August Smart Lock

Devices & Integrations
#9

Not sure unless it is something like my first use case where only things can be triggered while the phone is around. But maybe the August has a hidden zwave or zigbee component that hasn’t been activated like the Nest is supposed to have. I do remember last year’s CES he is talking about, but I’m not sure how they could done any integration unless it was similar to what I mentioned before about the bluetooth device having to be around and that being the trigger.

Should be interesting to see how it turns out either way.

#10

@matthewcingram After reading some more on the lock and rewatching the promo video, I just don’t see how it could possibly function without something other than local bluetooth. Not to mention that it would be a terrible decision to have only that.

One of the touted features in the promo video is alerting you when someone arrives, assuming you aren’t actually home since the promo video shows a contractor arriving. The only way for this to happen is for it to be connected to Wifi, or ship with some sort of bluetooth connect controller. Regardless, it almost has to have an internet connection to accomplish this, connecting to their servers in some method to send info back to a phone.

I realize I’m making some assumptions because they don’t explicitly say there is an internet connection, and also say one isn’t required. I dunno, my $0.02.

#11

Everything is routed through the app. So when the contractor arrives,
the lock verifies he has access by connecting to the bluetooth on his smartphone. After approved the app sends a push notification to your device saying he arrived (more or less through the “cloud”).That’s why there is always the need of a third party Bluetooth device (in this case the phone). It is a serious drawback to not have some type of other connection, but I think that’s why they have touted it’s security. It’s never actually online, but through the third party device that is connected to wifi. Use cases arise when the user doesn’t have a smartphone. How can those people get access? Right now they can’t. That’s where I was hoping the Harmony could play a part in connecting the lock. Say the non-smartphone user could text a code to a number. The Harmony verifies that number then sends an open command to the lock through Bluetooth. Or the owner of the phone could simply tell the Harmony to open the lock anytime while away from home.

#12

Well, that’ll be unfortunate if true. It really leaves no method of simply checking if the lock is currently locked or unlocked from the app while away, even within their own app.

#13

August locks are only Bluetooth and can’t connect to ST. However, there is a company which makes the same looking lock and it can connect to ST for the main reason that they also use Z-Wave. Check them out:
http://shop.danalock.com/products/7-poly-lock-other/

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#14

Unfortunately the Danalock Poly Locks are still Europe-only for the time being. The US models are pre-order, but there’s no clear expected ship date. Again, this leaves the Lockitron as the only viable option to perform this function (at least in the USA) today. I am happy to be a guinea pig for anyone willing to take a stab at their API. More info here.

Best,
Matt

#15

That lock is crap. It still requires BlueTooth which is not reliable. It needs Zigbee or Z-Wave support.

#16

@lmosenko As SmartThings v1 hub doesn’t support bluetooth, it’s not really possibility for us either way. The Danalock could be a possibility in Europe, but they are not shipping any US models yet. Again, this really only leaves us with the Lockitron as a functional choice. I really hope that someone here will assist with the integration with the Lockitron API.

#17

I am going to cross post this on the HomeKit conversation as well.

I think there is still some confusion on what HomeKit can do for a consumer, and even a developer such as ST.

August is the first product to support HomeKit though it is hidden right now as there is no other hardware that I am aware of that is on the market and sold in stores. I have 2 and they work great standalone and I can’t wait to take advantage of HomeKit for this reason alone.

What HomeKit gets a consumer is one central database that is shared across all apps that support it of all of my home automation devices. Some of these are devices (or will be) that SmartThings supports (NETATMO, HUE) and some of them are not (like August). HomeKit gives SmartThings hardware devices as they come to market if they support HomeKit automatically. The software stack part of HomeKit provides specific functions for HomeKit Hardware and my understanding is that this database also stores custom functions in a meta layer that exposes what (if not standard on/off as an example) that piece of hardware does for me. By fully integrating into HomeKit SmartThings could easily integrate and support any device that works with HomeKit for basically free. All they would have to do is possibly change on some extreme cases the UI for the device. For standard type devices such as a lock it would just work. I would open my SmartThings app and it would say hey we found a new lock. Using the HomeKit API it would then be able to control the item. SmartThings (company) does not need to buy the device, test it and then release (something that has been sometimes not so great, see HUE and Sonos Integration) a new supported device via firmware and or software. In fact it has been some of these buggy implementations that made me make the choice to try out a competing hub (I am currently using Revolv and mostly satisfied) but am willing to come back to SmartThings if the reason is compelling enough. So far it has not been (don’t hold that against me right now), I have invested in SmartThings devices that Revolv does not support, and I have devices now that SmartThings does not support this is the dilemma that HomeKit solves for me.

