If you’ve ever been locked out of your apartment, office, or home, then you’ve probably wondered if there was a better way. But, chances are, you looked into smart locks for no more than a few minutes before deciding that installing one would be too difficult or time-intensive, or maybe that most were too big or unattractive. But the technology is improving, as batteries and other components get better, cheaper, and more powerful.
The Friday Smart Lock takes advantage of those trends, and was funded through another important one- they raised almost $200K via crowdfunding on Indiegogo a couple of years ago and now their product is hitting the market with the aim of shaking up the electronic lock category. They call it the “world’s smallest smartlock”, and it’s one of the few with Apple HomeKit and Siri support. Plus, it’s simple enough to install without needing to hire a handyman, just a couple of screws- it attaches to your existing hardware and the company claims it should work with just about any single-cylinder deadbolts. Like most others out there, you can connect via Bluetooth and use an app on your phone to control the lock; a little more rare is the WiFi support.
Speaking of which, you will need to consider battery life, as inside each smart lock is a cylinder containing a USB-rechargeable battery that requires occasional attention. Friday says it should last about three months, though it’s lifetime will depend greatly on how much you use wifi features. The lock was designed by architects, and you can tell from the aesthetic and the build quality- we loved the solidly machined shells. We tested on iPhone, though an Android version is available too. The app itself is pretty easy to use, and access controls are good- for, say, Airbnb rentals you can create temporary, one-time users or allow permanent access and cancel it at any time. As with most similar systems, guests will need to download the app, and there aren’t a lot of granular controls. More unusually though, you can also view activity logs on your phone.
Available in several different shell styles, you can get your Friday in classic steel or satin nickel, bronze, brass, gun metal, copper, even porcelain. And while the smart lock doesn’t yet support IFTTT, regularly development on the system does appear to be ongoing. Expect to spend around $249 online directly for the Friday Smart Lock, a truly compact and sleek system that will impress anyone looking for a step into the connected home.