SCHLAGESense Smart Deadbolt With Century Trim (Matte Black)

Now that I have this I can't see how I lived without it for so long. It is tremendously liberating not to have to worry about your key and I feel the house is much more secure than previously. I matched it with a simple Schlage Century passage handle (about $40).I did not have a deadbolt installed in my exterior door and decided to install it myself. This meant the door had to be drilled and chiseled, etc. I bought the Milwaukee door lock installation kit (about $35) and watched a few Youtube videos and I was able to pull off a pretty decent installation that looks very clean and functions well. You will also need a chisel to set the strike plates. This is easier than you would imagine. Thank you Youtube !The main thing I did not expect about installation of this lock is that the most important thing is preparing your door. The motor that drives this deadbolt is lightweight and it needs the door to be perfectly aligned so that the bolt can open and close with no added pressure or drag. So if you have a door that you have to lift up or press in or pull out or otherwise wiggle to get the deadbolt closed, you are going to have to do some work on your door until it is all properly aligned so that the deadbolt can click open or closed easily with no interference or drag. Apparently Schlage customer support does have some tricks up their sleeve like differently shaped strike plates if needed. But that is the first thing you need to start with .... how your door and current deadbolt fit and work and do you need to adjust the door itself.Schlage says that with correct fit the batteries will last over a year but they recommend replacing them annually anyway. However the first time your bolt tests the installation in the door it uses a low power mode to lock the bolt. If it is unable to successfully complete its "low power" cycle due to drag somewhere in the fit, after 3 unsuccessful tries it will go into a "high power" mode permanently. This will result in shorter battery life. You can check your battery level in the app. After a few weeks of constant use the batteries are still showing at 100%.Schlage also has a nice video about installation that is available in the app or on Youtube. I was amused to see that the very first thing in the instructions is that they tell you "FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS!". For example you do not insert the batteries until a specific time and if you insert them too early you can foul up the lock's programming and self test cycle. So, READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS STEP BY STEP.For extra reinforcement, Schlage provides a heavy duty backer to the strike plate on the frame and super long screws to secure it through your door frame. You may really want to have an impact driver to set these long screws. We didn't and stripped it using our regular electric screwdriver but finally got them in.... only to discover the placement was slightly off and we had a slight drag on the operation of the deadbolt. And there was no way those screws were coming out without a fight. So if I was doing it all over again, I would have set the strike plate only using the small screws until I fully tested the fit of the lock. In our case we were able to adjust the lower strike plate for the door handle inward to get the deadbolt back to non-interference operation, so we were OK.Once physically installed, the HomeKit setup and lock programming was quick and easy. The first thing the lock did was update its firmware and I had not a single hiccup with the HomeKit. I have a 3rd generation Apple TV that's about 10 feet away from the front door and it is turned off in power saving mode most of the time but I have not noticed any problems with remote access when I have tried it. Works perfectly.So how do we actually use the door? Well, you can assign up to 30 codes for entrance and those codes can be set to work during all hours and days or limited hours and days. It does warn you that whatever number of digits you pick for your codes that will be permanent. So we went with 4 digit codes since that's what most people are used to for their PINs. Longer codes would obviously be slightly more secure, but if you stand at the lock and try various combinations you can only make a few attempts before it sets off a built-in internal alarm. The alarm is loudest in the house and doesn't carry outside too strongly but loud enough to make the person attempting to guess your code feel uncomfortable standing there. You only get a certain number of tries before it won't accept any more and sounds the alarm.So there are two of us in the house and we each picked a four digit code and that's what we use as our key. You can lock and unlock it using the app, but it's easier just to walk up to the door and type in your code. You can use the app to check the lock status and lock or unlock it remotely (works perfectly with our HomeKit setup) and also to view an extensive log of who has locked/unlocked the door and when. You can set the door to auto lock at the interval of your choice. On the exterior, as soon as you close the door you can press the Schlage button to lock the door immediately without waiting for it to auto lock. Once inside we are making it a habit to manually lock the door upon entry to save battery so it doesn't auto lock every time.So I always used to be stressed out about "did I have my key with me" and now ... I just don't need a key. The door is locked a lot more than before. It has a built in alarm that responds to tampering. It keeps a record of when it's been opened and closed. And I can remotely allow access to someone if needed which is a huge comfort given that my dogs are left in the house a lot and I'd always worried about how I would handle that if I was stuck somewhere and needed someone to go in and take care of them.... now I can do it easily from wherever.Documentation of HomeKit features is sparse but I expect that to improve over time. For example the one time I set off the lock's alarm by typing in the wrong code repeatedly, i would have expected it to send me a notification that the alarm had been set off. It did not and I have no way of knowing if it was supposed to or not or how to set it to do that if possible.IN SUMMARY, I LOVE THIS LOCK. For a future upgrade, I can see the value of adding an automatic door closer so I am considering adding one of those to my door to make sure it closes fully on its own so that the auto lock can be completely successful without my remembering to fully manually close the door.

