Please share your thoughts on locks - keypad vs no keypad

On the original question of keypad or no keypad, I like the Yale keyless version - it’s just a touchscreen, which is black when off. No external moving parts, no buttons. So you get the convenience of a keypad, but it looks more elegant (not that it couldn’t be improved, it still looks different from a normal lock). The lack of a physical key is also touted as a security feature, though it includes a warning not to use that on every door, just in case they all fail.

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I have this lock. Yes just one press on the Schlage logo on the keypad locks it when you leave or as @JDRoberts said you can set this to also autolock after 30 secs (fixed). HOWEVER my college daughter seems to forget to close the door all the way sometimes which prevents the autolock for actually securing the door. I also use @RBoy device handler and his smartapp for this lock and they are worth every penny.

FYI: I looked at Kwikset locks and the security rating on Schlage locks are higher rated. You don’t want the Kwikset Smart Key that can be opened in seconds. The Smart Key system was being used on the z-wave model. Schlage can be overridden as well so nothing is perfect.

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Hi @dalec that’s great info, thanks very much! One concern I have is that my existing dead bolt does hang up a little bit so I may have to do some work on the door to get it to work perfectly smoothly. As for the kid, like most people she is used to just pulling the door closed behind her and the doorknob is locked, so nothing to think about. Now she is going to have to lock the door, unless the autolock works well.

I’m not sure I’ll like the autolock though. What if someone comes in from the market and needs to bring 6 bags of groceries in? The door gets opened, and 30 seconds later the bolt gets thrown into the lock position, with the door still open?

Yeah, I just leave the door open. The autolock still “locks” the deadbolt but the door is in the open position. When we get done bringing everything in we just manually lock. If you have your @RBoysmartapp you can temporarily just disable the autolock feature.

Spend the time making sure the deadbolt works smoothly by hand. It may be a hassle to fine tune the opening but you only have to do it one time.

Oh about batteries, I just replaced the batteries on my Schlage after a very long time, it seems like a year its been so long? I have two of these locks and been really pleased especially because of the convenience of coming in at night and not only disarming the system but them turning on the lights in the house before I enter. I just loaded a low battery alert app now to flag me.

Very cool, sounds like I ordered the right lock. I’ll probably get another at some point but there is no hurry.

Have you tried to re-key it and if so, how did that go? The rest of my locks are all Schlage and they are all on the same key, which is really nice.

I didn’t rekey mine. Its a standard hi-grade Schlage lock so it’s child’s play for your locksmith to rekey. Just take the lock component over to your local locksmith along with the key you want them to have it work with.

I would not worry too much about how secure the actual lock is as they only keep out honest people and occasional criminals with little brain. Based on some research I did on securing my home what I found was that a simple kick will open the door or even just breaking a window. With so many houses to chose from I doubt they will research connected lock hacking or lock picking unless you are a particularly interesting target…

I have a Schlage zwave lock and love it. The batteries last a year but that can vary on how often you use the motor to lock/unlock your door. A single button press will lock the door and I use 4 different codes to unlock my door. Never had an issue… There are smartapps that allow you to manage the codes (burn code, change code, only x day code, etc), manage tamper alarms and the fantastic autolock feature!

Only caution I would give on locks with actual buttons, especially if white, is that they will likely fade/get dirty/whatever making it pretty obvious which keys are used for the code. Sure there are still many possible combinations but you make it that much easier… The Schlage lock has a flat, non shiny, keypad so it can easily be wiped. Use different codes for each person and you will not only know who unlocked the door but also spread the finger marks all over. Over time you might have to change it out but I am at 2 years or so and it is not an issue yet. The Kwikset one has a random set of 2 numbers that you have to press before you enter your code and this is done to make it harder for others to get your code (looking over your shoulder, or looking at smudges) but I think that would be annoying as it requires attention… also, there seems to be a delay in the keypad activating which is a killer for me. Schlage’s keypad is active immediately. Plus… the comments made above do not make me any more comfortable with it either even though I was considering adopting it just because all my house locks are Kwikset.

For my backyard door I think I will go with the keyless Yale lock. Only concern there is the battery life as a friend got 2 of them and the batteries only last 2 weeks… but he is using an ADT system.

My lock:

I have this lock in the Camelot version. My only recommendation is to make sure the bolt slides very easily. You’ll eat batteries if you don’t as it will shift into high power mode to try and make the bolt slide.

I also recommend @RBoy dth and apps. They make managing the lock and setting things a breeze.

This is one of my family’s favorite investments. My college age daughter remembers to push one button to lock the door. As a backup I have her IPhone presence and her presence FOB set to lock the door when she’s gone.

Has worked great for us. It enables us to let people in without having to get them keys and such. Allows lights to turn on when specific people use codes.

My daughter loves when she comes home and we’re in bed. When she unlocks the door it turns on the lights she needs to get to her room at a dim level. Then once there she pushes a button on her phone or button controller and it all turns back off and verifythe door is locked.

