I have a new smart home fear: Getting locked IN

I’ll admit it: I’m a bit of a smart home troglodyte, unwilling to trade classic simplicity for modern convenience. My Google Home setup is limited to a glorified kitchen timer; I don’t have the patience to set up light routines or safely store offline camera footage. I own a few pieces of connected kit; my robot vacuum cleaner seems harmless enough, and I’ve even hesitantly installed a smart thermostat to cut my energy bill and keep my house warmer. But that’s it.

One line I’ve certainly never dared to cross is installing a smart lock on my door. I can’t convince myself of the benefits over a good old-fashioned key, especially given some pretty reasonable concerns about service outages or somehow locking myself out of my home (though I have managed that with a regular key, to be fair). But I’ve just discovered a new fear I didn’t know I had — being locked in a smart home.

To keep an arduous story short, I recently stayed at a rental property booked through an app I’m sure I don’t need to name. The owner used a smart lock with a temporary PIN for us to enter the property during our stay — a simple and effective technological solution, right?

Unfortunately, the lock suffered a critical mechanical failure while we were there. The motor could no longer grip the deadbolt, rendering the PIN code useless and leaving the door permanently locked. Hardware failures happen; however, even turning the internal catch wouldn’t unlock the door. That’s bad design. A smart lock should always be able to move the deadbolt manually in the event of a motor failure, but apparently, this particular model (which I sadly didn’t note down) didn’t think that might be an important feature.

The situation was made worse by the fact that this was a rental. I was essentially unable to do anything except pester the owner, who took over 24 hours to come to terms with the problem and resolve it. Fortunately, we were on the ground floor, so we could make an escape — but being locked in would have been a clear danger to life in a building without a back door, or in a high-rise apartment. Absolutely terrifying.

As unfortunate as this experience was, it could have been avoided by choosing a better product for the job. A top-tier smart lock, such as the Nuki Ultra, should always include fail-safes such as a backup physical key, low-battery warnings (especially for Wi-Fi models), and the ability to address hardware issues without immediately requiring a locksmith. Anything less is just flirting with disaster.

Unfortunately, the market is filled with smart lock products that take the easy route and scrimp on what, at least in my mind, should be non-negotiables. This places a heavy burden on buyers to conduct extensive research to ensure their choice is prepared for every eventuality. Even then, it can be difficult to foresee every issue that might potentially lock you out — or in.

It pays to be overcautious when it comes to smart home products — especially those that raise privacy and security concerns. I even took a very skeptical approach before picking out my Tado smart thermostat. While it’s annoyingly online-only (I’ve enrolled in the offline schedule beta, but have no real way to know if it’s working), I made sure the system supported some form of offline temperature memory and a manual heating boost button, just in case the app or internet goes down. You just never know.

For me, this experience has only confirmed my concerns about ever buying a smart lock. While convenient, I think it is too important a function to entrust to mechanical or software failures. There’s no way I’ll be attaching one to my front door. If you are planning to buy — or already own — a smart lock, learn from my experience and make sure it includes the necessary fail-safes. Even if you can’t plan for every eventuality, preparing for as many ways your essential tech can fail as possible is never a bad idea.