Question Smart door lock options for 2 front doors.

simon1967

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Hi all,
I’ve been refurbishing my home for a few years now but have only recently got into Smart tech for the home. Quite a few Alexa enabled devices have found their way around the house so as my new front door is on order, I started looking at smart door locks. Then I got confused very quickly.

Basically, I have 2 lockable front doors:
- The first is the porch door which has a standard double glazing style lock. Not sure of the technical term but to enter, you have to turn the key on the outside to open (even though it has a handle which doesn’t seem to do anything). To let yourself out, turn the inside handle and the door will lock behind you. To engage the handles securely, the handle needs to be lifted upwards.
- the second, the main house door, will be a standard composite door - WITHOUT any of the lock mechanisms installed. We are fitting it into an old door frame so putting a full composite door and frame was not an option so we have a blank door to do what we like with. My current door has a standard mortice lock along with a Yale night latch but would prefer to get rid of the night latch and get something much cleaner looking.

So, I have several questions:
  • is it possible to use the same smart lock system on both doors and enter using the same method? Long shot as they are completely different locking mechanisms but it would be cool if my Apple Watch was able to unlock both doors.
  • I note that may of the smart locks can use different systems - Apple Homekit, Alexa, Zigbee etc but is there one that does both Apple & Alexa? We all use iPhones and have Apple watches so would that be our best bet and not worry about Alexa integration. Ideally, we would like it to recognise our phones and automatically unlock the door on approach. Anything more complicated than that ie a keypad etc seems to rather defeat the object of having a smart lock as it would be just as easy to use a key.
  • If we take the Apple approach, can we still tell Alexa to remotely lock the door at night or would we not need that option as locks automatically lock themselves?
  • I’m not a fan of keypads so the locks I’ve seen so far for the main house door are the Danalock V3 (discrete and inoffensive) and the Ultion Smartlock. They both seem to be able to use regular keys as well (as a backup).
  • For the porch door, I’m not really sure which locks work with these types of doors? Do I need to change the door handle / key barrel / mechanism on it so that the handle actually can open the door from the outside instead of relying on a key turn? This door actually confuses me quite a bit.
  • Or just stick with regular keys as the expense of having two smart door locks isn’t worth the expense?

As always, any advice will be gratefully received.
 

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I had the Ultion smart lock. It’s Just the Danalock V3 added on to The Ultion handles and euro cylinder. Save your money... it was a waste of time, It never worked properly. One of the worst things I have ever purchased. I ended up selling it on EBay.
Just fit both doors with keyed alike good quality euro cylinders.
 
I have 2 clients with smart locks - Yale. Neither of them work very reliably. There are probably members on here with very different experiences. My experience is that none of them are totally reliable from a smart point of view
 
We’ve used Danalock but the client now doesn’t use the smart function as they found it unreliable

generally we now try to dissuade people from smart locks
 
Shame responses so far have been largely negative - but I guess this reflects the state of the industry at present. I have almost the identical setup (if not completely identical) and I need to add door openers / closers to the mix as my wife is in a wheelchair and by the time she gets the doors open, the caller has frequently left....

We decided to go with a Ring doorbell instead, so she could talk to/see callers and not have the pullava of door opening but local street noise seems to be such that no callers can hear her unfortunately...

So am keen to see some solutions in this space that work reliably
 
I'm also not convinced smart locks are good enough yet.

I'd second using keyed alike euro cylinders. I've used Cisa Astra cylinders because they were one of the few I could find that still work from outside with a key left in. They also do keyed alike night latch cylinders so I could include the Yale lock on the side gate. Having one key is a revelation. It's not smart but it is convenient.
 
Echoing the @netsukekoi comments. It’s a shame that they don’t seem to be as reliable as they are made out to be.

My teenage kids NEVER take their keys with them but always have their phone so it would be great for them to get in without keys - as it is we always have to answer the door to them. Not a massive inconvenience but it would be great to be able to walk up to the door in the pouring rain and just walk straight into the porch. If it’s not 100% reliable and you have to take your keys as a back up, it’s pretty much a non starter for me.

I think that I’ll add a euro cylinder into the new door so that if the tech does improve or I can be convinced otherwise, I can always add it at a later date without having to buy a new door.

Thanks for all your help.
 
I use key alike Avocet euro locks so much more easier. As for teenagers, just leave them locked out a few times and they will learn. Mine used to do the same, so me and wife used to go out when they were due back. Did not take long for then to learn, especially in winter..
 
Myself and my neighbour (we are 2 houses on a small private development) both keep keys to one another's houses. We don't have one anothers' alarm codes. But I recon I have given their daughter my spare key at least a dozen times, to let herself in. For us this is the perfect solution as we are both registered with the Police as one anothers key holders in the event of an emergency.
 
I’ve been using this since it launched and have found it to be very reliable. Works very well for my use case of an Apple-device household running a Homekit-based smart home, where my door has a standard UK multipoint locking mechanism.

For me, a product having to go through the Homekit certification process at least means it’s been tested well and has been built with it’s smarts also having a security-centric focus.
 

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