Smart entry locks are the biggest improvement to home security since the lock-and-key system was invented more than a thousand years ago. In many cases, smart locks dispense with physical keys altogether in favor of PINs, fingerprints, NFC tags, smartphone apps–even your smartphone or smart watch. And with some of the latest models, you can even unlock your door with just your face! Smart locks deliver lots of other benefits, too.

They invariably have logging systems, so you can keep track of who’s coming and going–and when. That’s incredibly useful whether you have a teenager who tends to break curfew or merely want to give temporary access to houseguests, service providers, or Airbnb guests. Smart locks are an incredible upgrade over the old way of doing things, and these are our top picks in several categories.

Other smart locks we like

We’ve evaluated many other smart locks. If none of our top picks check all the boxes for you, take a look at these other products.

The Avia Smart Deadbolt+ is a stylish smart lock built completely around Apple HomeKit and Home Keys; the Nuki Smart Lock is a petite retrofit smart lock that will discreetly integrate into just about any environment; the Lockly Secure Pro 2025 features many welcome upgrades from its previous iteration including built-in Wi-Fi, better installation, and a new app; the SwitchBot Lock Ultra is a retrofit model that’s simple to install, affordable, and reliable; the Eufy FamiLock S3 Max is full of features including an intergated video screen on its interior escutcheon.

What to look for when shopping for a smart lock

As you’ve doubtless realized by now, not all smart locks are made alike. Some smart locks are designed to completely replace an old “dumb” lock, while others are meant to retrofit an existing lock. Some smart locks will let you create PINs for guests, while others can unlock automatically once you cross a virtual geofence. Here’s a guide to some of the key design options and features in the smart lock category.

Smart home hub integration

If you have an existing hub like a Samsung SmartThings, Homey Pro, or an Apple TV, you’ll want to ensure your chosen smart lock is compatible from the start. Many smart locks support Bluetooth, so they work with your phone, but lack the technology needed to connect with your home network.

Some Bluetooth locks, like the Yale Assure system and the August Smart Lock, offer a radio module as an add-on to connect to your home network. If you’re using a smart home hub like the Samsung SmartThings or a Homey Pro, look for a lock that supports Z-Wave or Zigbee, instead.

Then there’s Matter, the new smart home standard that promises to unite the major smart home ecosystems. The good news is that smart locks are included in the Matter specification; the bad news is that for now, only a few Matter-enabled smart locks are available. We look forward to checking out more Matter smart locks in the weeks and months ahead.

Entry means

From apps and keypads to fingerprint readers and good, old-fashioned keys, there are myriad ways to unlock a smart lock. Make sure to pick a model that supports the entry method (or methods) you prefer.

Power backup

What do you do if the batteries inside the lock die—and you’re stuck outside? Some locks allow for emergency power to be applied should this happen. Yale’s Real Living locks feature external posts to which you can connect a 9-volt battery, giving you enough juice to get the door open. Other models retain the traditional key cylinder for backup, while still others have a USB-C port for quick-charging an onboard battery.

Geofencing

Bad about manually locking the door when you leave? A geofencing system automatically locks the door when it detects your phone has left the vicinity, and can be set to automatically open up when it finds you’ve come home.

Guest access features

Most smart locks let you set up temporary keys for houseguests, which you can delete when they’ve returned home. Smarter systems even let you set time restrictions around when each access code can be used.

Frequently asked questions about smart locks

Price When Reviewed

$159.99

Best Prices Today: Lockin Veno Palm Vein Recognition Smart Lock

Lockin was a pioneer with the palm vein scanning feature on its Veno Pro Palm Vein Recognition Video Smart Lock, and it didn’t stop there, throwing in a massive collection of additional features on top of that, including an integrated camera and a video doorbell. While rough around the edges, the kitchen-sink approach was at least an interesting concept and a nice starting point—albeit an expensive one.

If you like the general direction Lockin is going with its smart locks, but don’t need the video camera features in the Veno Pro—which weren’t all that great anyway—Lockin has an alternative for you: the Veno Palm Vein Recognition Smart Lock (yes, it’s the very same product name, less the “Pro” moniker).

A sensor embedded in the Lockin Veno Palm Vein Recognition Smart Lock works with a custom strike plate to detect whether the door is open or closed.