I really wanted to get a smart lock because my husband, despite us living in a major city, would constantly leave the door unlocked. Even with a Tile Mate Key Finder, Phone Finder, 4-pack on his keychain, he would lose or misplace his keys and end up propping open the backdoor in lieu of having to find or carry them.I researched heavily leaning towards locks that converted your existing deadbolts like the more affordable but limited Kwikset Kevo Convert Smart Lock Conversion Kit in Satin Nickel, which I received free from Amazon Vine, and the similarly priced but also limited (works with a very limited list of existing deadbolts) August Smart Lock (2nd Gen) - Keyless home access - Control with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit or your smartphone (Dark Gray) but both had very mixed reviews and my locksmith said that everyone he had installed the August lock for had either LOVED it or hated it. No in-between.Consumer Reports gave a high rating to the Z-wave version of this lock (New Model) Schlage Connect Camelot Touchscreen Deadbolt with Z-wave Technology and Extra Key BE468-2K (Aged Bronze), which requires a separate hub whereas the 3rd generation Apple TV can act as your hub for the Sense if you already have one. By default, Consumer Reports recommends the Sense because it is the same lock but the Z-wave Connect works with the Alexa while the Sense and Apple TV work with Siri.I have issues with my motor skills and know nothing about locks so I had my locksmith install the Schlage Sense so I can't speak to how easy or difficult it is to install this as a layperson. I can speak to how easy it was to set up on my phone. Within minutes, I could access the lock via my iPhone and Siri was locking and unlocking my front door. Meanwhile the Kwikset Kevo Convert Smart Lock Conversion Kit in Satin Nickel I had installed on my backdoor was buggy and had all sorts of issues, not to mention the cheap batteries that came with it and were practically dead on arrival. I had to install the Kevo and uninstall it several times and I still get "bolt jam" errors when I use it now and again. Not to mention that because it's bluetooth, the range is limited and at $99 for Kevo Plus for remote access, it's already at the same price-point as the Schlage Sense..I found the Schlage app much easier to navigate and not as buggy as Kevo's. I also already had the latest generation Apple TV so I could very quickly start remote locking and unlocking my front door. This is one of my favorite features. I love that I can also make sure remotely that the door has been locked after I leave or when someone else leaves home. Of course, the auto-lock functions also helps insured my door is locked and this can be set from 15 seconds to up to 4 minutes. It was also very easy to set up access codes for my husband and my housekeeper and set up temporary access codes (you can schedule when they start working and when they stop working) for my handyman so he could come in my house to do repairs when I wasn't home.Other nice features are the 1-touch locking. You can press on the Schlage name above the touchscreen and tada, the door is locked automatically. You can also decide if the touchscreen has a "keypress beep" and as I mentioned before, how long the auto lock delay is as well as choose between disabling the built-in alarm, having the lock beep when the door is opened/closed and setting an alarm if there's forced entry and for the latter decide how sensitive you want it to be.My husband is very pleased using his iPhone or the touchscreen to open the front door. I haven't used the touchscreen once and use Siri exclusively to open my front door as I walk towards it from the car. We are both pretty pleased with our purchased. It is great having the lock come up on our Apple Homekit along with all our other smart devices, including the Philips 464503 Hue White and Color A19 LED Bulb, 3rd Generation with Richer Colors for IOS and Android and Philips 461020 Hue White Ambiance Single A19 Bulb, Works with Amazon Alexa and Elgato Eve Energy (NEW), Switch & Power Meter with Apple HomeKit Technology, Bluetooth Low Energy.I know it's too much to ask probably but I wish it worked with Alexa. We did have a funny interaction with Siri where we asked her to "open the door" and she heard "find a whore." She couldn't find any in our area. With Schlage Sense, Siri is your key and a touchscreen and regular key act as pretty good backups. We use a key now only on the Shabbos or Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) when we can't use our phones or the electronic touchscreen to open our door.For our front door, we ended up getting the Matte Black Century Trim but I think the Antique Bronze would have been a better style for our dark brown door as the door has more of a classic look and the lighter gray touchscreen panel clashes a little. While the Matte Black and Century look exactly as pictured, the Antique Bronze looks nothing like the photo here or on any of the websites or even the packaging in comes in! The touchscreen background is actually black/brown NOT that garish "baby poop" brown (see photo). In person, the Antique Bronze actually looks exactly like the Antique Bronze version of the Connect seen here Schlage Connect Camelot Touchscreen Deadbolt with Built-In Alarm. My in-laws got the Schlage Sense in Antique Bronze after my recommendation and kept their existing handle set of a similar color. For our backdoor and back house, we got the Satin Nickel finish for our white doors. We got those severely discounted, as 1) this finish is regularly the cheapest and Build.com was selling them refurbished by the manufacturer at $144 a pop. The handle sets were also cheaper at Build.com.

Awesome lock! I use to have Kiwkset but purchased this since I recently purchased an Apple TV and have an iPhone and iPad. This only works with bluetooth unless you have the wifi adapter or you have apple TV or an iPad at the house at all times connected to your wifi and use Apple Home kit. Apple home kit is great and I can check to make sure the house is always locked while away since I have roommates. This Schlage is much better than my Kiwkset since I can program different codes for my roommates and when they move out I'm not having to change the entire code, it can simply be deleted. Also I can unlock and lock remotely for when friends come by and let my dog out without having to give them a code. What's great is you can set a code to have time limits, to not work at night. So for certain friends that have a code and just show up, this is great. It will not let them in after a certain hour. Also it has an auto-lock timer which comes in handy and lets the door always lock after a set time. Excellent lock! I got it for both the front and back door. I'm ordering two 3 more for Patio doors and garage door!