Unlock your door with Lockitron and your smartphone

Smartphones can do a lot of things these days. There’s an app for almost anything, but until now, if you forgot or lost your home keys, your iPhone couldn’t get you out of that mess. Lockitron ($295+) aims to change the game with an app and base station combination that allows you to lock or unlock your home or office from your smartphone. The system works by communicating with a small device that plugs into your Internet router at home (or office), which in turn communicates with your door lock to either unlock or lock the door. The device is available with a self-install kit and works with most popular door lock styles. Besides the convenience of not having to worry about where you last put your keys, Lockitron also makes letting friends or coworkers into your home or office simple and fast. Let a friend in easily to check on your pet while you’re away, or buzz contractors into your office before you arrive. Any Internet-enabled phone can use Lockitron, but a handy text message feature also allows any phone access to the service. While keys seem just as important in theory, the truth is we lose them more often than we lose track of our smartphones, so why not let the smartphones do all the work?