Specifications

This more basic model removes the camera from the Veno Pro but keeps virtually all its other features. Apart from the missing camera lens, it even looks identical. But its $160 street price–$190 cheaper than Lockin’s flagship product–renders it much more competitively priced.

The overall specs remain the same: IP65 weatherproofing, ANSI grade 2 certification, and an array of unlocking options that allow for operation via physical key, mobile app, numeric touchpad (with 6- to 10-digit PINs), or fingerprint reader, in addition to the palm vein scanning feature. There’s still a doorbell button covering the keyhole, and pressing it rings a chime on the device, although the button is not backlit, making it virtually invisible in the dark.

Power comes courtesy of the same size and shape rechargeable battery (5,000 mAh) as the Pro, which can be charged via USB-C when disconnected or via an optional 5.5-watt solar panel ($70) that attaches to the emergency USB port on the underside of the external escutcheon for real-time trickle charging. Lockin says the lock should last for about 7 months on a charge, significantly better than the 3 months on the Pro (likely due to the absence of the camera).

Installation and setup

The installation process is identical to that of the Pro. An interior frame bolts with two screws through the door to the exterior escutcheon, and the interior escutcheon connects via three bolts to the frame. As with the Pro, the deadbolt is unique, with an embedded sensor that works with a custom strike plate to detect whether the door is open or not, a handy feature that spares you the eyesore of having an external magnetic sensor attached to the door.

As with the Pro, there’s a lot of wiring to contend with among the various components. There’s one cable leading to the deadbolt, which must be attached to the motor housing on the interior escutcheon, and two additional cables trailing out from the exterior escutcheon. It makes for a crowded bunch of wire connections; fortunately, getting them all seated properly was the only difficult part of physical setup this time around. (Needle-nose pliers help a lot.) Unlike when I reviewed the Pro, I didn’t have any trouble with the bolts getting jammed, and the lock otherwise came together smoothly.

The unit offers native 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connectivity, and it also supports Matter—although you’ll need to use the Lockin Smart app to accomplish nearly anything with the lock. A quick Bluetooth connection gets the lock bridged to your Wi-Fi network, and a wizard-based setup now makes the rest of the process more convenient, prompting you to configure your admin user credentials, add additional users, calibrate the door’s open/closed status, and even set auto-locking settings (configurable from immediate to 180 seconds). With many other smart locks, all this work must be done after the fact, piecemeal.

Using the Lockin Veno Palm Vein Recognition Smart Lock

I did encounter trouble when attempting to update the lock’s firmware, as the process repeatedly stalled out. But oddly (and fortunately), when I left the lock to its own devices overnight, I found that the firmware had automatically updated on its own by the next day.

Nothing has changed from the Pro when it comes to access management, and Lockin provides an intuitive system for keeping users organized. Each user can have multiple PINs, fingerprints, and palm scans. You can have 50 of each access type stored at any given time; though again, any user created in this manner invariably gets 24/7 access—there is no provision for restricting them to particular days and/or times.

All temporary users must be managed via a separate menu that only supports PIN-based access. One-time passwords that expire within one hour can also be created via the Temporary Password menu. These passwords can now be set to go into effect at a later time rather than immediately, up to a day in the future. Note also that the geofencing feature of the Veno Pro has been removed from this lock.

While Lockin has made some upgrades and fixed some of the aggravations I cited in my previous coverage of the Pro, some kinks still need working out. For example, locking the door from the outside still requires you to hold down the lock button on the numeric keypad—but this button is not illuminated (although the numerals are). The button is effectively invisible without a backlight, so you’ll need to remember where it is to press it.

The fingerprint reader on this unit also often took more than one attempt to properly read my print. I had better luck with the palm vein scanner, which woke up on approach more easily than it did on the Pro and never had any significant trouble quickly scanning my hand.

My biggest issue with the lock was that none of its notification features worked during my testing; this despite all settings in the Lockin Smart app and on my iPhone being set to allow them. After two full days of tech-support troubleshooting, I finally got notifications to work, via a process that required deleting and reinstalling the app and factory-resetting the lock multiple times, which erased all its credentials. This was a huge hassle, but in the end, it did at least get notifications operating normally.

Should you buy the Lockin Veno Palm Vein Recognition Smart Lock?

