Aqara Smart Lock U300, Fingerprint Keyless Entry Door Lock with Handle, Matter Over Thread with Apple Home Keys, Touchscreen Keypad, Smart Lever Lock Supports Apple Home, Alexa, Google, IFTTT, Black

The Feature-Packed Smart Lock You’ve Been Waiting For!
 I have been anxiously waiting for this lock since it was announced earlier this year and after finally getting my hands on it, I am impressed. This lock is packed with many features that make it not only a great lock but also allow it to be future-proof for newer technologies, such as Matter and Thread connectivity. Having owned various Aqara products, it’s clear that Aqara continues to go above and beyond with their products, and I’m also happy to see them develop locks for the United States market – I’ve always been a bit jealous that their other smart locks have only been available outside the United States, until now!* Overall Impressions *The lock is packaged very well and the hardware itself looks and feels premium, it has some heft, and the materials appear to be high quality. The lock has a touch screen with numbers that disappear when not in use, making it look like a high-end door lock that blends in with any other door locks you may have and doesn’t look out of place – other smart looks look like smart locks and they don’t match more contemporary or modern homes, but this lock is sleek and modern without overdoing it. This lock is also packed with newer features, like it supports the newer Matter standard, which allows you to easily pair the lock not only to Aqara’s ecosystem, but also supports systems like Apple HomeKit, Home Assistant, Google Home, and Amazon’s Alexa – just be sure you have the proper controllers in place (see my installation tips below). I installed this lock on my home office door, but I am planning on buying additional locks for my garage entry door and a few other doors that would benefit from easy keyless entry.* Digital Installation Guides *Although the kit itself does come with some basic getting started instructions including a physical installation template, Aqara is following suit with other modern companies in that they are mostly paperless. Although the lock doesn’t come with a traditional full paper manual, they have a lot of resources on their website such as installation videos and digital user manuals – I highly recommend reading through these free resources to familiarize yourself with the lock and its features and to ensure a successful installation.* Pros *This lock can be unlocked using so many different options like a fingerprint, a PIN code, using your iPhone or Apple Watch, an NFC tag for those who may not want to use their phone, and through the Aqara app using Bluetooth or Matter over Thread. If you’re more of a traditional key user, it even has a neatly hidden away keyhole underneath the fingerprint scanner. I like that Aqara doesn’t limit this lock to their own system and they have clearly been working hard to make it compatible with other smart home systems like Home Assistant, which is rarely heard of by other major manufacturers, and gives you a choice in the smart home system you want to use. You also don’t have to worry about being locked out if your batteries run out – this lock can be easily charged through a USB-C charging port, so you can easily give it enough juice so you can get back inside – I love that they included one on both sides, so no matter how you install your lock, you can easily charge it back up in an emergency.* Cons *I’ve noticed some reviews may not be happy with the auto-locking feature – you can easily work around this by enabling Passage Mode. I feel it’s important that Aqara kept security in mind given that it is a door lock, so although not a con for me, it’s worth noting that this feature may take some adjusting to. The passage mode feature can also be customized in the app, such as how long it stays unlocked, including indefinitely. Additionally, when installing the lock, it can be a bit tricky to align the plate to the door at first glance and determine how to best stuff the cable back into the door, but I highly recommend watching their installation videos which will help you get a perfect fit – don’t try to force anything.* Installation Tips & Suggestions *To fully utilize this lock’s features, you’ll need to ensure you have a compatible Matter controller with Thread capabilities, such as an Aqara M3 Hub, an Apple TV 4K, or an Apple HomePod Mini. The lock will still work without a controller, but adding a compatible controller will allow you to use additional features like remote unlocking and remote PIN management for your guests. I also highly recommend using the Aqara app and exploring all the settings and features of the lock – there are a lot of customizations you can do in the app such as muting the sound for a quieter household, customizing how long passage mode stays unlocked for (including permanently, until you relock the lock), and even locking the lockout entirely, for when you’re not expecting any guests, such as night for greater security.* Matter & Thread Support *Matter and Thread are newer kids on the block, and these features are still evolving. This lock supports Matter over Thread, and as long as your smart home supports both, you can unlock this lock’s potential. Since Matter supports multiple “fabrics”, I can have this lock not only paired to my Aqara M3 Hub but also have it linked to Apple Home using my Apple TV and Home Assistant, which also support Matter and Thread devices. Matter and Thread can take some getting used to, so I recommend reading up on how they work if you’d like to use these features. The Aqara app also makes it easy to use these features if you have a supported Matter hub like the M3, but it’s not required if you don’t want to use those features or if you already have another compatible hub like an Apple TV or HomePod Mini.* Aqara Support *Having owned other Aqara products, I’ve always had a great experience with their support team. They’re also very open to feature requests and suggestions. If you run into issues or have any ideas on how to improve their products like this lock, shoot them an email and hopefully, they can make it happen.

Confusing installation process in the app when setting up Apple HomeKey
The installation was a bit tricky because of the way my garage door is configured from prior owners. Aqara didn’t include the installation manual so you have to use their QR code to get/view the manual online or watch their installation guide video on YouTube or here on Amazon product page.After tinkering around a bit to have it match to my current door configuration, I was able to install the device (I had a hard time fitting the inside portion of the door handle to match the lock plate — just make sure you align the shaft and the locking plate perfectly so that the shaft is perfectly aligned in the middle of the locking plate hole).So I open the Aqara app (I already have the U100 so I thought it was a similar process to set up Apple HomeKey), but it seems to have an issue with Bluetooth — it will constantly say “Offline” in the app once installed. The only way it wakes up the lock is to actually tap into the device in the app to connect to Bluetooth. After trying to figure out how to set up Apple HomeKey in the Aqara app, it was nowhere to be found, and it kept telling me to install it through Matter which requires their proprietary hub (which I don’t have because I use Apple HomeKit).So I was confused and decided to open the Home app in my iPhone, clicked on add accessory, and it was able to detect the U300 so I added it that way. It will ask you for the QR code or the device number which is going to be located on the side of the door handle where it says “Matter.”I hoped the Apple HomeKit/HomeKey installation process would be smooth, but it wasn’t, and was quite disappointed.In terms of door functionality, it seems to work as I had hoped for so I’ll give one star.But, it’s losing 4 stars because of all the hiccups and the lack of guidance when installing the device (alignment issue should be mentioned in the installation manual), device constantly saying “offline” due to Bluetooth issue, app not implementing Apple HomeKit/Key, and having to install it through the Home app by myself after I figured it out by myself without Aqara’s assistance.