August’s redesigned smart lock boasts better battery life and security

In a major refresh of its smart home products, August has released two new versions of its smart lock, including a cheaper redesigned model and a professional edition of its doorbell camera.

The third generation of the August Smart Lock has been completely overhauled with a new elongated industrial design featuring an actual thumb turn compared to the original round look. It also boasts double the battery life of the second generation Smart Lock. August has added a new feature called DoorSense, a sensor that can be installed next to your lock that tells you if your door is open or closed.

With DoorSense, August’s Auto-Lock feature will lock your door to lock once it’s closed, making the Smart Lock even more useful. Previously, Auto-Lock only worked on a timer.

August also slashed the price of its Smart Lock, reducing it from $229 to $149. It’s the second major smart home device maker to redesign and lower the price of its main smart home device after Nest released a cheaper version of its Nest for $169 last month.

After using the new Smart Lock for a couple weeks, the changes August has implemented in the third generation product have made it substantially more accessible to people who may think of smart home devices as a hassle. It’s hard to beat never having to remember to lock your door.

August isn’t completely going away from the circular design that made the company a success — the original design is still present on the new Smart Lock Pro (with all-new internals for a quieter experience), which is now available to everyone after the company announced it back in May for its Professional channel.

The Smart Lock Pro features Z-Wave Plus compatibility which will allow users to integrate the lock with popular alarm and whole home control systems. Like the standard Smart Lock, the Pro is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant when connected to August’s Wi-Fi Bridge, but it also adds Apple’s HomeKit to the list.

There’s also a new Pro-exclusive beta feature called Active Monitoring that will notify users if a door (with DoorSense sensor installed) is left open or when a family member arrives home. August says the feature will eventually let users set a specific time to be notified, like in the afternoon during weekdays when kids get home from school. The Smart Lock Pro will be sold with with the Connect Wi-Fi Bridge for $279.

August is also releasing a Pro version of its Doorbell Cam. The new device features a built-in floodlight that can be triggered by motion, and improved video quality over the standard version.

There’s also a new feature called HindSight that will record video a few seconds before motion is detected, so you don’t end up only catching the last few seconds of motions when you watch the recording back. August says the camera is constantly recording and erasing video, which allows HindSight to add an extra three to five seconds of footage to the beginning of a clip.

The Doorbell Cam Pro is the only product that won’t be available today, but you can pre-order it for $199 from August, with an expected ship date of October 10th. It’s the same price as the original Doorbell Cam Pro, which August says will still be available for a little while longer (there’s a good chance it’ll go on sale soon). All three products will be available in both silver and dark gray at retailers including Best Buy and Amazon.