The Complete Smart Door Lock Buying Guide

A smart door lock is not one product. It is five quite different products that happen to share a keypad, and the difference between them is the door they go on, not the features they list. This guide covers all five, what separates them, and how to land on the right one without measuring the wrong thing first.

It runs long on purpose. If you want the short version: work out which of the five types matches your door, check the four measurements, and check whether your door needs a weather rating. Those three decisions eliminate about 80% of the catalogue and almost all of the returns.

What a smart door lock actually replaces

Underneath the electronics, a smart lock is still a mechanical lock. It has a bolt or a latch that goes into the door frame, a spindle that the handle turns, and usually a cylinder for a mechanical key. The electronics decide when the mechanism releases; they do not replace it.

That matters for two reasons. First, it means a smart lock has to physically match the hole already cut in your door, which is why measurement dominates this category. Second, it means every lock in our range still has a mechanical key override, because a lock with no manual way in is a lock that eventually strands you.

What you actually gain is the removal of the key as the single point of access. Instead of one physical object that everyone in the household shares, loses and copies, you get a list of people, each with their own way in, each revocable without touching the lock.

The six ways to open a door

Every lock we sell supports at least four of these. Which ones you will actually use daily is worth thinking about before you buy, because it changes which model suits you.

Fingerprint

The one people use most. A semiconductor sensor reads the ridge pattern and releases in well under a second — the push/pull models publish 0.1 seconds or less, the lever models under half a second. In practice the difference is imperceptible; what matters is the false-rejection rate on wet or cold hands, which is where every capacitive and semiconductor sensor struggles.

Capacity ranges from 50 prints on entry models to 200 on the push/pull range. For a household that is irrelevant. For a small office or a share house it is not.

Keypad code

The fallback that always works, and the only method you can hand to someone over the phone. Look for anti-peep or virtual password support: it lets you pad your real code with random digits at either end, so anyone watching over your shoulder learns nothing useful. Our locks support up to 16 digits of padding.

RFID card or fob

Tap and go. Genuinely useful for people you would rather not give a code to — a cleaner, a dog walker, a tenant. Cards are trivially revocable in the app, and most of our locks ship with two.

Phone app

Two different things get called this. Bluetooth unlocking works when you are within a few metres of the door and needs nothing but the app. Remote unlocking — from work, from another country — needs the lock to reach the internet, which on most models means buying a gateway. The exception in our range is the camera lock, which has Wi-Fi built in.

Mechanical key

Every lock here ships with two. Keep one somewhere that is not inside the house. This is the method you will use once in five years and be extremely glad exists.

Face recognition

Only on the flagship. You walk up, it opens. It reads depth rather than a flat image, which is what defeats a photograph. Heavy rain, harsh backlight and a full face covering will all send you to the fingerprint reader — that is true of every face-unlock lock on the market, not a defect of this one.

The five types, and who each one suits

This is the decision that matters most, and it is made by your door rather than your preferences.

Lever handle locks

What most Australian, British and European homes already have on a hinged door: a lever you push down, driven by a tubular latch. Replacing one with a smart equivalent is usually a drill-and-swap job rather than a rebuild, which is why this is where most people start and why it is the cheapest way into the category.

Two in our range. The doorbell model at $349.99 lets you pick your latch — 60 mm, 70 mm, or an adjustable 60–70 — and adds a doorbell button. The adjustable-latch model at $399.99 puts the adjustable latch in the box so there is no wrong option to order, and handles nine administrators and 291 users, which matters in a share house or a small office. Neither carries a weather rating.

Push/pull handles

You lean on the handle going out and pull it coming in. No turning at all. It sounds like a small thing until you arrive at the door with an armful of shopping or you have arthritis, at which point it is the single biggest usability difference in the whole category.

All four models are rated IP66, which makes this the range to look at if your entry door catches weather. They come as a long handle for full-width timber and framed glass, and a short handle for narrow aluminium stiles and sliding doors, each in black or silver at $494.99.

Sliding doors specifically

A sliding door needs a hook bolt. A straight bolt slides sideways into the jamb, and on a door that runs on a track there is nothing for it to slide into — it will not hold. A hook bolt swings out and grips. The short-handle models in the push/pull collection offer hook-bolt mortises at 28 mm and 35 mm backsets, which is the combination a slider actually needs.

Camera locks

A lock and a video peephole in one panel. Someone knocks, your phone shows you who, and you decide what happens next. The camera lock at $539.99 has Wi-Fi built in, so it works remotely with no gateway to buy — unusual at this price.

