Schlage Announces the First Smart Lock for iOS 18’s Expanded Home Key Feature
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There’s a lot packed into iOS 18, which means there are always a few features that fly below the radar. That’s especially true when Apple adds support for new types of home accessories like robot vacuums and smart locks. Apple can build these features, but accessory makers still have to step up to the plate and build devices that can take advantage of them.
While support for robot vacuums has yet to arrive (it’s expected to come with iOS 18.3), Apple also expanded Home Key to allow you to unlock your front door hands-free. That was available in iOS 18.0, but sadly, it didn’t work with any of the existing Home Key-compatible smart locks.
That’s because the new feature requires locks with new hardware, specifically Ultra Wideband (UWB), to handle proximity detection. This differs from the existing Home Key locks, which use Near Field Communications (NFC).
Apple debuted Home Key in iOS 15, alongside Office Key and Hotel Key. These were all different applications of the same underlying technology: the abilty to store a digital key in the Apple Wallet app that could be used to unlock house doors, hotel rooms, and office spaces.
However, the initial implementation relied solely on NFC, requiring that you pull out your iPhone and hold it within an inch or two of the corresponding lock, similar to making a payment using Apple Pay. Lock manufacturers like Schlage were quick to release new locks with Home Key support, but these only needed an NFC chip, so that’s all they added.
Home Key and the rest built on Car Key from iOS 13.6, a similar solution that initially used NFC to unlock and start compatible vehicles. However, despite car makers moving to embrace UWB for hands-free unlocking, it seems nobody saw the writing on the wall and saw fit to future-proof their locks with UWB chips.
In other words, if you invested in a Schlage Encode Plus Smart WiFi Deadbolt for your door, you’ll be able to keep using it by tapping your iPhone (or Apple Watch) against the lock, but you won’t be able to take advantage of the new hands-free mode where you can unlock your door just by approaching it with your iPhone in your pocket.
For that, you’ll need a lock with UWB support. These are quite uncommon even outside of the HomeKit realm; the first to be released was the Ultraloq Bolt Mission in September, but that one doesn’t work with Home Key.
Thankfully, Schlage has once again stepped up to the plate. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, the lock maker unveiled its new Schlage Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt, the company’s first smart lock that not only supports UWB, but also embraces the Matter standard.
Unfortunately, while the new Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt supports Ultra Wideband, it’s not entirely clear if it will support Apple Home Key right away. Instead, Schlage is promoting it as using its own “Converge” technology:
The Schlage Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt introduces the brand’s latest development of Schlage Converge technology. This feature uses Ultra Wideband and the user’s paired and authorized personal device to intelligently calculate speed, trajectory and motion, ensuring seamless, intuitive entry that understands intent to enter and unlocks precisely as the user reaches their door.
The company’s press release does not mention Apple. However, Schlage has promised that the Sense Pro will add support for Aliro later this year. Aliro aims to bring NFC and UWB unlocking into the Matter standard, ensuring that it will work not just with Apple’s Home Key but also with similar solutions by Google and Samsung.
Nevertheless, Schlage’s rapid speed in bringing Home Key to the Encode Plus in 2022 makes us hopeful that the new Sense Pro will quickly follow suit. Beyond Home Key, the Sense Pro is fully HomeKit-compatible thanks to the adoption of Matter support; the Encode Plus added a Thread radio, but Schlage didn’t expand that to use Matter until this year’s model.
The new Sense Pro is coming this year, but there’s no word on when it will launch or what the price will be.
