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A smart lock is not a more secure lock. It is the same bolt in the same door, with a different way of deciding who may open it. That is worth money if key management is your problem and worth very little if it is not.
Key figures
- 7.9 percent Key entry in historical no-force, unoccupied-home burglary cases
- About 40 percent Unlocked entry in historical no-force, unoccupied-home burglary cases
The problem it genuinely solves
Keys cannot be revoked. Every spare you have ever handed out is still out there: the ex-partner, the former housemate, the cleaner, the neighbour who fed the cat in 2019, the contractor who had it copied.
The BJS study of household burglary found that in unlawful entries to unoccupied homes, 7.9 percent involved an offender who had a key. A keypad changes that category from a permanent unknown into something you administer: codes per person, deleted when they leave, with a log of who came in and when.
The other real wins:
- No key under the mat, which is the oldest bad habit in home security.
- Temporary codes for a delivery, a dog walker or a guest, that expire.
- Auto-lock, which quietly closes the largest gap in the data: the door nobody locked.
That last one may be the whole case. About 40 percent of no-force entries to empty homes came through an unlocked door or window, and a lock that locks itself removes the human step.
What it adds to your problems
Batteries. The lock dies when they do. Look for low-battery warnings you will actually see, and keep the spare cells in the house, not in the car.
An account. A smart lock has a password, an app and sometimes a cloud service. Everything in our guide to camera account security applies here, doubly: multi-factor authentication on the lock account and on the email behind it.
A support lifetime. Hubs get discontinued and apps get rewritten. Ask how long the manufacturer commits to security updates for this model, and what the lock still does if the company’s service disappears.
A new attack surface, in the sense that a keypad can be watched, worn keys leave shiny buttons, and codes get shared. Change codes occasionally, and choose a lock whose keypad does not show fingerprints as a map.
The questions that separate good from bad
- What is the ANSI/BHMA grade? The grading framework rates hardware across cycle, operational, strength, security and finish tests, with Grade 1 the highest. A smart lock with no grade at all is an electronics product wearing a lock’s job.
- Is there a physical key override? Useful when batteries fail, but it also means the lock is only as good as that cylinder.
- How does it fail? Fails locked or fails unlocked, and what happens mid-cycle when power drops.
- Does it work without the internet? A keypad code should work when the Wi-Fi is down. If it does not, you have bought a door that depends on your broadband.
- Does it fit your door? Deadbolt backset, door thickness, and whether the existing bolt aligns properly. A smart lock fighting a misaligned bolt will chew through batteries and eventually jam.
- Who can see the log? Entry logs are a record of your household’s movements. Check who in the app can read them.
Auto-lock is the feature most worth turning on and the one most likely to lock you out. Pair it with a code you have memorised rather than only a phone, and make sure everyone in the household has their own code before you enable it.
Remote unlocking deserves a separate decision
Opening your front door from anywhere is convenient and it is also the feature that makes your door reachable from the internet. If you turn it on:
- Use a unique password and multi-factor authentication.
- Review who has remote access, and remove anybody who should not.
- Consider whether a notification, rather than remote unlocking, solves the actual problem: knowing a delivery has arrived is not the same as needing to open the door for it.
Plenty of households get the benefit of a keypad and never enable remote access. That is a reasonable, and quieter, place to land.
Where a smart lock is the wrong purchase
- On a hollow-core door, or in a frame with short screws. Fix the assembly first.
- As the only lock on a door with glass beside it.
- In a rental where you cannot change the hardware without permission, unless it is a retrofit that fits over the existing thumbturn.
- If nobody in the household wants to manage an app. The best lock is the one that gets used properly.
Related reading: Price Remote Access for the Smart Lock You Own and The Lock Is Rarely the Part That Fails.
Questions people ask
Are smart locks safe?
As locks, they are as good as their grade, their bolt and the frame they are in. What they add is an account and a battery, so the practical risks are a flat battery, a compromised account and a discontinued app rather than somebody defeating the mechanism.
What happens if the batteries die in a smart lock?
It depends on the model: some fail locked and keep the bolt thrown, most warn well in advance, and many have a physical key override or external contacts to jump power in. Ask before buying, and keep spare batteries indoors.
Do smart locks work without Wi-Fi?
Keypad codes should work locally on any good model, while remote features stop. Check this explicitly: a lock that cannot be opened with a code when the internet is down makes your broadband part of your front door.
Is a smart lock worth it?
It is if key management is your problem: codes you can give and revoke, temporary access, and auto-locking. In federal data about 8 percent of no-force entries involved somebody who had a key, and around 40 percent came through an unlocked door.
Where these figures come from
- Victimization During Household Burglary Bureau of Justice Statistics · bjs.ojp.gov
- Product Classification and Grade Levels Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association · buildershardware.com
- Securing Your Internet-Connected Devices at Home Federal Trade Commission · consumer.ftc.gov
Figures last checked September 2026.
