> I could not enter my own apartment because my phone was dead
Whenever I hear about "smart" devices as a replacement for something that is safety/security critical (like a lock), the question of what happens when the internet and/or power fails is rarely even considered. Does the lock fail open or closed? Does the door open if there is a fire in the building that damages the internet/power wiring? If it fails open, does that mean someone can bypass the lock by simply cutting the network/power cables outside the building?
There might be reasonable answers to these questions at a large business building that can afford fallback options, but I'm not sure there are good answers for e.g. residential situations.
Residential smart locks I've seen are wireless, with batteries and a keypad, so any networking (zwave, zigbee) or lack thereof doesn't affect that basic operation. And egress is never blocked by anything.
If the batteries die and you need to get inside, you need to have a physical key or an alternative ingress.
Whenever I hear about "smart" devices as a replacement for something that is safety/security critical (like a lock), the question of what happens when the internet and/or power fails is rarely even considered. Does the lock fail open or closed? Does the door open if there is a fire in the building that damages the internet/power wiring? If it fails open, does that mean someone can bypass the lock by simply cutting the network/power cables outside the building?
There might be reasonable answers to these questions at a large business building that can afford fallback options, but I'm not sure there are good answers for e.g. residential situations.