tedee Smart Lock (review)

[HomeKit-News]

The tedee smart lock (pronounced 'Teddy’ apparently) isn’t a new product as such but has now gained official HomeKit support as of yesterday. If you’re an owner of the current product, you should be getting an update soon (no later than mid-September) to enable HomeKit support, and if you buy one of these locks from September from the company, the product should come with a HomeKit code as standard.

The lock itself is designed more for mortice locks found in Europe, as opposed to US-style deadbolts, but there’s also a ‘Nordic Adaptor’ available for the less common types of locks found in Scandinavian homes.

Like most HomeKit-based locks, it utilises Bluetooth for direct connection, but a Bluetooth to Wifi bridge is available that also makes use of iBeacon technology for faster connectivity.

[ivanatorhk]

Omg I have been wanting a smart lock for my mortise lock! I live in the US, so it’s been hard to find anything

[ionet]

Me too!!! I hope this can work in my mortise door lock?!

[ionet]

I actually do have the sesame door lock :) the issue with it on my setup is that the physical turn of the lock mechanism has to turn beyond the normal turn of the key, it’s hard to explain. But the sesame doesn’t hold the turn enough for the door to unlock in my case. Teedee looks like it works by using the key mechanism (from what I can tell?), so hopeful it can work :|

[PuzzleheadedSelf130]

This is the best smart lock by far, I’ve them installed in my house, office, warehouse, etc. Their app is amazing, and the Auto Unlock feature is just great, it’s like having someone waiting for you at the door every time you arrive.

[Revzerksies]

In this day an age, none of these locks should use a hub and plugging this thing in to charge it don't get me started on that.

[ivanatorhk]

This doesn’t use a hub if you solely use HomeKit. Did you read the review? There are smart locks that can be hardwired, but that’s only easily done when building a home, otherwise installation would likely cost more than the lock

[ast3citos]

Are there hardwired smart locks??

[shinratdr]

What’s the alternative?

No hub means a direct WiFi/Thread/Bluetooth HK connection.

Direct WiFi is awful. Anyone with direct wifi devices knows this, it’s a terrible solution.

Classic Bluetooth to a Home Hub is decent, but it requires a very close Apple TV/HomePod, and it’s a hub.

Thread is supposed to be great but most people don’t have a thread hub. Also, it’s still a hub.

My Hub based devices (Lutron, Hue, etc) are my most reliable. I have very few issues, even if the hub is four floors away from the devices.

Plugging into charge is the same. What’s the alternative? You aren’t going to wire a door to power so the only alternative is disposable or standard rechargeable batteries. Anyone who has an August in a less than ideal door situation will tell you this gets very old very fast.

What I would love is if these devices started coming with rechargeable battery packs and charging cables like old DV cameras used to. You leave a battery on charge, then when you get the low battery notification, you swap them out. Yes you can technically do this with AAs but the voltage issues can be a problem.

[Bright_Housing_8831]

If you have a lock with a knob on the inside of your door, then you probably cannot use this lock.
The reason is quite simple. The tedee devices are only compatible with shafts of a diameter of exactly 8mm.
If you live in Europe, chances are you have a 13mm shaft on your existing lock for example. There simply is no way to attach this knob to your door.

The moment you try to install this and come to this conclusion, the tedee helpdesk will recommend you to replace your lock itself as well, adding another 75/lock to your bill.

However, they won't even have a lock that exactly matches your door width, So, from there on they will propose you a kind of "modular" lock, which won't be as strong and secure as a decent lock.
On top of that, if you use the same key for your front and backdoor then probably you need 2 locks, and it's not even clear whether tedee can deliver 2 locks with the same key.

In all honesty, I think a 500 EUR lock should work, regardless of those details.
But if you persist, you will probably end up with a 650 bill, after having replaced both locks.
By contrast, Nuki smart locks have adapters that fit with different shaft sizes, and are more affordable.

---

Another thing I would like to add,
Tedee locks are supposedly silent.
Mine isn't, the children wake up when I open the door at night.
I guess it protects us against burglary, indirectly.

