August - HomeKit Bluetooth Deadbolt Retrofit Smart Lock - Silver

I've gone back and forth on ordering the August lock because the glut of online reviews for the previous version are either scathing at 1-star or over the top praising at 5-stars. I pulled the trigger because my condo association requires we have a common set of keyed locks, so I needed to retain my existing deadbolt while attempting to modernize the home. Overall I've been very pleased with the unit. INSTALLATION The installation was very easy. It really does only take about 15 minutes as the instructions suggest. My biggest complaint is that once you open the packaging, start the install, and get about half way through do you find out that certain deadbolts are not compatible. Luckily mine was compatible...but I also happened to supposedly have the only model the required longer specialty screws (#14-28) that you apparently can only get from a locksmith. The instructions say to contact August and they responded within 2-3 hours and shipped me a set. But still...what is the incremental cost of 2 screws and why not just include them in the packaging for convenience? Compared to my thermostat/fire alarms that have hardware for multiple installation scenarios, the cheap LED lights have hardware for different types of recessed can lights, and my switches came with all color option in a single package. I think August could be financially OK if they threw a bone to the consumer and made install convenient for all. OPERATION Personally I think the operation works pretty great. It's not flawless by any means, but pretty good. When you lock & unlock in manual mode, the response time is quick (1-2 seconds) and seamless. I also use the geo-locating feature to auto-unlock when I approach. This one is a bit hit or miss. It usually works with more of a 5-10 second lag as I approach the door. If I have the wifi turned off on my phone, it tends not to accurately pick up my location correctly to unlock the door. This area could use improvement, but it's not the reason I bought the lock. Auto-Lock feature. August offers the capability of this. I haven't done this yet because I'm afraid I'll walk out the door without my phone or keys one day and be screwed. I'm waiting on the doorbell to arrive so I can install that and the keypad. Then I'll set the auto-unlock feature to on probably. I've also read numerous reviews about people's locks re-calibrating constantly or showing it was locked but being unlocked. I have not experienced any of these. I will say, my door is skewed and, prior to installing August, the deadbolt had interference with the strike plate. I relocated the strike plate so there was no interference and the door would open and close without having to push against it to operate the lock. I imagine if there was interference the lock would want to recalibrate. OPERATING DISTANCE I've read a number of reviews on the lock not responding when the phone is two inches from the door. My phone connects to August virtually anywhere in our condo without having to utilize the August Connect. I live in a 2-story 1,700 sf condo so at any point I'm not more than 40-50 linear feet straight line from the lock. I was actually pretty impressed by that. INTER-CONNECTIVITY So far I only have the August lock integrated with Nest. When you lock the door from your phone, the app asks if you want to set the Nest to away. It's kind of cool, perhaps a bit redundant because I think Nest sets itself to away if you're not around. But if you manually lock the door, August won't ask to set Nest to away, which is nice because you probably locked it from the inside. Now if I leave through the front door, come back in through the back door, and geo-locate doesn't auto-unlock the door...Nest is stuck on Away and doesn't override the August automatically. I just pushed the nest and then it resent to Home status. The lock seems to work well with the August connect as well. I have the connect in an outlet about 6 feet from the door. I think the connect device just sits dormant until you use the app and tell it to Remote Connect for lock status. Next Step is to try and figure out if I can get August to tell Nest that I'm home...so Nest can tell Alexa I'm home so she can drop my entrance theme song and she informs Smart Things to give me a good light show as I open the door...one day... THE UPSHOT Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised by lock. Probably because I read so many disproportionate negative reviews on the old version. I decided to take a gamble and happy I did. My biggest annoyance was that they didn't include the elongated screws for the "in-case you need them" scenario. Operation has been great so far, I plan to utilize the keypad to give access to cleaning crew, etc. I'll update this as I have any new info or issues to highlight.

