- Today I'm super excited.
Check out the brand new August WiFi Smart Lock.
Which by the way,
I think is one of the very first
fully integrated WiFi locks out there on the market.
It's not WiFi on demand.
It doesn't require a WiFi bridge or a hub.
It has WiFi built right into it.
Let's go ahead and check it.
(air whooshing)
Welcome back friends.
If this is your first time here,
my name is Eric.
If you're into smart homes,
home automation, and especially HomeKit
you're definitely here in the right place.
Today's video is a part of a HomeKit series.
But if you're a HomeKit lover like I am,
you might wanna stay around to the end of this video
and see why this lock might not be for you.
I might have a full pros and cons list on my website
and the (murmurs) links down below.
So definitely check those out.
If you've never heard of August before
they've actually been around
the Smart Lock game for quite a while now.
And this is their fourth generation lock.
Their previous generation, which they called
the Smart Lock Pro was actually much bigger.
This one is 40% smaller by volume and 20% thinner.
So let's go ahead and check out the unboxing.
You have a little bit of paperwork
which pretty much does instruct you
to go to the app to do the full install.
You have four different adapters.
You're only gonna be using one of four adapters
depending which lock that you have.
There's also the optional metal cover plate.
If by chance the hole for the lock is a little bit bigger
than the lock itself,
you can use this bigger cover plate
to cover up a little bit of that hole.
And then you have the hardware for the door sensor.
Which I'll talk more about the door sensor
in just a few moments.
They also include a piece of tape
that'll help you in the install.
A solid metal mounting plate.
And then the lock itself.
I gotta tell you here, this thing feels great.
It's heavy, it's metal.
Feel solid and very well built.
If you press down on the logo
it actually opens up the front cover
where you can see the two batteries that are included.
Now, these batteries are not very common.
They are CR123.
You're probably not gonna find them in your grocery store.
Maybe in a hardware store.
Maybe in a CVS.
But otherwise you can easily find them on Amazon.
You can get about 12 of them for about 20 bucks.
They say it will last between three and six months.
And in my opinion that is not very long for a Smart Lock.
It is what it is, and I will definitely be updating
my full pros and cons list
as I continue using this
with a battery life charge.
Now, installation is super easy.
It took me about 15 to 20 minutes.
And that is because this is a retrofit lock.
Meaning that you're only gonna be replacing the inside.
Turn the thumb knob.
Not gonna worry about the outside of the lock.
It's gonna look same.
It's gonna be exact same lock on the outside.
It's gonna be the same key.
And it's super easy to do.
Once you get your old thumb play off.
Go ahead and align up the cover plate
if you wanna use it, you don't have to.
I like the look of it and it covered up
a little bit of the dirt that was there.
You can see you can use just the mounting plate
but I decided to use both.
So you put the cover on plate first.
You do the mounting plate next with the two screws.
You tie in down those two screws.
Then it asked you in the app...
By the way, all the instruction videos
are in the app, and super useful.
So you don't have to listen here.
But you do wanna pick which lock that you have.
And it will tell you which low adapter to use.
In my particular case it was the yellow adapter.
Put that adapter in and then go ahead
and snap on the actual lock.
Lock it down the little two fins
or little two side buttons, and you're good to go.
You have to also install a little door sensor
which they call door sense.
Make sense, right?
It just tells the lock if the door
is closed or if it's open.
There's two different ways that you can this door sensor.
Has one that you can put on the frame
of doorframe near the lock with a couple screws
or double sided tape.
But I'd like a cleaner look when I can.
Having all these door sensors on my door.
I have it because I review products
but in general I rather have a clean look
and they give you the option to drill a hole
and put this little magnet in there.
I did exactly what it said.
It said use a five eighths drill bit.
And I did the hole.
But when I pressed in the little magnet
it actually popped right back out
because it wasn't tight enough.
So I decided that glue in there.
Once the glue settled and dried, no issues whatsoever.
And when I shut the door it worked great.
It registered the door was closed.
Unfortunately with this door sense,
only the August app knows if the door is shut or open.
If you're using lady A, Google, or HomeKit
these are not triggers or notifications within those apps.
So if you're trying to do automations
or routines based off of doors closed or open,
unfortunately that information is not available.
I would like to see August provide
that information to those apps.
That way you can create more automations and
(murmurs) if the door is open or closed.
You can then go back into the app
and just follow the instructions.
It will walk you through every step of the way
in search for your lock.
You name, your home name, your lock,
and it will update the firmware for you.
You will have to go through a calibration process.
You just open and close the door.
Unlock it and lock it as it tells you.
It took maybe 30 seconds to do
and it's super easy.
And now for the moment of truth.
(rings softly)
(door opening)
(rings softly)
One of the first things you wanna do
is connect this to your WiFi.
It does require a 2.4 gigahertz WiFi.
So if you have a five gigahertz WiFi
unfortunately this will not work for you.
Simply just go into the app,
click on that you won't connect to WiFi
and follow the instructions.
It is super easy.
Now, before we connect this
to our voice assistance and HomeKit
I just wanna show you what this app can do.
