“A bit on the industrial side? Perhaps, but if reliability is what you really want from your smart lock, the Schlage Sense should be your top choic,” Christopher Null writes for TechHive.
“The Schlage Sense is an enormous piece of equipment (the interior escutcheon alone is eight inches high), and installation can be a bit of a headache. One gets the sense that this is a product primarily designed for contractors and homebuilders to install, judging by a pair of dense instruction manuals that must be followed to get the not-wholly-intuitive Sense affixed to your door,” Null writes. “It’s also worth noting that this lock is certified as commercial-grade, not merely residential, which instills even more confidence in its operation and build quality.”
“Potential installation woes aside, once the Sense is up and running, it’s a solid performer with unparalleled reliability in this space,” Null writes. “While many smart locks frequently jam or choke at the tiniest hiccup, the Schlage Sense worked impeccably in my testing, never once failing to open or close on command. With the app installed you can always tap an icon to unlock the system, or on an iPhone you can use Siri if you’re within Bluetooth range. The lock is fully HomeKit-enabled, so if you have an Apple TV, you can check the lock status and issue open/close commands remotely. Note however that Android devices are not supported at this time.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Android devices unsupported. Heh. Why would any lock company allow fragmandroid, toxic hellstew of vulnerabilities that it is, to destroy the security of its products?
Supporting Android would be like handing out keys to every lock you produce to everyone on the planet.
toxic hellstew…LOL
Damn, $202 for that.
Mine is a POS. Randomly can’t connect. Can’t update firmware. I’ve given up and we just use it like a regular lock now. Too unreliable to count on. This type of thing simply can’t fail.
I have a Schlage Sense for about two year now. Never had any of the issues you describe. Might be a poor Bluetooth connection to your AppleTV. Remember, it’s not well documented, but you need an AppleTV for most of the features (like unlocking your door remotely).
It’s about 20 feet from the TV with no walls between.
Contact them by phone. Give them S#. First batch had issue not updating and they replaced mine with a brand new one. They did not request old one back, so do not buy used.
New one works great. I give it 5 Stars.
It was pretty easy to install. I just followed the video in the app that you dl. I wouldn’t consider myself as “handy” either. I had problems early on with occasional disconnections where the app couldn’t find the lock and I would have to re-pair the lock which was a huge pain. But it has been working 100% for the last 6 months. I almost always unlock the door with my Apple Watch when pulling into the driveway. I’m very happy with it.
I have installed 2 of them and they were easy and I am not skilled in a DIY sense
There are very good videos on the Schlage website
Mine is integrated with Indigo… which is light years ahead of Apple’s HomeKit. Lots and lots of devices, with incredible inter-operability between all devices. Arrive Home via GPS? Hue Lights on, LIFX Lights on, other light controlled lights on, alarm off, Garage door open, AC set to comfortable, door unlocked, music on… endless possibilities.
That’s nice, wish we could add…gps detects you leaving work, signals wifey to start dinner, and change into skimpy lingerie awaiting your imminent arrival.
She was already in her skimpy lingerie, but the alert gave her plenty of time to push me out of the door and rush around trying to make everything look normal again before you get home.
Don’t forget thats Find my Friends has allowed you to receive an alert when somebody leaves a specified place, such as their place of work. It shouldn’t be much of a stretch to integrate that sort of functionality to trigger a defined set of actions for a home automation system.
It would be even better if different actions could be triggered according to your real ETA. For example, leaving the office might crank up the heating if the house is otherwise unoccupied. Your iPhone always knows where you are, the route you are likely to take and the traffic conditions along that route, so it should be able to trigger events such as switching on the oven half an hour before you get home, starting the coffee five minutes before you arrive and putting on the exterior lights as you get near the house.