August Home Launches New Smart Lock Features To Access Smart Homes
One of the leading providers of smart locks and smart home access products, August Home, introduced their new intelligent DoorSense™ technology today. DoorSense is the first integrated sensor in a smart lock which can tell users when their door is open or closed. This innovative feature helps smart home owners secure their doors from unwanted guests as well as assist them in monitoring access.
August Home will begin shipping an expanded line of smart home access products and services with DoorSense to deliver state-of-the-art features for safe and secure control over a door.
How many times have you gone out of the house thinking you've locked the door or closed it behind you but , the door is open or unlocked. With DoorSense, your worries will go away and users will have peace of mind knowing their door is both closed and locked.
The new family of Smart Home Access products includes two new Smart Locks and the next- generation Doorbell Cam:
August Smart Lock Pro is the most advanced smart lock on the market with simultaneous support for Wi-Fi, HomeKit, Bluetooth and Z-Wave Plus. August Smart Lock Pro is bundled with the August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge. The bundle, priced at $279, allows users to control and monitor their front door from anywhere with a smartphone.
August Smart Lock, designed for consumers exploring the benefits of smart home access, features an all-new industrial design with the features of previous generation August Smart Locks, for just $149.
August Doorbell Cam Pro lets users see and speak with visitors at their door from a smartphone for security, day and night. The new version features a built-in flood light for color night-time video, which can be motion triggered to scare away would-be thieves.
"Smart locks are playing an important role in the growth of the smart home," said Jason Johnson, CEO of August Home. "With the Smart Lock Pro, we've created a lock that gives people total control over their front door in ways that aren't possible with a traditional lock. Now, people can make sure their door is closed and locked from anywhere. We're also expanding our offering to include a more affordable lock so everyone can make their door safer and smarter."
Johnson continued, "The front door is the gateway to the home and our mission is to transform every home, by helping people manage access for themselves, guests, home services and for secure package delivery."
August Home Access Products
The August Smart Lock Pro and August Smart Lock replace only the interior side of most standard deadbolts; the exterior door hardware (lock) stays the same, which means consumers can use a traditional key at any time. Together with the August Doorbell Cam Pro and August Smart Keypad, these products complete the family of August Home Access Products, giving users total control over the front door.
August Smart Lock Pro
Bundling the August Smart Lock Pro with August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge allows consumers to control and monitor their door remotely with a smartphone. The lock also includes powerful integrations that expand its capabilities including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit/Siri, the Google Assistant as well as Z-Wave Plus compatibility for direct integration with popular alarm and control systems.
In addition to identifying if the door is open or closed, August's proprietary DoorSense technology also powers the next generation of Auto-Lock. Previous August Smart Locks could automatically lock after a set time, with DoorSense, the door lock can be set to instantly lock when the door is closed. This eliminates the vulnerability of forgetting to lock the door when entering and exiting the home.
August Smart Lock Pro also includes Active Monitoring, a Beta of "smarter alerts" for the events that are most important to users. At launch, this will include all alerts for activity at the door including a DoorSense alert notifying the user if their door is left ajar for a set amount of time. New alerts notifying the users about specific activities that happen during a set timeframe, such as kids arriving home from school between 2:00-5:00pm on weekdays will be added shortly.
August Smart Lock
The new August Smart Lock leverages August's third generation technology and features a new industrial design with a traditional thumb turn to lock and unlock the door. The lock also includes DoorSense, allowing users to confirm the door is closed and locked. Additionally, consumers can add August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge to remotely control the lock or use voice control with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant.
August Doorbell Cam Pro
With August Doorbell Cam Pro, users know who's at the door, even when they're not home. Motion detection triggers alerts whenever something is happening at the front door. In addition to the integrated flood light, Doorbell Cam Pro includes a new feature called HindSight™. HindSight makes video recording more meaningful by adding a few extra seconds to the beginning of video to a recording, even before motion is detected. This ensures that the recording includes the entire motion event, rather than seeing a person walking away, for example. August Video Recording lets users replay, download and share recordings of activity at their door – visitors who ring – visitors who the doorbell and any motion or missed visitor – all from the August app.
The Doorbell Cam Pro features improved video quality for crisper video recording, especially for motion events. It is easy to install and replaces an existing doorbell-button. The new Doorbell Cam Pro also includes a USB dock for easy set-up prior to installation and mounting.
Control Over the Front Door From a Smartphone
The August Smart Lock Pro and the new August Smart Lock include all the features that initially made the August Smart Lock popular including Auto-Unlock, a magical experience that automatically unlocks the door when users arrive home, a feature unique to August Smart Locks. Nearly half of all August Smart Lock customers use Auto-Unlock as the primary way they enter the home.
Both locks turn a smartphone into a smart key where consumers can lock/unlock their door, enter hands-free, lock the door automatically with Auto-Unlock/Auto-Lock, create virtual keys for guests, and keep track of who comes and goes with a 24/7 Activity Feed – all from a smartphone.
Installs Easily on the Inside of the Door
The August Smart Lock Pro and August Smart Lock install easily on the interior side of most standard deadbolts; typically, customers install their August Smart Lock in 15 minutes or less. Exterior door hardware stays the same, which means consumers can use a traditional key at any time.
Pricing & Availability
August Smart Lock Pro (bundled with August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge), priced at $279, and August Smart Lock, priced at $149, are available immediately in silver and dark gray. August Doorbell Cam Pro, priced at $199, is available for pre-orders and will begin shipping October 10, 2017. August products are available from retailers including amazon.com, Best Buy and august.com. For more information about August products and services, visit august.com.
August Home Access Products
August Home Access Products include the August Smart Lock, August Smart Keypad and August Doorbell Cam. Together, these products turn a smartphone into a command center for the front door, allowing people to manage their front door from anywhere. With an August Smart Lock, people can lock and unlock their door, create virtual keys for guests and keep track of who comes and goes with a 24/7 activity log. The August Smart Keypad also lets users create unique entry codes for themselves, family, friends and service providers to unlock an August Smart Lock without a traditional key or smartphone. The August Doorbell Cam lets consumers see and speak with visitors at the door, from anywhere, using a smartphone.
August Home Access Services
August Home products become even more powerful with the ability to integrate leading brands and platforms that expand the capabilities of the products. August Home Access Services include leading platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, the Google Assistant and Nest. Additional August partners include premier security provider Honeywell Total Connect, Wink and Logitech Harmony.
Summary
GearBrain is a fan of August Home products. We have reviewed many of their smart home access products and found them to be easy to install and a good value, especially if you are just entering the smart home market. By adding in new technology to their smart locks that adds a huge benefit for the consumer is smart. Also, having their locks be compatible with different wireless protocols, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Z-Wave is another nice feature and will allow more consumers to connect these new devices to their existing smart home system. Check out GearBrain's review August Smart Lock Pro with the DoorSense technology. Be on the lookout for our reviews. In the interim, we like what we see and hear from August Home and believe they are on the right track with their products and services.
