With the introduction of the Yale Assure Lock SL, the company adds a slimmer alternative to its line of Yale Real Living smart locks. Featuring a much smaller and thinner touchscreen exterior housing compared to any other Yale smart lock, the key-free deadbolt should be a good fit for contemporary or modern connected homes. The lock employs the same interior housing with thumbturn as the Yale Assure Lock with Bluetooth we recently reviewed, but drops the embedded Bluetooth network chip so does not function with the current version of the Yale Assure smartphone app.
Smart-home connectivity, however, will still be there in spades with this lock, as optional snap-in Z-Wave or Zigbee network modules will enable smartphone and home automation console integration and compatibility with the popular Samsung SmartThings, Wink, and other platforms. Voice activation through Amazon Alexa also becomes possible when used with SmartThings or Wink. Furthermore, a forthcoming Apple HomeKit module will enable operation of the lock through various HomeKit apps, including the Apple Home app on the home screen of iPhones and iPads running iOS 10 or higher—and presumably voice activation through the Siri digital assistant.
Available in polished brass, oil rubbed brass, and satin nickel finishes, the lock should be a good fit for contemporary or modern connected homes and is designed to replace existing deadbolts on doors 1 3/4-in. to 2 1/4-in. thick.
We are looking forward to bringing this new smart lock into our Digitized.House smart-home labs for hands-on integration testing.
