Monday, August 28, 2017

Premis HomeKit front door lock

We have had a HomeKit front door lock since June.  I wrote a review of it on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/review/R1JGS0A5E4FVU2/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8

I do love having a smart door lock and HomeKit works well.  I haven't carried a full set of keys in years.  With a smart front door lock, we just grab the set of keys for the car we are bringing and don't carry any other keys.  Our old "smart" door lock wasn't that smart.  It needed to be reprogrammed whenever the batteries changed and it only operated through the combination key pad.  The Premis is HomeKit enabled and works through a key pad, the Premis app, or the HomeKit app.  It can be programmed with one time use combinations, combinations for individuals, or a combination you could share.  If you need to give a contractor access to your home, you can use a one time or temporary code so when they don't need access anymore, they won't have it. We haven't done that yet with this house, but with the app it will be a lot easier to administer than our old lock.  With our old lock it  was difficult enough we just gave out the garage door combination which was a security problem since we didn't change it very often.  

With HomeKit, the door can be opened by asking Siri to open the door or with the HomeKit app.  You can always check the status of the lock (locked or unlocked) from the HomeKit app.  We leave an iPad as our HomeKit controller and the Premis door lock is our only HomeKit devices so far.  I can access it from anywhere as long as I am on the internet.  If I ever wonder if the front door is locked, I can check.

Soon we will have the bridge for the MyQ garage door opener as our second HomeKit device.  Since these are access points to our home, the security that Apple has built into HomeKit and tests for the vendors is important to us.  

Also, love the SmartKey feature of the Kwikset locks that were installed in our Mission Homes NW home.  It was so easy to re-key the Premis to match the other locks.  If we are worried about a lost key or a key in the wrong hands, we can re-key everything in less than 15 minutes.

Hope this helps give an idea of what HomeKit and the Premis lock adds to a house.  I'll write up my experiences with the MyQ garage door once I have had that for awhile.

New House, New Topics

We moved into a new house in February of this year.  That brings a few new topics to this blog.  We are dipping our toes into the waters of home automation with Apple HomeKit.  Information about our newly built neighborhood, Comanche Terrace and quirks of the new house will be shared with neighbors.  That information may be of interest to anyone with an interest in Mission Homes NW, our builder.  Our new neighborhood in Tualatin may also bring some blog posts to light.  So, look for posts on:

Apple HomeKit
Comanche Terrace and Mission Homes NW
Tualatin activities

Ralph