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I have been looking to replace our front door deadbolt with some form of IoT device since getting into ST. The convenience factor of having multiple methods to unlock the device for family, friends and others is a major motivator . The keypad option provides a backup method of opening the door, some people don’t like using gadgetry devices and I don’t like having to give out physical keys.

One of the devices I have had my eye on for several months is the Yale Real Living Assure Lock with Bluetooth and Z-wave:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JUBS19G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=35JG23LWL68KP&coliid=I1A5E8HIMOO9K4&psc=1

It has a good set of features, provides almost every lock method available, except the one for those who enjoy a pocket full of keys and isn’t a bad price. Yale Customer Support indicated it would be available in the next week or two so when it is available I intend to get it.

Note that the Z-wave is not included, you have to add the network module, presumably the same one the previous models used, so add $125 to the price. This looks physically the same as what I have, but with white numbers instead of blue. I wonder why they added Bluetooth but didn’t make it work with HomeKit? I like Yale generally, but I have no use for yet another smart device that just uses its own app and doesn’t work with any of the other smart device networks out of the box.

It would be nice if it worked out of the box with other smart devices but I don’t consider that a deal breaker. The more I learn about IoT devices, z-wave, and ST the more I realize someone will eventually “make it work”. Sure the additional cost may push this out of reach for some people but having flexibility of bluetooth and z-wave or zigbee means it isn’t married to one technology. Having another app on my smartphone for the “key” to my home is insignificant to me and it may not last forever. I also like having additional forms of out-of-band control over a device so the app is a plus.

Anyway I get it, this device won’t for be everyone even before looking at the price. New tech and methods always evolve, take how 2 Factor Authentication started out on the Internet, everyone had their own flavor, their own app and now because of things like Authy, there is consolidation.

I installed my new Schlage BE469 yesterday and that was pretty easy. I had to widen the hole the bolt slid into to the 1 inch specified in the manual and once I did the bolt slid very easily. Once that was done the rest was pretty easy.

A couple of cautions for people who bought a used lock. If it is not found by your ST hub after a few tries, most likely you need to exclude it first. Also, the bolt did not operate correctly until I did a reset as described in the manual. The manual says to do this whenever the lock is moved to a new door, and the procedure causes the bolt to slide open and closed a few times.

Finally, I just re-keyed it myself. Since I was replacing an existing deadbolt, I had all the pins I needed. I watched a few youtube videos on how to do that, so I found it pretty easy to do. I could have used the same cylinder except that it was brass and the new lock is matte black.

One little downside is that the length of the code must be the same for each user and it defaults to 4 digits. It can be from 4 to 8 and you can change it on the lock, although not with the @RBoy app. I’m not comfortable with 4 digit codes because people will often select a code as a simple pattern, like, 1-3-9-7 or 1-2-3-4 or 2-5-8-0 and such. I’ll probably do 5.

Overall I am very happy with this purchase. For $140 for “used - like new” it was a great deal. It does look new and no one would ever know it was used.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!

I’m glad it has worked for you. Since YOUR programming the lock could you not have codes besides the obvious. My families choices had to be approved by me since I programmed it. :slight_smile:

Going with longer codes is more secure. Most people are just used to remembering 4 digit pins.

Just my opinion.

As far as presence unlocking, that’s what I like about ST, all of those things are independent, but can be made to work together. I use a combination of my phone and Life 360, rolled in together to using the Reliable Presence smart app. It works very reliably for me.

As far as the one being opened from the inside, you might consider a semi-solution. We have a Kwikset 910 and needed my mother in law (suffering from dementia) not to be able to open it (she tends to wander off if she can go out the front). We took the cover off the inside mechanism (several small phillips screws) and found the knob for locking/unlocking from the inside can be removed if you take off the push clip on the knob.

It’s not highly secure, since a person could put in a screwdriver and turn it, but it suits our needs; and may be good enough for yours.

Of course, that means we have to use our ST app to unlock it from the inside, but it works for us.

Oh I completely agree with everything you aid and yes, I would be happy to approve the codes. Of course, it’s easier just to tell everyone that the lock requires a 5 digit code than it is to argue about the wisdom of using a 4 digit code. Sometimes what people don’t know can’t hrt them :slight_smile:

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@Herb_Parsons thanks for the suggestion. I think I’ll leave it as is. Thanks to the auto-lock feature (more on that in a bit) the door is always locked when we’re home so not being able to just turn a knob would be a major nuisance. Yes, security is often a tradeoff between security and convenience. But in this case, if there is a fire, well I would want everyone able to open that lock in a hurry.

Most times less options is the best option!

This will be one of your favorite changes. Everyone that uses our lock LOVES not having to dig out a key.

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I noticed that the @RBoy lock app seems to have a feature where it can use a door close sensor to implement a nicer auto lock feature than the 30 second feature built into the lock, so of course I ordered a recessed door sensor!

But now that I dive into the app I can’t find that feature! I know I didn’t dream it, so can someone tell me where it is?

Ha! It already is!

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I believe it is under this option.

When you select this it will ask you which door.

Not 100% sure since I don’t use the auto lock option.

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