Up I have been looking to get a smart lock/deadbolt for a while now. Schlage sense is one of the products that I have considered.
Today I finally decided to buy it and give it a try.
The installation is pretty easy. It took me about half hour to take out my old lock and installed the new one. I have not change any lock in my life before. So I think it was pretty easy. For information, you can download the app and view the installation video.
After its installed, the pairing was pretty easy too. It did failed once and I had to reset the lock. The second time works smoothly without issue. The homekit remote works perfectly. I tries turning off my wifi and it still works remotely pretty 100% of the time. I have a 3rd generation Apple TV which is sitting on the opposite end of my house. It's right around 30 gets from the door. It actually performs better than I expected. I was able to invite my wife to join my homekit and she is able to use Siri to control the lock too.
*One thing that I had in doubt was using siri on the lock screen of my iPhone. I worried that people can get my phone and use Siri to open my door. It turns out that Apple (HomeKit) or Schlage did the right thing by required user to unlock phone before Siri will process the request. So, stranger can try to use Siri to unlock my door. But they will failed. However, they can still do other things with Siri ... which is probably something that they should lock too.
Once it's all paired, you can see you door status from the main screen. And you can always lock/unlock from this screen.
You have the following settimgs. They are very self-explanatory from the screen shots.
To setup passcode, you can give it a name and (in my case) a 8 digits code. There are the options to set schedule for the passcode or allow all day access.
The activity logs contain the most recent 100 activities that happened. As you can see, you can see how the door is unlocked/locked by thumb turn or by mobile device or by a passcode (the title of the passcode is showing)
I'm pretty happy with the Schlage sense. I do have a few wishing lists. The main things are:
- I wish I can create random length passcode and not stick to a single length. So, I can potentially create a 6-digits code for my parents (who can't remember as easily) and 8-digits code for temporary guests.
- I wish that they can allow one touch unlock like the Kwikset Kevo. Since it has bluetooth already, hopefully it'll just be a firmware update and an option in the settings. However, I do understand Schlage's concern about security. So, I expect they will no release such an update.
***Updated on iOS 10: The lock was in pretty bad shape for about 2 weeks after the iOS 10 update. The first iOS app and firmware update breaks the lock.
- The lock was unable to connect to the app most of the time. Had to do a few reset for the lock to get it connect.
- the new Home app can't communicate with the lock.
- the remote feature for me became non-existent because it stopped working with 3rd generation AppleTV. However, I did get it working with using my iPad as the home hub.
The 2nd update from Schlage fixed everything and so far everything is working now. It's about 2 ~ 3 weeks outage for me. But it's all good now if you're considering buying the lock.
