Getting into your home is just as important as locking it up from outsiders. When I first saw the Kevo from Kwikset at CES 2015 I was more than a little interested in the product. Mostly because we have lived in the same house for almost 2 years now and I have no idea where my house keys are. Not a huge issue since we park in the garage all the time and have the ‘clicker’. While I can’t seem to find the house keys anywhere, one thing that never gets lost is my Android device. It is always attached to me 24/7. Needless to say that using my phone as my house key is a great solution to me locking myself out. Let’s take a look at the product and the process involved to get it set up and installed.
The Hardware
The box is rather small, but a bit heavy as it contains the whole kit to get you up and running. Yes, batteries are included too. So kind of them to do that. Inside you have your user manual, installation guide, the interior lock, 2 different deadbolts depending on your door, the outside lock, a set of traditional keys and a Bluetooth Keyfob. You also get a set of plates for the door frame and all the screws needed to assemble the lock.
If you have ever change a door handle or a deadbolt in the past then the installation process should be pretty straight forward. There are a few little things you will want to make sure you read and do though. For instance, threading the wire from the outside lock to the inside lock, using the right dead bolt piece and putting the right plates on in the correct order. I took some photos of how it goes together. It was pretty easy, but did take me longer than I anticipated. It would have gone a little smoother had I had a second set of hands to hold a few things for me.
The App
Once installed you go through pairing it up to your Android 5.0+ device, select phones at the moment, and the key fob. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete that process. On the phone front you need the Kevo app installed first. The associated app lets you do a number of things that are rather convenient. One of the best functions is sharing an eKey with someone else. That can be your wife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, kids, mother, neighbor or what have you. It can easily be revoked at any point in time giving you full control of access to your house wherever you are. If you opt for the eKey solution you are given 1 additional eKey to the one you get for your primary device. i.e. you only get two eKeys. If you need more eKeys for others in the family you will need to buy them at $1.99 each up to 5. Alternatively you have the option of offering up temporary eKeys that are free and good for a 24 hour period. Again, you can revoke those at any time during the 24 hour period.
As you can see in that final screenshot you get a running log of who has accessed, or attempted to access, your lock. I was in and out quite a bit today. You will see the names of those that have other eKey access in your list as well. Unfortunately, with limited device support my wife is bound by the Keyfob since her HTC one M8 at the time and now LG G4 don’t officially support the app.
After the lock is installed and the app is up and running you are set to start using it. When looking at the lock from the outside you won’t notice much difference to any other dead bolt lock on the market. It isn’t until you tap on it that you will see the LED lights start to circle the lock. They start off blue to let you know that it is attempting to connect to your device and unlock your door. It will go green and unlock if finds one. If it doesn’t it will flash orange and stay locked. If your phone is in your pocket or hand it will vibrate and you will get a notification stating that a request was denied. I also found that if the lock was triggered while I was inside the house I would get a notification that Kevo denied access to someone.
The inside of the door gains a rather larger box that houses all the electronics and easy access to the battery compartment and sync options. A small LED light above the manual deadbolt lock flashes an orange color when the door is locked. A small, but nice, feature when it is dark and you aren’t sure if you locked to door.
Does it work?
The ultimate question though is does it work as it should. Well, yes and no. Having the lock on my front door for over a month now and using it everyday I am still conflicted on its usefulness. The point of the lock is to be able to walk up to your door with your device in your pocket and tap the lock and get inside. However, I have been denied access to my home more than once a day. Not total denial that required digging out the keys, but denied none the less. Seems sitting in a pocket isn’t enough motion for the Kevo app to wake up to allow access. I often had to grab my phone and shake it then tap the lock to get inside. After about the first 2 weeks I routinely just shook the crap out of my phone while walking up to the door. It probably looked stupid, but it always unlocked, or locked, my door.
I also have had a number of occasions where upon entering while it was already unlocked that the jarring of the door would trigger the deadbolt to lock again. That resulted in a number of door shuts right on an open dead bolt. That can’t be good for the dead bolt of for the door jam. It seems to happen more with my 5 and 14 year old who come flying through the door like the world is ending. However, it also happens a number of times with my phone in my pocket when I go to open the door to a visitor or call my son inside.
What about the video!
There have been a number of videos out there, like this one, and this one. While I would love to break the lock and see if it was a legit test, I have serious issues with destroying things. If a criminal wants in your house they will get in regardless of the lock used. Hell, if I was a crook and saw this on a persons door I’d just steal their phone and walk in. Anything short of a couple of deadbolts, a security system and armed guard and guard dog will give some people peace of mind.
Overall thoughts
The Kwikset team came out of the gates targeting iPhone users with, what seems to be, a solid app and product. On the Android front it has been more of a “sure, let’s try it out” sort of vibe. It started off by supporting the Nexus 6, HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S5. The Galaxy S5 support hinged on Android 5.0 to be installed on your device. Since then the device list for Android has grown to include the Nexus 9, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note 4 Edge. Again, hinging on Android 5.0 being installed. They don’t have a single LG device on the list Other devices sporting Android 5.0 are out of luck barring side-loading the app as the Play Store prevents you from installing it natively. Doing so though doesn’t guarantee that it will work either and the side-loaded device still needs to be on Android 5.0+. Basically if you aren’t a Nexus owner or Samsung owner you are sort of out of luck in using the Kevo right now.
The Kevo smartlock seems to work best with the keyfob versus an Android phone. Bluetooth, while getting better with BLE tech, is still Bluetooth and most people don’t want to leave it on all day just so they can tap their lock to enter or exit their home. I certainly don’t feel any less safe with the Kevo installed on my front door, but I certainly have more annoyances than I would with just digging out my key of my pocket.
The lock has some potential, but it still has a long way to go before it is the “must have” keyless entry system for your home.
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