We ordered two HomeKit versions of the locks, the camera/doorbell and the keypad. 1. The lock itself is HUGE. Not very attractive even if the finish matches other hardware. It operates smoothly and unlocks as it should when you're nearby. Still the knob was too large for my wife's hand. You must have a deadbolt installed as the August lock is a retrofit only including the rear part of the lock. 2. Each lock requires its own August Connect to act as the gateway between the Bluetooth and wireless connections. Each Connect must be within 20 feet of the lock which isn't always easy as there may not be electricity in the entryway. The Connect is required if you want to view or control the state of the lock remotely. 3. The Keypad is simple and does its job as expected. 4. The camera/doorbell is a total mess. Setup is easy but it goes offline frequently; sometimes it will come back online but more often than not, it will just stay offline. There was a "secret" way to reset the camera in the iOS software but, apparently, it no longer works after an update. This is a problem because if the camera is offline, you have to remove it from the wall which means having to remove the security screw; not an easy task. Then, you have to push the reset button and reverse the process. Picture is clear and the voice is easy to understand on both ends. It does include a wedge for doorbells close to the door. 5. In addition to the fact that you can't reset the doorbell in the iOS software, you can't do a lot because there is NO documentation. You would think that shipping their locks for a couple of years, they would have some documentation even online. The only support is the FAQ and installation video for each product. There's a lot to be customized but just try figuring out how to get there. Beyond that, contact support. 6. Support is decent. Submit a ticket and you're promised you'll be contacted by the next day. Each time, I waited 24 hours and then called them directly because I hadn't heard from anyone. The only phone number access will be sent to you in a receipt for your support ticket. I have given up on August as a viable solution after waiting for months for a promised delivery. It was a waste of time and I replaced the August system with a Kwikset Kēvo which had an easier setup. One has to buy a Bluetooth Gateway but one is sufficient for multiple locks. It doesn't have a keypad but two real keys, two e-Keys (additional e-Keys are $0.99) and a key fob. In addition, I installed a Ring Pro and Ring Cameras. All-in-all, a much easier installation and they work flawlessly. In addition, the Ring and Kēvo work together so I can unlock the door from the Ring app.

This is one of those product categories that you don't fully appreciate until you own and use it. I installed the August Smart Lock, Smart Keypad and Doorbell Cam on the front door of my two-story home four weeks ago. I initially assumed that I would need to have someone do it for me, butfound that I was able to install and configure the Smart Lock to work with my iPhone and Apple Watch in just under 15 minutes, with the aid of well-considered August instructions, and just a Phillips screwdriver. The Doorbell Cam fit right over my existing analog doorbell wired location, and required only drilling a few mounting holes, and physically inserting the low voltage wires from the old doorbell into the new Doorbell Cam. This took another 20 minutes, tops, and the keypad addition rounded out my installation time to just under an hour. The August app configuration recognizing my Netgear router (located on the second floor) and the Lock and Doorbell Cam was as slick as any Apple user has come to expect. My wife and I literally no longer carry a set of keys. We've set the lock to open within 100 yards of sensing our iPhones, and to auto-close after 1 minute. It's a little nervous-making to trust how rock-solid August makes this work, and that's why I've waiting for four weeks to review the products. We've given our adult kids their own access codes, and the August software logs every entry and exit, with each user or guest name, date and time. If I'm away from home, I get a notification on my phone when the doorbell rings, along with a video feed of who is there and an option to talk to the person via the Doorbell Cam two-way microphone and speaker. I can look at a live video feed from the door anytime from anywhere. The August Smart Lock and Doorbell Cam combination is beautifully made, and August has obviously gone to great pains to make installation easy for the average homeowner, and functionality simple and straightforward for any smartphone user. I **highly** recommend this product.

PROs - Installation was easy enough. Pretty straight forward. If you have any decorative groves on your door, the latch might get caught on it. I had to cut out bit of the raised part of the door to install. - Works well with alexa - locking/unlocking CONs - Auto-unlock is very spotty. We have 2 phones, S7 edge and iphone 7 both Verizon variant. With S7 edge, it used to not work at all and now it auto-unlocks the door well after I am in the house. I would say about 2~5min. With iphone it is hit or miss. About 50~60% of the time. I have spoken to support at August and after providing all the information they asked, they told me that they are working on software update and it will be fixed. I think it is very disappointing for something that has premium price tag. - Mobile app is poorly made. Considering this device is only controlled by mobile app, this cannot be a good thing. I also purchased august connect and the keypad and the interface is slow and connection is spotty. When I open mobile app from outside, it attempts to connect to the lock via bluetooth and fail until I hit the wi-fi icon. It knows that I am away from home so I am unsure why it does that. - August connect tells me that its connection to the lock is weak or medium and they are less than 10 feet apart with line of sight so I am unsure how to improve it. Support did not have an answer for this issue. It takes good 1~2 minute to connect to the lock and unlock if you are at remote location. That is if it works on your first attempt. Very often, it gives me error message saying it failed to connect. Changing settings and creating keycodes remotely is a nightmare. It will never establish connection on my first attempt and it will lose the connection mid operation constantly. My august connect is installed about 20 feet away from the router. I live in a condo so wi-fi signal is very good. - Keypad has rubber membrane keys and they feel kind of cheap. It doesn't really give you any kind of feedback if you actuated the key so it has some learning curve. You have to really bottom the keys and make sure you pressed it. Also, anybody can just take it off of your door by detaching it from the back plate which screws into the door. I would not recommend purchasing this if you are in a bad neighborhood. Also, battery life is horrendous. It just went dead today and I put 2 brand new AAA batteries less than a month ago. It was on a power save mode too. I'm thinking about buying rechargeable batteries but how long would that last? - After creating new key code for a person if you share it via app, they won't get it. Email nor text. You will have to manually send the code to whoever you are granting access. - Support response promptly. They acknowledge that they received my inquiry pretty quickly and responses within 1~2 days. However, does not really resolve issues. Conclusion I purchased August because I was in the market for a smart lock and I wanted auto-unlock and remote control feature. It has a premium price tag compared to other keyless entry options. I cannot say that I am enjoying all the features I expected over other cheaper options around $100 and this doesn't even come with a deadbolt. It gets the job done most part but I feel like I wasted about $250 for all the bells and whistles that doesn't really work. I would probably go with something else if I can choose again.

