Are Smart Locks Safe? What to Check Before One Goes on Your Louisville Door

Last updated October 20, 2026 by the Louisville Car Key & Lockout editors. How we research.

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Safe?

A certified one is

Weak spot

Batteries and cold

Prove it

BHMA grade, not a claim

A good smart lock is as safe as a good deadbolt, because the part that keeps a door shut is still a steel bolt. The risks are somewhere else. Uncertified hardware, a battery that quits on a January night, an outdoor keypad not rated for our cold, and an auto-unlock feature you never turned off. Check those four things and a smart lock is a fine choice for a Louisville door.

• Buy a certified bolt. Look for a BHMA grade you can look up. "Tested to" or "meets" is not certification.
• Check the cold rating. Louisville has hit 22 below zero. Some locks are rated for that outside. Some are not meant for outdoors at all.
• Plan for a dead battery. A key cylinder, a 9 volt jump or a USB port. Know which one yours has before you need it.
• Turn off auto-unlock. Bluetooth "unlock when I walk up" features have been beaten by relay attacks.
• Renting? Get it in writing from your landlord first, and keep the old lock.

The page at the top of Google for this question, when we checked on October 19, 2026, came from an Australian lock shop. It is about 850 words from June 2024. It never mentions a lock grade, says nothing about cold weather, gives no numbers and has no idea what a Kentucky renter can do (The Lock Shop). Below is what it skipped, with the maker specs and the standard behind each claim. Every source is linked at the bottom.

The Bolt Matters More Than the App

Most smart locks are a normal deadbolt with a motor and a radio added. So the first question is the same one you would ask about any deadbolt. How strong is it, and who says so?

In the United States the answer is a BHMA grade. The Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association writes the test standards, and outside labs run the tests. Residential locks get letter grades. PCWorld explains that A is best, B is better and C is good, and that each lock is graded three ways (PCWorld).

• Security. How it stands up to force, attack and picking. This is the one to care about most.
• Durability. How long it lasts with daily use.
• Finish. How well it resists rust and fading.

The deadbolt standard is ANSI/BHMA A156.40. BHMA's own summary says it has 17 security tests, one of which loads the door against the bolt with 1,350 pounds of force. Its summary gives 400,000 open and close cycles as the Grade A durability test (BHMA).

Here is the catch most buyers miss. PCWorld points out that a lock gets the lowest grade it earns in each category, that BHMA grades cover only the physical lock and not the keypad code or the radio, and that "meets standards" usually means the maker tested it in house. BHMA calls that kind of wording misleading (PCWorld). You can check any lock yourself in BHMA's certified products directory.

We are not telling you which brand to buy. We are telling you to look for a certificate you can check, not a claim on a box.

Will It Work in a Louisville Winter?

This is the part nobody writes about, and it matters here. The National Weather Service office in Louisville lists the city's all-time low as 22 below zero, on January 19, 1994 (NWS Louisville). That is a record, not a normal winter. But a front door faces whatever the night brings, and a keypad on the outside of it has to keep working.

Smart locks list an operating temperature. Look for it before you buy, and look for two numbers, one for the outside part and one for the inside part.

Schlage's figures come from its spec listing on Ring's support site (Ring support). August's come from its own support FAQ, which says its locks are not designed to be weatherproof and are not meant for outdoor use (August). The battery ranges come from Energizer's datasheets for its alkaline and lithium AA cells (Energizer E91, Energizer L91).

So find out where your battery pack sits. If it is in the inside half of the lock, your furnace protects it. If it is in the outdoor keypad, the cold hits it directly. Read your lock's manual before you switch battery types.

One more winter note from the shop side. A frozen lock is usually water that got into the outdoor part and froze. A smart lock can freeze the same way a car door lock does. Our answer on opening a frozen lock covers the safe ways to thaw one, and the same rules apply to a house lock.

Batteries Are the Real Failure Point

A dead battery is the failure you are most likely to meet, because every smart lock has one. The lock does not fail open. It just stops answering, and you are standing on the porch with groceries.

The makers know this, which is why every good lock has a backup.

