The Latest Smartphone App Can Unlock Your Front Door

Elle Decor
Courtesy of August
Courtesy of August

Our smartphones already moonlight as cameras, notepads, and maps. Now, they can double as house keys. Designer Yves Behar and tech entrepreneur Jason Johnson have teamed up to create August, a fixture that is installed on your existing deadbolt and allows users to lock and unlock the door remotely. Better yet, if house guests or contractors are due to come by, you can schedule blocks of time where their phones, via the August app, lend them access as well.

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Behar and Johnson set out to "make home entry magical, safer than keys or keypads, something that makes our lives a little better," as Behar puts it, and crafted the lock from anodized aluminum, with LEDs that light up in red or green when guests approach.

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The app has a clean, user-friendly design, with alerts that tell you when guests come and go, and the ability to leave notes, a sort of virtual guestbook for visitors.

Pre-orders for the $199 lock start today, and the product will be available in November.

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