ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Ring’s first smart lock addresses a real weakness in the device category with a hand-operated power dial.
- The lock also supports PIN, fingerprint scanning, Alexa, and the Ring app to unlock.
- The jury is out on whether this form of energy backup is more reliable than a physical key.
For as much as Ring itself has carved out a place in the home security market, the brand still doesn’t have a smart lock – although that’s about to change. A new Ring Smart Lock was announced just this week, expanding the Ring ecosystem and Alexa devices.
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The Ring Smart Lock tries to protect against power loss with a unique dial that generates electricity by turning it manually. This is useful if your smart lock dies because you can easily power it long enough to open your door and get inside.
Imagine coming home from an extended vacation, only to find that your smart lock’s battery died while you were away. Instead of carrying a physical key in an emergency like this, you can turn the dial on the external Smart Lock body until the pad unlocks to enter your PIN or scan your fingerprint. This totals four different ways in which the lock can be functional: a fingerprint reader, the keyboard, the Ring app or via Alexa.
Once inside, you can pop the Quick Release Ultra battery pack out of the lock and charge it at home without worrying about replacing the batteries. As for multiple ways to lock, the Ring Smart Lock supports fingerprint scanning, PIN codes (including temporary codes), Alexa commands, and the Ring app.
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Why this smart lock is useful
The idea of a smart lock that you can still open with a dead battery sounds pretty appealing and is something I’d rather carry than a backup key. The underlying idea here is that you have a lock that will never be inoperable – if it dies, you can immediately open it again.
Aside from the fact that I don’t like carrying a physical key, a hand crank smart lock that you can use quickly when the battery dies is great for kids and family members. My oldest child loves opening the door every day after school, and having a backup they can use to still open it if the battery dies is better than me saving it with a key.
Other locks allow you to use a 9V battery or a portable battery connected via a USB-C port, but that can be far from helpful in an emergency. I don’t carry around 9V batteries, and I don’t always have a portable with a cable.
Questions remain
We’re still missing a lot of information about the Ring Smart Lock, including battery life estimates, material compatibility and third-party integrations. We also don’t know how many turns or how much you need to turn the power dial, but that’s something we’ll test when the lock becomes available. I would like to see some of these integrations in the final product.
Although we only know that the Ring Smart Lock will launch in early 2027, there is no date for availability yet. Amazon says it will come in three finishes: black, silver and brass. As for the price, it will cost $250. You can sign up to be notified when the Smart Lock is available for purchase.