Yale Guarantee Lock 2, Plus, and Contact evaluation: a wise lock for each good dwelling

I would like three issues from a wise lock: a slim, enticing design, greater than two methods to manage it, and the power to connect with my good dwelling, with no single-purpose Wi-Fi bridge taking over an outlet in my home. Yale’s flagship good lock collection, the Guarantee Lock 2, ticks all these containers. Plus, they work with all the main good dwelling platforms when you add the proper networking module, and so they now are available in fingerprint or Apple Dwelling Key variants.

The Yale Guarantee Lock 2 begins at $159.99, the Guarantee Lock 2 Contact (from $199.99) provides a fingerprint reader, and the Guarantee Lock 2 Plus (from $209.99) has Apple Dwelling Key. However you may’t get each in a single lock, which is a disgrace, and Yale nonetheless hasn’t delivered on its promise of bringing Matter and Thread to its flagship locks.

Every lock within the collection is a full deadbolt substitute lock with the identical ultra-slim exterior, the keyed fashions being barely longer to make room for the keyway (general, it’s the smallest keypad good lock I’ve examined). All of them share a pleasant, neat rear housing containing the 4 AA batteries and thumb flip (that is additionally one of many smallest I’ve seen), and so they can all be managed with the built-in keypad or through Bluetooth utilizing the Yale Entry app (iOS or Android) or the Apple Dwelling app (together with Siri voice instructions).

Help for different platforms comes through Yale’s ingenious swappable networking modules. The Wi-Fi module enables you to connect with Amazon Alexa, Google Dwelling, and others, whereas the Z-Wave module is for Ring Alarm, Samsung SmartThings, and different Z-Wave methods. Yale has mentioned it can provide a module for Matter over Thread, nevertheless it’s been delayed pending higher help for locks inside Matter.

The Guarantee Lock 2 line is available in a number of configurations on prime of the bottom fashions. Right here’s the present lineup:

I examined all three fashions, putting in the Contact on the entrance door (as fingerprint unlocking is my favourite entry methodology and the most suitable choice for my children), the Plus on the again door (which I take advantage of each morning whereas caring for my flock of chickens), and the Guarantee 2 on the door from our storage (I’d beforehand examined this on my entrance door, too). Whereas all three are glorious locks, the Guarantee 2 Contact is my favourite as a result of fingerprint unlocking is the quickest, most dependable solution to open a door. Whereas not completely hands-free, it by no means failed in my testing.

I discover fingerprint unlock extra dependable than Dwelling Key (my Apple Watch Sequence 6 is often lifeless by the point I get dwelling after a day trip); it’s additionally simpler than pulling my cellphone out, and faster than typing in a code. Plus, my children always remember their fingers or allow them to run out of battery.

Whereas Yale’s implementation is tremendous quick and dependable, the draw back is that the fingerprint reader is tiny and a little bit of a tough goal. Organising the fingerprint was additionally buggy. You do it by means of the Yale app, and it saved timing out on me, though it did ultimately work. You can also’t add a number of prints to a person; you must create a brand new profile for every finger. I wish to register three or 4 fingerprints per particular person, two per hand. There’s additionally a restrict of 20 fingerprints.

The bottom Guarantee 2 at $159.99 is a good possibility if you are able to do and not using a fingerprint reader, and also you additionally get a bodily keypad at that value. Whereas the touchscreen appears to be like higher, it’s costlier and fewer intuitive to make use of. When you get the hold of it, it’s responsive, and I’ve not had any points within the six months I examined the Guarantee 2, however the bodily keypad might be simpler for friends to become familiar with (or renters when you had been utilizing this for an AirBnB).

If you happen to love the convenience of unlocking your door by merely tapping your Apple Watch or iPhone on the lock, the Guarantee 2 Plus ($209.99) with Apple Dwelling Key does this very properly. Nevertheless it’s disappointing there’s no fingerprint reader nor the choice of a bodily keyway (which you will get on the opposite two fashions). You can also’t get a bodily keypad — it is touchscreen solely. It does make it a sleek-looking lock, although, and it is palms down the best-looking Dwelling Key lock with a built-in keypad.

In testing, Dwelling Key labored immediately to unlock the door. Utilizing my watch is my favourite methodology, because it’s basically hands-free (though twisting your wrist is a tad awkward). I want you possibly can share Dwelling Keys with individuals outdoors your Apple Dwelling; at the moment the Apple Dwelling app solely enables you to share codes.

