The U100 needs four AA Batteries to work and should last 8 months, on average. Aside from Bluetooth, you also get NFC, used for unlocking the U100 with the company’s own NFC keyfobs, and Zigbee 3.0 for connecting to an Aqara hub, which is optional. This may seem antiquated to some, but as much as I don’t like Bluetooth smart home devices, this is still the only wireless protocol that can connect your phone directly to the lock, and vice versa. The sides show off the lock’s specs and features, and for the U100, at its core, this lock uses Bluetooth 5.0 for a direct link to your phone. This is made clear on the back of the box, so if you don’t have an existing deadbolt, this can’t replace other types of locks, which is one of the main reasons this hasn’t been on sale in Europe, where many locks are of the mortice type, with euro cylinders. This is only for doors with either existing standard deadbolt locks or doors that have yet to be primed for a lock to be fitted. This is further enhanced with decent inner packaging that protects the contents very well in this case, with layers of card to isolate the parts from external damage. PACKAGING | CONTENTSĪqara has come very far with their packaging since I got their first leak sensors back in 2017, and the boxes they come in now imbue a sense of professionalism in terms of what you’re buying, and how much the company in question can be trusted. Whilst I already have the A100 installed, which is a totally different type of lock, I do have doors that could accommodate the U100, but at the time of the review, I opted to test the lock with a demo door frame. The U100 is a deadbolt lock, and as such it’s going to be most widely adopted in North America, which is where it’s mostly sold, aside from some East Asian regions. You can read my review of the A100 Zigbee HERE, or watch the video HERE. Still, when it comes to HomeKey, as I’ve found over the last 15 months of using the A100, this unlock method tends to take the second spot in terms of convenience once you start using the fingerprint sensor. ![]() In fact, as much as it seems to irk some, the A100 series was the very first lock to come with HomeKey by at least three months (sorry Schlage…). What may surprise some, is that this is not Aqara’s first smart lock to feature HomeKey that honour goes to the Aqara A100 series of locks (A100 Pro, A100 Zigbee). There still aren’t too many locks out there that feature this function, with only Level and Schlage offering it before the release of today’s Aqara U100, which not only comes with Apple HomeKey, but a raft of other options for unlocking, or otherwise interacting with your door’s security. If there’s one thing that has excited HomeKit users – at least when it comes to home security – it’s the idea of tapping your phone on a smart lock to open it, which is known as Apple HomeKey or Apple Home Key (take your pick).
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