The Kwikset Halo is disappointing. CNET - Molly Price. This is a lengthy process that can take close to a minute to complete, during which time you can’t do anything else lest you receive a “Syncing must complete before further changes can be made” error. The Halo Touch is designed for doors that are 1-3/8 to 2 inches in thickness. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Kwikset Halo Touch Contemporary Square Wi-Fi Fingerprint Smart Lock No Hub Required featuring SmartKey Security in Satin Nickel (99590-003) at Amazon.com. The Halo Touch worked well in testing. Event logging in Kwikset’s app is robust and easy to understand. The app also connects with Google Assistant—but not Alexa—which lets you unlock the door via a spoken PIN. Use the Settings button to edit the lock name, configure an auto lock delay time, enable or disable lock sounds, and see which phones are paired with the lock. If your finger or the lock itself is wet, the sensor will not work. Kwikset has in the end gotten into the biometrics game with the commence of the Halo Touch tidy lock. Mi n d you, it’s not just a version of the Halo with a fingerprint reader added, this is a lock of a considerably different design—at least on the outside of the house. When the lock is locked, the circle is red and the lock icon is locked, and when the lock is unlocked, the circle is green and the icon is unlocked. At $249 it’s $20 more than the Kwikset Halo was at launch. When you create a user, you can register one or two fingerprints for them. The Halo Touch uses the same Kwikset mobile app (for Android and iOS) as the Halo Wi-Fi Smart Lock. The lock also isn’t cheap. Whenever you tweak a setting, you can only make one change at a time, and then you have to wait for the new setting to be uploaded to the lock (presumably via the cloud and back). Additionally, the lock always adhered to my temporary user schedules. A bar of LEDs appears at the top of the escutcheon; these light up in various colors depending on whether a fingerprint is accepted and when the lock is engaging. Kwikset just can’t seem to shrink its massive interior escutcheon. The Kwikset Halo Touch Smart Lock lets you lock and unlock your door with your phone, voice, keys, and fingerprint. The Lockly Secure Plus and Lockly Secure Pro were going for $279 and $300 respectively, but the Plus includes an entry handle.) Kwikset Halo review: One-touch convenience and old school options. Installation requires the typical, time-consuming steps of attaching a frame to the exterior escutcheon with two thick screws, bolting the electronics on top of that, and then attaching a cover over all of it. It opens to a My Home screen that displays the name of … Part of that is because the Touch no longer has a numeric keypad to take up a lot of space. The door is now unlocked! A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of the Labs technical staff, as well as evaluating and maintaining the integrity of the Labs testing machines and procedures. I removed the sliding cover from the interior escutcheon and pressed and held the A button for three seconds, until the lock beeped and the LED began flashing blue. To call this lock’s design divisive is clearly an understatement, and I think most people will be repelled by it. Wrong code. Here you can also enable Secure Mode, which temporarily disables the fingerprint scanner. The lock suffers from typical fingerprint sensor issues. That said, it doesn't offer fingerprint scanning, so if that and interoperability with other smart devices are a must, the $219.99 U-tec Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro (also an Editors’ Choice winner) is your best bet. Although you can include the lock in Alexa and Google routines, it doesn’t support IFTTT applets that allow it to work with numerous third-party smart devices such as cameras and lighting systems. The fingerprint scanner was also especially effective, fast, and accurate in my testing. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. PCMag Digital Group. Wedging the cable into the small chamber behind the interior escutcheon without it getting pinched by the door is tricky, but with some trial and error I eventually got everything carefully locked into place. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Kwikset has finally gotten into the biometrics game with the launch of the Halo Touch smart lock. Kwikset has finally gotten into the biometrics game with the launch of the Halo Touch smart lock. Once connected, the lock was automatically added to my Alexa device list. In addition to using a fingerprint to lock/unlock your home, Halo Touch allows the homeowner to use a regular key to unlock/lock the door. https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/kwikset-halo-touch-fingerprint-smart-lock, Multiple ways to lock and unlock, including fingerprint scanner. The Halo Touch works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, but it lacks support for Apple HomeKit and doesn't work with IFTTT applets that allow it to interact with other smart home devices. I entered my Wi-Fi password and waited a few seconds for the lock to connect to my LAN and to a remote server. Lock and unlock operations were smooth and quiet, and the fingerprint reader never failed to unlock the door. The Kwikset Halo Touch also works with Alexa and Google Assistant. The interior escutcheon measures 5.7 by 2.7 by 2.0 inches with the cover. As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. It can register 100 different fingerprints from 50 different users. Kwikset's Halo Touch is a simple smart lock held back by an underwhelming app and limited smart home integration. It’s also more expensive than most other biometric locks you’ll find on the market, but not obscenely so (the Securam Touch and the Eufy Security Smart Lock Touch were each selling for about $200 as of this writing. We compare the top 3 smart locks. Also worth noting is that the lock supports Kwikset SmartKey, so you can reset the lock to work with an existing Kwikset-branded key without having to call a locksmith. I found getting everything