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Schlage locks and Google Home team up to make your smart home safer

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If you have a Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolt, your front door just unlocked a new capability.

Schlage announced that its smart locks will now work with Google Home, Google Assistant on Android devices and the Google Assistant app on Apple devices. The company first announced in January it was working on the integration at CES 2018, and the feature went live on Tuesday, May 29.

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“Schlage has been at the forefront of IoT security solutions since launching the Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolt in 2014,” Rob Martens, a futurist at Allegion, the maker of Schlage locks, said in a statement. “This new integration and functionality is a testament to our ongoing commitment to raise the bar for innovation, convenience, and security and to support consumers’ choice of IoT platform.”

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The update enables users to lock their door and check whether it’s locked or unlocked with their voice. Users can activate the capability by saying, “OK Google, is my door locked?” or, “OK Google, lock my door.” However, the upgrade does not include the ability to unlock the deadbolt with your voice.

Using the new functionality requires the Schlage Sense Wi-Fi Adapter, which Schlage sells separately $69. The adapter also enables users to remotely access their lock using the Schlage Sense app on iOS and Android devices.

The Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolt lets users create up to 30 unique access codes, schedule access codes and look at past activity to identify which codes were used when.

The smart locks already work Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Schlage introduced the ability to lock and check the status of your door via Alexa in October and added the ability to unlock it by speaking a pin earlier this month.

For security reasons, the Alexa unlock feature is disabled by default. To enable the functionality, users must log in to their Amazon Alexa app and then create a PIN. After three incorrect voice code attempts, the feature will be disabled.

The Google Home update makes the Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolt more competitive with other smart locks, such as the August Smart Lock and the Kwikset Obsidian, which are also compatible with Google Assistant.

The Schlage Connect and Schlage’s Connected Keypad do not yet have compatibility with Google Assistant. Consumers now await the next update, wondering whether that will include compatibility with these other smart locks and the ability to unlock your door via voice command.

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Kayla Matthews
Kayla Matthews
Contributor
Kayla Matthews has written about smart homes and technology for Houzz, Dwell, Curbed and Inman. She is a senior writer for…
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