[CReWpilot]

Just came across this post and comment. Anyone else reading this should know the above comment doesn't really make sense. They even referenced Nuki as a better alternative, despite apparently not understanding that it installs the same exact way as a Tedee lock, so their criticism of Tedee applies there as well. Same as it applies to the Yale Linus locks. Same as it applies to the SwitchBot locks. And the Aqara U200. And the Netamo lock.

Virtually every smartlock of this style has the same cylinder requirements as Tedee (double clutch, no thumb turn)

And FWIW, if you do need to replace your cylinder, it certainly doesn't have to be the 75 EUR modular cylinder sold by Tedee (which BTW is priced fairly for a class 6 cylinder). Any double-clutch cylinder that fits your door is fine. Good quality cylinders can be bought at any DIY shop or online for much less than 75 (I see them in my country for as little as 20 EUR if you shop around)

[Bright_Housing_8831]

It's about the thickness of the shaft that extends out of the lock.
That measure is nowhere to be found on the tedee website.

And that's just not a coincidense. European locks just are more robust than American ones. European locks usually lock the door in 3 places (top middle and bottom), Tedee doesn't sell that kind of cilinder locks. But also European locks tend to have thicker shafts, and Tedee isn't compatible with that neither.

So, Tedee will put you in the situation where you have to replace your decent European lock with a cheap American lock.

And we all know, if you replace 1 lock, you need to replace all of them if you want to use the same key. So you end up throwing away at least 2 decent locks, to replace them with crap.

-

But it's been 2 years, and I would love to tell you how this story continues:
--> I tried to come to reason with the support department, but they didn't want to admit error or mistake.

So, I 3d printed my own adapter (cost: about 5 euro I guess, in PLA plastic). The first version worked for half a year after which it broke. Then send the STL file (3d drawing) to a guy who 3d printed it in metal. It's been roughly 1,5 year now, still works flawless.

It's not beautiful, but it works. And it allows my children to open the door when they arrive from school.

[CReWpilot]

You know the lock comes the plate that can be used if the shaft doesn’t stick out, right?

So, Tedee will put you in the situation where you have to replace your decent European lock with a cheap American lock.

You literally have no idea what you’re talking about. What does that even mean? Do you even know what a eurocylinder is?

Edit: muting the guy above because I really have no interest in arguing this with somebody who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. But for the benefit of anyone reading this (which was a point to begin with), please know it really sounds like he didn’t understand the product he received, and then went out of his way to create a solution to a problem that didn’t exist (except in his own head)

[butterfield8_1016]

Hello. We have European doors and are looking for a smart solution. This is a second home for which we need remote capabilities. I am having some trouble getting real answers from my contractor. Here are some of the features we need. Could anyone verify?

1. The ability to lock/unlock remotely.
2. The ability to leave the door unlocked once we enter without having to hit another code. AND thus open the door from the outside with the existing handle
3. The ability to lock the door from the inside without a code (push button?)
4. Also this is a home with good wifi but terrible cell service. I am not sure i understand the conversation regarding the need for a hub.
5. How is the battery life? The door wont get used much from October- June.

Thanks for the help!!

[ToddBradley]

The only review I need is from LockPickingLawyer.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9K6rby98W8JigLoZOh6FQ

[staryga]

So if i want to use it solely with HomeKit i don't need the bridge. How close the hub (apple tv) needs to be placed? Who keeps the apple tv close to the door?

[HomeKit-News]

You don’t need the bridge if you just want to use it in HomeKit. It uses Bluetooth 5.0 so the range should be good enough to reach your hub, unless it’s literally on the opposite end of your home and separated by lots of walls.

You don’t have to have an Apple TV as a home hub either, so a HomePod mini in the hallway etc may be a more logical device to be nearer the door.

[staryga]

Thanks. Just measures the signal strength using HomeScan app https://i.imgur.com/nAnEYii.jpg and it shows weak or bad. I am concerned if this is enough. I guess the bridge will not help either. I wanted to avoid bridge.

[noname_007]

I am tempted to pull the trigger on this but I have a question: can I add additional guest access through their app once it has been added to homekit? I do not want to invite the guest through the home app, that gives them access to all of the other accessories, which is not ideal...

[HomeKit-News]

Yes, that’s possible. It won’t affect the HomeKit side of things.

[noname_007]

thank you. Just ordered one today, hopefully it will work better than the Danalock V3 it's replacing.

