Looking at getting a smart lock, mainly for the ease of getting in the house. I’d like not to have to use keys, or enter a code on a keypad. However, I don’t like the idea to use exclusively presence sensors (our cell phones) to unlock every time we’re in specific radius regardless of if we’re in front of the door. What are my options? It seems that the Kevo and August are leveraging geofencing and Bluetooth to determine whether or not to unlock but they may not play well with ST. Any feedback or experience will be appreciated. Thanks!
There is an app in the marketplace called “enhanced auto lock”. It locks/unlocks the lock based on a contact sensor. So when my garage door opens it unlocks and when the garage door closes, it’s locked with a delay.
So I have two Yale YRD120zw (T1L) locks. My setup consists of 3 things that trigger my inside garage door to unlock.
- I am using GPS Presence (my phone is reliable with ST)
- ST Arrival Sensor is present as well
- The Garage door sensor is opened.
When I get close to home, my ST goes into Disarmed, and opens my garage and then another Routine runs that if Arrival Sensor and Mobile phone are present and the Garage door sensor is opened, then unlock the inside garage door. Pretty simple.
As for the Kevo and August I can’t speak to those as they aren’t something that work for me.
I use a SmartApp called Host Pinger which runs on a little Pi3. It basically scans your LAN for active and inactive connections. The connections are tied to Virtual Switches.
This worked great for me to make sure that people were using wifi while in or near the house.
If Presence Sensor is present
And
Virtual Switch is off
Then send push notification to contact
Turn on your WiFi!
I guess you could repurpose that logic to have a 2 device check before unlocking the door.
I will admit, I’ve found that using just a presence sensors was enough for our household for controlling door locks.
@WB70 I can see how your setup would work perfectly with an attached garage and a door between house and garage. I’m planing to install the lock to our back door which open to our yard (our main way to get in the house), we parked on a side driveway but rarely in the detached garage. I’m looking for additional trigger element to unlock rather than relying exclusively on the phone presence sensor, hence why I was attracted by the locks that leverage close-proximity Bluetooth.
Ok. So when you leave the House, do you set the system to Armed (Away) via a routine or do you manually set the system to Armed manually? When you arrive Home how is ST set to Disarmed? Knowing the answer to those two questions will lead me to the next question.
And FYI: although I am using GPS presence (phone), the SmartThings Arrival Sensor on my keychain must be present as well (so I’m not just relying on gps) so I’m actually keying on two things up front before my system even disarms. Then after those 2 conditions are satisfied, then yes the garage sensor then allows the inside garage door to unlock.
The OP specifically wants the lock to unlock without entering a code, so having a keypad in his situation defeats the purpose of what he wants to accomplish (otherwise he just enters the pin code on the lock). He’s looking for a hands off solution. For me I am relying on multiple devices and appropriate notifications when system is armed and my entry perimeters all contain cameras so my conditions cover most things. The lock for my front door has the keypad disabled so if you try entering something, I am notified if they start monkeying with it.
Sorry, I missed that initially. Apologies.
No worries. Throwing out all suggestions and the way others have things setup gives different perspectives to allow a person to see a bigger picture with additional options or alternatives to what they were originally thinking of doing, and that’s a good thing. I was just trying to stay narrowed down to what he was asking for initially and then also try to find out how he is using the SHM to give me a better understanding. Lol you should undelete your post.
@wb70 yes I have an elaborate webCore routine to setup various modes (including arming and disarming). I agree that with the addition of an ST arrival sensor I could use the phone presence sensor and he arrival sensor; however I found the ST sensor quite bulky and would rather not add anything else on my key chain 
Browsing the forum, I just found that the latest August lock (3rd gen, pro) has BT and Zwave. Having the Zwave would allow me to integrate the lock with ST and I could potentially leverage local BT for unlock. Still investigating…
Hmmmm. Mine is smaller than my alarm remote for the truck. Don’t even know it’s there. You could always just leave it in the vehicle, depending on how far your drive on the side of the house is to the hub. That’s a thought. And you are already setup with webCoRE so that’s even better. 
Let us know what you end up coming with.
For me I’m about aesthetics and brand that’s why I went with Yale. I personally do not like August or Kwikset, but that definitely could work for you. Just make sure you read through the threads on the lock you are looking at and make sure to read all good and all bad before you take the plunge
Ah ah i actually never saw one in person and was relying on the picture… it may be smaller than I think. Anybody has a pic with something else as reference?
Looks like the Yale Assure has BT and Zwave too…
Thanks for the pics! ST has 25% off right plus I could use the classic Lowe’s $15 off $50. Tempting…
Best Buy has it for cheaper than that right now:
Same price at Lowe’s and you can use the additional $15 off coupon.
That’s almost free. Worth trying at that price!