I want to have choice, I buy best of breed products and expect them to work. I have nest thermostats, hues, lifx bulbs, august locks, I am expecting my scout alarm system soon, netatmo, garagio and a couple of other devices in my house right now. That is mostly why I am a apple house, not because I am fanboy but there has been nothing compelling for me to switch to android or back to windows in a long time.

Additionally I do not believe what we have heard or seen of HomeKit is all there will be. The First official partner of Apples just released and is shipping a compatible device. I believe the delay in August being shipped is that they were working closely with Apple to fully support the Spec. It can’t be coincidence that they shipped roughly 1 week after the spec was finalized nor can it be a coincidence that you can buy the August locks in retail stores before they have fulfilled all of the preorders. (Full disclosure, I am still waiting on my preorder lock, and I bought 2 more on a whim at the apple store yesterday for my other doors as I believe they will be one of the best locks out there). Just because Apple released the final spec on the 8th does not mean that it was not done before that as they are very controlled on the timing of news releases. With the hints that AppleTV is going to support home kit in its latest betas it is my guess that the current AppleTV and a future version will be apple’s gateway to HomeKit devices. The current AppleTV has bluetooth and WiFi (the two protocols that apple officially supports) SmartThings has a network connection. It should be possible for SmartThings to communicate to my appleTV to tell it to lock my door. It should also be possible for my AppleTV to ask SmartThings if my window is open and then take action on that as well as my window sensor is ZigBee or Z-Wave for example.

Finally to bring this full circle back to August, I can not believe that August does not have plans for remote actions, we just don’t know what they are yet. The mere fact that they are an official Apple Partner alone proves this to me. The HomeKit spec almost requires it, if you read or watch any of the information that Apple has published on it it says “Remote Access” on several occasions.

Thanks for reading my long winded stream of consciousness.

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#18

You can do a hack integration with August smart lock provided you also have a harmony home hub. The harmony has bluetooth and directly supports the august lock. You can integrate the harmony hub with smart things and have ST run “Activities” that are already setup in your Harmony Hub (i.e.: open door).

#19

@jarvismeier, have you actually accomplished this? It is my understanding, and I have tried, that the Harmony is not yet integrated with the August. It is scheduled to be accomplished and was actually advertised as working when the Harmony Home was announced, but integration has yet to arrive from what I have seen, unless it has been most recent.

#20

No i have not. I’m based in canada and the august smart lock is not yet available here yet. This was all gathered via hearsay. I own a Harmony hub and can see it is advertised as such but have no way of actually verifying if it works.

There was another company (can’t remember the name) that is making a universal bluetooth IR blaster. They said it will work with smart things when ST release their bluetooth enabled hub in early 2015. So this may also bring with it proper August support.

#21

I own both August and Logitech Home Hub, also live in Canada :wink: August and Logitech said their integration is coming early 2015. Surprised Logitech has August Lock support printed all over their packaging even though its not even working yet.

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#22

Good to know. Were you able to purchase the August in Canada or was it like ST where it ships from the U.S. and you end up spending a billion dollars on import fees?

#23

Sorry if I was miss leading. They actually don’t ship to Canada yet, even though the initial pre-ordering included Canada. So when they notified me that shipping to Canada was not yet available, when my pre-order number came up I asked them to ship it to my US work location. I just picked it up from my US location during a business trip and brought it home with me no customs fees since I was able to declare a certain amount on returning to Canada. But since they are in the Apple stores hopefully Canadian distribution will happen soon.

#24

They started shipping to Canada, I just received mine. Waited a long time, it was preordered last January! Sad to see no Smartthings integration since it was my main reason for ordering it last year.

#25

Looks like we would be able to leverage the August Connect Wifi bridge + API starting mid-February http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/07/august-connect/ or wait until hub v2

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#26

With the announcement of August Connect, this is starting to become a more compelling product for me even though it’s pretty expensive. I’ve been on the fence about a smart lock for a while now, and had been leaning towards the Yale Real Living series.

Anyone else feel the same way?

#27

I might think about the August Lock when v2 of the ST hub is released but I’m not buying another device from August to add functionality the lock should have already had. Maybe not wifi due to power concerns, but zwave or zigbee.

#28

I got my August Connect right after it came out. Its a little slow to work but it works. The problem is that I’ve never used it in practice since I got it. Its not practical to have until it has ST integration.

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