Josh Hendrickson
Smart locks are among the first things you consider when building a smart home, right after voice assistant, smart bulbs, and video doorbells. One of the grand features of a smart lock is remote access and the ability to lock or unlock your phone from afar. But what if someone swipes your phone? August and Yale have you covered, with a new optional biometric verification feature.
ASSA ABLOY, which owns August and Yale, says the new features are rolling out to iOS and Android right now. The idea here is that someone can swipe your phone while it’s unlocked and use it to break into your home. That’s plausible, though it seems a little unlikely. But why not be safe?
With that in mind, August and Yale both released updates to iOS and Android today to implement biometric verification. It’s an optional feature you turn on, but you’ll need to verify when you want to control your lock remotely once you do.
The apps use your phone’s biometric features and support both fingerprint and face scan options. If your phone doesn’t have a biometric sensor, you’ll use a PIN instead.
August and Yale also added a new option to hide your keycodes in the apps unless you verify your identity. That should prevent anyone from getting a look while they borrow your phone. The updates are rolling out today for both August and Yale.