In case you are all in on Apple Dwelling, which is probably going if you’re utilizing Dwelling Key, then there’s no have to pay $80 for the Wi-Fi module. Nonetheless, in my testing, locking and unlocking the Guarantee 2 Plus remotely simply utilizing Apple Dwelling — no Wi-Fi module — was much less dependable. It generally timed out and failed. This has occurred with different Dwelling Key locks I’ve examined, so it’s not particularly a Yale concern.

All three Guarantee 2 locks work over Bluetooth and will be managed with the Yale and Apple Dwelling apps out of the field. When you’ve got an Apple Dwelling hub (HomePod or Apple TV), you may management your lock away from dwelling, however in any other case, you’ll want a Yale connectivity module, so as to add help for different good dwelling platforms.

I examined the Wi-Fi Module ($80), which works with any Guarantee 2 lock and provides compatibility with extra platforms, together with Amazon Alexa, Google Dwelling, Samsung SmartThings (over Wi-Fi), Airbnb, and Philips Hue (to show your lights on whenever you unlock and off whenever you lock).

Controlling the locks over Wi-Fi was noticeably slower than Bluetooth, taking about 10 seconds to reply, nevertheless it labored reliably. I might additionally lock and unlock with voice utilizing Alexa or Google (pin codes are required for unlocking) and add the lock to good dwelling Scenes and Routines.

A Z-Wave module works with the Guarantee 2 and Guarantee 2 Contact so as to add compatibility with Ring Alarm, Samsung SmartThings hubs, and different Z-Wave methods (on the expense of Wi-Fi; you may’t have each). The Z-Wave module is not going to work with the Guarantee 2 Plus. Yale says a Matter over Thread module will come sooner or later to connect with many of the above (hopefully).

All three locks have built-in touchscreen keypads, aside from the bottom Guarantee 2 mannequin, which has a bodily keypad. The touchscreen keypad is matte and really clean-looking; it’s so unobtrusive that it’s a shock when the keys mild up.

The draw back is that it doesn’t mild up with a single contact. I found this at 6:30AM after I was rudely awoken by a loud banging on the door. My husband was again from work, and I hadn’t but educated him on the brand new lock. In his post-24-hour-shift exhaustion, he couldn’t determine find out how to get the keypad to indicate up. 

As I ought to have instructed him earlier, he wanted to place his palm over the lock or press the Yale button to get the keypad to indicate. (For the report, I hate branding on door locks; it’s one thing good locks have launched and must go away. My entrance door isn’t a billboard.) All of that is pointless. Simply let me faucet the display screen. If that sounds prefer it’ll be a problem for you, go for the usual keypad model on the Guarantee 2. It has bodily buttons that are much less discreet however simpler for everybody to make use of.

Whichever lock you utilize, the Yale Entry app enables you to add limitless friends to the lock and permit full app entry or give them a code and schedule the time they’ll use it. You get 250 codes, and you’ll revoke them anytime. It is value noting that you could’t schedule entry for anybody with a fingerprint on the Contact mannequin; it’s all entry for them.

DoorSense is one other function out there on all of the locks; it’s arrange within the Yale Entry app and allows you to see if the door is open or closed earlier than locking it remotely — the locks include a magnetic contact sensor that’s straightforward to put in on the door body. The app can also be the place you may arrange auto-lock and auto-unlock and examine a log of each interplay with the door, together with who unlocked it and the way (except they use a key). 

The Yale app isn’t nice; it’s gradual to load and never intuitive. Whereas the walkthrough for bodily putting in the lock is detailed and straightforward to comply with, the app makes little try to indicate you find out how to arrange the lock’s options. With the Contact, it by no means prompted me to arrange fingerprints, so I needed to dig round to learn the way to do this (and, as famous, had bother getting it arrange). Having mentioned that, I’ve but to discover a good good lock app, and Yale’s is among the finest within the scheme of issues. The excellent news is when you’re set-up, you’ll hardly ever want to make use of the app.

All of the locks work with Yale’s auto-unlock function, which makes use of your cellphone’s location and the lock’s Bluetooth radio to unlock the door whenever you strategy. That is by far the simplest methodology, utterly hands-free, as your door mechanically unlocks itself as you strategy… in principle.

I’ve been testing auto-unlock on Yale and August locks (August and Yale are sister firms, and the locks share the identical apps) for years now, and when it really works, it’s nice, however it isn’t dependable.

It fails about two occasions out of 10, in my expertise — and standing in entrance of your door for a number of seconds ready for it to do its factor is past irritating. Right here’s the place I discover a fingerprint reader or Dwelling Key extra dependable and virtually as quick.

