How amazing is it to use intelligent locks at home, the office, or even in your car? You no longer have to worry about forgetting to lock your home or the safety of your possessions.

With smart home locks, you can open and close your doors from the comfort of your phone anywhere. Another perk is eliminating using keys, which can be a bummer and easy to lose.

So, if you’re starting to use smart locks, here’s a must-read guide on using them for the ultimate benefit. Therefore, keep reading to find out more and keep your home safe.

WiFi and Bluetooth Connection

Smart locks use either WiFi or Bluetooth connection, depending on the kind you have. Neither one is inferior because they both work as security guards and are challenging for burglars to crack.

If you’re using a lock with built-in WiFi, it means it can automatically connect to your home’s or office’s WiFi.

So, whether you’re near your property or abroad, you can operate your intelligent locks from your phone or computer as long as you have an internet connection.

But, the second type connects to WiFi through Bluetooth. It comes with a plug-in where you connect your locks with your WiFi. Like the WiFi-built one, you can operate this one wherever and whenever you have a WiFi connection.

Note, both types of locks are easy to install, operate and manage. You can even use them as an extension to your existing locks or as replacements.

Besides, since WiFi is an essential commodity in most homes, you can install smart locks anywhere around the house. Thinking of upgrading your security systems? Why not use smart locks for your doors, windows, garages, and other entry points.

Features of Home Locks

The best smart locks come with an app that you must use to operate them from your devices. But, all smart locks don’t come with similar features, so it’d be best to understand the specific characteristics of your smart lock to avoid confusion.

Topping the list of the most critical features are:

Built-in video camera

From the app, you can open a video feed to watch different areas of your property. You can view who is at your porch, backyard, or the door where the smart locks are.

Accessibility

You can access your home locks in different ways. For example, you can use digit codes, fingerprint scans, or use the app. This makes it secure to access your entry and exit points without external intervention.

Anti-theft features

If you thought smart locks didn’t protect themselves from tampering, think again. They come with an anti-theft feature that protects your property from third-party interference.

Alarms

Perhaps the most important feature of them all is the alarms. If you’re ever alone at home or away, your smart locks are preemptive measures that will alert you of any movements or attempts to break the locks. This gives you ample time to contact authorities or react to protect yourself further.

Other features, which you can find on the app, are as easy to manage. They all work to strengthen your security by making it hard for intruders to break in and giving you peace of mind.

Customizing Your Smart Locks

The best part about intelligent locks is you can customize them to your preferences, from timing and alarms to rules. As you know, every homeowner, car owner, and property owner has varying security needs.

For this reason, you can customize your smart lock to work for you. Also, you can customize your security systems from the phone and adjust them as you please anywhere, anytime.

But, to do this, you need to understand how to operate the app. From the manual, read the features you’re comfortable with.

Automatic Locks

For example, if you don’t want the hassle of locking the doors at different times throughout the day, you can set your locks to lock at certain times. This saves you from the need to remember to lock your doors, boosting your security and comfort.

Arming the System

Another way to customize your home’s security is to arm the locks the minute they lock. You can do this by setting the alarm on, which triggers the emergency siren and anti-theft features.

All these will strengthen your security systems until such a time when you disarm your smart locks. A caveat here is to be wary if you have little kids when setting the emergency siren.

For one, it can be too loud that it scares them, or it can inhibit them from moving around the house once the locks are on. So, ensure to educate them about the smart locks to get the most out of their features and protect your family from unnecessary confusion.

Delivery Safety

Suppose you have an expected delivery but can’t sit at the door all day waiting for it. In that case, you can access your video feed from your smart lock app to see when the delivery person arrives and direct them where to put the package.

Packages are a magnet for thieves, but with a smart security system, you can secure your packages even when you’re away.

Again, customize your locks to suit your purposes; in this case, customize it to speak to delivery people and keep tabs on the time they do the delivery.

Voice Commands

You can use voice commands from your app to command your system to lock at any given moment. The only thing you have to do beforehand is connecting your locks to your Voice apps like Alexa or Google Home.

