Glad someone else agreed with me! Seems a little waste of money these locks!
Silicon Valley has a good line in selling people stuff they already have, for lots of money, plus a monthly subscription.
Fir Airbnb tho I think it would be really useful
For normal people? No
Wonder how many people in this thread have a property on AirB&B?
Thereās a Thoreau quote that would work well here:
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone
Some inventions are genuinely worthwhile, but I donāt believe smart locks are one of them. Too many unknowns, too little accountability.
Nothing. But technology moves forward. I donāt use a key to get into my office, I use a security pass, same idea surely?
Also, I have two dogs, if itās raining Iād much rather my door unlock (and open!) without me having to fish through my pockets for my keys and extract them without spilling poo bags and treats everywhere (and yes, that is a very niche use case! 
).
A more realistic example, that Iāve talked through with my Dad is the fact that they are both getting older and less capable. My Mum had a stroke a few years ago and has no use of her right-side, can still walk with a cane, slowly, but needs to hold on to it when sheās standing. My Dad has a muscle wasting condition so struggles to do things with his hands more and more.
In this case a smart lock is perfect, as it removes the physical barrier of having to get the key in the lock, and turn it. Easy for those who are healthy, not so much for those with disabilities.
Further to that, if they did have a smart lock they could let me be a ākey holderā meaning if they have an issue, I donāt need to kick down their get in (or better still, if Iām not physically there, could open it for the ambulance/police?).
5 Likes
Well done. To my shame I didnāt even think of that sort of situation. R-
1 Like
I wish I didnāt have to but such is life! 
Any thoughts on remotely opening the door for delivery drivers so they can leave the item(s) in your hallway? (Works best with some CCTV in your hallway!)
How would that impact on your insurance? R-
At a tech conference I saw a smart door with a hatch that allowed people to do this. It didnāt look very good though.
You can also get smart boxes that are kind of like a postbox, for delivery people to pop your items in.
This one is huge, but you get the idea:
1 Like
I donāt think it would be much different from letting a cleaner, plumber, or whoever into your houseā¦
From a theft point of view, youāve ordered something from a known supplier, theyāve sent a known courier, youāve seen their face on your doorbell camera, and then youāve let them into a hallway where they are filmed. I think the risk is pretty low, and the chance of police identifying them about 100%.
I think Amazon were trialling this recently somewhere. Not sure how/what lock etc but they are looking at it for sure.
OK, I just wonder how youād be fixed if they didnāt close/lock the door properly. Personally I wouldnāt let any tradespeople in unless I was here. R-
2 Likes
Even if you could speak to them remotely and watch them in real time?
I agree that failure to shut the door behind them would be annoying, but probably a fairly rare occurrence. Most people know how to shut doors on the way out.
Yup - even then.
Anyway, just my thoughts as requested. R-
Avia Smart Lock coming out this Month - Homekit compatibility and great functionality. Been in development for over 2 years. Check it out!
1 Like
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202104360
Trialing in the US. They own ring so assume they can grant themselves access codes and then with CCTV you can view the delivery.
A good idea I think if you have CCTV facing the door. I believe in the USA they get a lot of parcels dropped at the porch so this prevents the theft of the parcels
1 Like
We have an older Yale smart lock (I think the predecessor to the Conexis lock) with the Z-wave module. This is on our outside porch door (we have a standard lock inside).
The main reason we got it was because my elderly mother used to come round every day to let our dog out for us, but sometimes sheād leave the key in the outside of the door, and sometimes sheād lose the key. When she lost the key, we could never be sure it hadnāt been taken from the door, so we went through quite a few locks before we decided to go for a smarter option.
It has come in handy for other things too, though, like letting Amazon use a personalised code for dropping off parcels in the porch. We also give a couple of friends their own codes and activate them remotely if theyāre looking after the house while weāre on holiday, or need them to let out the dog in an emergency. This also means we donāt have loads of copies of keys lying around or having to keep track of where they are. Also, I like being able to unlock the porch door from my car if itās particularly bad weather, or I have loads of groceries to bring in, and I like the fact that it soft-locks itself if I ever forget.
5 Likes
Next question is do any smart locks also tie up to a door opener/closer.
The convenience of waving my foot under a car to have the boot open up, when Iāve got arms full of groceries and its raining, really canāt be underestimated!! (yes, I know, first world problems and all that).
A smart lock that unlocked and opened/closed the door as you approachedā¦ NOW yer talkinā!
3 Likes
1 Like