My smart home could unlock the door for me, and I'll never let it

It took me years to fully buy into a smart home ecosystem. After dabbling with Amazon Alexa and Apple Home, I settled on Google Home and Nest. Switching to smart lightbulbs or plugs is a good way to get started, but my smart home is finally more advanced than that. My doorbell, thermostat, cameras, and speakers are all smart, and that makes it easy to create complex automations and shout intricate commands.

There's one obvious smart device missing, and that's on purpose. I specifically seek out apartments with "dumb" locks, because I'm not interested in adding unnecessary points of failure to physical points of entry. When my apartment complex switched to smart Yale locks mid-lease, all my concerns were validated, and I was thrilled to move to a new place with a basic lock and key. Now, I'll never let my smart home unlock my door if I can help it.

Everything else in my home is smart

I briefly used a smart lock, and it was a complete nightmare

The more smart home devices you add to your setup, the more helpful the entire experience becomes. When I was working with a single Nest Hub display and a few smart lights, simple automations that turned the lights on or off were all I could create. After years of steady smart home upgrades, there are more devices that can control my home or serve as triggers for helpful automations.

For instance, I added a Google Nest Battery Doorbell to my front door, and now everything it sees can inform the other devices in my home. When someone rings the doorbell, an announcement broadcasts through all the speakers and displays scattered throughout the apartment. Throw in my Google Nest Thermostat, and the two devices start to work together. I have an automation that lowers the thermostat to a comfortable temperature when my doorbell camera sees my partner or me arriving home, and that's the beauty of having a home filled with smart devices.

You might think that adding a smart door lock into the mix would further enhance the experience. It would certainly unlock new automation possibilities and smart home features. Smart locks come with a handful of attractive benefits, like not having to carry physical keys or being able to lock and unlock your front door remotely. If you've ever wondered if you remembered to lock the door before leaving, a smart lock could help you check.

Custom codes for each person with access to your home and activity logs tracking entry and exit help you keep track of everything. The perks are real, but they're not enough to convince me to swap my traditional lock and key for a smart lock.

Dumb locks aren't perfect either

I'll take basic locks over one with Wi-Fi and a battery, though

Two years ago, my apartment complex took out their old-fashioned door locks and replaced them with Yale smart locks, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't any positives. I enjoyed being able to change the codes on a whim, and going for a run without having to carry a physical set of keys with me. Eventually, the cons started to outweigh the pros.

When physical security starts to become more about convenience than safety, alarm bells go off in my head. Using a pinpad instead of a key to get into my home was useful in some situations, but it created new problems. I had to convince people with access to my home to use secure codes instead of ones that are easier to guess, like birthdays and anniversaries. I needed to wipe down the pinpad often to avoid fingerprints giving away the code. The "smart" features added convenience — and a few headaches.

Using a smart lock for my front door introduced issues I never ran into while using a regular lock. On one occasion, the battery for my smart lock died, and I was locked out of my apartment while I waited for assistance. There were multiple other instances when maintenance workers left my door unlocked, because they must've forgotten to hit their palm against the smart Yale lock to secure it. It's easy to blame these human errors on the people that made them, but it's also true that they likely would've never happened with a "dumb" lock on my front door.

There's also the issue of longevity. Old-fashioned door locks can last decades if maintained properly, but asking that much of an electronic door lock is wishful thinking. Could a software update or compatibility issue cause the smart home integrations to break in a few years? Might a bug leave me locked outside my home with no recourse one day? Although there's no way to know for sure, these are the kinds of issues that leave me extremely wary of using a smart lock.

People are naturally concerned about security when smart locks are brought into the conversation, but your smart lock being hacked shouldn't be a major worry. In fact, it's more likely that a smart lock will be compromised because someone uses a guessable code, leaves fingerprints on the lock, or forgets to secure the door than because it was hacked. The fear isn't reality, since a thief can kick down your door or pick your lock regardless of whether you're using a smart or dumb lock.

Cameras give me the peace of mind I need

Without the risk that comes with smart locks

I moved apartments this year, and I specifically sought out units with a "dumb" lock. If I can help it, I'll never use a smart lock again. I'd rather have to think about carrying my keys than worry about codes, batteries, and technical issues. Although I can't grant visitors remote access to my home or check if my door is unlocked from afar, I'm not missing out on a great smart home experience by avoiding smart locks.

Instead, I've fortified my smart home with cameras that keep an eye on my front door, entryway, and all other entry points. I can see everyone that enters my home, and receive notifications if something isn't right. At the end of the day, I could ask Gemini what my cameras saw. A smart lock can't stop someone from getting into my home or prevent a human error, which is why I prefer a security camera system watching my back instead.

I could take the setup even further with door and window contact sensors that notify me if an entry point is opened, or set up alarms that sound when motion is detected, and I'm not expecting it. In other words, my smart home can handle complex automations and monitor my home's physical security already. I don't need a smart lock, because they can do more harm than good.