The catch is fitment: it uses a 22 mm backset, which is a narrow aluminium stile, not a standard timber door. Read that twice before ordering.

Face recognition

The flagship at $894.99 adds 3D facial recognition, a screen, a camera and a two-way video intercom. It uses a 6068 mortise — a 60 mm backset, the standard on hinged timber doors — but starts at 40 mm door thickness, and a great many entry doors are 35 mm. Thickness, not backset, is what rules this one in or out.

Outdoor and gate locks

The door most smart lock ranges quietly skip. The gate lock at $354.99 is rated IP66 with the motherboard potted in waterproof resin, and has a fingerprint reader on both sides — on a gate that matters, because you are not fishing for a key to get back out of your own yard. Its panel is 34 mm wide, narrow enough for a typical steel or aluminium gate upright.

Every lock we sell, compared

Nine products, five types. Read the backset and thickness columns first — they decide what is possible. Everything else is preference.

Prices are in Australian dollars across every market we serve. Shipping is free to all three countries with no minimum spend.

Will it fit? The four measurements

This is where returns come from, so it gets its own full guide with diagrams. The short version is four numbers.

Reading the mortise codes

On the push/pull and sliding range every option carries a four-digit code. It is a measurement, not a style name: backset then centres. 6085 is a 60 mm backset with 85 mm between the spindle and the cylinder.

If your tape reads 45 or 50 mm you have a European fitting, and most lever locks will not go on it — the 4585 option in the push/pull range will.

Apps, gateways and voice control

Our range runs on two ecosystems, and the difference is worth understanding before you buy.

What a gateway is, and whether you need one

A gateway is a small box you plug in near the door. It bridges the lock's Bluetooth to your home Wi-Fi. Without one, the app works only when you are within a few metres of the lock. With one, you can unlock remotely, issue codes from anywhere, read the access log and add voice control.

It costs around a hundred dollars and needs a power point. The camera lock is the exception — Wi-Fi is built in, so remote access works out of the box.

Weather ratings, and why most locks fail outdoors

An IP rating is two digits. The first is dust, the second is water. IP66 means dust-tight and protected against powerful water jets from any direction — not a splash, actual weather.

Most smart locks carry no published rating at all, including five of ours. That is not a scandal; it reflects what the category is. A smart lock is a circuit board in a metal case, and manufacturers that have not tested to an IP standard should not claim one.

The practical rule: if there is nothing above your door, buy from the left column. If there is an eave, a porch or a roof overhang, the right column is open to you and gives you more choice for less money.

One caveat worth stating plainly: IP66 is a weather rating, not a security rating. It says nothing about how hard the lock is to force.

Power, batteries and getting in when they die

Every lock here runs on AA alkaline cells — typically four — with no wiring and no electrician. The exception is the face recognition model, which uses a built-in rechargeable battery.

Expect around twelve months of normal household use on the models that publish a figure. Heavy traffic, very cold weather and a constant Wi-Fi connection all shorten it. Every lock warns you well before the batteries go — act on the first warning rather than the fifth.

When they die anyway

Two ways in. Every lock ships with two mechanical keys; keep one somewhere sensible that is not inside the house. And most models have a USB emergency port on the outside face — touch a phone power bank to it and the keypad wakes up long enough to let you in.

Note that the push/pull range does not include batteries in the box. Buy a set with the lock so you are not stuck on installation day.

What a smart lock does and does not secure

Worth being blunt, because the marketing in this category rarely is.

What it genuinely improves

• Key control. No uncontrolled copies, no key under the mat, no rekeying when a tenant leaves.
• Auditability. You can see who opened the door and when — which resolves arguments as often as it catches problems.
• Revocation. Removing one person's access takes seconds and does not disturb anyone else's.

What it does not change

• The door and frame. A smart lock on a hollow door in a soft frame is a smart lock on a hollow door in a soft frame.
• The strike plate. Long screws into the stud do more for your security than any feature on this page.
• Glass beside the door. If someone can reach the inside handle, none of this matters.

Buy the lock for convenience and control, and spend a separate hour on the frame. The two are not substitutes.

Giving other people access

This is the feature that changes daily life most, and it is worth setting up properly on day one.

All of this lives in the app. TTLock's guest-access tools are the stronger of the two ecosystems here, which is worth weighing if short-stay letting is your main reason for buying.

Fitting it yourself, or not

If you are replacing a like-for-like lock and your existing hole already matches the backset, this is a DIY job: a drill, a screwdriver and the supplied template, usually under an hour. Every lock ships with instructions and all the hardware.

Get a locksmith if you are cutting a fresh hole, changing mortise size, or the latch pocket needs deepening. It is an hour of their time and the result will be square. Send us your postcode and we will point you to someone local.

