August Smartlock

I’ve been really happy about my August smart lock.

Living in one of the older apartment buildings in San Francisco, I have a fairly typical deadbolt lock which is supported by August. The instructions were pretty easy to read and follow. Part of the out of box experience included a 10 minute long firmware update via bluetooth, which required that my phone remain nearby. I walked away and my phone went to sleep… twice. (It would be nice to disable sleep on phone during the process). At least the app was able to resume where it left off. Installation completed smoothly.

After the install, I was able to calibrate the exact degrees which the device needs to turn to lock and unlock. It works pretty well. Though not due to any fault of August, my front door is slightly warped so that even when it’s closed, sometimes it needs a slight push in order for it to lock.

I’m controlling August with Apple HomeKit, which I use as the primary controller app. I have other smart devices at home, such as Hue lights, so whenever I arrive home, my door is unlocked and lights are on. It’s really cool.

Next Steps: Don’t have it yet, but am looking to get August Connect to get the status of my front door anywhere anytime. Right now, I do get a HomeKit notification whenever the door is locked and unlocked, so that I know of any changes if anyone tries to get in. Anyhow, perhaps that’s good enough for now.