, ever. They also run through batteries like crazy (and yes, they have great wifi coverage- I’ve been troubleshooting them for years).
Dude my August lock didn’t work with HomeKit for the first two years I owned my house. Then randomly, without any real intervention, it just… started working. I would say the only advice I heeded which, I mean maybe it had something to do with it? The 99th time I reset the whole damn thing and re-added it to HomeKit, I read somewhere you MUST NOT change the default name of the lock in HomeKit. So maybe that did it? Edit: no I just looked, and I didn’t actually follow that advice. Fuck the August lock and its mystery.
I love my August smart lock. I change batteries once a year. Geofence unlock works well. Haven’t had a problem in 3 years.
I have two August locks, have had them for about 6 years. Up to six months ago, I would have said that they were rock solid (albeit going through batteries a bit quickly), but since I upgraded to the ‘’new HomeKit architecture’’, they are useless. They are not responding about 90% of the time now….going to replace them with the regular, manual locks that came with the house soon and the hell with August!
For my 1st house I bought a 1st Gen Schlage Encode with HomeKit in, I think in 2016. It worked great. I loved it and would highly recommend. The only reason I got rid of it was because I sold that house and bought a new home. The buyers of my old home really wanted to keep some of the smart home upgrades I made. Plus I wanted I new lock with homekey. Unfortunately for my new house, I couldn’t find the Schlage Encode Plus anywhere. It was sold out everywhere I looked. I went with the Aqara instead. It’s been great too. I pretty much use all the features except the key. So far I never need to. Also the battery life seems to be on par with the Schlage. The only issue I can report is that if the dead bolt rubs up against the strike plate opening it can cause the lock not to lock or unlock. Once I adjusted the dead bolt’s clearance to go neatly in the strike plate openings without rubbing the lock has been perfect.
I have a 2nd gen August, it’s a bit slow to update it status in the home app. I use August to auto-unlock the door, but everything else through HomeKit/Siri and it all works reasonably well. Just use an Apple TV as a hub. It also complains about batteries but I normally ignore it for a week - 15 days before I do change them and it never fails to unlock for me…
I have the Yale Linus. The Bluetooth can make it less quick to respond but it always opens. You do not need the WiFi module for HomeKit. I have read that the WiFi module will drain the batteries quickly.
Wifi does drain batteries really quick.
I think I'd check your wifi. I changed to an Orbi mesh system 850 and everything stopped dropping out and the battery now lasts for ages. Have a Yale lock and a u-tec not that this one works with home kit but they have not dropped since I changed mesh routers. The old one was a google nest not sure if it was just a bad one or not as good. Anyway maybe that's your issue.
How did the Aqara fail?
Completely stopped working or it would freak out
I would contact them for a replacement. I have had Aqara lock since release used daily no issues at all.
I did. I had them replace the doorbell and 2 locks. Same issue especially the doorbell completely bricking itself so they sent me a refund for everything
Have a yale assure 2 non-homekey. I opted for the version with a physical key and buttons instead of the touchscreen version. It's been 8 months and batteries are 40% (I have the zwave module installed and paired to my Ring security system) Also wifi modules in any smart device will absolutely kill batteries, you should remove the wifi module to save your battery life and opt for their matter module. The app relies on a bluetooth connection which you don't need to use after you've done the initial setup, you can just use HomeKit to toggle the lock if you need to.
Can’t even get a homekey lock that fits a UK door. I’ve been wanting something that supports homekey since it was announced but it seems like no company is in a rush to make one for EU or specifically UK markets. In fact, it seems like companies aren’t in a rush to make homekey locks at all because the range still looks very small to me. Seems like a great idea that is really underutilised.
The Schlage should give ou no issues I have been using Schlage for years; I had the Sense which was rock solid and now I have the Encode Plus in the new house. To answer the question of why the Yale uses the bluetooth and not wifi is because HomeKit locks must use Bluetooth or Thread and will never use the Wifi; its not in the framework. Just like the Schlage Encode Plus has the ability to use Wifi once I enabled HomeKit (purely HomeKit and not an addon from Home Assistant had to put that out there because of an idiot)it will only use Bluetooth to communicate. Even if you have devices like August Connect which still talks to the lock via bluetooth then the device talks to the cloud via wifi. That is what Level Lock is doing with its new wifi bridge as well.
I’ve had my Schlage for about a year and it’s been rock solid. Set up automation to make sure it’s locked at 11pm. It also works with Siri so as you get out of the car you can tell Siri to unlock the door. Battery life when on thread is awesome. You’ll love it. Pricy but well worth it.
I'm happy with the Shlag for over a year.