It is actually a well designed app.
It works very smoothly.
If you go into settings you can see you can set up.
Smart Alerts for if the door is locked or unlocked.
Or if a user uses it you get notified.
Or if the door just jarred you will get notification.
You can also set up auto locks.
I'm personally not a big fan of auto locks.
You can set up a timer or you can make an instant
as soon as you shut the door.
I don't like that because I know me,
I'm going to get locked out without my phone
or without my key.
I'm gonna get locked outside of the house.
You can also do an auto unlock feature
which is really nice.
It's simple.
It's a geo fence.
As soon as you leave that geo fence
which you place around your house
and come back and get within Bluetooth range
that lock will unlock for you.
It's a very nice feature and it works very well.
Another nice thing is that when the door lock does jam,
which will happen from time to time
even if you have a perfect lock set up,
it does let you know that the lock is jammed.
There are other locks out there on the market
that I get frustrated with
because it will jam up and they won't let you know.
I'm happy to report that this will let you know
after it tries to lock it a couple times
and it still jams up, you do get a notification
and that's really nice.
And of course this would not be a Smart Lock
unless you could share out access
to this lock with friends and family.
Or maybe if you had a bed and breakfast
you can give access to this lock which is super do.
You can give them full access
or you can lock it down
to a certain day or a certain time.
The features are definitely in there for you to set up.
Setting this up with lady A and Google is super easy.
Just go into their respective app.
Search for the August skill.
Once you find it log into your August app
with your username and password
and just follow the on screen instructions.
It took me about two minutes to do.
Lock the back door lock.
- Locking, hang on.
(rings softly)
That door lock is locked.
- Unlock the back door.
- Can I have your pin?
Sure, requesting to unlock the back door.
(rings softly)
- By the way, if you do have a brilliant controller,
August does work with brilliant
and it's super easy to set up.
You just go to work with Brilliant.
Log into your August account and do it the same way
that you do the voice assistant.
And then you're able to unlock and lock your lock
via the brilliant controller.
And it's super cool.
Now, unfortunately I did run the hiccups
when I tried to install this with HomeKit.
When you do it through the August app,
unfortunately, it would not let me proceed.
Later on I did review,
and the reviewer's guide that they sent me
that they know about this issue
and that you should press the red button
on the back of the device for five seconds
and then it will let you add HomeKit.
Well, I did this and yes,
it did let me get to the next step
which was to scan the QR code for HomeKit.
But once again it would not fully connect to HomeKit.
It just timed out after a while.
And I've tried multiple times.
Now, fortunately this is a very minor issue
simply because you can go to the HomeKit app,
or Home app and add the accessory that way.
Now, these voice assistants and apps are great
to set up routines and automations.
So say for instance,
when you come home and unlock the door
you can turn on the lights.
Or at 10 o'clock every night
the locks are automatically shut.
The possibilities for automations are pretty much endless.
Whatever you come up with.
The only issue I had unfortunately, was with HomeKit.
Unfortunately, I have a bigger home
where my HomeKit hub is over 30 feet away,
and it's down one level.
So unfortunately it is outside the Bluetooth range.
And now you might be asking me,
"Hey, isn't this a WiFi lock?"
And yes, it is.
But when it comes to HomeKit, it is not.
Now, I don't know why this is.
I don't know if it's a HomeKit thing
or if it's an August thing,
but while it's using the August app
or lady A or Google, it all works on the WiFi
if it doesn't have a Bluetooth signal.
But for some reason when it's within HomeKit
it will only work with Bluetooth.
So unless your phone is nearby or your HomeKit hub,
it will not work.
So I tested this in multiple different ways,
with myself being in the house,
with my Bluetooth off.
Every single time that I had my Bluetooth off,
Unfortunately, it said no response.
I even left the house and tried to do it remotely
via my Apple TV fourth generation.
And because it's out of range, I got a no response.
Every time I turn it back on
when I was inside the house with my phone
it came right back up.
I was able to lock and unlock the lock via HomeKit.
Now, most people are probably not
gonna have that issue like I am.
I can easily solve that issue too
with a additional home pod or Apple TV
around this actual location.
But I'm actually waiting for
the brand new HomePod to come out.
There are rumors that there is a mini HomePod.
And if many HomePods are coming out
I'm gonna be buying a bunch of those
and placing them around the house.
So I'm not about to go spend $200 for HomePod
when the new one's about to come out.
Now, all in all this is one of my favorite smart locks.
I gotta tell you, there's so many features
built into the app.
The actual device is super well made.
It is solid.
It is tough.
And you can tell that it's high quality.
Now, the only two downsides I have is the battery life.
Being only three to six months is a cons for me.
And also the price, yikes!
Being August, you expect the premium price
and they definitely nailed you here at a $250 price point.
But for the best unfortunately gotta paid that price.
If you guys liked that video,
smash that like button.
And if you wanna see it's full pros and cons list,
check out the link down below.
If you wanna see the next video in my HomeKit series.
Check that out.
And if you're brand new here,
I hope you consider subscribing
for the next HomeKit video right here.
♪ No, Nothing can break me ♪