Smart lock manufacturer U-tec announced the launch of its first smart door lock with fingerprint reader, supporting Matter-over-Thread. Fingerprint readers are the fastest and easiest way to unlock smart locks, and matter-over-thread connectivity should solve two of the biggest problems with smart locks: poor battery life and poor connectivity.
With most connected locks on the market today, you either get a year of battery life, limited by Bluetooth range and smart home compatibility, or you only get a few months of battery life, but you get it over Wi-Fi. Fi gets all the smart home connectivity. Fei. Thread features a low-power mesh network designed to help extend the life of battery-powered devices, while Matter, the new smart home standard, helps them connect to every smart home platform through a local, secure connection.
U-tec’s new Ultraloq Bolt Fingerprint Matter ($299) should be able to bridge the worlds of battery life and connectivity. Through Matter, it’s compatible with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and more. There are several Thread Matter locks on the market—Yale has a Thread module for its older Assure SL lock that works with Matter, and Nuki has a Matter-over-Thread lock but only works with European locks—but both Neither offers a fingerprint reader, which is a deal-breaker for me.
U-tec will unveil the new lock at the CES 2024 technology show in Las Vegas next week, where it will launch the U home mobile app, a new Wi-Fi mesh smart lighting system, to demonstrate its commitment to… Expansion into the wider smart home realm, as well as two new security cameras.
The company will also show off a new version of its Wi-Fi fingerprint lock that works with Apple Home, as well as a model without a fingerprint reader that supports Apple Home Key. However, these are separate locks; there is still no Matter-over-Thread smart lock that supports both Apple Home Key (Aqara’s U100 smart lock supports both Matter and Home Key, but works over Zigbee through a hub).In addition, U-tec Vice President Clark Ruan said edge Previous versions of U-Bolt locks will not be upgraded to support Matter as they require a different chip.
All three of U-tec’s new locks are full deadbolt replacement locks with six-in-one unlocking options: fingerprint or Home Key, physical key, enter code on keypad, use app, auto-unlock feature as you approach the door You can use voice control via Alexa, Google or Siri.
- The Ultraloq Bolt Fingerprint Matter (Thread) is a matter-over-thread door lock; Ruan said the product will cost $299 and will be available by the end of March. It doesn’t have NFC (and therefore no Apple Home Key) or Wi-Fi, but it does work with Matter-compatible platforms like Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings.
- Ultraloq Bolt (Wi-Fi) will be the first U-tec device to support Apple Home via HomeKit. Ruan said it has built-in Wi-Fi (not through a hub or dongle), will cost $249, and will be available by the end of January.
- The Ultraloq Bolt NFC (Wi-Fi) will be the company’s first Apple Home Key smart lock. It doesn’t have a fingerprint reader, but uses NFC for the home button. Via Wi-Fi connection, it will support Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings. Ruan said the product will cost $249 and will be launched by the end of April.
In addition to the new locks, U-tec also launched new A19 smart bulbs, smart plugs and smart dimmer switches as part of its new Bright Wi-Fi mesh smart lighting system. The Bright A19 is an 1100 lumen, full-color bulb that requires no hub. The Wi-Fi mesh system lets you connect multiple Bright bulbs to Wi-Fi – but because of the mesh system, only the root bulb is actually connected to the router. This means it only counts as one device, so no matter how many bulbs you have, they shouldn’t clog your Wi-Fi network.
Ruan said that the WiFi Mesh version of the Bright A19 bulb will be individually integrated with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and SmartThings at launch. A Matter version (which will add support for Apple Home) will be released later.
Both the new locks and lights will work with the new U home app, which comes with the new U-tec smart plugs ($12.99) and smart dimmer switches ($22.99), which also work with Wi-Fi. It works with Fi mesh network and launched in February. These lighting products will support Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings, and Ruan again said that the Matter version will be launched at a later date.
Finally, U-tec has two new security cameras: the battery-powered Ulticam ($69) and the wired spotlight Ulticam ($149), expected to be launched in June, Ruan said. They come with free local storage, three days of free cloud storage, and on-device artificial intelligence for detecting people, animals, packages, and vehicles. They will work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, but not Apple Home. No word on Matter support here, as Matter doesn’t work with security cameras yet.
