• MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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    19 hours ago

    My sister’s new apartment’s front door has a “smart lock”, hooked up to Ring, naturally. No keyhole, you open it with your phone. It also runs on batteries.

    Do I really need to say any more? We were baffled.

    EDIT: Correction - there IS a keyhole but the actual tenants don’t have access to it. Only the property management. Creepy. :|

    • derfunkatron@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I have a smart deadbolt that is keypad operated. It’s awful.

      Never used the smart features, and there isn’t a bypass to unlock the door when the batteries die — which happens a lot, especially in the winter. I tried using rechargeable batteries in it, but they last less than half the time of normal batteries.

      There is nothing more frustrating than punching in the key code and hearing the death of HAL9000 voice before the deadbolt fully unlocks. Luckily I have a back door that isn’t smart.

      I’m replacing the lockset soon and this won’t be a problem anymore, but holy shit is it frustrating and wasteful.

      • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz
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        1 day ago

        Kwikset keypad works great for me. There’s a keyhole, a real button keypad, and the batteries last a while with quite a bit of warning before they’re actually dead.

    • dragonlobster@programming.dev
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      1 day ago

      I have one too but it has an emergency physical “master key”. Also there’s a port to provide power to it through a battery bank, in case you really run out of juice though it’s potentially another point of failure. No internet connection

      • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I have a Nuki this one still works with a normal key, since you install it on top of your existing double cylinder (you should only install it on one that can have two keys inserted at the same time or with a turn knob on one side). The Nuki just turns the key or thumb turn of the cylinder. Also means you can’t see that a smart lock is installed from the outside. Battery is not a problem since they last for about 5 months. And you get a warning when it reaches 20%.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        2 days ago

        Honestly I’m not sure, I only got a look at it when I was helping her move.

        It’s tied to a wall panel on the other side that controls the whole unit’s lighting and thermostat and such though, and shows a doorbell cam.

        Educated guess that it’s all tied to Amazon. Blegh.

        Allegedly they’re just supposed to rely on maintenance to change the batteries so they’re not locked out of their home. Crazy.

        • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net
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          2 days ago

          SmartOne uses Schlage locks with some ecobee thermostats and sometimes a doorbell cam. Latch locks suck and I don’t know what panel is used there.

          I’m in Toronto, I do high-rise construction. Post a picture I’ll tell you what it is.