Then you can speak to it, and it’ll do whatever you like. Additionally, program your voice, so your security system knows to obey your commands.

Codes for Other People

If you don’t live alone, you’ll need to share your codes with the rest of the family to avoid the back and forth of asking for the codes every time someone wants to access the house.

This is the apparent part of living with a family and is easy to manage because you don’t have to change the codes. On the flip side, if you have a temporary company at home, you’ll need to create quick access codes for free movements.

Then, when you have guests coming in, you can create a guest code from your app, which they will use to go in and out of your property stress-free.

Even when you have family members staying for a while, you can create a code for them for the time they’ll be staying with you. Remember, it is crucial to delete these temporary codes once you have your home back to prevent unrestricted access later.

Monitoring Your Door Locks and Unlocks

When you have people coming in and out of your house, a smart lock will help you keep tabs on their movements. Not that you’re stalking them but simply watching out for unrestricted access.

From nannies, housekeepers to tutors, you need to be able to see who’s coming in and out of your house at any given time, particularly if you’re not around. With the built-in video feeds, you can do this from the comfort of your home, office, or wherever you are.

Whether you have unique codes for your staff or they’re using the same code as you, you can set your app to notify you when someone locks or unlocks your doors. Furthermore, you can restrict access at specific times of the day.

For example, say you have scheduled maintenance, but you’re away for a vacation. In that case, you can share a visitor’s code with your maintenance team and schedule it to lock after a specific time. This will ensure the team works fast and leaves before the timer is up.

It also protects your property from intruders before and after the maintenance team is gone. Because now, anyone has access to your property. But, when you schedule your locks to lock after a specific timeframe, it lowers the possibility of someone else gaining access.

You can use these security notifications to file a report with the police after a break-in on your property.

They can be evidence of when your property was broken into, who was on the premises at that point, and other minor but crucial details that’ll help you get justice and closure.

Integration to Your Smart Home

When you customize your home locks to lock or unlock, it means they’re set to serve a particular need. For example, your front door can open when you step on the porch, and your garage door can automatically close when you park your car inside.

That said, you can integrate these features from your home access control to work with functions like lighting and temperature. For one, stepping onto your front door will automatically trigger your doors to unlock but also trigger the lights if it’s at night.

Similarly, if you’re leaving the house, it’ll trigger the doors to lock and the lights to go off. Integrating your locks to your other smart home features gives you the best of all worlds because they work in synchronization.

Moreover, you can integrate these security features from the smart lock app settings or using your voice command. This is the epitome of hands-off living, where everything happens in tune with each other without the hassle of manually doing it yourself.

Upgrading Security Routines

It’s a no-brainer that you must check and upgrade your security systems, including your home locks, car locks, and other locks, to ensure their functionality and credibility. Thus, it’s essential to update your security routines as necessary.

After sharing your app account, delete these temporary or shared codes. Account-holders cannot access your property unless you create another code and share it specifically with them.

Another way to upgrade your security is to change locks; this could be swapping old locks with new ones or changing your entry codes and scans.

Of course, you must do this after a break-in; otherwise, you can keep monitoring your security locks for any malfunction or damage.

Changing your codes is pretty simple. Log into your account from your app, go to settings and change your code. If you’d like to change from fingerprint scans to the retina or facial recognition, you can do so from the app as well.

With the many security features on the app, you’ll not need to use them all simultaneously. But, it’s advisable to add a few as your priorities change.

For example, if you’ve had a recent break-in, you can turn on the anti-theft feature or the emergency siren. As you might believe, turning on all the features lowers the chances of any insecurity.

But, true as that may be, it can be challenging to manage them all, and you might end up forgetting some, causing an inconvenience to others or yourself later.

So, instead, only use the practical features that you can manage and still provide you with the best security.

Secure Your Top-Notch Home Locks Today

With so many intelligent locks available in the market today, choosing the right one can be a challenge. It is, therefore, crucial to have your home locks devices from trusted dealers in the market.

At 512 Locksmith, we are dedicated to taking care of your security with the best smart lock systems. So do not hesitate to call us today. We are always here to help and will be glad to hear from you.