My apartment complex uses Latch. Honestly I figured there'd be way more problems with it than I've actually dealt with. The worst was when the battery in the deadbolt got within 5% life remaining and so it wouldn't consistently lock or unlock with its motor until the battery was replaced; I could still lock it from within my unit like normal.
As long as maintenance crew keeps an eye on the battery and replaces it proactively, I don't really have any issues.
I think one other time it needed some kind of soft reset but that's been it so far in almost two years of daily use.
A couple things I do wish it could do:
1. It seems to have a camera built in but there's no way to look through it on the app. Would be handy for checking who's at the door from my phone.
2. I can only unlock my door from the app. Occasionally I would like to check if it's already locked and if not, then lock it; for some reason this function isn't available.
Sometimes I do wish I had a physical key but I haven't really _needed_ one so far. There are also multiple ways to unlock the door:
1. Phone app
2. Watch app
3. Passcode
Sure you have to memorize the passcode but that's not really a huge deal, IMO.
Note that Latch offers a physical key, which I got when I asked for it in exchange for a $50 deposit, but as my landlord noted, “please use the app occasionally instead of the keycard, so that we can receive low battery reports”.
Which means, as far as I can determine anyways, that Latch uses the app method so that building owners don’t have to deploy wireless AP infrastructure, and can instead externalize all status reporting about a lock to your phone’s cellular/wifi plan.
(It also offers backup PINs, but their keypads are really awful.)
My biggest problem with Latch is the latency. My building switched from old-school key fobs to Latch, and even ignoring the extra time spent unlocking my phone to access the Latch app, once the phone is in front of the scanner communicating it takes multiple seconds to unlock. To say nothing of whether it seems like that reader is having a bad day, and I have to use a different door with a functioning reader.
The old key fob unlocked the door instantly (no noticeable lag) 100% of the time without fail. And I didn’t have to have a spare hand to “unlock” my fob to use it.
I feel like the latency wouldn't be such an issue if they used the native iOS / android features with nfc but not entirely sure. Honestly what I usually do is just unlock it from my phone or watch as I'm reaching my landing (about ten feet from my door), so it's unlocked my the time I reach for the handle.
My complex has been on Latch for about a half year and my experiences are consistent with yours; nothing bad to report so far. (Except one day where the intercom system was out of power or something so delivery people could not call me on it to buzz them in.)
As an iOS user I enjoy being able to say (with phone in pocket) as I approach the lobby door "Hey Siri, unlock lobby" and have it be done by the time I am at the door. I wish this functionality was enabled for my apartment door but it's not, so I still have to pull the phone out, go to the widget, and push a button. As you said elsewhere, Latch doesn't seem to use the native iOS functionality for interacting with locks, so that may be the cause; it's also, as you also said, likely the cause of the latency between requesting an unlock and it actually happening.
Technically yes but the maintenance crew is supposed to be notified of battery life, so as long as they're doing their job they should be replacing it long before that happens.
Also I am able to check the battery level myself inside the app. So if I see it getting low (20%) I can just cut a maintenance ticket and they'll come out and do it.
I've never been truly locked out. Maybe if maintenance and the tenant truly drop the ball that could happen. And of course yes it's an extra step you'd never need to spend cycles on with a physical key and lock. But as said, I haven't really gotten to that point in about two years of use.
As long as maintenance crew keeps an eye on the battery and replaces it proactively, I don't really have any issues.
I think one other time it needed some kind of soft reset but that's been it so far in almost two years of daily use.
A couple things I do wish it could do:
1. It seems to have a camera built in but there's no way to look through it on the app. Would be handy for checking who's at the door from my phone.
2. I can only unlock my door from the app. Occasionally I would like to check if it's already locked and if not, then lock it; for some reason this function isn't available.
Sometimes I do wish I had a physical key but I haven't really _needed_ one so far. There are also multiple ways to unlock the door:
1. Phone app 2. Watch app 3. Passcode
Sure you have to memorize the passcode but that's not really a huge deal, IMO.