I’ll be honest—when it comes to smart locks, I wasn’t sold right away. My inner skeptic kept whispering, “What if the battery dies and you’re locked out of your own house?” or “What if someone hacks it and waltzes right in?” But after looking into the eufy Security Smart Lock, I'm starting to think this little device might be the key (pun totally intended) to ditching that jangling mess of metal in my pocket.
The fingerprint scanner on the eufy Security Smart Lock is quick—you just touch the sensor and you’re in. And it’s not just for you; you can register multiple fingerprints and passcodes. My favorite feature of this device has to be its controlled access, which lets you set passcodes that automatically expire after a specified time—making things especially convenient, for, say, Airbnb hosts. And for those of you who freak out about whether you locked the door halfway to work, the eufy Security app lets you check and manage the lock status remotely.
Note that this smart lock doesn't come with a camera doorbell (here's the eufy model with camera doorbell), but it does give you real-time notifications of door activity. According to eufy, all the data it gathers is securely encrypted and stored locally, a plus for privacy-conscious folks. The battery life is solid as well, lasting over six months. And if the battery ever runs out, you can still use one of the physical keys or the emergency power port to unlock it. The lock even warns you when the battery is getting low, so you’re not caught off guard.
That said, there are a few hiccups. Some users have found the fingerprint registration a bit hit-or-miss. It’s also not compatible with Mortise locks, which could be a dealbreaker for some. And while the lock is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice commands, it may not integrate seamlessly with all smart home systems. Compared to other higher-end smart locks, the eufy Security Smart Lock is not the fanciest or the most feature-packed, but it gets the basics right and could be worth checking out at $97.99—its lowest price ever, according to price-checking tools.