The Guarantee 2 and Guarantee 2 Contact each have the choice of a bodily keyway. There’s no key on the Guarantee 2 Plus.

If you happen to go for the keyed mannequin, which doesn’t price extra, Yale sells substitute cylinders for Schlage and Kwikset keyways and might key them to your present locks. However when you have a number of exterior doorways, you don’t actually need a keyhole on the one with the good lock, do you? I’ve been testing good door locks for over a decade, and I can’t keep in mind after I final used a bodily key to get into my dwelling. My teenage kids have by no means used one, as I discovered with some embarrassment after I dropped my son off at a school dorm for summer season camp.

The one state of affairs I can consider — past some catastrophic mechanical failure — is that if I managed to let the lock run out of battery. Even then, you may jolt the Yale lock again to life with a 9-volt battery lengthy sufficient to enter your code.

Whereas preserving a 9-volt battery readily available feels weirder than sticking a spare key underneath a flower pot, it’s positively safer, and 9-volt batteries are simpler to get ahold of in a pinch.

The Guarantee 2 line gives one thing for everybody. From a $160 lock with Apple Dwelling and auto-unlock to a $290 lock that does all that plus works with Apple’s Dwelling Key, Alexa, and Google Dwelling. However the $200 Guarantee Lock 2 Contact with a fingerprint reader is the lock I’d decide.

Whereas I’d wish to see a lock with Dwelling Key and a fingerprint reader, the fingerprint-only Guarantee 2 Contact will work properly for most individuals. It’s a wonderful good lock with a great design that can mix in with most door {hardware}. It gives a number of straightforward and dependable methods to entry your door whereas ditching your keys, however you’ll use the fingerprint possibility essentially the most.

At $200, it’s additionally one of many least costly good locks that works with Apple Dwelling, so that you get away-from-home management if you have already got an iPhone and Apple Dwelling hub. If you happen to’re an Android family, you’ll wish to think about upgrading to the Wi-Fi module for good dwelling integrations and locking and unlocking outdoors of Bluetooth vary.

I do want Yale had one lock that did all of it — a keypad, fingerprint reader, keyed possibility, and Apple Dwelling Key help. Once I requested Yale about this, it cited price; one lock that does all of it might be very costly. However there’s already a lock with all these options for underneath $200 — the Aqara U100 (it additionally helps Matter!).

Nonetheless, Yale’s lock feels sturdier than Aqara’s, and I don’t advocate Aqara’s for most individuals as its design could be very techie, and it wants an Aqara Zigbee hub for many of its options, which bumps up the worth and complexity. (Although an Aqara U100 lock and M2 hub are nonetheless round $20 lower than any of the touchscreen Guarantee 2 locks with a Wi-Fi module.) 

It’s additionally disappointing that there’s no Matter / Thread module for the Guarantee 2 but. The corporate’s causes for the delay make sense: Matter help for locks is at the moment very restricted. Whereas I’m assured they’ll comply with by means of as soon as that adjustments (Yale already has one lock that helps Matter and Thread — a first-gen Guarantee lock, and it’s on the board of the group that runs the brand new customary) everyone knows to not purchase a product right this moment primarily based on the promise of a future replace.

I’m enthusiastic about this, although, as a result of the Thread connectivity might resolve the issues that plague most good locks right this moment — battery life (swapping your batteries out twice a 12 months is extra tiresome than it sounds), vary (I couldn’t management the Yale lock from my bed room over Bluetooth), responsiveness (Wi-Fi connectivity will be very gradual), and the necessity for additional modules and bridges to manage a lock remotely or with voice assistants.

However there’s nonetheless no good lock within the US with a fingerprint reader, Dwelling Key, a built-in keypad, and Thread/Matter connectivity — that’s kind of the Holy Grail of locks for me proper now. (The Schlage Encode at $300 has Thread, Dwelling Key, and Wi-Fi however no fingerprint reader and gained’t help Matter.)

Most individuals might be very proud of whichever of the Yale Guarantee 2 locks most closely fits their wants and price range, however when (okay, if) Yale releases its promised Matter / Thread module for the Guarantee 2, I’ll be first in line to check it.

Images by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Replace October sixth, 2023, 10AM: This evaluation was initially printed on September twenty fourth, 2022 as a evaluation of the Guarantee Lock 2. We have up to date the evaluation following testing the brand new Guarantee Lock 2 Contact and Guarantee Lock 2 Plus.