Arms-free Unlocking at Its Greatest

I depart my home and my entrance door locks. I come again, and as I attain for my door, it unlocks. I by no means have to consider it. That’s the sensible lock dream, one largely realized by the $270 Aqara Smart Lock U400 and its early help for Apple’s new Residence Key hands-free unlocking function.

The U400 seems like many different sensible locks. It’s a black rectangle in and out, albeit with a barely curvier floor than the Aqara U100 that was once on my door. It has a keypad, a fingerprint sensor, a keyhole, and help for NFC-based unlocking by way of Aliro—that’s a brand new, common sensible house digital key commonplace from the Connectivity Requirements Alliance, the group additionally behind Matter. Aliro is already in a few sensible locks, however the U400 one-ups nearly each different sensible lock accessible right now by utilizing your iPhone or Apple Watch’s extremely wideband (UWB) sign for hands-free sensible lock unlocking, a brand new Residence Key function Apple introduced in 2024 that’s coming to sensible locks in the end.

The U400 works with any sensible house ecosystem you’ve gotten, due to the common sensible house commonplace Matter. It doesn’t want an Aqara hub; it’ll connect with your sensible house community utilizing Thread, a low-power wi-fi mesh networking protocol that’s an enormous element of Matter. That, plus the U400’s pace, dependable operation, straightforward set up, and a number of unlocking choices that embrace a fast fingerprint scanner, keypad, NFC scanner, and bodily keys makes this the one sensible lock I need for my entrance door, in the intervening time.

Come on in; the UWB is ok

Bodily, the U400 feels well-built and appears good for what it’s, but it surely’s undoubtedly on the chunky facet—an enormous rectangle in your door that’s very clearly a wise lock. On the skin, the matte black expanse on the high of my evaluation unit hides a backlit keypad that solely seems once you shut your door or once you firmly faucet it. Beneath that’s the fingerprint sensor, then a slide-down cowl for the bodily key-hole. Inside, a slide-off cowl reveals its rechargeable battery and a few buttons for configuring and resetting the lock.

In case you have an Apple Residence Hub with Thread, resembling a HomePod mini or Apple TV 4K, you may configure the U400 to unlock by itself, utilizing Apple’s Residence Key Categorical Mode function, as you stroll as much as the door—no authentication essential. That’s not a brand new factor for sensible locks, after all. The last smart lock I reviewed, the Level Lock Pro, does the identical factor by totally different means, and it really works fairly nicely. However being a Residence Key function signifies that when you add it to your own home, anybody registered to your Apple Residence family mechanically has it; they only want to ensure Residence Key’s Categorical Mode is turned on for his or her digital home key.

The opposite factor is that UWB is much more exact than the Lock Professional’s mixture of Bluetooth and your location to determine when to unlock. Whereas the Lock Professional would unlock as I began up the walkway towards my porch, the U400 would solely unlock as I bought shut sufficient to succeed in for the door, and didn’t set off if, say, I turned on the final second to go sit on my porch furnishings or stopped midway up my steps and went again the opposite approach. Neither did it ever unlock once I bought shut from the within, even when I attempted to idiot it by strolling towards the door from bizarre angles.

It really works that approach as a result of Apple updated Home Key in iOS 18 to make use of UWB for precisely this function. And I’d like to inform you that it’s completely hands-free perpetually, but it surely didn’t fairly work that approach for me. The excellent news is that once I had my Apple Watch (a Collection 9, however this was additionally true for my associate’s Collection 8, in addition to my child’s Collection 6), I may stroll as much as the door, and proper as I reached for the deal with, the U400 unlocked and I may simply… open my door. It labored that approach each time I attempted.

However hands-free unlocking was so much much less constant once I solely had my telephone. After I held it above waist-level, the function labored simply in addition to with my Apple Watch. If it was in a messenger bag on my again, the sensible lock tended to not set off till I used to be standing proper in opposition to the door. It didn’t work in any respect with the telephone in my pocket, except I raised my knee or pulled the telephone out. Figuring a part of the issue could also be that my entrance porch is a step down from my door and places the lock at head stage (I’m about 5’10”), I redid all of this on stage floor, with the door open into my home and the U400 “locked.” That point, my telephone appeared in a position to set off the lock from my pocket much more reliably, simply not till I used to be shut sufficient to present my door a smooch. Which I might by no means do; I’m not a door smoocher, I swear.

Even with these pocket issues—which in all probability gained’t have an effect on you in case your deadbolt sits at a extra affordable peak than mine—it’s laborious to beat UWB-based hands-free unlocking. For Apple Residence customers, that alone makes this among the finest sensible locks you should buy, and finally it may for everybody else, too. Samsung Galaxy customers within the SmartThings ecosystem can unlock the U400 by tapping their phone to it, due to Aliro, however gained’t get hands-free unlocking till the second quarter of this year. Google Pixel and different Android homeowners should look ahead to the opposite ecosystems to completely roll out help for both methodology, although.

Shifting previous UWB to the opposite unlocking strategies, every thing the U400 does, it roughly does as nicely or higher than my Aqara U100. For example, it constantly solely took a few second to unlock the door with NFC scanning, by holding my iPhone or Apple Watch as much as the keypad, identical to utilizing tap-to-pay in a retailer. Fingerprint scanning was virtually instantaneous, and extra dependable than it was on the U100, which all the time appeared to take two or extra tries each different time I left the home.

