3 ms·

Sounds like Latch is just garbage. Our August locks consist of me talking to the watch (or phone, if that's your thing): "hey dingus, unlock the front door". I

Sounds like Latch is just garbage. Our August locks consist of me talking to the watch (or phone, if that's your thing): "hey dingus, unlock the front door". I can do that after a run when I'm still 50 feet away, or whenever is convenient for me to do so. Of course, leaving the house is just the opposite, me shouting at HomePod on the way out the door: "hey dingus, lock the front door". And before I'm out the front gate, I hear the chime confirming that the door locked. Latch sounds like they just turned your phone into a really shitty physical key without the convenience of an actual twist-it-in-the-hole key physical key.

bsder 3y ago
ALL BLE phone app access control thingies are garbage. It doesn't matter whether it's Latch, OpenPath, whoever. These kinds of things want BLE to scan all the time. Your phone OS wants BLE to scan never. The app will always lose this battle. All of these services work with an RFID fob or keycard. I suspect it will take a couple of "equal opportunity" lawsuits to force landlords to cough them up.
FireBeyond 3y ago
I bailed on my Level lock after the second occasion where it was chewing through batteries at a fantastic rate on my new home and I got locked out due to battery failure - with no notification on the app. (I ended up installing a Knox Box type device the second time). I ended up going with the Schlage Encode Plus. Works as a dumb NFC, accepts keycards, full HomeKit, Apple Watch, etc., physical key, and keypad.
notzane 3y ago
A few nights ago, I spent 30 minutes standing outside of a rental because the August app wouldn’t connect to my AirBnB account. Eventually the host woke up and sent a backup code for the keypad (with the help of phone support—do they have a pager system?). (If anyone from August is reading please help, it’s error log ID e720cfee2a9e90e5)
bennyelv 3y ago
I just rented an Airbnb that used "Nuki" door looks and they were absolute garbage as well. I never appreciated what an excellent solution a physical lock and key is until I experienced: - The paranoia when my phone was low on battery that I'm not going to be able to get back into the house. - The refusal of the stupid app to connect to the lock, requiring 5 attempts, turning things off and on again. Whilst standing in the street with all my stuff. Several times. Which causes... - Paranoia that the thing is just not going to work. A smart lock needs to match the reliability and convenience of the thing it replaces. The reliability of a physical lock and key is so high that I'd describe it with a 1 rather than 9's.

bsder 3y ago

ALL BLE phone app access control thingies are garbage. It doesn't matter whether it's Latch, OpenPath, whoever. These kinds of things want BLE to scan all the time. Your phone OS wants BLE to scan never. The app will always lose this battle. All of these services work with an RFID fob or keycard. I suspect it will take a couple of "equal opportunity" lawsuits to force landlords to cough them up.

FireBeyond 3y ago

I bailed on my Level lock after the second occasion where it was chewing through batteries at a fantastic rate on my new home and I got locked out due to battery failure - with no notification on the app. (I ended up installing a Knox Box type device the second time). I ended up going with the Schlage Encode Plus. Works as a dumb NFC, accepts keycards, full HomeKit, Apple Watch, etc., physical key, and keypad.

notzane 3y ago

A few nights ago, I spent 30 minutes standing outside of a rental because the August app wouldn’t connect to my AirBnB account. Eventually the host woke up and sent a backup code for the keypad (with the help of phone support—do they have a pager system?). (If anyone from August is reading please help, it’s error log ID e720cfee2a9e90e5)

bennyelv 3y ago

I just rented an Airbnb that used "Nuki" door looks and they were absolute garbage as well. I never appreciated what an excellent solution a physical lock and key is until I experienced: - The paranoia when my phone was low on battery that I'm not going to be able to get back into the house. - The refusal of the stupid app to connect to the lock, requiring 5 attempts, turning things off and on again. Whilst standing in the street with all my stuff. Several times. Which causes... - Paranoia that the thing is just not going to work. A smart lock needs to match the reliability and convenience of the thing it replaces. The reliability of a physical lock and key is so high that I'd describe it with a 1 rather than 9's.