I was looking at this and I think it may fit my needs, but I have a few questions.
In the installation instructions it talks about a Wyze gateway. Is this different from the bridge I currently own? If not, can I use the bridge I own?
I am unclear how it senses. Do I have to have bluetooth on my phone? Unless I am connected or going to connect to a particular item I leave bluetooth off.
How quickly does it sense and unlock? I have a detached garage and sometimes I am in a hurry. A key is slower than I want and I have yet to design a fob that will work. I don’t want to have to turn on bluetooth, wait for it to connect, then open my garage door.
The gateway is a Zigbee bridge that comes with the lock and it’s the device that connects to your WiFi to control the lock. It plugs into an AC outlet near the lock.
Yes, you need bluetooth on your phone to auto unlock. It actually uses BLE ( Bluetooth Low Energy) and doesn’t connect as a traditional Bluetooth device that you see on your list like headphones.
As far as speed, in my case I park my car about 70 feet from my door and by the time I get there, it’s open. Some others have reported that it doesn’t open until they get to the door and opens a few seconds later, but I don’t know why. It’s designed to unlock as soon as it connects after leaving and returning from the geofence area.
Edited to add,…In addition to keeping Bluetooth on, for auto unlock to work, you also need to allow location services to be on “always” for the Wyze app. The way unlock works is you must leave the geofence area that is set when you enable to unlock, it’s a circle of a few hundred feet. When you leave that area and return and then your phone connects to the LBE bluetooth (close range) the lock is supposed to unlock. If you do not leave the geofence area, such as taking the the garbage or hanging out in the back yard, the auto unlock doesn’t function.
For auto unlock, yes.
I’m not 100% sure because I leave my Bluetooth on all the time anyway since with newer Bluetooth protocols like BT 5 I haven’t found it to effect my battery life unless it’s actually using a device , but I think with Bluetooth off you can still use the app to lock/unlock from anywhere, still use auto lock, check status from anywhere, and eventually use Alexa to lock/unlock. Also, sometime in May the keypad should be available which will allow it to open with a pin code combination and lock with a button push.
the bluetooth is used for auto unlock and for settings.
for the auto unlock you have to go outside the geofence area. when you are back inside that area that is “key 1” for the auto unlock, then your phone will get within bluetooth range, when it connects with bluetooth that is “key 2” for the auto unlock. without either of those “keys” auto unlock will not work.
settings. to change any settings at all on the lock, it has to connect with bluetooth to change settings. im guessing this is kind of a security thing as you have to be in a certain proximity to change any settings.
note that bluetooth is used for the auto unlock feature. if you are far away you are still able to unlock the door via the app for friend, family or deliveries.
those are the two ways bluetooth is utilized for the lock.
Can the geo fence be changed? This door is on a detached garage. I don’t want to unlock it while in my house.
Can the auto unlock be used without the auto lock? If I am working in garage or yard I don’t want to worry about it constantly locking or unlocking.
I have never enabled Auto lock for that same reason of getting locked out, at least until the keypad is available. , but do have auto unlock enabled, so yes, you can use auto unlock without auto lock.
As far as your garage, the geofence that you have to leave and re-enter before auto-unlock is engaged is fairly large and you see it on the map when you set it up. Mine is approximately 3 houses up the street and I would guess maybe 500 feet. So unless your garage is that far away, it shouldn’t be a problem.
So if I manually lock the door and don’t leave the geo-fence will it auto unlock when I approach? Can I make the geo fence only a about 10’ from the lock?
My thinking is this:
Park car in garage
Manually lock door as I leave garage
Enter house, about 25’ away from garage.
exit house and approach garage
Lock auto-unlocks.
CONS I can think of right away
If I am in the backyard with my phone, I auto unlock door and don’t re-lock it when I go back into house without access app.
Takes more time to establish connection and unlock vs using my key if I set geo fence small.
large geo fence means it will never auto unlock when I approach from my house to my garage.
No, it won’t unlock until you leave and re-enter the geofence and at this time, you can’t change the size of the geofence circle.
I had the same concerns without the keypad available, but it’s been fine for me so far. I’ve been using it since January 10th and mine replaced a “dumb” Quickset PowerBolt lock which is a battery operated keypad deadbolt that has no app or any way to lock or unlock remotely.
I almost waited to install the Wyze lock until the keypad is available for fear of locking myself out without my phone, but it’s been fine for me with auto-lock disabled.
The way I use it right now is to lock with the app when I leave, or in my case using the experimental Beta app, I use Alexa either on my phone or my Apple Watch using an Alexa voice app called “Voice in A Can” on my watch. Then when I go out to the store or whatever and return, the lock is open by the time I get to my door from my truck, so hands free for that.
Once the keypad is available in May, I will be able to hit the lock button on the keypad outside as I leave and use the keypad to enter a pin to unlock the door in case I find it locked without my phone.
I’ll also be able to just ask Alexa to lock the door while I’m in the house without physically going to the door or ask her to unlock it the same way except for unlock she also askes you to speak a pin code so that someone can just yell in the window to unlock the door without a code. I walk with a cane so Alexa is helpful not having to get up if I don’t want to.