The Smart Lock U400 has so far, since release, been a valuable upgrade to my door. I’ve got a long history of trying smart locks over the past several years. From batteries being eaten like candy by the lock, poor connectivity/range, failing gears, to horrible integration in my smart home platform.
This lock has changed all that since I’ve had it up and running for the past several weeks.
Unboxing the lock was nice and easy, it came in adequately protective and neat packaging. As a complete deadbolt replacement, I was easily able to uninstall my previous attempt at having a decent smart lock, and then install the new U400.
I started with the stock firmware, and updated it to the latest non-beta. At the time of writing, I personally didn’t have any issues with this firmware. However, since I’m a heck of a nerd, I enabled updates to the beta firmware. So far it’s been smooth sailing as the dev team has actively been working to fix bugs and improve the lock, as it’s the newest and shiniest lock on the market.
Onboarding to the Aqara app was easy peasy. I hid the Matter setup code with my hand and then scanned the smart start QR sticker on the back of the lock. I was walked through the steps for setting up the lock. Since I have an M3 hub in my closet, I bound the lock to that hub to play with the fully fleshed out features of the lock in the Aqara app. You have access to permanent and periodic codes, auto-lock/re-lock features, volume and voice settings, and a few other neat features.
From there, I added the U400 into my Apple Home to get the full UWB experience. This is what we’ve all been waiting for, of course. Through the Matter/Sharing option in the Aqara App, I was able to easily add the lock to Home. It, again, walked me though setting up the lock for Apple. I made sure to turn on Express mode for my HomeKey in the Wallet. I also made sure to have Approach to Unlock enabled, in addition to the standard Tap to Unlock.
The final smart home platform I added my lock to was Home Assistant. Again, I shared the Matter device and was able to easily add the lock to HA. No hoops that I needed to jump though. Just shared the credentials of the lock and boom. In.
It is really nice to note that even without using the Aqara app, you can fully set-up user passwords and fingerprints for a truly fully local smart home experience. You press the set(up) button on the interior of the lock and then follow the voice prompts. Love it.
In use, I’ve been really pleased with just walking up to my door and having it automagically unlock for me as I approach. It’s worked (almost) all of the time. I have a storm door in front of my door, so I think with a future firmware update we can likely adjust the signal of the UWB to make it more/less sensitive which I really hope will unlock my door a moment or two sooner than currently. Right now I walk up to my door, open my storm door, then it percalates and registers that I’m in front of the door and unlocks. It’s “fine” but I’d like it to ideally unlock a hint of a hint sooner.
Aesthetically I really like the Silver lock for the basic color. However, full disclosure: I reset and returned the Silver lock… in favor of the actually really really nice, just a bit nicer to make a difference, Satin Nickel Deluxe colored lock, currently only available through Apple. And let me tell you, the $30 price difference for a more premium looking and feeling aesthetic lock as well as the spare emergency battery, is worth every bit of those thirty bucks.
Overall, as can likely be told, I’ve had a really great initial experience with the Smart Lock U400. I just hope that with long term use the gears don’t fail like I’ve experienced with my U200 retrofit lock. (so disappointed in that btw, it was otherwise almost perfect (that is until UWB became available))
