August Wi-Fi Smart Lock Review

Who the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is for

The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is for the person who wants a smarter door without changing the door. Instead of ripping out the deadbolt, it bolts onto the inside of the one you already have, so the exterior cylinder, the hole in the door and — crucially — your existing keys all keep working. That single design decision is what sets it apart from a lock like the Yale Assure Lock 2, which replaces the whole mechanism inside and out.

That makes it the obvious pick for renters. Because nothing on the outside of the door changes and the original hardware stays intact, you can install it in minutes, take it with you when you move, and put the plain thumb-turn back with no trace. It is equally good for anyone who simply doesn’t want to re-key a household — if three people already carry a key to this door, an August keeps all three of those keys valid while adding the app, auto-unlock and remote access on top. You get the smarts without asking everyone to relearn the door. If you’d rather commit to a full deadbolt swap with a built-in keypad, that is a different philosophy, and we lay the two side by side in August vs Yale.

It’s also a sensible pick for the household that wants to dip a toe into smart-home gear without a big commitment. Because the install is reversible and touches nothing structural, the risk is low: if it isn’t for you, the original thumb-turn goes back on and the door is exactly as it was. That’s a far easier yes than drilling a new hole or paying to have a replacement deadbolt fitted — and it’s a big reason the August tends to be the first smart lock people try.

What it gets right

The retrofit install is the headline, and it earns it. You unscrew the interior plate of your current deadbolt, mount the August body over the existing tailpiece, and you’re done — typically in minutes, with a screwdriver and no locksmith. The bolt, the strike and the exterior you already trust stay exactly where they are. Nothing about the outside of your home changes, which is reassuring both for security and for a landlord who never has to know.

Because the exterior is untouched, your existing keys keep working. This sounds small until you consider the alternative: most smart deadbolts either drop the physical key entirely or force a re-key. August sidesteps that whole problem. Everyone keeps the key they already have as a fallback, and you layer the phone and voice control on top rather than replacing the way the door already works.

The other genuine upgrade in this generation is built-in Wi-Fi. Earlier August locks needed a separate plug-in bridge to reach the internet; the 4th-gen model builds the radio in, so remote lock/unlock, notifications and voice status work without another gadget cluttering an outlet. On top of that you get Apple Home support alongside the usual assistants, which is rare in a retrofit lock. Round it out with the two features that make a smart lock feel smart day to day: auto-unlock, which senses your phone approaching and opens the door as you walk up, and DoorSense, which tells you whether the door is genuinely shut rather than just thrown — the difference between “locked” and “locked but ajar.” Both are included, with no plan attached.

Where it falls short

Three honest caveats, and the first is the one you’ll notice every day: the interior escutcheon is bulky. Fitting a whole motor and battery pack over your existing deadbolt means the indoor body protrudes noticeably — it’s a chunky puck on the back of the door where a slim thumb-turn used to be. It works fine, but no one would call it discreet, and on a narrow door or beside trim it can look like an afterthought. A full-replacement lock hides more of its mechanism inside the door; the retrofit design pays for its convenience in bulk.

Second, battery life is only okay with Wi-Fi on. The same built-in radio that removes the bridge is also always listening, and that constant connection is harder on the AA cells than a lock that talks to a low-power hub. You won’t be changing batteries weekly, but this is not a set-and-forget-for-a-year situation the way some hub-based locks are. If you lean on auto-unlock heavily, expect to swap cells more often, and keep a fresh set in a drawer.

Third, there’s no keypad in the box. Entry is by app, auto-unlock or your metal key, full stop. If your plan was to hand a cleaner or a dog-walker a numeric code rather than a key or an app invite, you’ll need August’s separate keypad add-on. That’s an extra purchase and an extra thing to mount, and it’s worth factoring in before you decide this is the cheaper option. A lock like the Yale Assure Lock 2 bakes the keypad in from the start.

How it fits a smart home

This is where the August quietly outperforms its price bracket. It works with Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home— all three of the major ecosystems — which is unusual, because plenty of locks pick a lane. Whichever assistant your household already talks to, you can ask for the door’s status, lock it by voice, and fold it into routines (“lock up and turn off the lights” at bedtime, for instance). The built-in Wi-Fi is what makes this work without a separate bridge, so the lock joins your network and your phone directly.

Apple Home support is the part worth underlining, since it’s the ecosystem most retrofit locks skip. If your home runs on iPhones and an Apple hub, you can control and monitor the August from the Home app alongside the rest of your gear, without a workaround. For anyone weighing this against a full deadbolt replacement, the ecosystem story is a big part of the decision — see how it lands in our roundup of the best smart locks, where install style and connectivity are weighed together rather than in isolation.

One thing that stays true across all three ecosystems: there is no subscription. This is central to why we recommend locks over so many other connected devices. Unlike a camera or an alarm that quietly nudges you toward a monthly plan, a smart lock’s core job — remote lock/unlock, auto-unlock, DoorSense, activity history — costs nothing per month here. Your real cost of ownership is the sticker price plus a few AAs a year, and, if you want codes, the one-time keypad add-on. That’s the running-cost reality this site exists to flag, and the August comes out clean.

A word on security hygiene, because a lock is the one connected device where it matters most. Use a strong, unique password on the account and turn on two-factor authentication; keep the firmware current; and treat app access and any add-on keypad codes like keys — grant them narrowly and revoke them the moment they’re no longer needed. CISA and NIST both publish short, plain guidance on securing internet-connected devices, and two minutes with it is worth your time for something that guards your front door.

The verdict

The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is the smart lock to buy when you want to change how the door works without changing the door itself. For renters, for households that don’t want to re-key, and for anyone who values keeping their existing keys and exterior hardware, nothing else fits as neatly — and the 4th-gen’s built-in Wi-Fi and triple-ecosystem support (Apple Home included) make it a genuinely capable smart-home citizen, with no monthly fee to run it. Go in clear-eyed about the trade-offs: the interior body is bulky, battery life is merely okay with the radio on, and you’ll pay extra for a keypad if you want codes.

If you’d rather replace the whole deadbolt and get a keypad in the box, the Yale Assure Lock 2is the alternative worth reading — and we put the two philosophies head to head in August vs Yale. But if keeping your keys is the priority, this is the one. See exactly where it lands against the field on our best smart locks roundup.