ULTRALOQ Latch 5 World’s First Built-in WiFi Smart Lock with Fingerprint, 5-in-1 Keyless Entry Door Lock with Touch Digital Keypad, App Control, Black

Great features, nice looking, not as large as I feared (updated)
Update 2: Loose handle? See below…Updated—added the fifth star: The secret to the finger print reader working nearly flawlessly is do not grab the handle while using the fingerprint pad. It may seem natural to grab the handle while pushing your thumb onto the reader, but that extra contact with the lock apparently affects getting a good reading. Once I stopped grabbing the handle my readings work on first touch nearly every time.I got this lock to use between the garage and dining room. I am beginning to use the Amazon Key Delivery feature to allow deliveries into my garage, and I only feel comfortable doing that with 1) a camera in the garage and 2) a lockable door between the garage and house. A normal keyed locking knob does not fit my situation because I have friends that need access to my house while I’m away, and they enter through the garage. With this lock I have given them separate codes to access the house and will add their thumb prints next time they visit. This lock was a Wirecutter best pick for lever handle locks, which is how I discovered it. I think this is the best value, with many great features for the money.Installation was super simple. The instructions were easy to follow. If you have to drill holes, the lock comes with some templates to help with positioning. Before you install, look for instructions about the optional Extra Security bolt on one of the templates. If used you will need to drill a small hole through the door above the normal knob hole.If you have a door over 2″ thick and up to 2-3/4″ thick, you will need to order the Thick Door Kit from U-tec. This is mentioned in the User Guide.Set up was a bit of a test, but it worked in the end. I knocked one star off overall partially due to how finicky the Bluetooth connection is to the phone. Only two feet away yet it has trouble connecting and reconnecting. One trick I found is to turn Bluetooth off/on at the phone before reconnecting. Bluetooth is used for setup, so it shouldn’t be an issue during day to day use. Installing the app and adding rooms, locks, users was simple and intuitive. Be sure to check out the lock settings to set your default lock mode and add any notifications. When connected to the lock, the app can show a log of lock use…up to 1000 entries per lock, after which it will delete older log entries as it adds new entries.Notifications: You can choose to add notifications on your phone to let you know when specific users unlock the lock.Fingerprint reader (see update at the top): The star I knocked off was also partially due to the fingerprint reader being finicky. My left thumb worked fine, but it didn’t seem to like my right thumb during initial testing. I found that by double-tapping and holding it seemed to work much better. When I arrived home today the right thumb worked just fine, so perhaps all is well after all. One more note: According to Wirecutter, the fingerprint scans are stored locally on each lock and are not saved in the phone app or uploaded to the cloud. That is a nice-to-know feature.Codes for entry: You can assign separate codes to different users, and the codes can be permanent or temporary. I’ve not set up a temporary code yet so I cannot speak to that, but setting up codes in general is a piece of cake. A minor shortcoming is that the display pad does not have the alpha characters next to each number (ala phone keypad and garage door opener keypad) for those whose code is based on a word.Backup physical key: The lock comes with three physical keys that can unlock the door using a hidden key slot on the bottom, outside. The only minor shortcoming here is that the keys are rather large. But it’s a nice-to-have featureGoogle Home: I was able to add the lock to Google Home, but so far that feature seems mostly useless at this time. I really hope the manufacturer builds the Google Home integration out more to allow changing the Lock Mode based on my home/away settings in Google Home. It would be nice to have the lock in Passage mode when I’m home (unlocked) and in Normal Mode (locked) when I’m away. As it is, about all you can do is lock and unlock the door manually, but at least it’s something.Battery life: I’ve only had the lock installed one day so I cannot speak to battery life…yet. The lock comes with four alkaline AA batteries, however for important equipment like this I prefer to use the more reliable lithium AA batteries. Alkaline batteries are too prone to leaking when they begin to get weak so I am phasing them out of all devices, starting with the pricier gadgets. Once my initial lithium batteries run out in the lock, I will try rechargeable batteries. I’ve been having success with the Tenergy brand batteries and charger so far.Loose Handle update: Over time my exterior handle became loose/wobbly. The set screw holding the handle on was fully tight and was not the problem. It turns out the screw holding the handle base (spindle) was loose. A call to customer service was all it took. The rep was helpful and understanding and sent PDF instructions on how to tighten the screw. The fix involved removing the lock and accessing the guts of the exterior piece, but all-in-all it was quite a simple fix. Good customer service retains 5 stars!

Frustrating as hell
Sheesh what a pain in the butt this was to install. Not the mechanical part – that was as easy as anything like this can be. This is a pretty sturdy (but mot as sturdy as the older, not as “smart” model it replaced) lock that I used for entry to a server room in a commercial building. The app pairing and WiFi setup was insanely frustrating. I mean REALLY bad. It took an hour and a half or more to get this thing to the point where I could start adding users. The bluetooth pairing and discovery process failed at least a dozen times. It timed out so quickly that I had to start over several times. Once past that, I could not get it to connect to WiFi – it took another 8 or 10 attempts and I even had to verify that my APs were allowing 2.4Ghz connections since the app and instructions mention that about a million times – it doesn’t support 5Ghz WiFi. But changing nothing, it finally decided to connect to WiFi (door is about 12 feet from an AP, BTW, so was not a signal strength issue). So it was hard enough to get going that I can’t recommend it, but it was the only thing on Amazon that didn’t seem like a total piece of junk except for the Schlage which had terrible reviews. Oh and as for ergonomics – why the hell would you put the fingerprint reader so close to the handle? I also found that you have to tap/smack the keypad area multiple times to get the think to wake up to allow for a PIN entry. The backup keyway is in a horrible spot too – just like the old model. Not happy so far. Note that these things EAT batteries, so you will be replacing them a lot. I’d suggest rechargeable Li-Ion or Eneloop Pros

Muy fácil de instalar.La configuración de las huellas digitales y con Google Home se me complicó un poco porque lo estaba haciendo mal. Pero su atención a clientes y servicio técnico me ayudo y quedó funcionando al 100.

I got my carpenter to fit this lock as part of fitting a new fire door to my apartment front entrance, therefore cannot comment on the installation process.The app is easy to download. I had to use an international phone service (Viber) to be ‘talked through’ how to set up the user for this smart lock, as I did not manage to figure this out from the written instructions that came with the lock. The customer service is in America and Australia (not the UK where I live) but the woman spent around 40 minutes with me on the phone until it was resolved. This phonecall was then followed up with an email from the company, so the customer service is excellent.You can set up multiple users for the smart lock with different codes, but it is not possible to change the code – if I ever want to change a user’s code, I have to delete the user and then re-ad them. It’s simple enough to do, but it would be better if there was the option to simply change the code without having to delete and re-ad each time. Once you know how to do this, it doesn’t take long.Very happy with the finger print access (2 finger prints per user) and also the 4-8 digit code access. I have not yet tried connecting this lock to Alexa or any of the other advertised features, so cannot comment on this functionality feature.I do keep the emergency key for the lock on my keyring along with my car key etc, and another spare key for this smart lock in a secure location ‘just in case’ I do get locked out using the digital function of this smart lock – the key hole is discreetly under the smart lock. Not yet had to use my emergency key access, but it’s good to have it available!Overall, very happy with this smart lock and the app that works alongside it. I like that with each ‘user’ you can choose if you want to add them as an ‘admin’, ‘normal user’ or ‘temporary user’. One last thing to comment on, is that this lock is not too loud to operate. There is a small beep and motor sound when it unlocks, but it is not bothersome which is great.Photo: side view of both sides of my smart lock.