Are Smart Locks Easy to Install?

The short answer

Yes, for the kind that keeps your existing deadbolt. Mostly yes, for the kind that replaces it. Think twice about the kind that rebuilds the inside of your door.

“Smart lock installation” describes three genuinely different jobs, and almost every disappointed review in this category is somebody who bought the third job expecting the first. So this guide sorts the locks by what has to come off your door, which is the only framing that predicts how your Saturday goes.

Job one: retrofit — the deadbolt stays

A retrofit lock replaces only the thumb-turn on the inside of the door. August’s own product page describes it exactly: the lock attaches to your existing door lock, on the inside of your door over the deadbolt, “so you can still use your keys”. Nothing on the street-facing side of the door changes. The keyway you already have, the key your neighbour holds, the strike plate on the frame — all untouched.

That is why August publishes a compatibility list of deadbolts rather than a door specification: the fit question is about your existing hardware, not your door. Check your deadbolt brand against the list before ordering, which takes two minutes and prevents the single most common return in this category.

The practical consequences are large. It is the only install here a renter can do and reverse with no trace. It is the only one that keeps your existing keys working for people who already have one. And it is the easiest to undo if you decide a smart lock is not for you after a month. The trade-off is that there is no keypad in the box by default — the August lock we list is the Wi-Fi Smart Lock paired with a Keypad Touch for exactly that reason, because a lock with no keypad means a dead phone is a locked door.

Job two: deadbolt replacement — the usual job

This is what most people mean by installing a smart lock, and it is the one the industry is built around: the old deadbolt comes out of the hole in the door, the new one goes in. Interior assembly, exterior assembly, bolt, a few screws, batteries.

Two published facts set the boundaries. Yale states that the Assure Lock 2 replaces deadbolts on standard US and Canada entryway doors, with an adaptor included for small bore holes — which tells you both that a standard door is expected and that Yale has already met the most common fitting problem and shipped the answer in the box. Schlage states that the Encode Plus has built-in WiFi with no additional accessories, which removes a second installation step a lot of locks still require: no bridge to position, no hub to pair, no second power socket to find.

Where this job turns from easy into a project is when the door is not standard. A metal door, a multipoint mechanism, a bore hole in the wrong place, a frame whose strike plate has to move — any of those and you are drilling a front door, which is the point at which we would stop and pay somebody. Measure your door thickness and check the existing bore against the lock’s published range before you buy, not after.

Job three: full replacement — think twice

The third kind replaces everything, including hardware that is visible or structural. The Level Lock+ is the clearest example in our registry: its entire appeal is that it is invisible, with the components inside the door, which necessarily means the install is more involved than bolting a keypad to the outside. That is not a criticism of the lock — it is a beautiful piece of design and we recommend it to the right person in Level vs Schlage — but it is the install to be clear-eyed about.

The same caution applies to any lock that changes the handle set as well as the deadbolt, and to fingerprint locks whose exterior escutcheon is larger than what it replaces. On the Wyze Lock Bolt, the published caution is different and worth stating: it is a keypad-and-fingerprint deadbolt at the cheap end of the aisle, and the registry note on it tells you to check the variant for a backup physical key — a lock with no keyway changes what happens on the day the batteries die, which we cover in do smart locks work without power?

What to check before you order

Five checks, in the order that saves you the most time:

1. Is there already a deadbolt hole? If yes, you are in job one or job two. If no, you are drilling a door and should price a locksmith into the decision.

2. Do you want the outside of the door to change? If the answer is no — a rental, a period door, a landlord — retrofit is the only honest option.

3. Is there a keypad in the box? A phone-only lock means a flat battery is a locked-out family. Yale’s touchscreen version and Schlage’s Encode Plus have the keypad built in; the August needs its Keypad Touch, which is why we list the bundle.

4. Is the Wi-Fi in the lock or in a box you buy? Schlage publishes built-in Wi-Fi with no additional accessories. Yale states that Bluetooth is on all Assure Lock 2 products while the Wi-Fi module upgrade is required for remote access and additional voice and smart home integrations. Both are fine; only one of them is one purchase.

5. What happens when the batteries die? Yale states that the lock is battery powered so you keep access during a power outage, and that “if the batteries die, you can always dig out your back-up key (included)”. Schlage publishes four AA cells with up to six months of typical use, a low-battery indicator on the lock touchscreen and in the app, and one physical backup key on a 5-pin C keyway. The August leaves your keyed cylinder entirely alone, which is the most elegant answer of the three.

The three installs, side by side

The three we would fit, for the three different doors

These are the picks from our main lock ranking that match the three jobs above — chosen on the published fitting information in the table, not on a test we did not run.

The part that actually takes the time

Here is the thing nobody puts in an installation guide: on a normal door, the screwdriver work is the short half. The long half is the app. An account, a Bluetooth pairing, a Wi-Fi join, a firmware update that arrives the moment you finish, a calibration cycle, then codes for everyone in the house and a decision about auto-lock timing.

Do all of it with the door open, in daylight, with the old lock still on the bench. Lock and unlock ten times from the keypad, from the app and with the key before you consider the job done, and only then put the old hardware in a box rather than the bin. If auto-lock is on your list, read do smart locks lock automatically? before you set the timer — the difference between a timer and a lock that knows the door is actually shut is the difference between a secure door and a bolt thrown into fresh air.

And if the install question is really a “should I bother” question in disguise, the honest version of that conversation is in are smart locks worth it? No monthly fee is involved either way — smart locks do not require a subscription, which is the one genuinely good piece of news in this entire category.