Expert's Rating
Pros
- Versatile when paired with the new Keypad Touch
- Responsive, with quick logging
- Inexpensive
Cons
- Incredibly bulky
- Tiny bolts make for difficult physical installation
- Encountered some app hangs
Our Verdict
SwitchBot’s new retrofit lock works well enough, but its appearance will be too brutalist for many homes.
Best Prices Today: SwitchBot Lock Pro
SwitchBot has taken a unique approach to the smart lock space: Its first lock wasn’t just a retrofit lock that worked with your existing hardware, it didn’t require any changes to your door hardware at all, affixing over the top of your existing deadbolt with adhesive stickers. This unusual design didn’t make for the most attractive smart lock we’ve tested, but it had a great advantage in that it required no hardware to install and was ideal for more temporary installations because it was easy to remove.
SwitchBot’s original smart lock is still on the market, but the product is now being joined by a sibling, the SwitchBot Lock Pro. While also a retrofit lock, the Pro requires you to remove your interior escutcheon, replacing it with SwitchBot’s own deadbolt system. This means more work for the user, but a more fully integrated, permanent product. (One added advantage of the new product is that the company says the Pro has more than twice the torque of the original SwitchBot Lock.) Note that the lock does not carry either ANSI or BHMA designations.
The lock was always quick to respond to commands, and I found logging to be verbose and quick to update.
SwitchBot hasn’t exactly been known for having an ambitious design aesthetic, and the first thing you’ll notice with the Lock Pro is its significant size. While most smart lock makers are working hard to keep hardware thin and unobtrusive, the SwitchBot Lock Pro is a monster, sticking out from the door by nearly 3.5 inches. To put that in perspective, the four AA batteries used to power the lock are inserted perpendicular to the door plane rather than parallel to it. (Those four batteries should last for about a year, per the company.) While this limits the height of the device, the extreme depth of the lock is almost comical.
The SwitchBot Lock Pro is so thick that its AA batteries will be perpindicular to the plane of the door once the lock is installed.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Installation and setup
The installation process is similar to other retrofit smart locks, with an interior frame that connects to your existing deadbolt and exterior escutcheon via two long bolts, and SwitchBot is kind enough to include two pairs of bolts in the two most common diameters, in case your existing bolts are old or damaged. The frame features adjustable grommets that allow it to accommodate the bolt placement for a wide range of deadbolt hardware, similar to many other retrofit locks today. And three different adapters are included that allow the SwitchBot Lock Pro to interface with the shape of your existing lock’s tailpiece. Again, this is a common feature on retrofit locks that ensures compatibility with vertical, square, or U-shaped tailpieces.
This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks.
Once the frame is attached, the interior escutcheon slips on top of the frame and connects to it via four tiny hex-head bolts, two on either side of the escutcheon. This is the only point where installation gets dicey, because these bolts are tiny—so small that SwitchBot includes eight of them when only four are actually used. That’s because they are easy to drop and impossible to find when you do. Getting them into place with the included Allen wrench is a minor nightmare. The bolts must be aligned exactly or else they won’t engage, and getting all this done horizontally while squatting next to the door frame is a struggle. Even using small Phillips-head bolts would have been a better choice than these awkward hex bolts. A redesign is clearly in order.
Add this keypad/fingerprint reader ($60) to the SwitchBot Lock Pro and you can open the door with a registered PIN or fingerprint.
Christopher Null/Foundry
The last part of installation involves a magnetic sensor that attaches via adhesive to the door frame. This is used to let the lock know whether the door is ajar or closed, though the door’s status is not directly reported by the SwitchBot app.
Like most SwitchBot products, the Lock Pro is a Bluetooth-only product. You’ll need to pair it with a SwitchBot hub device, sold separately, to extend its features to your Wi-Fi network. Because it’s a retrofit product, the only way of interfacing with it out of the box is through the SwitchBot mobile app. SwitchBot’s app works with all of its many products, but the app’s lock-centric features aren’t markedly different than our last look at it two years ago. A large button front and center allows you to lock and unlock on demand, and a logging feature below that tracks every open and close of the lock.
Additional features let you configure a small alarm to sound if the door is left open or unlocked (or both), and an auto-locking system with options ranging from 1 second (be quick!) to an hour. Another handy feature is a separate “re-lock” option that locks the door automatically after a (different) set amount of time. While the auto-lock timer starts after the door has been unlocked, opened, and then closed again, the re-lock timer engages immediately once the door is unlocked, whether the door has been opened or not.
The SwitchBot app lets you customize how the lock will be used, and it also logs every lock/unlock event.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Day-to-day use
Aside from some occasional hanging of the app, I didn’t encounter any real issues with use over multiple days of testing. The lock was always quick to respond to commands, and I found logging to be verbose and quick to update.
If you want to extend the usability of the lock, consider the addition of the SwitchBot Keypad ($50) or SwitchBot Keypad Touch ($60). SwitchBot sent us the latter, which is a new product shipping in June 2024 that allows you to pair a numeric keypad and fingerprint reader combo to the SwitchBot Lock Pro. (The original Keypad lacks the fingerprint reader.) The Keypad Touch is powered by two 3-volt batteries (included) and features backlit, physical buttons (no touch-sensitive features here) that light up when you press one. Beneath this is a standard fingerprint reader. Pairing the Keypad Touch to the Lock Pro is simple, and the app guides you through the process with little fuss.
The SwitchBot Lock Pro is a chunky monkey.
SwitchBot
The Keypad Touch features IP65 weatherproofing and supports a maximum of 100 fingerprints and 100 PINs (10 of which can be “emergency passcodes”). Notably, PINs must be between 6 and 12 digits in length. PINs and fingerprints can be set as permanent or temporary, limited by time or date. PINs can additionally be configured as usable one time only. NFC cards are also supported with the Keypad Touch—up to 100 of them—if you want to offer card-based access.
As with the lock, the Keypad Touch gave me no real problems, though often the fingerprint reader would take a second press to correctly identify me.
I’ll note again that the lock is Bluetooth by default; so, you won’t get notifications or be able to configure any of these features remotely without adding a SwitchBot hub to the mix. A hub is also required to connect the lock to third-party environments, including Alexa, Google, and IFTTT.
Should you buy the SwitchBot Lock Pro?
The $100 asking price for the SwitchBot Lock Pro places it among the least-expensive smart locks on the market today, although I must say that even most bargain basement locks don’t look nearly as goofy as SwitchBot’s when they’re installed on the door. Those with existing SwitchBot ecosystems might consider giving it a try, but I wouldn’t blame you if you only want to use it for access to the basement, well out of sight.
Best Prices Today: SwitchBot Lock Pro
Author: Christopher Null, Contributor, TechHive
Christopher Null is an award-winning technology journalist with more than 25 years of experience writing about and reviewing consumer and business tech products. Previously, he served as Executive Editor for PC Computing magazine and was the founder and Editor in Chief of Mobile magazine, the first print publication focused exclusively on mobile tech. In addition to covering a wide range of smart home gear for TechHive, he is a frequent contributor to Wired, This Old House, and AAA’s Via Magazine.