5 reasons to buy a smart lock for your home security

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One of the main advantages of smart locks is that they use a relatively simple single-way mechanism – which can only be physically unlocked with a key – and introduce some more advanced and convenient functions. They allow you to check in or lock the door remotely and share access with friends and family, without giving out additional keys, and access in new ways, such as with a fingerprint or your mobile device.

What is added depends specifically on the type of lock you are installing, but it contains some great features to improve your daily lifestyle. Most homeowners say smart locks also last a while, five years or more, so it’s best to choose one that has everything you want.

As with any smart device that mines and collects data, there are concerns to consider, meaning smart locks might not be right for everyone, and that’s okay. But almost everyone understands common data and privacy issues these days, so it’s more about trade-offs. What improvements can technology offer that may or may not be worth purchasing and adding to your home? When it comes to home security and safety first and foremost, what can an average smart lock offer in terms of benefits? Why would anyone opt for a smart lock over a stupid lock?

It’s not hard to imagine many scenarios where you don’t lock your house after you leave. Maybe a neighbor calls you in a hurry and you rush out of the house and forget to lock the door behind you, or your kids are home or someone is visiting and they forget to do it when they go out, for whatever reason. This would effectively make your home vulnerable. Most smart locks pose no problem because the lock automatically engages the locking mechanism or deadbolt after a grace period. Additionally, you can choose the countdown for auto-lock. You can set it to say 30 seconds, two minutes, or up to ten minutes after someone forgets to lock.

Although this is not a security feature in itself, the opposite is also true. Some smart locks allow you to set auto-unlock settings to give you quick and easy access to your home. This can be achieved with a mobile app and Bluetooth, GPS or physical key fobs and NFC tags.

If your hands are full of groceries, luggage or packages, simply walk up to the lock to open the door. You’ll still have to physically open the door, but you won’t have to worry about fumbling in your pockets for keys or fiddling with an app. Don’t worry, only authorized users will be allowed to enter this way.

Even if you don’t want to take advantage of auto-lock features, many smart locks allow you to interact with them remotely. This includes locking and unlocking using a mobile app from almost anywhere. Granted, not all locks support this, your lock of choice must have Wi-Fi and remote access enabled, which may or may not require a bridge and additional hardware. But once enabled, you can also receive notifications every time the lock is used.

You’ll receive notifications when someone tries and fails to open the door, such as entering wrong codes or tampering with it, but also when someone comes and goes. You can assign temporary or permanent access keys to friends and family, and track who is coming in and out with those specific codes.

Notifications alone are a huge boon not only to your peace of mind, but also to the overall security level of your home. If you know there is no one in the area, no one is supposed to come, and yet you are receiving alerts that the lock is being tampered with, you can act quickly. You can view security camera feeds or view a video doorbell feed, text or call neighbors, or simply call law enforcement. It could mean the difference between someone nefarious getting inside or getting caught in the act.

With a dumb lock, you usually only have one way to unlock the lock and get inside, and that’s probably with a physical key. This works well unless you misplace your key. In contrast, a smart lock often introduces multiple secure methods for opening the door.

The lock may include a PIN pad for one-time codes, a fingerprint reader for biometrics, access to apps and smart devices, and more. This way, if you ever forget your key, you still have other ways to get into your home, not just you, your friends, your family, or your children. According to Consumer Reports, all of the best smart locks on the market offer multiple ways to open them.

You don’t have to use any additional methods, so you’re not limited to just one function, but it’s always good to have a choice. Plus, if your hands are full, you’re rushing to get in, or something else happens, again, you have several access options. You also have full control. Since there are many different types of smart locks to choose from, you can choose which unlocking methods you want to assign to your new lock. If you don’t want PINs, no problem, get a lock that doesn’t include it or requires an add-on to use it – with some locks you have to purchase the PIN pad separately. You want to get rid of physical keys completely, you can do that, or maybe you want the opposite, a smart lock that still offers physical key access, that’s also possible.

Let’s say you’ve planned a vacation and you and your family are going away for the week, but you’ve arranged for a dog-sitter to come and care for your pets while you’re gone. Or, you have a housekeeper or cleaner who will need access to your home.

You can issue temporary digital keys that allow these contacts to come and go as needed. You can even schedule the codes to be active during certain periods or on a schedule. If the smart lock has code entry, you can do it that way, or you can issue temporary keys via an app, but either way, those you trust have full access and you stay well informed of their movements with notifications and alerts.

If you ever need to prevent access, you can simply revoke the keys. This is both much simpler and much more secure than handing out physical keys that someone could take to a local hardware store and copy. You can also just avoid temporary keys altogether and let them enter remotely via a mobile app, if that’s an option on your smart lock. This makes the logistics of letting others in much easier, reducing the headaches of having a single set of physical keys that you need to clone, distribute, or track.

Amazon Delivery offers a neat service, called Amazon Key, if you have a compatible smart garage door opener. With Key, a courier or delivery person can open your garage and leave your packages safely inside, rather than at your door. But this only applies to Amazon packages, it does not apply to other deliveries going through courier services like UPS or FedEx. If you have a smart lock, as well as a security camera or video doorbell, you can get something pretty similar for everything.

You can ask the courier to drop off an expensive or valuable package right at your door, talk to them through the cameras, and then unlock the door for them remotely. This is a good example of how smart locks pair well with other smart home devices for convenience and security.

Likewise, you can use a video doorbell or security camera to monitor who is at your door and then let them in, if you deem it safe. No, you don’t want to let strangers in, but that could also be letting visiting contacts in while you’re heading home, letting a neighbor or partygoer in quickly while you run to the store, making sure your kids get home – and have access – after school, and much more. The point is that you can get creative and having the ability to unlock or open your door remotely is very convenient, especially when you have other smart home and security devices nearby.