A door to the future

If you had said, even a decade ago, that we would all be using our phones to watch TV, listen to our favourite songs while exercising, navigate around international cities and even, ahem, find a partner, there would have been a very good chance that people would have thought you mad.

But here we are, our smartphones have become just that—smart. There is, in fact, very little they can’t do in terms of providing for our everyday needs and now, they can even unlock your front door.

Yale has been synonymous with locks since its founder Linus Yale, Jr invented the pin tumbler lock in 1863. Now, more than 150 years later, Yale has changed how we secure our homes with the Yale Access Kit, says ASSA ABLOY Product Manager, Grace Liang.

“The Yale Access Kit is the latest addition to Yale’s electronic digital door locks and represents a leap forward in home security. We have been working with our overseas counterparts for the best part of a year to get this technology ready for release in New Zealand and we are really excited to be finally launching it.”

Yale offers a range of electronic digital door locks for residential applications—which can be installed on new doors or easily retrofitted to existing doors, in place of most deadbolt and latching locks—and that allow you to lock and unlock the door via a simple keypad touchscreen, proximity card or remote controller.

With the Yale Access Kit, you can go one step further. With a simple push of a button on the app you'll be able to let your family, friends, cleaner, dog walker or the builder in instantly even when you're not home.

“The Yale Access Kit comprises a Yale Access module, which is inserted into the door lock and the Yale Connect Bridge, which uses a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to enable smartphone connectivity,” says Grace.

“Once enabled, The Yale Access Kit can be used to allow one-off, weekly, monthly or ongoing access—you set the level you want.”

“The Yale Access Kit is not just about personal convenience, although that alone is a pretty good reason for getting it, it’s also about added peace of mind as it allows you to keep track of all the comings and goings in your house, which you may be surprised at.

“Activity monitoring allows you to set up alerts to let you know when specific people have entered your home, while the DoorSense feature automatically checks the status of the door and tells you if it’s securely closed and locked.”

The Yale Access Kit also features an auto-lock and unlock feature that you can set to lock the door behind you after a set amount of time from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. Even better, the auto-unlock feature has geo-fencing and will automatically unlock your door when you get within a determined distance from it—perfect for when you return home with the groceries or otherwise have your hands full.

“Another cool function is the Virtual Key feature,” says Grace. “If you have out-of-town guests staying with you, the system can generate a specific pin code, which you simply text to your guests allowing them to come and go for as long as they’re staying with you. No more leaving the spare key under the doormat, or having to worry about lost keys.

“The Yale Access Kit can also be smart-home enabled and works with Samsung SmartThings, Apple Home Kit, Amazon Alexa and Google Home.”

The Yale Access Kit comes with a three-year warranty.

Learn more about how the Yale Access Kit can be incorporated into your home.