I purchased the August Doorbell and August Smart Lock after reading about their pros and cons from various web sites. I knew from the beginning, this project would require patience and a strong wi-fi. So before I even bought the doorbell or smart lock, I bought a highly rated wi-fi range extender and installed it near my front door and confirmed that I could get a strong wi-fi signal and consistent high speeds (fast upload speeds are more important than download speeds). The August Door Bell Camera connects to wi-fi so you can remotely view the camera and it also works as a wi-fi Bluetooth bridge to communicate with the August Smart Lock. Without the bridge, the smart lock only works as a local device and you cannot communicate with it over the internet. August sells a wi-fi Bluetooth bridge stand alone device for about $80, I figured it was worth the extra money to get the doorbell camera and bridge all in one. I first installed the doorbell after downloading the instructions from August. The installation is straightforward and fairly simple. It took me about 45 minutes to completely install the doorbell camera. I waited another 45 minutes for the doorbell battery to partially charge (it seems the camera operates off of an internal battery and the low voltage doorbell wiring charges that battery). Once the doorbell camera had enough power I connected it to the internet via the August App. The app was extremely easy to follow and the doorbell camera was active immediately. WARNING: if you encounter any problems while connecting the app/camera/wi-fi, DO NOT PUSH THE RESET BUTTON that is located on the back of the doorbell. Call tech support first. Apparently, there is a known issue with the reset button that could cause the external speaker to become disabled. I installed the August Smart Lock next. The design of this lock is genius!. I had it on the door, synced with the doorbell, and working in less than 15 minutes. The app makes it simple. The picture and sound quality from the camera is impressive. The microphone is so sensitive I can hear everything that is going on in front of my house. The app responds immediately once somebody rings the doorbell or when motion is detected and within seconds I can see, hear, and talk to anyone at my front door. The smart lock is smooth and quiet and easy to operate remotely or manually. The secret to making this go smoothly : make sure your original deadbolt operates properly before installing the smart lock, make sure you have a VERY strong wi-fi signal, make sure you have high up/download speeds, and take your time. My August Doorbell Camera and Smart Lock are awesome! I couldn't be happier.

Wanting to finally have a lock that could automatically "lock" itself when I forgot, I decided to go with the August Smart Lock. It's easy enough to setup, and has a solid feel and nice, modern design. It is bigger than I expected, and looks a little out of place on the door itself. Not a huge deal however, the main concern is how it works. After setting it up through the August app, which again was easy enough, I tested the lock/unlocking from my phone. It takes a few seconds to register, but it did work every time. I then connected the August app with Homekit on my iPhone. Locking and unlocking also worked through the Home app, but even better, I could use Siri to lock or unlock my front door. One of the issues I have with this lock is that it's Bluetooth-only. Meaning, if you're our of Bluetooth range, you won't be able to control it. This frustrated me when I realized I forgot to lock my door, but was unable to control it while I was at the grocery store. There is an auto-lock function that will lock the door after a set time, but I'd prefer to have full control myself wherever I go. There is another way around this Bluetooth-limitation: purchase the August Connect hub separately. This hub basically just gives your lock WiFi connectivity so you can control it anywhere. But it's around $60 for this add-on. I just couldn't bring myself to fork over another $60 to add on one or two features. Perhaps in the future if it goes on sale. Another issue I had is that Alexa is unable to control the lock without the hub. She can connect to the August app just fine and "see" the lock, but cannot utilize Bluetooth to actually do anything. I can't comment on how Alexa works with the lock because I never found out. There's another function, called auto-unlock, which will automatically unlock the door as you come home. This one worked well enough, and the app notified me that the door was unlocked each time I pulled into my driveway. I do wish it would wait until I was a little closer before unlocking, but I can't complain too much. All in all, it's a solid smart lock that will get the job done if you're willing to deal with it's shortcomings. If you're looking for "control from anywhere" functionality or want to use Alexa voice control, make sure you pick up the hub... preferably when it's on sale.

