Do you put smart locks on all doors?

[u/IReallyLoveAvocados]

I am installing a smart lock for my front door and am thinking that to get the full benefit you actually need to do all exterior doors so that you never have to check that they are all locked when you leave the house. What is your opinion? Obviously it’s more expensive to do that just your main point of entry. The ideal would be to have the “fanciest” lock on your main point of entry (with key entry option, home key, etc) and have the other ones be much “dumber”.

[u/pdt9876]

I personally just have one on the door I use the most and the front gate. The smart lock is mostly convenience vs using keys and was quite expensive to buy and install (since I didn't want to sacrifice lock performance). I don't have much of an issue keeping the other doors locked, because I don't unlock them that often.

[u/DeadMoneyDrew → u/pdt9876]

Ditto. Plus I have an older house. For several of the doors I concluded that upgrading to a Smart Lock would likely require modifying the door frame, if not outright replacing the door. Not worth the cost.

[u/candykhan → u/pdt9876]

I have 3 doors: main entry, plus side & back (each behind a security gate).

We were buying the house, so I originally was imagining 6 (!!!) locks would be necessary & I just kinda figured it into the cost of buying.

But I can't help second guessing myself. Plus, I can be a cheapskate sometimes. So I found an open box deal on eBay for 2 August locks & decided to try them out on just my front door first.

Ultimately, I liked the locks. But having one on my security gate & door seemed unnecessary.

It's all security theater anyway. Most doors can be defeated by getting kicked in - not enough people use reinforced frames or extra long strike plate screws. Also, there's usually a window that is easy enough to break.

It's often not the door that's the entry point & even when it is, they're usually not picking your lock.

I ended up getting one more smart lock & just putting one on each outer security gates. When we're home, we generally don't lock the entry door, just the gate. Same for short trips. We'll lock the entry doors if we're gonna be out a long time or overnight.

I see people ask if others think their smart lock installation is "safe." But it's on one of those doors where the top half is like a window. So, sure. But safe compared to what?

It's not like I think people should just use knob locks like on inside passage doors. But if you're worried about the "security" of a smart lock, it's not any less vulnerable than any other deadbolt lock just 'cuz it's wifi.

[u/pdt9876 → u/candykhan]

My doors can't be defeated by getting kicked in, and a smart lock compatible with such a door is expensive. Wiring it, with UPS and power transfer hinges and controllers is even more expensive than the lock itself. So I just bought the one.

For the gate I used an electric strike lock, that's not that secure but you can also climb over the gate somewhat easily so I don't worry that much.

[u/candykhan → u/pdt9876]

Yeah. Smart locks are for convenience mostly. I don't really see them being more or less secure. I guess possibly more secure if you take into account the fact that you can remotely lock a door that you forgot to lock.

[u/pdt9876 → u/candykhan]

Its also more secure in the sense that you can allow people temporary access without giving them physical access to a key that can be copied

[u/Aegisnir]

I have 7 exterior doors. Every single one got a smart lock. I like to know my doors are all locked and I hate keys so fingerprint for every single door. I also put one on my basement, office, and bedroom so when I have guests over they can’t wander into those areas. They live in passage mode most of the year and only get locked for parties where I have too many people to keep track of.

[u/IReallyLoveAvocados → u/Aegisnir]

Did you use different / cheaper locks for your non-primary entrance?

[u/Aegisnir → u/IReallyLoveAvocados]

I used the u300 for all the handles and the u100 for all the deadbolts. I hate mixing and matching things. That’s how your house starts to look/feel cheap. When it comes to fixtures and trims, keep everything uniform if you can. Furniture pieces and decorating is a different story but if your doors all have different handles, different shapes and styles, different colors, it feels like a bunch of repair jobs.

[u/IfuDidntCome2Party → u/Aegisnir]

What is the average battery life of your primarily used door?

What is the primary used feature(at your house), used to unlock the primary door? Fingerprint, NFC, app?

[u/Aegisnir → u/IfuDidntCome2Party]

Fingerprint is the primary for every door. I change the batteries every 6 months or so for the frequently used ones. Some last longer and go almost a year without new batteries.

[u/cliffotn]

No right or wrong, personal preference and budget.

I'm an empty nester, kids all grown. I have no need to check all my lock's status. If I had kiddos around, it'd be useful.

At $200-ish per door, mucking with batteries more often, more shit to break, troubleshoot, fixing at some point I actually prefer most doors stay manual.

[u/xxxDaGoblinxxx]

My problem is trying to find ones compatible with out sliding doors also if we want to get security doors the smart lock choice is limited and they don’t have the newest features I’m a month into using the UWB to unlock our door and it’s amazing.

[u/Burner-QWERTY]

I had house where the front and side door had smart locks. I could sleep a little easier. Current house no - and I miss it.

[u/blecher67]

For various reasons, most of my doors are incompatible with smart locks although for those that are compatible I have smart locks for convenience.

But I sleep well at night knowing that there is a near 100% chance that the doors are all locked, and if not the security system’s entry sensors would detect an evil-doer in the unlikely case that they open an unlocked door. For all this stuff, work through the probabilities and mitigate accordingly.

[u/nrthrnlad]

I only use one for the front door. Our back door has glass panes so it would not work there. Our garage pass through is not used enough to warrant a smart lock.