While its  MSRP is a hefty $249, the Lockin Veno Palm Vein Recognition Smart Lock’s $160 street price is much more reasonable and competitive, even with other palm vein scanning locks, although the TCL D1 Pro (which doesn’t have a fingerprint reader or a doorbell) costs a bit less.

I’ve really come to appreciate palm vein scanning on door locks, as it’s very reliable and means you can open the lock completely without needing to touch it. That’s a great add.

After all, who knows where that thing has been?

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks.

Price When Reviewed

$199.99

Best Prices Today: TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock

First, we ditched our housekeys for a numerical code that unlocked our doors, then we moved up to sometimes balky fingerprint readers. The TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock ups the ante with an amazing palm vein reader that takes just 0.3 seconds to unlock your door once you present your hand in front of its tiny scanner.

TCL, best known for its budget-friendly TVs, moves further into the home security market with its second generation of smart door locks that hit the market alongside its B1 Security Camera. The D2 Pro is the top of the line and TCL’s only lock to feature a palm vein reader.

The D2 Pro also features a built-in doorbell (but not a camera). Pressing the doorbell button a sounds a chime on the lock itself, and it also sends a push notification to your smartphone. You can unlock the door six ways: With your palm, of course, by tapping a PIN on its numeric keypad, using the TCL app, with a voice command (via Amazon Alexa or Google Home), with an NFC keycard or fob (not included), or a physical key (two are provided). Each of those methods has its own advantages and, if you’re not looking for a lock to seamlessly integrate into one brand’s suite of smart home products, the D2 could be an excellent choice for your home security.

The palm vein reader in the TCL D2 Pro instantly unlocked my door once I mastered the waving gesture.

Build quality

The D2 Pro comes sports an aluminum housing—silver, with black accents—that’s all hard angles and sharp corners, a design that echoes the future imagined by the movie Robocop. The vaguely brutalist design won’t be for everyone, even though TCL’s promotional literature hopefully points out a resemblance between the D2 Pro and the Tesla Cybertruck.

Its specs are typical: The lock is rated IP55, meaning that no amount of dust can get inside and cause the lock to fail, and that it’s protected from water jets coming from any direction. It has an operating temperature range of -4 degrees Fahrenheit to around 140 degrees F (-20 C ~ 60 C). It has the customary adjustable bolt to accommodate doors with different-sized backsets (2.36- or 2.76 inches, 60- or 70mm), and it fits in either a 1.5-inch (38mm) or 2.13-inch (54mm) cross-bore (an adapter is included for the larger diameter). 

TCL has not submitted this deadbolt for ANSI or BHMA certification, so there’s no standardized rating as to its suitability for commercial (ANSI) or residential (BHMA) installations. The two standards bodies measure such things a open/close cycles, survivability after repeated hammer blows, and the quality of a lock’s finish, among other things. That missing rating could be an issue if your insurance carrier or local building code requires such certification (although that’s not typical). We have another story that explains ANSI and BHMA certification in more detail if you want to know more about it.

Setup and installation

Setup and installation were easy and incredibly straightforward, at least until the final step. First, I had to give the included 10,000mAh battery a full charge, which I did overnight before the day I planned to install. That battery is removable and is charged via USB-C cable. If the battery dies while you’re out and about, you can use the USB-C port on its exterior escutcheon to charge enough for the lock to operate.

Since I was replacing a previously installed deadbolt, I didn’t need to replace the strike plate on my door jamb. That made for quick 15-minute install that only required a Phillips-head screwdriver.

After installing the battery in the unit and the TCL Home app on my phone, I was able to use the app to connect to my wireless network with the D2’s built-in 2.4GHz Wi-Fi adapter (5GHz networks are not supported).

If the process ended here, I’d be telling you how easy this lock was to install. Unfortunately, my lock required four incremental firmware upgrades before it was ready to use. Would it be easier if the lock could just download the latest firmware upon its first connection to the internet? Absolutely! Is it possible to write the software so that these incremental steps aren’t required? I have no idea, but this isn’t an issue I’d previously encountered when reviewing other smart home devices. Fortunately, there was mostly good news once the updates were complete.

Well, almost. I realize that the app was written to work with all TCL smart home devices, but I had trouble setting up the palm vein reader after the app asked me to set up both a security code for using the app and another one that would allow me to unlock the D2 Pro (and any of the other locks in the D2 line).

