Two-minute overview
The SwitchBot Lock isn’t your common sensible lock. Within the nicest manner doable, it’s about as dumb as a sensible lock might be – however that’s no unhealthy factor.
SwitchBot is considerably of an anomaly within the sensible house house. A majority of its creations are designed for retrofitting sensible houses and making common switches, blinds, and locks a bit smarter, filling an necessary function in an in any other case daunting transition from dumb to sensible house. In keeping with this, the SwitchBot Lock is actually a bolt-on motorized thumb flip or key rotator, sprinkling in a couple of neat options to offer it that sensible edge. It’s fairly reasonably priced, too, at $99.99 / £129.99, and is on the market straight from SwitchBot’s on-line retailer or Amazon.
The easiest way I can describe how the SwitchBot Lock works is by evaluating it to that steampunk-esque futuristic view of sensible locks folks within the 60s or 70s would have conceived however with added performance, due to its (albeit considerably restricted) app. Primarily, a motorized thumb flip adapter on the lock simply turns the lock on demand when the iOS, Android, or Apple Watch app – or suitable third-party software program – sends a command when the consumer presents a SwitchBot Tag or makes use of a SwitchBot Distant or Keypad.
What’s within the field?
– 1x SwitchBot Lock, with adhesive, 2x CR-123A lithium batteries and 4x screws in situ
– 1x PH1 cross-head screwdriver
– 1x magnet with adhesive in situ
– 1x spare adhesive pad for lock, 1x spare adhesive pad for the magnet and 4x spare screws
– 2x SwitchBot tags
Different: Moist wipe, consumer handbook, memo stickers for tags
As an alternative of eradicating your current lock and head-scratching to search out out if it’s suitable with the sensible lock alternative of your alternative, the SwitchBot Lock is sort of ambivalent to lock sort, as long as you’ve gotten a single cylinder deadbolt with a thumb flip or a lock that may be operated with a key in situ on both aspect of the door. Yow will discover out for certain in case your lock is suitable with SwitchBot’s useful lock information.
It’s cumbersome and somewhat ugly at 2.9 inches thick, protruding from the door considerably, particularly in case your rose is already on the bigger aspect. SwitchBot has tried to make up for this unlucky actuality by protecting the design easy and slick. For essentially the most half, it achieves a decent-looking gadget, and contemplating its ease of software versus different sensible locks, it’s a concession I discover acceptable.
The Switchbot is available in two colorways, black and silver, and is extremely straightforward to put in – even I as a DIY college dropout discovered it near-impossible to mess it up. Plus, it’s virtually fully tool-free, barring 4 screws you’ll must take away and exchange beneath the battery cowl to alter the adjustable base adapter’s distance out of your door. A small screwdriver is included for the duty.
Additionally price noting is that you could’t share one-time codes on your SwitchBot to offer entry to folks exterior of your family. Whilst you can remotely grant entry, for those who repeatedly set free the property, or have a cleaner or dogsitter, you’d want so as to add them to the family inside the app.
The batteries are considerably of a peculiarity; the SwitchBot Lock makes use of two CR-123A lithium batteries, a typical theme amongst different SwitchBot equipment, together with the keypad. They’ve an honest sufficient lifespan of six months, primarily based on utilizing the lock 10 occasions a day, however on condition that these batteries are extra expensive than common batteries, it is likely to be price investing in rechargeable backups.
Total, I’d completely advocate the SwitchBot Lock as the perfect sensible lock to anybody not able to make the leap to full-blown sensible locks, renters, and people on a finances. I anticipated to search out much more points, given it’s on the cheaper aspect and is a little bit of a fixer-upper, but it surely gained me over. I didn’t expertise any points with locks getting caught, but it surely’s price noting buyer critiques have famous the occasional difficulty.
It’s not for everybody, given a couple of of its design niggles and practicality points – to not point out its poor app – however for lots of people, this may greater than match the invoice.
SwitchBot Lock overview specs
Worth | $99.99 / £129.99 |
Combatibility | Examine SwitchBot’s up-to-date compatibility checklist |
Dimensions | 4.4 x 2.3 x 2.9-in / 11.2 x 7.3 x 5.9 cm |
System necessities | iOS 11.0, Android 5.0, and Apple WatchOS 4.0 or above. |
Third occasion companies | Alexa, Google, Siri, IFTTT, SmartThings, LINE Clova, API |
Management strategies | SwitchBot App, SwitchBot Tag, SwitchBot Distant, SwitchBot Keypad, SwitchBot Keypad Contact |
Energy enter | 2x 3V CR123A |
SwitchBot Lock overview: arrange
Nailing the location of the SwitchBot Lock is necessary, and it’s price trying out the orientation of your deal with, lock, and any home windows in your door earlier than buying the SwitchBot Lock.