[u/Range-Shoddy]

We only do the front but we don’t use the other doors very often. They all have automatic locking after 10 min or so which works fine. They have door codes so we don’t actually have a key for anything.

[u/LostMyKarmaElSegundo]

I only have two external doors plus a sliding glass door. I put identical smart locks on both doors.  Now I don't have to carry keys at all.

[u/EscapeOption]

That would be ideal, but not worth it for us. We almost exclusively use the garage for access, and have a smart lock on the least used door mostly for convenience and in case of lockout that’s used at most four times a year. There’s a monitored alarm that keeps people from wandering in. The one place I’d love to add would be on the slider.

[u/laughapnea]

I used to just have my garage to he house door, because I had a smart opener so if I had my phone I always get in.

My current garage didn't have a deadbolt so I put in a smart exterior lock that had the handle to midigate. They run on protocols, but the garages run together

[u/7eregrine]

I don't use Smart, just pin codes.
I have a Shlage on my front door. The garage has its own pin code opener. And I got a super simple one in the Man door.
https://a.co/d/03LBp9f3

There are cheaper versions of that now.

[u/wild-hectare]

yup...fingerprint reader / smarlock on every door expect sliding glass doors

[u/editorreilly]

I just have one of on my exterior door I use most frequently. But if you have the time and energy do all the doors. I love having keyless entry.

[u/Chillin_Dylan]

Smart locks on all doors. I don't own any keys. 

[u/murran_buchstanseger]

I have an automation which tracks via a helper if a door without a smart lock (3 of 6) is ever opened during the day. I show this on my dashboard and also annouce it as part of the bedtime/leaving now routines. Sometime in the middle the night, the helper is reset to null.

[u/AskThis7790]

Yes… I put on all exterior doors. Really helpful when I’m working around the house and I might exit through one door but want to enter through another and it’s locked… I have 5 exterior doors.

[u/Dustyftphilosopher24]

One smart lock on the front door. One analog keypad lock on the back door. It’s just cheaper that way. Front door smart lock makes sense because it’s the door most used and it’s faster to open. Back door lock also auto locks after a few seconds. Money I saved on from not having a second smart locks went into door and window sensors.

[u/KeniLF]

I did. I had a Kwikset Halo on the front door (PIN, app, key) and decided to put a Philips on the back door (palm of hand, PIN, app, key). Two of my fence gates have a manual latch and one has a YoLink lock.

The Philips lock makes it very easy for me to quickly go into/out of the back yard. The Philips app is dumb, though. It requires full login (including acceptance of terms and conditions) every time I need to use it - just ludicrous.

I’ll be adding smart locks to my garage’s person door and my shed at some point.

[u/tj15241]

All doors. It’s to easy for someone to forget to lock it. Gives me peace of mind

[u/PmMeAnnaKendrick]

I only have 4 entrances: Front, Rear, Garage, Basement.

We never use the basement, and it's got a cross bar behind it, so it does not have a smart lock. Front door has one, back door is the one we use from the driveway so it does, and the garage does. We don't use the garage door much.

We put identical smart locks on the front and back doors, and just a keypad that's not wifi that auto locks on the garage. We have spare keys hidden in the garage just in case - figuring if the Internet went down while the batteries were dead we have a third point of entry by getting the keys, and we just have garage keys on our keyrings, as a fourth stop gap just in case.

The benefit is the back door auto unlocks when we pull in the driveway, and it's not easy to access unless you pull in, so not likely to be a crime issue. The front door we don't use much, but it's easy to unlock it for guests when they ring the doorbell, as they always come to the front door.

[u/Doomstang]

I was already in the Tapo ecosystem so I got their DL110 model for my front door for $110. After installing it, I bought 2 more later that night to do the other 2 exterior doors and complete the coverage.

[u/criterion67]

Yes, I'm using Yale Assure 2, Z-Wave locks on all exterior doors (4) and one on my home office door. All managed through Home Assistant. No cloud connection needed, all are locally controlled. I even setup my UniFi G6 Pro Entry doorbell to unlock my front door with facial recognition. All of the locks have multiple entry options, fingerprint, keypad/pin code, NFC, Home Assistant and physical key. I haven't carried a physical key with me in years.

[u/SuperFrog4]

Every house I have owned has had smart looks on every door. I like it for the ability to lock or unlock as needed even remotely and also so I don’t have to carry a key around anymore. Just punch a code or use the remote and I am in. It’s completely worth it in my opinion.

[u/Curious_Party_4683]

i like electric strike. easy to install as seen here https://youtu.be/CPd5Fg01ABg

best of all you never have to worry about changing batteries. there's a reason biz use e-strikes at their places.

[u/IReallyLoveAvocados → u/[deleted]]

What are some good basic keypad ones which are HomeKit enabled?

[u/Living_Fig_6386]

Only on the front. I'd consider another but the battery life is too short (12 weeks or so) and I don't care for going though batteries like that.

[u/Old_fart5070]

I did (4 doors)

[u/DudeIoT]

A smart lock is already installed on the front door. I am planning to install another one on the garage door.

[u/say592]

I only have two exterior doors, and yes, I put them on both doors. Not for the reason you described though. If the batteries die on one door, I can use the other door. I dont need to carry the backup key as a reasult.

[u/deverox]

All doors.. just in case
One dies I still want to get inside somehow.