The Schlage Sense Pro costs $399. That’s a lot for a door lock. But it might be the first smart lock that actually deserves the name.
Here’s the headline feature: it unlocks as you walk up to your front door. No code. No tapping your phone. No fingerprint. Ultra-wideband (UWB) handles it — the lock detects your approach based on distance, speed, and angle, and unlocks at exactly the right moment.
And it works. I’ve tested geofencing-based auto-unlock systems before. They’re flaky. You end up waiting at your own door like an idiot. UWB hasn’t failed me once. It never unlocked before I got there, and never after I’d already walked through. It ignored me when I was sitting on the porch or walking past the house. Only triggered when I actually approached the door to open it.
The hardware is clean. Sleek exterior with no visible keyhole — just a Schlage logo and a touchscreen keypad that appears when you tap the LED light bar. It’s Schlage’s first Matter-over-Thread lock and its first without a physical keyway. The interior runs on four AA batteries rated for six months on Wi-Fi or nine-plus on Thread. There’s a USB-C port for emergency power.
Caveats? A few. Hands-free unlocking requires an iPhone 11 or newer with iOS 18.5+, or an Apple Watch Series 6+. Android users are locked out of UWB for now — Samsung and Google support comes later this year via Aliro. You also need an Apple Home hub, which just got more expensive.
But if you’re in the Apple ecosystem and tired of fumbling with keys, this is the best smart lock money can buy right now. It’s expensive. It’s iPhone-only for the best features. But the tech actually delivers on the promise.