The U400 virtually all the time responded inside a few seconds once I requested Siri to unlock it from my telephone, or once I talked to a HomePod to lock it. That’s quick sufficient that I’d truly use Siri willingly, and never as a final resort, the way in which I’ve different sensible locks prior to now. The keypad took some getting used to; it took extra forceful touches to wake it or enter codes than on the contact pads for locks just like the U100 or the TCL D2 Pro, and I stored having to return and re-enter my code or faucet it a number of instances to get the backlight to activate. It wasn’t an issue as soon as I bought the dangle of it; simply one thing I made observe of.

Select your ecosystem

I like when a wise lock works with my sensible house and I don’t need to rely solely on that firm’s app. To me, that may be the distinction between an excellent rating and an okay one, even when it’s an in any other case good sensible lock. That’s not an issue for the Aqara U400, after all: its Matter help means it really works with any sensible house platform value contemplating, supplied there’s a Thread border router, like a HomePod mini or an Amazon Echo system made in recent times.

For the primary few days, I didn’t even hassle connecting the U400 to my Aqara community. As a substitute, I used the lock completely with Apple Residence, my most well-liked ecosystem, and actually, I might don’t have any downside persevering with to take action. I may nonetheless do a lot of the issues I’d wish to, together with configuring and utilizing hands-free unlocking, establishing visitor entry codes, scheduling automations, and setting the U400 to lock a while after its inside gyroscope detected the door had been shut. I didn’t even want to attach it to the Aqara app for issues like including fingerprints or calibrating the lock, as a result of I may do all of that on the keypad utilizing the U400’s built-in voice immediate menu.

You’ll want the Aqara app for some stuff, like adjusting the lock’s speaker quantity or setting it to beep out an alert for those who depart it unlocked for greater than a set period of time. You can even flip to the Aqara app to set a lockout interval—how lengthy the keypad goes unresponsive after 10 unsuccessful passcode entries. And the app permits you to put it in Bluetooth-only mode, which stops all distant entry to the lock. Past that, although, the Aqara app can also be a full-fledged sensible house app in its personal proper when you have a Matter-over-Thread-capable Aqara hub, just like the Hub M3, to attach the U400 to, so you may contain the lock in automations with different Aqara units, even for those who don’t use one of many extra well-known ecosystems.

Set up and battery

Putting in the U400 is strictly like the method for putting in the Aqara U100 I already personal, which is to say that it’s straightforward for those who’ve ever put collectively a wise lock, or perhaps a conventional deadbolt, and solely took me round 10 minutes. If you happen to haven’t carried out both or it’s been some time, I’d advocate watching Aqara’s installation video, because the paper directions included within the field aren’t as clear as they could possibly be round, for example, what to do with the cable that feeds by and connects the outside half to the inside half. (It’s meant to be pushed again by the opening in the direction of the outside portion of the lock, or else the inside half gained’t sit flush in opposition to the door.)

The U400 comes with a USB-C-rechargeable battery pack, one thing extra sensible locks ought to have. There was sufficient juice to get the lock arrange once I completed, however barely—the unit I acquired was in determined want of a recharge, and if I had it to do over once more, I might set up the lock on the finish of the day when no person else will probably be coming house, so I may cost the lock in a single day. That’s primarily as a result of ready for its battery to cost is a ache—I didn’t measure this at the start, however I did later. And after I plugged it in, utilizing a cable and adapter that has no downside supplying as much as 100 watts of energy, it took two hours so as to add round 35% of cost.

After you cost and insert the battery for the primary time, the U400 will invite you to do some setup utilizing the keypad. This included calibrating the sensible lock in your door and establishing customers’ fingerprints and door codes. That’s an excellent factor, because it means you should utilize this sensible lock with out ever connecting it to an app or a wise house ecosystem in any respect. Individually, there’s a Matter QR code on the lock; scanning that bought it related to my Apple Residence community inside a few minutes.

As for battery life, Aqara says it’ll last as long as six months on a full cost. I didn’t take a look at the U400 lengthy sufficient to know if that’s correct, however I’ll say it misplaced about 15 % of its battery throughout per week and a half of testing. That will appear damning, however I put this specific lock by extra strenuous testing than standard as I attempted out its hands-free unlocking in as some ways as I may consider, locking and unlocking extra instances in at some point than I in any other case would. If it actually lasts six months, although, that’s respectable for a wise lock. Plus, having a chargeable battery pack is an enormous mark in its favor, particularly for those who head to an Apple Retailer to purchase the $300 Deluxe Kit version, which comes with a spare battery. I nonetheless wouldn’t get used to leaving house with out a key; there’s no backup battery if the U400 dies. It does have a USB-C port on the skin, although, for emergency energy by way of an influence financial institution.

An important sensible lock for Apple customers

If you happen to’re an Apple Residence person with even a considerably latest iPhone, the Aqara Good Lock U400 is absolutely dang good, particularly when you have an Apple Watch. I wasn’t shocked that UWB is a bit finicky this early within the sport, however what did shock me is how dependable it was once I had my smartwatch on.

Android customers ought to wait to purchase the U400 or search for alternate options. With Aliro nonetheless in its infancy and no UWB help for Android units, this sensible lock is hardly higher than many cheaper alternate options. In my expertise, a fingerprint or palm vein-scanner is extra handy than easy NFC scanning, and there are many alternate options that supply these for a lot much less cash, together with sensible locks I’ve talked about on this very evaluation.

The U400 prices $270, which feels about proper once you toss in hands-free unlocking with UWB, particularly contemplating how nicely it really works when the UWB radio of your iPhone or Apple Watch isn’t being blocked by something. I want I may depend on it extra when my telephone is in my pocket, but it surely’s nonetheless so reliably conscious of my Apple Watch that I don’t wish to use the rest on my entrance door.