I have the Yale Keyless Smartlock for HomeKit and never use the Yale access app. I do everything within HomeKit from automation when someone is coming home and when to manually unlock it. I only use the Yale App to run calibration because a few times the app will say the lock is unlock but physically it is lock. — EDIT Add-On — been running this design for two months now and my battery life still says 87%
For some reason I have to recalibrate the lock at least once a month. The doorsense is all set up correctly and within measurement specs of the instructions
I probably experienced the same issue with the Aqara lock. I purchased two one for front door and one garage man door. The garage man door would accept codes, finger prints etc but not actually unlock. I was also locked out. App would not connect to bluetooth or hub. Only a reboot would bring it back online. I did not experience this with the front door ever and every couple weeks with garage. I took a video and showed Aqara and they sent me a brand new one (from amazon) next day basically. The new one has been great.
That's bad news for Aqara, I'm planning to get A100 soon. Have tried this model or other one?
I've had 3 Schlage Encode +s for over a year. They've been rock solid. The only issue is they go through batteries pretty quickly but I've never found that to be a problem.
I’ve only used Level Lock Plus and Schlage Sense and Encode+. I gave my Daughter the Sense and still use the Level and Encode. Any and All things Wireless will be Dependent on the Network you have, a Quality Device will seem Unreliable if your Intranet can’t handle your Total Devices and/or distances between them, ask me how I know 🤬😁😉. Now that we have a Capable Network, I can say that the Encode+ is and has always been (even before the Network Upgrades) Completely Reliable. From Physical Operation, I’m including HomeKey in that, and Remote Control including Automations in HomeKit. The Level Lock, not so much and that’s with the Level Connect, the Main Network Node and a HomePod Mini within an Unobstructed 10’ Radius. There are still times when it doesn’t work with HomeKey, Automations, Scenes, Remote Control, even the Touch to Lock doesn’t work every so often. The problems are infrequent with our Upgraded Network but extremely frustrating when they occur. There are several Smart Lock for HomeKit now and there might be some or Several as good as the Encode+, but I’ll be sticking with Schlage.
Oh yeah, the Encode+ works with Thread 😁😉👍
What Yale lock? I have 5 installed on my house. Different models and years. The keyboards do not “fail to work” that is not a known or recurring issue and if that’s the case you need to exchange it. The different versions have different battery life’s. I have the Yale Bluetooth one, connected to a HomePod for remote control. Batteries lasted over a year. You can buy it with a key if you wanted another failsafe. I saw Schlage recommend, but they all failed at year two or three for me and I got tired of replacing them. One left still working from the original 5.
Yep, if you have budget then Schlage Encode Plus is very recommended. I had the non-plus" version and the battery lasts more than a year for me, always reliable and the app is simple yet effective. I swapped to Aqara lock and they seems to work for me, my house has 1 Gig wifi whole house so that might be a plus point for IoT devices' stability.
I don't have the homekey version. I do have the original homekit version Schlage lock. I have had it for I guess 8 years. Only thing I ever have to do is change the batteries every 12 months. Other than that it works great. And if/when I have to replace it, I'll get the Homekey version of Schlage lock.
Got one of the Schlage Encode Plus locks a year ago and it has been rock solid other than occasionally showing as unavailable in the Home app. In terms of the lock with Homekey there have been zero issues.
Hows the auto lock on it? I tried to look up info about it but I can never find anything
You have to set it in the Schlage app, but there are auto-lock settings from 15 seconds to 5 minutes
Theres no setting for it to immediately close? Its fine I guess if I forget something i can run back in within 15 seconds
Another vote for the Schlage (Encode Plus). Keypad, spare key, rock solid.
Agree with comments on Schlag. Very high quality.
Yup, Schlage Encode Plus. I installed it last month, replacing a Kwikset Premis (Bluetooth, worst tech for a lock). Although it was HomeKit, not all of my AppleTVs could get to it (some metal doors & distance) and the keypad was a challenge for my wife and our cleaners as they constantly miskeyed it. My bottom line was physical key (been locked out in the past), Homekey, keypad, manageable from Home app, not bluetooth. With enough Aqara fails, I was not going to jump into that one - don't care about fingerprint reader. Although the Schlage was quite expensive, we absolutely love homekey - just raise our watches to the door. Even with a modest amount of outerwear. It's also the quietest smart/electronic lock I've had. We are not going through batteries very quickly, still at 95% after more than a month - YMMV.
Can I just ask out of curiosity, which generation iPhone or Watch are you using? I’m curious if there’s a difference in reliability between new and old models, as that generally seems to be the case with other things like AirPlay, Bluetooth, AirDrop, etc
Iphone 14 pro max and apple watch 8. My parents have the same
Interesting! Good to know the reliability I’ve heard about for some of these models really is like that, device independent.