Lockly debuted its new ‘first of its kind’ smart safe at CES 2023. The sensor-packed home safe is loaded with high-tech features, from remote access to a biometric fingerprint scanner and an ultra-secure digital keypad, as well as a particularly heavy-duty build. We have had a chance to give it a run for its money over the past few weeks ahead of this month’s official launch and you can get a full breakdown of what to expect in our hands-on review of the new Lockly smart safe down below.
Build Quality
The Lockly Smart Safe is a little tank. You can tell the second you pick the box up after it has been delivered to your front door how heavy it actually is. Not so much that you, or someone else for that matter, can’t easily move it, but it’s clearly made with a solid heavy-duty construction. The whole thing features a sort of boxy matte black metal build (on all sides) with decorative inlays surrounding the Lockly logo on top. Lockly says it is a fortified 2.5mm alloy steel with corrosion resistant coating backed up by fireproof interior inserts.
It looks clean and won’t become an ugly eye-sore in the home office or wherever else you might have it – it can be mounted in several ways with the included hardware and also comes with one of those tough anti-theft metal cable locks for an extra bit of security.
On the inside, you’ll find some handy document and card slots on the backside of the lid atop the main compartment that’s lined with a soft foamy insert. The lid is automatically opened (using your smartphone, the digital keypad, biometric fingerprint sensor, or the traditional key lock – more on this below) by way of a hydraulic pop up unlocking mechanism. It opens with some serious force and the whole thing feels and looks well done. It’s not going to hurt, but you probably don’t want to get your hand or belongings in the way of the pop-up lid when the safe is unlocked.
Another nice little touch here is the small interior light that automatically turns on when the safe is opened. You can turn it on manually at anytime when the safe is open, but it will automatically shut off otherwise after a couple minutes to preserve battery power.
It measures out at 3.2 inches tall by 10 inches wide by 12.6 inches across from the outside while the interior brings numbers down, as expected, to 2.5 by 7 by 10.1 inches – just enough space for small documents, passports, or other important government-issued IDs and the like. While I’m not the type to have a firearm in the house (or anywhere for that matter) and have no business commenting on the experience of owning or storing one in a safe, it would appear to me there’s just enough room here for one and that the access safety features in place here are sufficient.
Lockly Smart Safe features at a glance:
- Made of fortified 2.5mm alloy steel with corrosion resistant coating
- Patented PIN Genie touchscreen prevents codes from being guessed
- 3D Biometric Fingerprint Sensor stores up to 99 fingerprints
- Lockly app – Unlock, check safe status, track access history
- Equipped with a high security C Grade lock cylinder to prevent technical lock-picking
- Receive open/closed real-time alerts status from anywhere
- Hydraulic pop up unlocking mechanism syncs with interior low LED light
- Secure mounting kit and anti-theft cable
- Type-C 5V Backup Power Supply
- Revocable eKeys & eBadges
Setup
The setup process is about as painless as something almost entirely focused on security could and should be. The whole process took about 10 minutes or less.
You make a Lockly account, create a master password of sorts (not unlike something you would do on an iPhone), and then the Lockly app walks you through the process; allowing Bluetooth access to the safe on your smartphone and connecting to your Wi-Fi network. From there, you simply follow the process of scanning your fingerprint on the biometric scanner (it takes about 1 minute) as well as any other family members/colleagues that will also have access to the safe – the Lockly system can store up to 99 individual fingerprints.
Lockly Smart Safe access options
The Lockly smart safe offers up a range of options when it comes to accessing the safe; the digital keypad that uses the 6- to 8-pin code you create during the setup process, the aforementioned biometric fingerprint scanner, one tap (more like three tap) smartphone opening, or you can scan the tiny QR code sticker on the top of the unit with your phone. There’s also a pair of laser cut traditional keys that are included with the unit for old-school access and as a backup – “a high security C Grade lock cylinder to prevent technical lock-picking and unwanted duplication of keys.”
Digital Keypad
The digital keypad is a unique one. Known as the PIN Genie, it is a patented system accessible via the units front-mounted touchscreen that displays a series of circles, each with a randomized collection of numbers, so even if someone was watching you closely put your code in they still couldn’t guess what it is. It is a simple and effective system that just works.
Patented PIN Genie touchscreen prevents codes from being guessed by randomly shuffling PIN number locations. Up to 37 access codes
Biometric fingerprint scanner
The 3D biometric fingerprint scanner also just works the way you’re expecting. After the setup process – you can store up to 99 different fingerprints – you simply rest your finger on the scanner to the right of the touchscreen display on the front, and the lid pops open almost immediately. There’s not much to say about this outside of it being the quickest and easiest way to access the safe in my opinion.
3D Biometric Fingerprint Sensor recognizes fingerprint in less than 0.3sec, access and grab your valuables in case of an emergency. Assign specific finger that will automatically send duress notification for extra security.
Smartphone and app access
The smartphone access works much the same. You simply open the app or tap the Lockly widget, double tap the screen, and it pops open. No complaints here, it all works as expected. This is also how you can open the safe from anywhere once you have setup the unit on your Wi-Fi during the onboarding process, no matter how far away you might be from the safe.
Unlock, check safe status, track access history, and unique users from anywhere through free Lockly App
Lockly app
And while we are talking about the Lockly app, let’s touch on some of the tracking and status features. Not only can you unlock the safe from anywhere, create new user access codes (fingerprints or temporary codes for “guests”), access firmware updates, adjust audio notifications, and configure your usual set of user customizations, but it also keeps a running access log and users history. The “Log” automatically timestamps and logs every time the safe is open, which method was used to open it, and the user that accessed it. Nothing groundbreaking but certainly a nice peace of mind touch that can certainly come in handy for users sharing access to the safe with others.
While I’m more of a Siri user, the safe can link up with your Alexa smart home gear if you’re looking to access it using your voice. You can open the safe and check its status using Amazon’s voice assistant, but as far as I can tell there is no Google Assistant or Siri support here.
Overall user experience
All-in-all, the Lockly Smart Safe is a great experience. It does what it says it can do with as little hassle as possible and looks great doing it. The onboarding process was straight forward and simple despite the multitude of unlocking and users-specific features involved here – just about anyone will be up and running in no longer than 10 or 12 minutes. I’m having a hard time finding something to complain about to be honest.
HomeKit/Siri support might have been nice for users embedded in that ecosystem, but I for one think the hardware and biometric access just feels more secure. Some kind of proximity sensor that notifies you if the safe itself has been moved from the location you left it might be an interesting feature, but this is a review not some kind of magical wishlist feature and likely something that would increase the price significantly anyway.
The $350 MSRP certainly isn’t cheap, but I can’t help but feel that it’s actually quite competitively priced considering the tech built-in. Sure it would be nice if it came in at under $300, but with the touchscreen display, heavy-duty build quality, biometric scanner, solid 5-year warranty, and bevy of companion app functionality, the $350 price of entry seems fair to me. There are more affordable safes out there in the large drawer size category, but not many that can keep up with what Lockly has on offer here for a price like this.
Pre-order the Lockly Smart Safe (shipping starts this month)
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