Apigy just made its Lockitron keyless entry technology smarter, letting you unlock your door from anywhere in the world — or having it automatically unlock when you walk up to it.
This $149 device installs on top of your existing deadbolt lever, and it works best if you have a Bluetooth 4 or NFC-equipped smartphone. That lets it sense your presence, magically unlocking the door without you even having to say “open sesame.”
Lockitron is equally helpful if you’re away from home, where you can use its new iPhone app to manually and remotely unlock the door for friends using a smartphone app. And you can give them their own access by entering their email address and phone number — then Lockitron gives them access using their smartphones.
It’s even smarter than that: Lockitron lets you know if someone has knocked on your door, and it can sense if your door has been unlocked, dutifully notifying you immediately.
If you’re using a cellphone, you’re not going to feel left out: using the SMS system, it lets you send text commands to the Lockitron website that will remotely unlock the door. And, if the unit’s batteries have worn out after a year, you can still use your key to open the door the old-fashioned way.
We’ve had the first version of Lockitron installed in our San Francisco offices since last year. On the whole, it’s a convenient device that works nearly all of the time, but it’s not 100% dependable — and has on occasion refused to work, leaving staff members locked out. Let’s hope this one improves on that score.
One obvious improvement: The first version of Lockitron cost $295, almost double the price of the new version.
Now available for preorder, Lockitron’s creators used a Kickstarter like process to fund this revised version, raising $715,500 from 4,770 eager backers so far, with 29 days left to go. Apigy is saying the first batch will be shipped in March, 2013. Apparently there are a lot of people who are interested in keyless entry controlled by a smartphone.
Would it be worth $149 to be able to walk up like a boss and have your door automatically unlocked for you? Let us know in the comments.
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