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Yves Behar's August Smart Lock: Keyless Entry for Anyone with a Smartphone

By Rain Noe - May 31, 2013

in Tech

My main question: Why is the inside of your apartment so dark?

My main question: Why is the inside of your apartment so dark?

Yesterday Yves Behar and tech entrepreneur Jason Johnson pulled the sheets off of their August Smart Lock. It's an intelligent keyless entry system, operated via Bluetooth, that can be retrofitted to an existing door with just two screws.

There are two killer apps for the system: One is that you no longer need to use your key to get in. August detects when your smartphone is in proximity, then open-sesames. Two is that you can program August to let other people in—houseguests, dogwalkers, repairpersons, that ex that talks a good game and swears it will be different this time around—and it will recognize their smartphone, allowing access at a time of your choosing.

You might wonder, Hey, what if I want to let someone in that doesn't own a smartphone? And our answer is, Do you really want to let that type of scum into your apartment?

Because the device runs under its own power—two AA batteries, by the looks of it—and is not connected to WiFi or your building's power supply, it will still function during a blackout or internet outage. In the event that it fails for some reason, you can still open the door with your physical key.

Check it out:

The August Smart Lock will be available for purchase, for 200 bones, later this year. (I've got a good guess as to which month it will go on sale.)

In addition to its obvious functionality, there is one as-yet-uncommented-on way that the device will change human interaction: Just as the rise of cell phones means you can no longer slam the phone down to hang up in anger, the August precludes that dramatic scene where your ex has to give your keys back.

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Product tank

11 years ago

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Meh! Bit underwhelmed by this, which is unusual for something from someone from the fuse project stable.
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bar

11 years ago

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So the guy in the movie had several exhusbands, but was now into girls? Nothing wrong with that, just curious.

This product might have great application in public spaces, offices or some such. But it's an expensive facepalm for private homes.
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Raymond from Nico's Kitchens

11 years ago

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I like the idea of not using keys to open doors - I'm always losing or searching for them. @Phillipe it says in the post you can still operate the gadget without power the old fashion way.

Now all it needs is to send a hidden 911 signal when you have to send one of those key-codes under duress. Imagine the possibilities :)

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Luke

11 years ago

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The holes for the indicator light are arranged really awkwardly. I even see how they did it in CAD: a linear array and then multiple polar arrays. Easy to do, but the end result is not so nice.

Personally, I'd have gone with a phyllotactic spiral, so that the texture and space would be consistent. Or, maybe microdrilled it up randomly, so it looks like a Gaussian noise pattern.

Apart from that, it's quite a nice gadget.
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Redo

11 years ago

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I think this product is really good, like other really good products it has a dark side: what if my phone runs out of battery and I'm so used to this thing that I no longer carry my key with me... I know I know, it's perverse but let's be realistic, it will happen for sure... What about a finger print system? Maybe it can be integrated with the invitation system shown in the video. It doesn't use your smartphone but it's cool the same... or nowadays we need to use a smartphone for everything otherwise we aren't cool? It looks like this is the real purpose of this product...
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Philippe

11 years ago

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Looks like an awesome product, although I'd be interested how it responds if:
a) after a long day at work, you come home and realize that your not-so-smart phone's battery died. (USB charger under doorbell button - anyone?)

b) Your phone gets 'lost', but the evil 'finder' knows where you live, moves in and locks you out and takes over your identity, and eventually world domination.
Can you block your own access without your phone?

c) Can I cluster manage them, so the locks talk among each other, if I use an entrance, but a different exit in the same building?

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Justin

11 years ago

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Are traditional deadbolts tapered to prevent knocking them off the door with a 5lb engineer's hammer?
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Baybreaker

11 years ago

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so... wait. This is Yves on his own? Fuse Project isn't involved? I doubt that very much.

Always been a little surprised about Behar's way of giving credit , or not, to his designers.
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Evan

11 years ago

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Great, so whenever you aproach your door it unlocks, that is SOOO not a safety concern, especially if you might have some thugs waiting for you. Also when you forget to replace the battery then voila, your locked out and no way to lock pick your own door or a lock smith to pick it, guess you'll have to drill through your $200 lock...oh well.
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