What is everyone doing with their house key? Is that a weird question?

[TheLocNar]

Just get a long lanyard for the key that you can wear around your neck.

 

[david_42]

Agreed.

It's nice to have a 300+ pounds of very loud canines to scare away anyone who might have ideas about entering my house uninvited. Of course they'd also have to avoid the landmines.

Mine total just over 100 lbs, but are very noisy. They also have excellent hearing and will almost always make a ruckus before people ever get to the front door. This can really freak delivery people.

 

[lapolak]

Sincere question: does your home have windows? Glass patio doors? If someone really wants into your house, they are going to get in. You may have opened yourself up to geeky hackers more than dudes with crowbars, but either way you have a risk. My personal view is that a lock has to be strong enough to deter a casual "let me see if the door is unlocked" kind of opportunist, but if someone comes to my house with the firm intent of entering it, I doubt any consumer product will stop them. Find a rock in my back yard and "let yourself in" my patio door!

Agreed.

It's nice to have a 300+ pounds of very loud canines to scare away anyone who might have ideas about entering my house uninvited. Of course they'd also have to avoid the landmines.

Reminds me of a construction worker friend who visited a model home that had vinyl siding. When the agent bragged about the high security locks on the front door, my friend laughed and said, "just give me a utility knife and I'll get in in two minutes by cutting the siding and drywall and reach in to unlock the door."

So many quotes to reply to haha. A sincere answer that reflects just my personal opinion, as I don't want to lunge into a senseless internet debat haha.

Its convenient but my personal opinion is that not everything needs to be connected to the net.

I'm not under any impression that one is any safer with simply a "dumb" deadbolt (dumb deadbolt...what a time to be alive). And obviously I have windows and glass doors. However, smashing one naturally brings more noise which may or may not increase risks as it draws more attention... which is something (most) thieves want to avoid haha.

But my personal opinion is why add a possible vulnerability? If its not going to make your home any safer, why add yet another IoT device that is reliant on software (which may or may not have been well coded and may or may not be further supported), on the security of your home internet network and/or bluetooth connections, and OTA updates (for some of these)? The latter is especially a vulnerability... look at the OTA fiasco with Lockstate which partnered with Airbnb to let Airbnb homeowners install smart locks for guests and had all their locks bricked by a firmware update haha.

This is way too much information but fortunately my house is built in such way that there aren't many windows on the front lower floor of the home and the ones that are present are higher up. So it would really be suspicious for someone to try jumping in through the windows haha. I also have a bunch of Nest cameras (which are obviously more for security theater and post-incident analysis) and am lucky enough that someone is always at my house. So the easiest way to break in is through the front door or side gates into the backyard. My father is a contractor and reinforced the door slightly so that it can't be kicked down easily. I may consider adding a smart lock to the door in addition to a dumb deadbolt.

I just got myself a pure bred German Shepherd puppy (praying she doesn't have the bad hip genes as my other German Shepherd pups did) and hope to get her Prey Drive under control (she attacks oncoming cars haha) and channel it into protecting the home.

I do admit that the appeal of going keyless is tempting but call me conservative... I just eye smart locks with suspicion .

 

[derekmw]

Sincere question: does your home have windows? Glass patio doors? If someone really wants into your house, they are going to get in. You may have opened yourself up to geeky hackers more than dudes with crowbars, but either way you have a risk. My personal view is that a lock has to be strong enough to deter a casual "let me see if the door is unlocked" kind of opportunist, but if someone comes to my house with the firm intent of entering it, I doubt any consumer product will stop them. Find a rock in my back yard and "let yourself in" my patio door!

Love this. I say this all the time too. I know people who put reinforced beams across doors, etc but then have a massive glass patio door. Criminals are not typically that smart...they want a quick grab and go...and if door doesn't open, they'll just go through the next easiest entry - the glass windows/patio doors.

 

[ElectroCat]

My pants have pockets they have always worked as a place to put my keys.

 

[Mishakim]

I have electronic door locks (which are, but don't have to be, automated), and garage door opener (ditto), but the result is I still carry a key: the electronic door locks don't have cylinders at all, so I need the key to the basement door in case both electronic door locks fail at the same time (their instructions specifically pointed this out). But I don't carry that, I hide it in the garage. Now since my garage is detached and doesn't have a passage door, there is a key cylinder in the center of the garage door, connected to the disconnect for the opener. I carry the key for that on my key chain with my Leaf key and office key. But that key is tiny, and I should never need it, so I will probably keep it in my wallet once I get the Tesla, and attach the work key to my ID (till the open-plan fans get their way and take away all our offices).

 

[TT97]

Same here. The smartlock is kept from my Google Home as it is too close to the door and don't want people yelling at it from outside.

Will Google Home unlock doors? My locks are synced to Alexa and I can check the status of the locks or lock the doors but it does not let you unlock (for that very reason).

 

[derekmw]

Will Google Home unlock doors? My locks are synced to Alexa and I can check the status of the locks or lock the doors but it does not let you unlock (for that very reason).

Yeha, I didn't think any systems allow you to unlock currently. I guess if that was a concern, you can just rename your device to something cryptic, like 'Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster'.

"Hey Alexa, unlock my Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster"

I doubt any robber would guess to say that to open your door. lol

 

[gjunky]

Will Google Home unlock doors? My locks are synced to Alexa and I can check the status of the locks or lock the doors but it does not let you unlock (for that very reason).

Honestly, I haven't tried it but will now when I get home. Just figured it was a bad idea to have it listed. Makes me wonder if Google will list the devices for you if you ask....