I’ve crawled through many a window in my time. The most memorable occasion was after we had come back from a three-week road trip. I had given a key to a friend to take care of my cat and she had forgot to slip it back under the mat. We had no key, only one window on the top floor open, and it was midnight. Needless to say, the neighbors were probably wondering why we were pulling ladders out of the yard in the middle of the night, and it’s not an experience I’ve ever wanted to repeat.
I’m so thankful to live in time when keys really aren’t needed anymore, and after installing and using the Homekit-enabled August Smart Lock and the August Smart Keypad, I’m telling everyone I know to ditch their deadbolt and get one of these cool locks. It’s easy to install and flat out amazing to use.
These products do exactly what any good smart home product should do: simplify a daily task and take away a problem. You don’t have to think about locking and unlocking your door, and you’ll never have to climb through a window again when you locked yourself out.
Here’s a look at the August Smart Lock and the August Smart Keypad.
Appearance
The August Smart Lock is 8.64 cm by 8.64 cm by 5.59 cm, and is the size of a wide hockey puck. It only replaces one half of your deadbolt, but works with it to automate the turning of the lock. That means you can still use your existing key if you ever want to.
It’s made from anodized aluminum and it has an LED light to indicate when it’s locked and unlocked.
The August Smart Keypad is quite a bit smaller than the lock, and is exactly what it says it is: a keypad. It also has a back light.
Features of the August Smart Lock and the August Keypad
August Smart Lock
- Unlocks and locks your deadbolt wirelessly via the August app
- Lets you control who accesses your home. If you want to let someone in, you can pop the door lock for them
- Works with Bluetooth-enabled smartphones to automatically unlock the door when you’re within range.
- Has an Everlock feature that will lock the door behind you
- Gives you a log history so you know who has come and gone from the door
- Homekit-enabled so it’s Siri compatible
- Battery operated
August Smart Keypad
- The August Smart keypad will let you give someone an access code so they can open the door lock themselves
- You control who has access codes and you can create different access codes for different people
- One touch lock secures the door behind them
- Battery operated
Installing the August Smart Lock
Until a year ago, I was fairly green as far as DIY. I could chalk paint a chest of drawers or repaint a room no problem, but ask me to hang a shelf or change a door lock and I’d be running for my husband.
Times in the Wutke household have changed. Because of a major renovation I’ve had to befriend some serious power tools, but I know even before I got so handy that installing the August Smart Lock would have been no problem for me.
When you unbox the August Smart Lock you’ll see the lock, three base plates, and three pegs to hold the lock. All you need is a Phillips screwdriver or a drill to install it.
In the video below I share how easy it was to install the August Smart Lock, but in a nutshell I took out two screws holding the lock in place inside the house, removed the inside portion of the lock, took out two more screws to remove the base plate, and picked the August mounting plate that best matched my lock.
August has a list of compatible deadbolts you can use the Smart Lock with, and my dead bolt wasn’t on the list. I honestly have no idea what type of deadbolt it is because I bought this door at an auction and it came with the lock.
I was a little worried it wouldn’t fit but it did. If you have no idea what type of lock you have, my advice is to just have a good look at the connecting rod that holds the lock in place and try a few of the mounting plates. The second mounting plate fit my lock perfectly.
Once you’ve screwed the August mounting plate onto your lock you need to add an lock adaptor. There are three lock adaptors and they are each shaped differently. I used the green adaptor, placed the August Smart Lock over it, and clipped down the sides. That’s all it takes to install it.
Once installed you’ll need to calibrate your lock, and all that means is you open and close it one time manually so the lock will know how much power to put into locking the door.
Installing the August Smart Keypad
The August Smart Keypad is even easier to install. It comes with a mounting bracket that you attach to the spot you’d like it. One installed, you use the August app to set up the keypad and add codes for friends, family, delivery people, or employees.
How the Home Kit-enabled August devices work together
Once I had the August Smart Lock installed I downloaded the August app and set it up. It takes about 5 minutes to go through the set up process, and that included calibrating the lock and setting up a user account.
Once the Smart Lock was set up, I tested it out by opening and closing the door. It works great, and you can add users to the app so they can open and close the door via their phones too. Adding users is also where the August Smart Keypad comes into play.
Maybe you want to open the door for someone but you don’t want to give that person full access to your smart lock via the August app. With the Smart Keypad you can assign codes for anyone you’d like to access your house including friends, neighbors, the house cleaner, or delivery people you feel comfortable having access. You can create individual codes for each person so you know who is coming and going, and you can delete access at any given time.
By far my favourite feature of the August Smart Lock is how you can set up Auto-Unlock. All you have to do is enable Auto-Unlock and when your smartphone comes within a set distance of your August Smart Lock, your door will automatically open. You can also set your lock to Auto-Lock so that it automatically locks itself after a time delay.
Because the August Smart Lock is part of the HomeKit smart home platform, you can actually use Siri to open and close your door. I had to try this as soon as everything was installed, and it’s amazing. I didn’t even have to set up anything extra or go through steps. I just asked Siri to open my front door and the lock opened.
Take a look at my video walkthrough of installing and using the August Smart Lock and August Smart Keypad.
Overall thoughts
I’m excited to have the August Smart Lock and August Keypad on my front door. I don’t have to use keys anymore, and the August Smart Keypad eliminates the problem of having to share keys with friends who I need to give access to.
Both devices are easy to install, easy to set up, and easy to use, and I can’t wait until next week when I add the August Smart Doorbell to my system. Be sure to check that out when it’s posted.
Check out the Home Kit-enabled August Smart Lock and August Smart Keypad on Bestbuy.ca right now.
@Shelly_Wutke My concern with this is and perhaps you can shed some light:
1) security. With the ability for ANYTHING to be hacked, how secure is this? How long has it been field tested.
2) If this is wi-fi enabled what happens if my wi-fi goes down and router does not come back up? What are my options?
Thank you!
Hi @Wayne_dman,
August has been around a long time, and although I’m not sure how long they’ve field tested this lock, I know that if they ever find a vulnerability there’s a patch available within 24 hours.
I think it would be a lot of work to hack something like this and the lock itself isn’t going to be the opening someone wants to get into the house anyway. They could smash a window far easier than popping a smart lock, and in my house, the security alarm would go nuts and the cameras would get them long before I even received notification that they used the smart lock to get in. I think this device is about ease of use for the user, because it’s completley amazing to not have to use keys or fumble at the door.
As for what happens if the Wi-Fi goes down, that’s the best part of August. There are some locks that only work through a keypad, but August keeps the key portion of your lock. That way if your Wi-Fi is down, you just use your key like you always did.
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