Amazon Alexa And August Home Let You Lock Your Front Door With Simple Voice Commands
Today, August Home has announced that one more Alexa skill is coming to the Echo family; one that will enable you to lock your front door using the sound of your voice. The August Smart Lock is now baked into the Alexa ecosystem — to get started, simply say “Alexa, enable August Smart Lock” and the Skill will be added to your Echo’s repertoire. Or if you prefer, you can enable your August Smart Lock using the Alexa app.
“As the first smart lock to support Alexa-enabled devices such as Amazon Echo, we are giving consumers a whole new level of convenience with a hands-free way to control the front door,” said August Home Inc. CEO Jason Johnson. “Amazon Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices have captivated consumers with the ability to integrate voice into the smart home. We share Amazon’s vision of delighting consumers with awesome experiences. This marks the first announcement in an ongoing relationship we have with Amazon.”
But we have to be mindful that these are very cautious first steps for Amazon and August Home with respects to home security. Once enabled, you will be able to lock your door with the following command: "Alexa, tell August to lock my front door." However, for security reasons, you cannot command your August Smart Lock to unlock the door using your voice. The only other command you can use at this time is to inquire about the current lock/unlock status of the door. Regardless of this current limitation, you can at least pacify your obsessive compulsive spouse by doing a quick voice inquiry at night on the front door’s status.
Despite the limited capabilities at this time, we’re optimistic that future upgrades and further collaboration with Amazon will allow this newest Alexa skill to gain unlock capabilities.
“The Alexa smart home category has been tremendously popular with our customers, and continues to grow with great developers such as August introducing new Alexa capabilities, showcasing the benefit of hands-free, voice control throughout the home,” said Amazon Alexa Smart Home Director Charlie Kindel.
The August Smart Lock Alexa Skill is currently compatible with first and second generation Smart Locks.
