The latest variation on the “smart lock”—one that secures your front door until you open it with your smartphone—is here. Candy House’s Sesame adds a few new twists, including an inexpensive starting price (though only for those who snap up the few remaining offers in its Kickstarter), simple assembly and functions that will unlock your door via a special knock or secret passphrase.
The smart locking system launched on Kickstarter Wednesday. More than 570 people backed it on the first day, lifting it to 87% of its $100,000 funding goal. As of writing , the project has 1,100 backers and has raised almost $170,000.
Door, Lock Thyself
Smart locks are not a new concept. There are dozens of options on the market today. As with any new technology, some smart locks are prone to glitches such as jamming or inconsistent connectivity.
Many are expensive, too. The August smart lock, available in Apple stores as well as online, sells for $250.
Sesame, by contrast, costs early Kickstarter backers a mere $90 for its most stripped down model. Those deals are almost gone, though, and once they are, the Sesame will set you back $150. Of course, you can’t get it yet; it won’t start shipping until late April.
Open Sesame
No-tools installation is one of the Sesame’s big selling points, and it does appear to be pretty straightforward. You basically put the Sesame device over a deadbolt latch using a 3M adhesive strip that comes with the kit. You can put it on at any angle, and the company says the mechanism can fit almost any deadbolt in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
Whether you feel good about trusting the security of your home to a gadget that’s basically stuck to your door with double-sided tape is a separate question. Though the upside here seems to be that if the Sesame comes unstuck, you can always use a regular key—though you might be stuck yourself if you’ve decided to leave your keys at home, as the project explicitly urges backers to do.
You’ll control the lock via the Sesame app on your smartphone. That will let the smart lock know who you are and what you’d like the lock to do.
Who’s That Unlocking At My Door?
Sesame connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth. You can also pair it via Bluetooth to an optional Wi-Fi bridge that will let you control the lock remotely from virtually anywhere. That would also let you grant access to others, so you could let in a relative or a sitter without having to hand them a key.
The smart lock also notifies the owner whenever someone tries to access your home using Sesame, whether they’re on the list or not. You also have the ability to store and review log records which document the people that have triggered the lock, and when they did so.
Sesame ultimately hopes to add voice and facial recognition technology as well.
Photos and videos courtesy of Candy House