Two details that catch people out. Handing is not one of them — every lock we sell is reversible, so there is no left or right version to order. Strike plates sometimes are: door jambs are often already cut for a different strike, and the supplied one may need a small adjustment with a chisel.

Where a smart lock does not belong

Two more, less dramatic but worth knowing. Security screen doors have a very narrow stile and need a dedicated lock — we do not currently stock one, and we would rather say so than sell you something that does not suit it. And fully exposed gates need the IP66 model specifically; the rest of the range will not survive it.

Certification, and what we can prove

Our products are manufactured overseas and carry the certifications their manufacturers hold — typically CE, FCC or RoHS, which are European and American marks. Each product page states which, and one model publishes none at all, which we say on its page rather than hiding.

If you need compliance documentation for a strata or apartment building, an insurer, a rental agreement or a commercial fit-out, email us before you order. We will tell you honestly what we can and cannot supply for a given model. That is a better outcome than finding out after it is on your door.

More on who we are and how we describe things on our about page.

How to choose in five minutes

1. Is your door exposed to rain? If yes, you are choosing between the gate lock and the IP66 push/pull range, and nothing else. If no, continue.
2. Does it slide? If yes, you need a hook-bolt short handle. If no, continue.
3. Measure the backset. 60 or 70 mm means a standard hinged door and the lever range is open to you. 22 to 45 mm means a narrow or European fitting — look at the camera lock or the push/pull mortise options.
4. Measure the thickness. Under 40 mm rules out the face recognition model.
5. Now pick on features. Doorbell, camera, intercom, face unlock, user count. This is the only step where preference matters, and it is deliberately last.

Browse all nine smart door locksFiltered by door type, with a backset calculator on every product page Open the sizing guideThe four measurements with diagrams, mortise codes decoded, and 23 detailed answers

Questions we get asked

Fitting and measurement questions live in the sizing guide; delivery, returns and warranty in the FAQ. These are the ones that fall between the two.

Is a smart lock actually more secure than a key?

Differently secure. It removes the risks a key carries — copies you did not authorise, a key under the mat, a departing tenant who kept one — and it gives you a log of who opened the door and when. It adds risks a key does not have: flat batteries, and a keypad someone can watch you use.

On raw physical resistance, a smart lock is as strong as the bolt and the door frame it sits in, which is to say: the same as the mechanical lock it replaced. Nothing about the electronics makes the timber around it stronger.

Can someone hack it?

The realistic attack on a residential smart lock is not cryptographic, it is watching you type your code, or forcing the door. Use the anti-peep padding, and put your effort into the frame and the strike plate rather than worrying about the radio.

Our locks use AES-128 on the wireless link where the manufacturer publishes it. Neither TTLock nor Tuya is a hardened enterprise platform, and if you need one, this is not the price bracket for it.

What happens in a power cut?

Nothing. These are battery locks — no mains, no wiring, no electrician. A power cut does not affect them at all. Only the gateway stops working, so remote unlocking pauses until power returns; the lock itself carries on.

Will the fingerprint reader work with wet hands?

Less reliably, like every capacitive and semiconductor sensor on the market. That is what the keypad code is for. If your door is somewhere hands are routinely wet, weight your decision towards a model whose keypad you like using.

Can I still use my old key?

No — the lock comes with its own cylinder and its own keys. If you want your existing key to keep working on other doors in the house, they are unaffected; only the door you fit the smart lock to changes.

How many people can I give access to?

Depends on the model. Entry-level locks hold around 50 fingerprints; the push/pull range holds 100 fingerprints, 100 cards and 50 codes; the adjustable-latch lever handles 9 administrators and 291 users. For a household any of them is ample. For an office or a rental, check the number.

Do I need Wi-Fi at the door?

Only if you want remote access. Bluetooth models work perfectly well with no network at all — you just have to be near the door. Add a gateway, or choose the camera lock with built-in Wi-Fi, if you want to open the door from somewhere else.

What if I move house?

Take it with you, if the new door matches the measurements. Reset it in the app, remove all fingerprints and codes, and refit. That is a genuine advantage over a rekeyed mechanical lock.

Are these suitable for a rental property?

Yes, and it is one of the better use cases — time-limited codes for tenants and tradespeople, no key handover, no rekeying between tenancies. Check with your building manager first if you are in a strata or apartment building, and see the certification note above.

How long does delivery take?

Processing takes 1 to 3 business days, then 7 to 10 business days in transit. Free to all three countries we serve. Full detail in the shipping policy.

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