• A key cylinder. The plain key still works when the battery is flat. That is why it is there. Keep that key somewhere you can reach from outside the house, like with a trusted neighbor.
• A 9 volt jump. Yale says if the batteries die on its Assure Lock 2, you can use a 9 volt battery to power it (Yale).
• Warnings. August says its app warns you when the batteries reach 25%, then sends daily emails and push alerts as they get close to empty (August).

Battery life is shorter than most people think. August lists up to 3 to 6 months under ideal conditions, depending on the model, and says a sticky deadbolt or a hard door cuts that (August). Our advice is simple. Change the batteries on a schedule, say the first cold week of fall and the first warm week of spring, not when the lock dies. And fix a door that drags. A motor fighting a sticky bolt eats batteries fast.

Can Smart Locks Be Hacked?

Yes, some have been, and it is worth knowing how. In May 2022 the security firm NCC Group published a Bluetooth relay attack against "unlock when I walk up" features. One person stands near your phone, another stands at your door, and the lock is tricked into thinking your phone is right there (NCC Group). NCC named residential smart locks among the systems at risk. Kaspersky's write-up of the same research pictured a Kwikset Kevo as one of the affected locks (Kaspersky).

NCC's own fixes point to what you can do at home. It recommends making the user tap the phone to unlock, and giving owners a way to turn passive entry off. So do this.

1. Turn off auto-unlock or proximity unlock. Tap the app or type the code instead.
2. Install every firmware update. Kaspersky warns that cheap smart devices often lose support early, so favor a brand that still ships updates.
3. Delete old codes. The dog walker from last summer, the contractor, the ex. A code is a key you forgot you handed out.
4. Lock down the account. A strong password and two-step login on the lock app. Anyone in that account can open your door.

Here is our take. A relay attack takes two people, gear and a plan. A thrown rock takes one arm. A weak frame, a glass panel next to the lock or an unlocked back door is a far easier way in than a hacked app. Fix those first.

Keep the Keyed Backup, and Rekey It

Key-free smart locks have one real upside. With no keyway, there is nothing to pick or bump. The downside is just as real. With no key, a dead battery, a broken keypad or a lost phone is a locksmith call.

For most Louisville homes we would keep a lock with a key cylinder, and rekey it when you install it. Some smart locks let you do that yourself. Kwikset says its SmartKey system rekeys in three steps with the current key, a small tool that comes in the box and the new key, and that the old key stops working (Kwikset). Other brands need a locksmith to rekey the cylinder.

Just bought the house? You have no idea how many old keys are out there. Our answer on rekeying or replacing locks after you buy a house walks through it, and a smart lock is a good time to do both doors at once.

Renters in Louisville

Louisville uses the state's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Spectrum News reported in January 2026 (Spectrum News 1). Under that law your landlord has a right to enter for repairs with notice, and without your consent in an emergency (KRS 383.615). A lock the landlord cannot open gets in the way of that.

• Ask in writing first. Most leases say you cannot change the locks without permission.
• Offer a code or a key. That is usually what the landlord wants.
• Keep the old lock in a bag. Put it back the day you move out, and take your smart lock with you.
• Look at a retrofit. Some smart locks mount on the inside over your current deadbolt and leave the outside alone. August's FAQ says its locks work with single-cylinder deadbolts (August).

The rules on who may change locks and when are in our answer can a landlord change the locks in Kentucky.

What It Costs to Have One Put In

Plenty of people install their own. If you would rather not, Angi's cost guide, updated October 2, 2026, gives these national planning ranges (Angi). They are not Louisville quotes from any one shop.

Two tips if you hire it out. Get one total price on the phone, lock and labor together. And if the door was drilled for a different lock, ask whether the new one fits the holes before anyone starts. Our five question locksmith check takes one minute.

Which Smart Lock Fits Your Door

The Short Version

Smart locks are safe when the bolt is certified, the outside part is rated for our cold, the battery is changed on a schedule and auto-unlock is off. Keep a keyed backup with someone you trust. Rekey it on day one. And if you rent, get the landlord's OK in writing and keep the old lock.