I had to dig around in the app’s settings for a few minutes before I found what I was looking for. After navigating to User Management > Administrator (me), I found the palm vein settings and was able to set up the palm security.

Unlocking your door

TCL says its own lab results show that its palm vein tech is 99.9999 percent accurate. The infrared light reads the veins under your skin, avoiding both the positioning and pressure issues that affect fingerprint readers. And if you believe the Mission: Impossible movies, using your palm instead of a fingerprint will prevent an intruder from engineering a workaround from prints you might leave on a drinking glass or door handle.

Once I had it up and running, the palm vein reader instantly unlocked my door once I mastered the waving gesture.  If you’re worried about security, TCL stores the palm data on the device itself, a feature that also makes it possible to open your door when your Wi-Fi or broadband is down.

The numerical keypad was 100 percent reliable in my testing, as was using the controls in the TCL Home app. Setting up with Alexa and Google worked as well as you might hope, and the ability to unlock the door for a visitor via voice command is a definite plus.

TCL does not include an NFC keycard or fob with the D2 Pro, so I was unable to test that entry method. Based on its performance with the other entry methods, I would expect them to work seamlessly as well.

Note that you can only unlock the door via the TCL Home app when there’s an active internet connection to the D2 Pro. Also keep in mind that this lock doesn’t support Matter or Apple Home, so you won’t be able to integrate the lock into that kind of smart home setup. There’s also no Bluetooth, Thread, Zigbee, or Z-Wave support, as is typical of a Wi-Fi lock.

The TCL Home app

The TCL Home app looks simple at first glance, but there are a host of options buried in its settings. You can set up a security code for each device you add to the app. Users must type in the code to access the settings. You might want to skip that extra level of security because it’s a chore to type it in every time you want to make an adjustment.

Tap the Settings gear icon to get access to Auto Lock, which sets a time (between 10 seconds and two minutes) for the door to automatically relock after opening. If you enable that setting, however, be aware that the lock has no means of determining if the door is ajar before it throws its bolt. That can lead to damage to the molding around your door if someone tries to close the door while the lock’s bolt is extended.

Wrong-Try Protection locks down the D2 Pro for a time (2- to 5 minutes) after a set number of wrong code attempts. There’s volume control for both the doorbell and the pleasant British accent that delivers voice prompts. Away Mode disables all user permissions aside from the master password.

On the main screen, you can check the battery level, set up one-time-use passwords for visitors or service people, unlock the door with a long press, or access an Events Summary that tells you who unlocked the door at what times over the past seven days. Parents can monitor curfews by creating a Homecoming Reminder that alerts the administrator if a user has not unlocked the door by a certain time.

TCL offers other options, too

If you’re looking for a lower-priced lock from TCL the TCL D2 Plus ($119.99) swaps the palm vein scanner for AI-enhanced fingerprint recognition; retains the app, keypad, and physical key options for unlocking; Wi-Fi connectivity; voice control; and IP55 weatherization. But it relies on 8 disposable AA batteries (with a 6-month lifespan) rather than rechargeable power.

The base TCL D2 ($79.99), meanwhile, offers the simplest feature set: unlocking via PIN, app, or key; the same aluminum alloy build; IP55 weather resistance; Wi-Fi connectivity; and voice-assistant integration. It also runs on 8 AA batteries.

Should you buy the TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock?

The TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock replaces the D1 Pro model that came out last year, and it features impressive upgrades. The 10,000 mAh battery in the D2 Pro offers 10 months of battery life, where the D1 Pro’s 7,800 mAh battery was limited to 9 months. The D2 Pro is more water resistant, with an IP55 rating compared to the D1 Pro’s IP54. There’s also no doorbell on the D1 Pro. The palm vein technology and other unlock methods are the same on both models.

Unlocking a door by waving a hand in front of a sensor can feel like we’re finally living in the future that Star Trek promised on those after-school reruns. The palm-vein entry is secure and reliable, a godsend for anyone who’s usually lugging packages with them when returning home.

TCL offers all the other basics, including individual profiles, one-time codes, and remote unlock that you’d expect from a high-end smart home lock in 2025. The firmware update experience could use some work, the app needs a bit more polish, and TCL should really find a way to have its devices better integrate with other manufacturers’ smart home hardware. This lock’s touch-free entry is just too magical to be stuck in a smart home silo.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks.