The first fruits of their joint labor
When Yale’s parent company Assa Abloy bought smart lock maker August last year, there wasn’t a lot of mental gymnastics required to see where it was headed. Sure enough, the two companies have just announced a new line of locks that bring both worlds together, called Assure Locks Connected by August.
Essentially, Yale’s lock hardware is getting August’s brain, allowing you to control your Assure Lock with your smartphone. Yale’s Assure locks already let you lock and unlock the door using a touchpad, but the new line will give you additional control using the August app, a keypad entry code, or by using August’s auto-unlock feature, which can unlock the door as you approach it.
As well as the lock itself, the box comes with a Wi-Fi bridge for remote access. Plus, the locks are compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, so you can ask your assistant of choice to lock or unlock the door. August says that the battery inside should last about a year with a total of 10 locks and unlocks a day, but should you ever be caught short, there are contacts for a 9V battery so you can jump-start it back to life.
While you can pick up a Yale lock with the August module, Yale’s making it easy for existing Assure lock owners to upgrade with a kit that includes a separate module (which slots into the lock and contains the August brain), Wi-Fi bridge and Doorsense, a sensor that can be placed next to your lock and will tell you if your door is open or shut.
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“Smart locks are definitely at an inflection point,” August CEO Jason Johnson told The Ambient. “There are more options, more retail presence, but also these voice assistants.” Meanwhile Yale president Jason Williams said that Yale sees an opportunity to expand the August smarts to more of its existing locks in the future. This is the first join labor of the two companies, but not the first collaboration from Yale, which worked with Nest on the Nest x Yale lock. Yale says we can expect to see more partnerships in the future too.
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The Assure Lock SL, which is completely key-free with a touchscreen, costs $299, while the Assure Lock Touchscreen, which adds on a traditional key lock, costs $279. For existing Yale lock users looking to upgrade, the kit to do so costs $129. They’re available to order online from today, and will be showing up at brick and mortar retailers around the US from mid-October.
