I need help thinking through a smart lock option.
Since 1979 I've lived in a house with an attached garage. So once in the garage, I could just walk into the house, and didn't have to mess with keys. Now I have downsized into a condo which has a DEtached garage:
I want the keypad because I don't use a smart phone. I have tremors in my hands, and any attempt to use any touch-screen device is just an exercise in frustration. So while I have a little Android phone, and take it with me in the car in case I get into an accident, it is powered down almost all the time. I pay $10 every three months for cell service, basically just to keep the number alive.
I have found the Wyze lock and various versions of the August lock which have separate keypads. My understanding is that in both cases you have to install their app to set everything up, but after that the keypad can communicate with the lock via Bluetooth, and having the app running should not be needed. In fact, since both the lock and the keypad are battery powered, they should operate even during a power failure.
Now of course that doesn't get you all the fancy features the locks are capable of, like remote unlocking, which require the app and regular wireless service. But I just want to unlock the lock from the keypad. I would actually like to disable the app once setup is completed, and unplug the Wyze Gateway or the August Wifi Bridge.
Does this sound like it would work? Is there a better way? Please note that a smart phone is not part of my life right now, and I don't want it to be. The longer it can stay powered down, the better.
I would have to determine experimentally whether the keypad Bluetooth will have the range to cross the eight feet and find the lock, but assuming that will work, or can be made to work with an extender of some kind, It seems to me this would work. What I don't have a feel for at all is the apps. The reviews in the Play Store are terrible for both - another reason to disable them except when I need to change something.
I don't have smart speakers or any other IOT devices, and have no plans to get any, although the thought occurred to me to put one in the garage that I could give commands to, and use that instead of the keypad. I don't know about that - it would probably require that the app be running, which is not acceptible.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.