When smart home tech first started coming out, I was hopeful, but also skeptical. It seemed overly complicated, with too many hoops to jump through and a relative inability to meld old and new for situations like rental apartments and older homes. Now, though, the range and breadth of smart home tech means you can find something to suit just about every need, and I find my entire house is mostly connected, though it happened gradually bit by bit, rather than by any kind of grand design.
The most recent smart home tech I added to my setup is the August Lock[1], and specifically the third-generation, August Smart Lock Pro, along with the Connect Wi-Fi bridge. It’s the latest connected lock from August, which was acquired by lock industry giant Assa Abloy last year.
August’s product has a few advantages over more traditional lockmaker connected offerings thanks to a design that means you can keep your old lock. It’s particularly useful for renters, where swapping out the whole lock means, at the very least, asking for permission from a landlord, and in some cases, may be plain impossible. The Smart Lock Pro replaces just the inside, thumb lever portion of the deadbolt itself, so you don’t have to change keys.
The lock also has an advantage in terms of connectivity – with just the Smar Lock Pro itself, you get Z-Wave and Bluetooth connectivity, which means you can control it when you’re within BT range, or use a Z-Wave smart home hub (like SmartThings) for broader connectivity. If you add the Connect, however, you get a Wi-Fi bridge that means you can have remote lock access from wherever you are, as well as HomeKit compatibility.
Again, August’s offering is...