aligned properly to be especially tricky with this lock, mainly owing to the stiff and awkward cable that connects the two escutcheons’ electronics. I paired the lock to the app, gave it a name, and selected my home Wi-Fi SSID from the list. https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/kwikset-halo-touch-fingerprint-smart-lock Additional settings are limited to enabling auto-lock (with a configurable countdown ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes), disabling sounds, and disabling the small interior status LED (but not the exterior LEDs). Kwikset provided a few of the earliest wise loc. There are plenty of smart locks out there that let you lock and unlock your door using a mobile app or your voice, but very few offer fingerprint recognition as an additional option. The Halo Touch fingerprint smart lock allows you to simply use your unique fingerprint to lock and unlock your door. Tips you, it’s now now not only a version of the Halo with a fingerprint reader added, right here’s a lock of a considerably varied possess—on the least on the outside of the home. Off to the upper right are battery level and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth indicators, and down below are People, History, and Settings buttons. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Kwikset 99390-002 Halo Wi-Fi Smart Lock Keyless Entry Electronic Touchscreen Deadbolt Featuring SmartKey Security, Venetian Bronze at Amazon.com. He then worked for the now defunct ComputerLand chain of PC dealers before joining PC Magazine in 1987. Providing consumers with the best in class fingerprint unlocking technology, the lock is perfect for family members that require frequent entries/exits. It also features one-touch locking and has SmartKey® technology built-in for easy re-keying. After the lock performed an automatic handing process, I secured the escutcheon cover and tapped the plus icon in the upper right corner of the app to add the lock to it. Halo Touch has Wi-Fi built-in that connects directly to your home Wi-Fi network and smartphone for a secure smart home that does not require a … It responded instantly to all lock and unlock requests in testing, and always adhered to user schedules. For the next five years, he was responsible for buying and configuring IBM PC, XT and AT desktops for many of New York's financial institutions. Read more. It’s a sleek-looking lock that's easy to install and offers quiet operation, but it lacks the third-party integrations that you get with our Editors’ Choice winner, the identically priced August Wi-Fi Smart Lock. It opens to a My Home screen that displays the name of the lock and when it was last updated. The Kwikset Halo Touch smart lock uses biometrics to secure your home. It’s a full lock assembly that comes with interior and exterior escutcheons, a deadbolt latch and strike, a mounting plate and mounting hardware, four AA batteries, a pair of keys, and a quick start guide. I already had the Kwikset mobile app installed from a previous review, but if this is your first Kwikset device, you’ll have to download the app. The lock manufacturer first announced its new smart lock at CES earlier this year, and it allows you to skip pesky entry codes and simply scan your fingerprint in order to gain entry. To sum it up, Halo Touch Smart Lock is a tremendous addition to smart lock technology in 2021. The Kwikset 909 Electronic Deadbolt smart lock is equipped with BHMA grade 2 security features and can be used with or without a key. While the redesigned exterior is quite handsome, unfortunately nothing has changed with the interior of the lock, and it remains a multi-part eyesore made of brushed nickel and black plastic. Manual lock/unlock operations are speedy with the app, and a detailed history of comings and goings is kept within the app as well. Hand out codes instead of keys. The Kwikset Halo Smart Lock is certainly the best looking deadbolt of the new electronic locks. New Video! (Note that only 2.4GHz networks are supported.) TechHive |. Related Stories. Kwikset Halo Wi-Fi smart lock review A solid, if rather expensive, smart lock that includes a touch screen and rekeyable key lock By Richard Baguley 20 February 2020 Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning. From there, registering users—and enrolling fingerprints—was simple and intuitive, with each fingerprint requiring only three successful scans to be successfully registered. Installing the lock with the Kwikset app was a streamlined breeze (especially in comparison to previous Kwikset locks), though strangely the lock failed to find my local Wi-Fi network automatically, and I had to type in the name of my network (and password) manually. Kwikset provided a few of the earliest wise locks, Smart locks are the rational next action in the item timeline for numerous conventional lock business. Out with the keypad, in with the fingerprint scanner—and a few other welcome changes to make this lock a winner. To start over, touch the lock button to lock the door. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. Kwisket’s app is fairly basic, but as has always been the case, it gets the job done. Also, the Kwikset App can also be used to lock/unlock as well as manage users and access for the fingerprint door lock. The Kwikset Halo Smart Lock, Touchscreen deadbolt is easy to install, easy to use, and better for security. Freelance Contributor, Our absolute favorite lock with a fingerprint reader, on the other hand—the Level Touch—costs $329 and is not entirely cross-platform (favoring iOS over Android devices). The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. Read our, [ Further reading: The best video doorbells ], Effective operation with a top-notch fingerprint scanner, App mired in lengthy delays every time a setting is changed, Interior escutcheon is still industrial-class ugly. Sony Vision-S electric car hits the road for safety tests - … Your subscription has been confirmed. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Instead, there’s a small fingerprint scanner above a standard keyhole, all placed into a rectangular chassis just 3.5 x 2.75 inches in size. