I tried the tech that makes hands-free smart locks actually work
Imagine walking up to your front door and it unlocks â even opens â automatically as you approach. It may sound like the stuff of smart home dreams, but it could soon be a reality, thanks to ultra-wideband (UWB) technology arriving on smart locks.
With its precise, real-time location capabilities, UWB enables a smart lock to react to the presence of your phone or smartwatch as you approach your door, unlocking it with no intervention on your part. Both the lock and your device need a UWB chip, but this touchless experience means thereâs no need to pull out your phone, fiddle with keycodes, fingerprints, or, god forbid, an actual key.
I got to demo the first locks to support the wireless communication protocol at CES last month, and I am ready for my hands-free smart lock future.
Fast, easy, and frictionless, hands-free unlocking is the kind of convenience the smart home needs
I test a lot of smart door locks and havenât used a house key in a decade. But unlocking my front door still isnât a frictionless experience: fingerprint readers are fast but can be finicky, Home Key is smooth but limited to Apple devices, keycodes slow me down, and palm readers and facial scan …