#Door locks with keypad upgrade#

We find keypad-operated door locks to be convenient.

New Technologies Don’t Solve Old Problems “A lock should be secure without consumers having to buy an aftermarket part.” “We think manufacturers should include beefier hardware with their locks,” says CR’s lock test engineer, David Trezza. The kick-in resistance of most locks improves dramatically when we replace a stock strike plate with 3-inch screws and a box strike, which you can buy online for as little as $5. But as we’ve reported in the past, many of these come with short screws that catch only the jamb and not the framing of the house. So you’d have to replace the lock but not the contents of your home.Īll locks come with a strike plate that attaches to the doorjamb. Our drill test on the Medeco Maxum 11*603, which has hardened cylinders, ruined the lock but denied access. With all but the high-security locks we test, even an ordinary cordless drill can disable the cylinders in 2 minutes or less. Very few locks we rate earn a high Overall Score, and some locks prove to be far more susceptible than most to brute-force attacks. For the details on how well each door lock performs in these tests, see the results in our door lock ratings. We also run through the wireless setup process to see how difficult it is to connect the locks to a smartphone and other smart home devices (such as smart speakers), putting ourselves in your shoes. Our testers factor these features into our ratings for ease of remote access, convenience, and security add-ons. We investigate features such as smartphone alerts, remote locking and unlocking, geofencing (the ability to automatically lock or unlock the door based on your phone’s location), voice control (via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri), shareable electronic keys, access logs of who comes and goes, and even tamper alarms.

As a result, a retrofit smart lock’s resistance to kicking, picking, and drilling is entirely dependent on the deadbolt it’s paired with.īoth types of smart locks also get additional testing. These locks replace only the interior side of your existing deadbolt, essentially adding smarts to the lock you already use. The only exception is retrofit smart locks. And for the picking test, we assess the internal mechanisms of each lock to see how easily they can be picked.Īll models, including smart locks, receive a score in each of the four break-in tests, allowing you to easily compare each lock’s strengths and weaknesses in the face of a physical breach.

#Door locks with keypad upgrade#

Again and again, CR’s experts have found that this basic do-it-yourself upgrade improves security for any lock (more on that later).įor the drilling test, we evaluate how well each lock can withstand attack from a cordless drill. The models that fail-and at least half do-then go through another test round with a reinforced box strike plate installed on a new lock sample. They repeat the test eight times, at increasing heights, or until the lock fails. The deadbolts, electronic locks, and smart locks that enter CR’s labs get kicked, picked, and drilled into oblivion.įor the kick-in tests, CR’s test engineers built a custom jig that allows them to swing a 100-pound steel battering ram at a replaceable section of door with the deadbolt installed. Matter-certified products are expected to enter the market by the end of 2021. The standard already has support from Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and over 170 other companies, including Assa Abloy (parent company of August and Yale), Kwikset, Level, and Schlage. Through this standard, smart home devices from different manufacturers will be able to talk to each other without the need for dedicated partnerships between companies. Smart locks will see more changes as the smart home industry adopts a new communications standard called Matter. But a new startup called Level has made its retrofit model, the Level Bolt, so small that it simply replaces the bolt of your existing deadbolt. And retrofit smart locks (models that essentially add smarts to your existing lock) are getting smaller.Īugust (a sister brand of Yale) made its latest retrofit model, the August WiFi Smart Lock, smaller than the previous version. Some smart locks now feature fingerprint sensors, giving you a way to unlock your door without a key, a PIN code, or a smartphone. Newer models connect directly to WiFi, negating the need for hubs and bridges that connect them to the internet. Internet-connected smart locks are improving in a number of ways.

The door lock market doesn’t change as quickly as the markets for other products, such as appliances and electronics, but there is plenty of change afoot when it comes to smart locks.