Back in March, Nest and Yale teamed up to release a smart door lock to complement Nest’s then brand-new video doorbell . It’s a solid piece of hardware, but it had a curious quirk for something made under Google’s watch: it didn’t work with Google Home or Google Assistant. That’ll change later this week.
On August 29th, the lock will be getting an update that adds Google Assistant and Home support to bring a handful of voice-powered tricks into the mix. Things like:
Locking the door with a “Hey Google” command
Asking Google Assistant whether or not the door is locked
Add locking the door to part of a custom, multi-step routine, like a “Goodnight” routine that shuts off the lights, turns off the TV and bolts the doors.
You’ll be able to lock the door by voice — but, it’s worth noting, not un lock it… because, you know, security. If some rando can shout to lock your door, it’s an annoyance — but if they can stand outside the door and unlock it just by shouting loud enough, that’s a whole different story. Google Assistant has tech to identify users by their voice, but it’s not quite up to the task of playing bouncer at your front door. So no unlocking by voice at this point. Alas, no word on support for any other voice-powered assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa or Siri (by way of HomeKit) on iOS. While some of Yale’s other smart locks support other voice assistants, they’ve yet to make any promises with this one.