I love my August lock. There are a few quirks, but overall, it's a great device. I give it 5 stars because other than the kinks (which friends with the same lock do NOT experience), it's great to have. Firstly, the hardware itself feels pretty amazing. It has a great build quality and definitely feels like it will be able to withstand countless lock/unlocks. The magnetic faceplate is a breeze to remove if you ever need to, but seeing as it comes with batteries, you probably won't need to do this very often. The "indicator" makes it easy to see from afar is the door is locked or unlocked. The unit lights up green when unlocked, and lights up red when locked - the lights are invisible unless lit up and are very bright and pretty. The sounds upon lock/unlock are very satisfying and make me feel like I'm living in the future. The software side is also very good. Being able to send friends permanent or temporary keys is SUPER convenient. Seeing who has locked and unlocked my door is also cool. Being able to lock/unlock my door with my phone seems unnecesarry, but like a smartwatch, once you have this luxury, it's hard to imagine living without it. I have an iPhone, and having the August notification widget for quick lock access is a must. However, I wish it didn't have to open the app to lock/unlock, because then there's that 7-10 second window where I'm standing outside my door, waiting to make sure it locked. It is easier than using a key, but not faster. Once you hook it up to HomeKit, you can remotely unlock/lock my door from ANYWHERE, and it is soooo cool and slick. Very convenient. The auto-unlock feature is spotty. Sometimes I come home to a notification that my door has been unlocked, which is AWESOME. But more often than not, I find that the door has not unlocked. Which begs the question - what's the point? Well, my friends do not have this problem with their August locks, and am still tinkering with the settings, so we will see. Sometimes, when it doesn't auto-unlock, it will start to auto-unlock as I am turning the key, or, more annoyingly, I will enter my house manually, lock the door behind me, only to have the lock automatically unlock as I sit on my couch. Not sure what's up here... Overall, this is a great product, but August still has some kinks to work out. I give it 5 stars though because the execution is great, and the issues I have may pertain only to me.

Packaging: 5/5 -Really sleek looking packaging. I love how it opens like a door and is sitting in it's own August Lock bed. Very clever. Ease of Installation: 4.5/5 I consider myself handy. I at least try make improvements around the home before I outsource the job. Setting this lock up is relatively easy if you have experience installing deadbolts. However, you really do need to be careful not to move fast because you can easily misalign the barrel lock, which then makes using your key from the outside useless. This product is meant to enhance the existing lock, not replace your current manual key lock. After installation, you should be able to use both freely. If you move too fast, you need to restart and readjust the lock to make sure your key still works. So be careful and be sure to read the install directions 3x before you make any moves. If you are a little unsure of yourself, definitely have a handy man come by. But overall, I think most people can figure out how to install. I ran into my own issues where my deadbolt did not perfectly line up with the hole in the door jamb. So I have to re-align the door and hole in the jamb, which took some time. This is no fault of August of course, but it is something users may run into. Again, not a small task to correct, so if you are unfamiliar how to do that, use a handy man. Aesthetics After Install: 3.5/5 Not gonna lie: It's clunky looking. It isn't as sleek or flush with the door as it maybe could be. But, it's also got working gears inside and takes AA batteries, so it needs the space it takes up. We have Nest thermostats in our house, and I imagined it looking like a Nest. It's about 2x deeper than a Nest and maybe 1.5x wider. It isn't ugly, but it's definitely a conversation piece with everyone that comes to the house. Not a bad thing, but it sticks out. Setup & Phone Sync: 5/5 Super easy! As long as you download the August app and can follow directions, you won't have any issues. Just be sure to stand near your lock to get the strongest signal and you'll be fine. And if you lose signal, there is a re-calibrate function that you can always use. Overall, we really like the lock. We use it with the keypad almost exclusively now. I almost never bring my keys with me anymore, and I love that feature the best! Less stuff I need to carry and keep track of when I'm not home. If you're looking to upgrade your lock or home to a smart home, this is what you need!