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. He contributes regularly to TechHive, PCWorld, and Wired, and operates the websites Drinkhacker and Film Racket. Using the Kwikset App, you can lock/unlock, program up to 250 user access Tap the People button to add lock users with full-time access, or access limited by date with specific times of the day. New users are easy to add and can be restricted by date or limited to certain days of the week and times of day. I plugged the data cable into the port on the interior escutcheon, attached the escutcheon to the mounting plate, and installed the four AA batteries. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. The Halo Deadbolt is part of Kwikset’s new Contemporaneity line of products that we discussed in our article Door Hardware Design Trends.. Not only is the contemporary design sleek and beautifully designed, but is comes in the newly trending … Mind you, it’s not just a version of the Halo with a fingerprint reader added, this is a lock of a considerably different design—at least on the outside of the house. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Kwikset Halo review: One-touch convenience and old school options - CNET. Dec 14, 2020. Christopher Null is a veteran technology and business journalist. 14-12-2020 20:07 via cnet.com. You’ll notice the difference on the exterior escutcheon immediately. I then installed the latch assembly and the strike plate, fed the data cable through the bottom of the mounting plate, and attached the exterior escutcheon to the mounting plate. At $229, other smart locks are priced better and work better. I already had the Kwikset mobile app installed from a previous review, but if this is your first Kwikset device, you’ll have to download the app. Just make sure that when you load up all 22 bags of groceries as you head into your house, you keep the one-digit that separates you from relief available for a … View on cnet.com. It has a thumb turn knob, a status LED, and a removable black panel that gives you access to the removable battery caddy, two setup buttons, and a programming button. Mind you, it’s not just a version of the Halo with a fingerprint reader added, this is a lock of a considerably different design—at least on the outside of the house. More versatile than your average smart lock. La serrure intelligente Kwikset Halo Touch vous permet de verrouiller et de déverrouiller votre porte avec votre téléphone, la voix, les touches et l'empreinte digitale It’s a stylish lock that's easy to install and offers-whisper quiet operation. Shop Kwikset Halo Satin Nickel Single-Cylinder Deadbolt 1-Cylinder Smartkey Electronic Deadbolt Lighted Keypad Touchscreen in the Electronic Door Locks department at Lowe's.com. The Kwikset Halo Smart Deadbolt’s Design. Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. As with the Kwikset Halo, the Halo Touch is a complete lock system, which means I had to remove all of my existing lock hardware to install it, a job that takes around five minutes and requires a Philips screwdriver. Kwikset’s new $249 Halo Touch fingerprint-enabled smart lock is now available to buy. I tapped Next and the lock was immediately recognized. Set up to 8 PIN codes and a master PIN with this Kwikset … Enter the access code to … The keypad is a hassle, and installing a new deadbolt is a big turn off. Very easy installation, but follow the steps and dont insert the battery pack until that step comes. With the Kwikset Halo Touch, you can lock and unlock your door with your phone, with Alexa or Google voice commands, with a fingerprint, or with a set of traditional keys. Alexa voice commands to lock and unlock the door worked without a hitch, as did the auto lock feature. For that you should consider our Editors’ Choice winner, the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, which also works with Apple HomeKit. The … I selected the Halo Touch from the product list, chose the interactive installation guide (you can also download an installation PDF), and followed the on-screen instructions to measure the door holes to make sure the lock would fit. In the center of the screen is a circle with a lock icon in the middle. © 1996-2021 Ziff Davis, LLC. Kwikset has finally gotten into the biometrics game with the launch of the Halo Touch smart lock. Halo Wi-Fi Smart Lock is a keyless entry electronic deadbolt featuring SmartKey. While the original Kwikset Halo was a garish monstrosity, the Halo Touch is decidedly demure. The retail price for the Kwikset Halo Touch is $249, and of course, Amazon is the best place to pick up this piece of digital home protection. We steer you to products you'll love and show you how to get the most out of them. https://www.techhive.com/article/3597890/kwikset-halo-touch-review.html Touch both to continue. Kwikset. Final Verdict: Kwikset Halo Review. The only major issue I had with the app is how ploddingly slow it is whenever you try to make a change. 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A stylish lock, it comes in a sleek contemporary design (available in matte black or satin nickel) or a curved traditional design (in satin nickel or venetian bronze). Which is our favorite smart lock of 2020? You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. (The keypad Halo was selling for less than $150 on Amazon as of this writing.) Under the hood is a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio and a Bluetooth radio. Then worked for the lock to connect to my LAN and to a newsletter indicates your consent to Terms! Part of that is because the Touch no longer has a numeric keypad to take up a lot space! And Privacy Policy to user schedules shop Kwikset Halo Satin Nickel Single-Cylinder Deadbolt 1-Cylinder SmartKey Electronic Deadbolt Lighted keypad in... Launch of the Halo Wi-Fi smart lock, which also works with Alexa and Google Assistant register different. A name, and the lock to the app also connects with Google Assistant—but not Alexa—which you! 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