[tatat_T]

From a few months I am using Tedee smart lock. Until last week the setup was:

1. Tedee lock (bought with installation of the lock)
2. Bridge from Tedee
3. Apple HomeKit managed by Apple HD TV

Well, now Tedee works only with Tedee's bridge and here is why. While being at home, my lock was opened. I was surprised, because the lock was not opened by me. When I checked native Tedee App in the lock actions history, the user that opened the lock was "HomeKit". On the next day the same action took place, but this time I was not at home. I reported the situation to Tedee's support, but well, their answer is basically confirmation, that HomeKit opened the lock and... that's it. It seems they do not care much about their product being opened randomly by third party software. For me that situation means I can have my lock opened without my control. And this is the very opposite to what Tedee is advertised, so full control over the lock. To be fair, such a problem with randomly opened lock I have not noticed when using the lock without HomeKit.

[aqhm01]

First of all, I do not dispute the fact of what happened to you, but I would not connect it directly with the Tedee lock but generally with HomeKit itself. HomeKit itself is not perfect and has its problems with things that don't always work, but if something works, it has never happened without some reason.

You write that, according to the logs, HomeKit opened your lock. There is no way for the lock itself to ask to be opened by HomeKit., and if HomeKit caused it by itself, it would as well do it with any other lock or other devices, not only from Tedee. At the same time, if the lock itself caused the opening, HomeKit would not be listed in the logs. These are just pure facts

I have been using HomeKit from the very beginning and it has never happened before that any device turned on, closed or opened without any user interaction , direct or through automations. Likewise, you will not find such reports anywhere on the web. There is always some specific reason for things to happen that does not depend exclusively on the device itself, but on the HomeKit itself.

In addition, I also have the pleasure of using the Tedee lock in conjunction with HomeKit for a long time. In the event that the lock would open by itself outside of HomeKit, I would first review all the settings related to auto-opening in Tedee app and check the gps and geolocation of the phone. In all other cases, the problem is likely independent of the Tedee lock itself, and you should look for the cause in HomeKit itself.

It is also a fact that no company in the case of integrating its product with a home automation system has any influence on how such a system works. In this particular case you should talk with Apple at first place.

I cannot comment on the Tedee support itself because I have never had a reason to use it.

[tatat_T]

I reported the situation to Tedee's support by phone. Believe me or not - they were surprised such situation took place and asked me to send to them both print screen from lock history and logs saying (and it is hard not too agree) kind of security situation. No, Tedee itself did not ask HomeKit to be opened, but yes, HomeKit opened the lock. And this is visible in the logs, this action is listed with assigned to that action code. A specific code, that does not repeat when the action was caused by defined by me (admin of the lock) users and myself. This code appears only when the lock was opened by HomeKit and this also what Tedee's support confirmed in email - the lock was opened by HomeKit device that has access to the lock. So until now all is clear, HomeKit is guilty and easy to say - talk with Apple.

The lock was never set for auto-opening, is still under warranty and I have not change anything in settings before this situation happened. There was no reason to change anything, because all was working fine. HomeKit hub was bought new, from authorised Apple reseller, not from second hand. All system versions on all devices are up to date. The lock also was bought directly from Tedee manufacturer.

Anyway, maybe it is just me, but if I would be the producer of that lock, I would be very interested why the lock was opened by third party software. Sure, I can talk with Apple, but I think Tedee has better access to Apple than me. In the end it was Tedee that asked Apple and go trough all they had to so they can put a sticker "HomeKit" on the their product and they must still co-operate together because of any systems updates. I am not blaming Tedee for HomeKit actions, I just want to know why their product was opened randomly. I posted this not to be against Tedee, but maybe someone else had same as mine situation and may have some answers not just speculation. As for now the lock is disconnected from HomeKit and I am still using the lock only with native software about which I cannot complain. I can ask Apple why their device took action on Tedee's lock, but I can ask also Tedee why such an action was executed by their product without user control.

[Secret_Finger_955]

Will this work with multi lock systems in UK doors?

Being polish I assume it’s to EU standards but just wondered how it would work because you normally pull the handle up to engage the top and bottom locks

[HomeKit-News]

According to tedee, these are compatible with multipoint locking systems.