LevelLock+ Smart Lock (Satin Nickel) – No Longer Available for Sale

Combined with the firmware upgrade to matter, this lock has been rock solid. Response time is fast. Apple Watch unlocking is great. The only MINOR thing that could be better is being limited to opening their app to check battery level. How about a push notification or battery level available tom3rd party app. Of the many smart home locks I’ve purchased, this is my favorite for traditional look, and Apple home response speed, matter compatibility! Will recommend, will buy again when needed.

This thing left me completely locked out of my home. The install seemed easy at first. It took a little bit to get home keys working OK. When home keys worked, it was nice... however the home key experience was extremely erratic. It only worked ~50% of the time on my watch and iPhone, and it NEVER worked properly on my wife's watch and iPhone after I shared the device with her. The physical key was hard to get out of the lock as well - it stuck really bad.But the real kicker was that when I came home the next day, NOTHING worked. NFC didn't work - the app didn't work via BLE - and even the physical key didn't work... the entire cylinder was frozen. I had to use another door to get in, and I had to remove the lock completely. A slight shift in the lock from use had made it so the bolt and the locking mechanism had come apart.If you want to risk being locked out and having a ton of frustration, this lock is for you. If you want a real electronoic lock, stick with the bigger names.

I had a very positive experience with the Level Lock+ and Levels technical support department. The lock had two biggest selling points. One, that it does not present as a smart lock. And second, it supports Apple Home Key. Usually, I don’t purchase bluetooth-only smart devices because of the limited communication distance. Also, the lock’s negative reviews curbed my enthusiasm about the product. However, I held out hope for the lock to be updated for Matter and Thread support. And once Level announced the rollout of Matter and Thread, I purchased the lock. But it arrived without the upgraded firmware for Matter and Thread support. And although my HomeKit hub is not within the recommended range of the lock, I was still able to successfully configure the bluetooth-only lock and add it to HomeKit. There was no issue using my preferred method of entry, my Apple Watch using Home Key. While there was some noticeable latency, the lock still operated as designed. But the firmware update to enable Thread support greatly improved the responsiveness of the lock as it was able to communicate via the other Thread devices in my home. The only downside is that I am unable to change lock settings when away from home. But this does not change my view of this product. I have been very happy with my purchase of the Level Lock+. It has been very useful and reliable. I ask only that Level changes how it presents battery life. I would like the battery life to be reported in percentages. And to be given the option to configure when and how often to be notified of battery health.

This lock is really good if you use Homekit and don't want a keypad on your front door (Level does offer a separate keypad if you need one). I had been using the original Kwikset Kevo touch with a 3rd party Homekit integration through Homebridge. It was solid, but the API was not officially available to the public and they evenytually made changes to it that broke the intergration... Anyway, my wife really didn't want a keypad on the door and I wanted Homekit integration, so Level Lock was one of the few options.First, the good. The lock is really no bigger than a standard deadbolt, impressive considering the technology within. They claim the battery will last 6 months. We shall see. No tools required to replace the battery, as the deadbolt unscrews to reveal the compartment, very convenient. The Homekit integration has also been solid. Neither door is that far from my AppleTV and just to be safe I enabled the range boost and other than a few hiccups (which I'm not even sure were due to the lock) I've always been able to access them. I guess I should say if you do NOT have an AppleTV (or other approved home hub, I can't remember what else it works with), this is not the lock for you. I guess you could still use it locally over Bluetooth but I wouldn't recommend. Anyway, I primarily use scenes triggered either by Siri or automatically on a schedule and I've never noticed a failure to execute. Also the HomeKey works really great, much better than relying on a scene or action from the Home app when you're actually at the door. I just have a phone but it seems to work great on my wife's watch as well. Overall it really does everything I ask for it, even if it lacks some of the capabilities I had with the Kevo.What could be better? First of all, the install wasn't as clean as I hoped it would be. The plates for the door and frame are NOT standard sizes. I had to chisel out the indent to fit the new plates, both the area AND the depth, as the plate is a bit thicker than standard. In addition, the bolt itself is larger. This may not be an issue for everyone, but the hole in my frame wasn't large enough to fit it, so I had to enlarge that as well. I appreciate being able to change the battery through the bolt, but this was a royal pain. Lastly, I had planned to rekey the lock. But I didn't consider it wasn't a self rekey like Kwikset locks. Further, you have to disassemble the lock to get to the cylinder, exposing the internal circuitry. That last part is what I had issue with; I didn't want to damage it trying to get the cylinder out. I only had two locks so I decided just to deal with it. If I had 4 locks like at my old house, this would have been more of a problem. I'm not sure if any of the other manufactures, except Kwikset, is better in this regard though.Also, I was pretty annoyed that I couldn't see the lock history in the Level unless I was standing basically next to the lock. Even in the living room, just off the front door, it won't show it. I guess it isn't sync'd to a central server. I would guess the new (more expensive) Connect version rectifies this. Also, I found the touch feature rather useless compared to the Kevo, which I was surprised since the Kevo is quite old. Touch unlock is activated only when you come back into a geofenced area for your home and only for an amount of time (I believe configurable up to 3 minutes). I was expecting it worked like the Kevo, where the lock connected to your phone/app via Bluetooth to authorize the unlock. Since this "activation window" drained the battery and didn't work when staying inside the Geofence, I just turned it off. I did appreciate that you could turn off touch LOCK. You do have to be a bit more intentional than with the Kevo (a slight brush of the housing would cause it to lock) but my kids still managed to lock it while it was open on the first day so I just turned it off. As I said, I operate the lock mostly through scenes, so this wasn't really a big deal.One thing I want to highlight though, I am very glad I got the Lock +. If I had to use the Homekit or Level apps to unlock a door when I was standing in front of it, I would have been really annoyed. HomeKey resolves this issue. I may have to take my phone out of my pocket, but you don't have to unlock it or use any apps, just hold it to the lock, and it's fast. Not quite as easy as the Kevo, but perfectly acceptable. I would not have been happy without the HomeKey feature.Overall I'm happy with my purchase. I was surprised a Kevo lock from 2016 did some things better, but overall the Level Lock is a better product (and actually officially supported and works with HomeKit!). It works well with HomeKit, and even though I found the Touch capabilities almost useless, HomeKey takes the place of that nicely. I think the new Connect with WiFi would address some of my issues (activity log in particular), but I don't believe that would have been an essential feature for me. Other than possibly considering the Connect WiFi version, I think I made the right choice here and the Lock + has been able to do everything I needed it to do.