AKASO Smart Lock Review

The Akaso Smart Lock is a really tempting buy, but after some use it may not be everything you could want in a smart lock.

The Akaso Smart Lock great for people looking for something to use there phone to lock and unlock, however, the pin pad is not what most people want it to be. Akaso has done a great job on their lock in the look and redundancy departments but fails in the daily use and application of a smart lock.

Preview	Product	Price
	AKASO Smart Lock, Smart Electronic Door Lock APP Code Touch Screen Keypad Deadbolt Entrance Smart...		Buy on Amazon

Last update on 2023-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

So what’s the deal with this smart lock? Let’s dive into it.

Contents show

The Good

There are several things that this lock does well, and I figure its good to talk about the things it does right before talking about what it does wrong.

Code Management

Some smart locks are a real hassle when it comes to managing who gets access to your home, but Akaso does a great job here. You have the ability to decide who gets into your home and when.

There are so many reasons you might need to let somebody into your home, but with standard keys, you have to grant them access until you get that key back. For example, maybe you want your neighbor to be able to access your home while you are gone in case of emergency, yet if you want that “Just in case” type access, you have to hand over your key for the entire time you are gone.

With Akaso, you can grant them access for a predetermined amount of entries into your home. You could even only grant them access at certain times of the day instead of just a blanket whenever.

Even better is that you can track who uses your door as well as when they access your home. For some employers, this is really good for tracking time on the job. You could see when exactly your employees open and close.

Code management is one of the most needed uses for a smart lock, so its good that Akaso does this thing right.

Thorough App

Smart lock apps are either a hit or a miss depending on what you need. Sometimes people really only want a few features that they can use to manipulate the settings in their lock, but I find the best apps are the ones that are over-engineered.

The apps that have every single feature that the programmer could think of are the ones that are worth your time. The Akaso app is well designed and thorough. It has every feature under the sun, which is what you want.

The Looks

This is probably the best quality of the smart lock. I think this smart lock is beautiful looking. It features a really attractive glass panel that looks and feels great. The large dial is a welcome addition to the lock.

Unfortunately, smart locks suffer from being really ugly looking on the outside of doors. Most of the time, these manufacturers are shooting for a function over form type of engineering. Although that approach isn’t necessarily wrong because we want these locks to work, it sometimes results in a really ugly piece of hardware sitting on the front of your door. This lock looks really sleek, and that is a huge plus in my book.

Between the simple touchpad and glossy finish, this lock really looks premium, and that is really great.

Redundancy

A lot of smart locks have a single point of failure, and that is the battery. If the battery dies, then you have now lost access to your home. That is not the case with the Akaso Smart lock.

This lock comes equipped with a whole lot of different ways to either access your home or even charge the lock.

For example, if your lock dies, you can use a 12-volt battery to power it for a short time in order to access your home. This type of feature is really great for locks that have no manual override type of deadbolt like most Schlage locks have.

There is a manual override, but it is covered so it really isn’t the main option.

This type of redundancy is really necessary.

Battery Alerts and backup

This something that a lot of people overlook and not many smart locks have. Low battery indicators are normally used through the cell phone, but this lock actually has an audible alert when the batteries are starting to get low on power, which is awesome. I appreciate getting warned that I might get locked out of my house unless I do something soon. There is nothing worse than getting locked out of your house because you forgot to replace your batteries.

Like I already mentioned, this lock has a backup power solution in the form of a 12 Volt battery, which is really convenient.

The Bad

Let’s jump into the less than good parts of this lock

Complicated App

Nobody likes something that is complicated when it could be simple. Many people prefer simplicity to functionality, and for that reason, I have put this here. The app sure does have a lot of features, but unfortunately, that leads to a really hard to use app that may have a larger learning curve than you probably want.

If you are the type that would rather have features than a small learning curve, then you can ignore this section. A lot of Amazon reviews have an issue with the app, but the truth is that many of them are not that tech-savvy, and therefore their bad experience may not apply to your situation. Long story short, I wouldn’t shy away from this lock because you hear that the app is complicated.

Internet Connectivity

This is a big one for me, but it might not be as big of a deal for you. I absolutely think that it is necessary to connect your smart lock to the internet, especially with the necessity of maintaining pins.

If I am in Cancun, I want to have the ability to unlock my front door back home if somebody needs access. Without this internet capability, you have to maintain your lock when you are home and no other time. This is a huge problem for me, but it may not be that way for you.

This will only affect other people since you have your phone with you 99% of the time. It is just that I like having the ability to maintain my home security from anywhere using the wonders of the internet.

The Ugly

Okay, these last things are some really big red flags about this smart lock that you really ought to know about.

Passcode doesn’t always work

Lots of people can attest that the passcodes on this lock do not always work, which is a huge bummer.

If a lock has passcode options, it better work all the time. I would hate to give my kids their own personal code and then forcing them to sit outside because the lock decided that it didn’t want to accept their code today.

I am sure that many people would be really upset if this happened to them, and I would be no different. Out of everything, I want my smart lock to simply work! I want it to work better than a simple manual lock, and if it cannot do the simple task of granting my family access to our own home then it has failed as a device. Really disappointed in this lock and its capabilities here.

You need your phone nearby

There are some things that smart locks have issues with, and understanding their purpose is a really big problem with some of these smaller locks.

The purpose of a smart lock is to extend the accessibility and ease of use that comes with a normal smart lock. That means that they must either retain some sort of easy manual lock or have an even better system for granting access. This lock meets neither of those criteria.

In order for the passcodes to work on the device, it needs to be actively connected to your smart device.

Such a disappointment. That means that in order for the passcode system to work fully, you need to be home. What is the point of knowing who is home through your phone if you are home yourself? There is none really. I was thoroughly disappointed here, and I cannot believe they would do this.

Conclusion

This lock looks nice and is really cheap, but honestly, I would go with something a little bit more mainstream that has support for internet connection.

Pass on this lock for now, at least until they come up with some solution that has better connectivity.

I suggest you go for the August Smart Lock Pro instead.