Kevo vs August: Common Features Face-off

Before you proceed with the detailed information on Kevo and August Smart locks, you may want to read our guide on how secure are smart locks? We hope that the guide will help you decide later on if you’re going for it or not. 

Kwikset Kevo and August smart lock have a lot of features in common. One way we can judge these products is by comparing these common features and announcing a winner from each category. This will help you decide which one is better for you depending on what features you value more. 

Installation

Kevo Smart Lock

The Kwikset Kevo smart lock can be a bit difficult to set up, especially if you don’t have experience setting up locks. Setting up The Kwisko Kevo required precise drilling, and you might need to call in a professional to set it up. However, if you know your stuff, The Kevo takes only about 15 to 20 minutes to set up.

Alternatively, you may refer to the manual included with the lock. The manual describes how the Kevo smart lock is installed. If you run into any problems, you may contact Kwisko customer support. They would gladly help you through the process. (1)

August Smart Lock

The August is relatively much easier to install, and you likely won’t need any professional help. The process also takes less time and less equipment. The August smart lock is marketed as a DIY lock, which implies that it’s designed to be installed as easily as possible. The smart lock is included with a guide that has 5 easy steps you can follow to install the lock. All the equipment you need is a screwdriver.

If you have any queries, you may reach August customer support which is particularly helpful.

Winner: August

Although Kevo can be set up without professional help, too, August is much easier to set up and wins this round.

Performance

Performance is inarguably the factor that matters most. After all, the primary purpose of locks is to provide security, and they can be picked using a simple hairpin. They’re not adequate to secure your door.

Kevo Smart Lock

One of the interesting things about the Kevo is that it can be unlocked with touch. This saves the time required to lock the door and may save you from the trouble of finding the right key when you need to get in quickly. The lock can also detect when you leave home and your phone goes out of the Bluetooth range; forgetting to lock a door is not a problem with Kevo. It will lock itself. The Kevo smart lock also has a blue light that stays on when the door is unlocked.

Some cases have been reported in which the Kwikset Kevo would not unlock itself when touched. The Kevo smart lock also uses the proximity of the connected smartphones to verify the user. If the smartphones are not in range, they will not unlock. This limited range is an intended feature because if the range was higher, the door would unlock even when you’re not close, such as when you’re still in your car or in a neighbor’s house. However, if your phone is turned off or you forgot it in your car, the lock may not be able to verify your identity, and it may look like the lock won’t unlock. This extra security may become an inconvenience occasionally. It can take the lock-up to 30 seconds to verify an inhabitant of the house. If the lock fails to identify you, you may have to stay locked out for up to a minute or two. However, you can alternatively use your physical key to unlock the door.

Kevo can easily integrate with other smart home devices such as IFTTT, Amazon Alexa, Ring, etc. However, you will need to purchase the Kevo Plus package from the app in order to integrate it with Alexa.

We had no trouble setting up Kevo and integrating it with Amazon Alexa and the Echo dot. Everything was quite intuitive, and it went pretty smoothly. 

August Smart Lock

The August smart lock is a time-tested best-selling lock that you can easily count on to provide security to your home. If you already have a deadbolt and you’re looking for a smart lock for it, August may be the sighting choice for you since it is compatible with a wide variety of deadbolts.

The August is designed to be integrated with other smart home devices, and it is compatible with most other smart home devices in the market. You can integrate the August Smart lock with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistance, Apple HomeKit, Wink, Nest, Logitech, and Xfinity.

The August smart lock also has auto-lock and auto-unlock features. The door automatically locks after a predefined time of 30 seconds to 50 minutes after you unlock it. You can also unlock it using voice commands via virtual assistants such as Amazon Alexa. If you place multiple August smart locks in your home, you can assign a name to each one, so your virtual assistant knows which lock to unlock when you say, “Alexa, please unlock the toilet door.”

One issue with August is the limited battery. I have August locks placed in my home, and the battery runs out every 3-4 months.

Winner: August

This was a tough comparison. Both Kevo and August are sturdy and adequate at securing your door. But August is much more compatible with smart home devices, which gives it a slight edge over Kevo.

Design

Smart locks are compatible with both modern homes and classic-style homes. They fit easily within the contemporary theme of modern homes, but they also add flavor to classic-style homes. Let’s discuss the overall design of these products in more detail.

Kevo Smart Lock

Kevo looks like a marriage of traditional locks and modern technology–and that’s what it is. Its familiar metal body comes in three finishes, namely Polished Brass, Satin Nickle, and Venetian Bronze. The lock looks just like a traditional lock, except it has indicator LEDs which also give the Kevo smart lock its characteristic retro-futuristic look. This makes Kevo smart lock is a really creative choice for both modern style and classic style homes.

August Smart Lock

The August smart lock looks nothing like a traditional lock, but it certainly looks amazing. It is purely a smart lock and is perfect for modern-style homes, but its minimalistic design also makes it a really good fit for classic-style homes. Whether you place the August Smart Lock in a contemporary living room or a vintage front door, it will only catch attention and contribute to the overall aesthetic of the door and the surroundings.

Winner: Kevo

Both Kevo and August have an elegant design, but Kevo is more versatile in the setting it can be used. There are no specific criteria to definitively judge which one is better designed, so the true winner of this category is the one you like more.

Mobile App

Smart locks are accessed through smart devices such as smartphones and tablets. This makes the quality and intuitiveness of the apps a property worth considering. Let’s discuss the apps for each of the locks briefly. (2)

Kevo Smart Lock

Kevo’s mobile app is quite intuitive and easy to use. It’s a simple yet well-designed app with large font and buttons, which allows you to control the lock with ease. The app works via Bluetooth on default, but if you wish to be able to unlock your door remotely when you’re half a world away (let’s say you received a package and wanted to allow your neighbor in to get or use the package), you have the option to enable WiFi on your Kevo via the Kevo Plus option. Once the lock is connected to your WiFi router, you can access the lock via the internet from any location.

One amazing feature exclusive to smart locks that Kevo has is eKeys. eKeys allow you to grant access to people temporarily according to your specifications. When you send someone an eKey, their phone can unlock the door the same way as yours, and they can come in as long as their keys are valid. There are three kinds of eKeys you can send.

• Guest eKeys – These one-time keys stay valid for 24 hours and then expire.
• Scheduled eKeys – This eKey can be programmed according to your specifications. You can set it up like a 4-hour guest eKey, or you can make it so that it will only allow entry during a certain time period each day. You can also set an expiration date on these eKeys.
• Anytime eKeys – These keys grant the possessor access through your door till you revoke the key through the app.

The amazing thing is that these keys are completely free of any extra charges, and there is no limit on how many of these you can give.

August Smart Lock

August’s mobile app is pretty well built and easy to browse and use. You have to download the app as soon as you install the lock to set it up properly. The app will walk you through the process of mounting the lock and make sure you have set it up appropriately. Like Kevo, August connects to your phone via Bluetooth. You can connect all the smart devices in your home to the lock, allowing everyone in the family access. August also has eKeys which you can manage through the app and grant temporary access to people.

In addition to Bluetooth, the August smart lock also has geofencing, which allows you to set up a much larger unlocking radius than possible with Bluetooth. Geofencing technology uses the GPS location of your phone to determine how far you are from the lock. Once you’re within a particular radius, the door will unlock itself. You can set this radius from as low as 100 meters to as wide as 5,000 meters. Since geofencing does not use Bluetooth, you don’t have to worry about your door getting locked when you go out.

Winner: Kevo

Both Kevo and August have pretty neat apps, but Kevo’s app is much more intuitive, and in our experience, an easy-to-use app serves you better than a feature-rich app.