Whereas it may be put in horizontally or vertically, the door I examined on had a deal with above the lock and a window to the suitable, that means I had no alternative however to place the SwitchBot straight beneath the deal with, knocking the clunky gadget every time I opened the door. This gained’t be an issue for a majority of doorways however do double-check beforehand.
To put in the lock, simply swap out the thumb flip adapter to whichever of the three included sizes suits your thumb flip finest, take away the screws from the adjustable base adapter and maintain the lock to the within of your door, ensuring the thumb flip adapter suits over the thumb flip with somewhat little bit of leeway.
When you’ve decided what number of notches the bottom adapter wants, you’ll be able to refit the screws, take away the quilt on the self-adhesive patch and stick it onto your door. This self-adhesive is aggressively sticky, so be careful in case your doorways are painted or varnished, and ensure to maintain it straight. As soon as it’s in situ, take away the battery cowl, pull out the plastic tab from behind the batteries, after which the lock will come to life. All that’s left to do is place the magnet >30mm away from the lock and also you’re all set to calibrate the lock.
To do that, you’ll must obtain the app on iOS, Android, or Apple Watch and pair the gadget, then use the thumb flip to display the movement wanted to lock and unlock the door, in addition to calibrate when the door is left ajar.
On the cell apps, you’ll be able to add extra locks to your private home (together with to the identical door for when you’ve gotten a number of locks, although the actual property wanted would possibly make this not possible at worst, ugly at finest), obtain notifications for any points with the lock and arrange audible notifications for when your door has been left open or unlocked, in addition to computerized locking. There’s additionally the flexibility to arrange scenes with different SwitchBot units, which I discovered to be clunky and never very user-friendly. Total, the apps all felt a bit missing, however because it’s a budget-friendly gadget, that’s not too stunning.
Alternatively, you’ll be able to join your new sensible lock to third-party companies, together with Amazon Alexa, Google Dwelling, Apple Siri, IFTTT, and SmartThings. The brand new SwitchBot Hub 2, older SwitchBot units at the moment are Matter-compatible too. A number of add-ons could make the SwitchBot sing – particularly, the SwitchBot keypad, which has each a fingerprint contact and a fundamental numeric keypad kind issue.
Ought to I purchase the SwitchBot Lock?
Row 0 – Cell 0 | Switchbot lock | Nest x Yale sensible lock | Schlage Sense sensible lock |
Worth | $99.99 / £129.99 | $249 to $428 | $260 |
Dimensions | 4.4 x 2.3 x 2.9-in / 11.2 x 7.3 x 5.9 cm | 4.5 x 2.5 x 80-in / 11.66 x 6.58 x 1.79 cm | 5 x 3 x 2.2-in / 12.7 x 7.62 x 5.59 cm |
System necessities | iOS 11.0, Android 5.0, and Apple WatchOS 4.0 or above | Nest Join / Nest Guard | Bluetooth 4.0 |
Third occasion companies | Alexa, Google, Siri, IFTTT, SmartThings, LINE Clova, API | Ring, Apple Homekit, Amazon, Google | |
Management strategies | SwitchBot App, SwitchBot Tag, SwitchBot Distant, SwitchBot Keypad, SwitchBot Keypad Contact | Nest app | Schlage sense app |
Energy enter | 2x 3V CR123A | 4x AA batteries | 1x 9V |
Purchase it if…
Don’t purchase it if…
Additionally think about
If you happen to’re not sure whether or not the SwitchBot sensible lock is the one for you, take a look at considered one of these various fashions
How I examined the SwitchBot Lock
- I examined the SwitchBot Lock on a thumb-turn door
- I used its app to hook up with Siri and Apple Watch
I examined the SwitchBot Lock by putting in it onto a thumb-turn door lock, assessing the time taken to put in and the issue of the directions. I used the app to calibrate and check out the lock’s options, together with the ‘door ajar’ and ‘door unlocked’ notifications.
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First reviewed June 2023