Review: Loqed Touch Smart Lock – A Keyless entry

In recent weeks we have started working with the Loqed Touch Smart Lock. This smart lock from the Netherlands does a number of things differently from other smart locks. This way you no longer need any keys at all, not even as a backup. The keyhole has disappeared completely.

What is it?

Loqed is a new smart lock from the Netherlands. Started as a crowdfunding project, the products have now been sent to all supporters of the project. From the end of February 2021, Loqed will be available from stock for 349 euros. According to Loqed, this is the most secure smart lock on the market. For example, they use the same 256-bit encryption as banks and the encryption key is only on your phone. The Loqed Touch Smart Lock is also SKG three-star certified.

You operate the smart lock via the Loqed app. This allows you to lock and unlock the door remotely. However, there are more options to enter. Where the keyhole used to be, we now find a small display with touch function. If you are standing with your phone (with encryption key) on the outside in front of the door, the display will show ‘Touch to Open’ and you briefly press the bottom of the display with your thumb. The door unlocks and you can enter. The smart lock has an indoor and outdoor sensor and knows where you are. The lock will never accidentally open when you enter through the back door.

So you can open Loqed remotely via the app, but you can also set a six-digit access code. This allows people to enter who do not have the app on their phone or if the battery of your own phone is empty. You enter this access code on the display. Please note that when the keypad is active, SKG’s three-star certification will lapse. This is good to know about insurance issues, so always be careful with this feature.

The smart lock works on batteries that should last about a year. You will receive a timely warning when you need to replace the batteries. Are the batteries still empty? You can always enter via the emergency power connection. On the outdoor module with the display there are two pins to which you can hold a 9-volt battery. Then enter the six-digit access code or use the app to enter.

Touch to Open only works if you have been a few hundred meters from your home. The geofencing function is therefore present and only works if you have been at least 500 meters from your house for 10 minutes. So if you walk to the underground waste container to take away waste and then back again, Touch to Open will not work. I haven’t been far enough from home for that. Will you let the dog out for a short walk? Then it doesn’t work either. Would you like to accompany your visitors to the car? Would you like to pick up something from the shed? Do you want to pick up the mail from the letterbox? All activities that take place around the house are a limitation, because Touch to Open will not work.

And that is a downside. So if you want to go inside now, you have to take out your smartphone and unlock the lock via the app. Or you use the six-digit access code on the display (if enabled). Loqed acknowledges the issues reported by multiple users. The company is working on a possibility to disable geofence with the minimum distance. As a result, these problems must be solved in the future and you can easily enter again via Touch to Open when you leave the house for a short time.

The six-digit access code also works with two arrows. One arrow selects the number and the other arrow selects the selected number and goes to the next number of your access code. It works fine, but takes a lot of time. More time than it takes to turn the key in an old-fashioned lock and open the door. It is, however, a handy way to let in someone who does not have a digital house key.

Indoor and outdoor sensor

In recent years we have tested various smart locks at the editorial office. Many smart locks open automatically as soon as you are near the lock. For example, a smart lock has sometimes been unlocked when someone came by, but was not on their way home. That is of course not the intention. And neither will you with Loqed. There is an auto unlock beta feature in the app to set this up, but you don’t need to use it. With Toch to Open, an action is always required and the lock will not open when this is not the intention. And that is a nice sensation.

Loqed has an indoor and outdoor sensor. If you carry your phone in your pocket and you are on the outside of the door, Touch to Open will appear and you can unlock the door. If your phone is located just behind the front door on the inside, it should not be possible for someone else to see the Touch to Open function and open your front door. This must be stopped by means of the indoor and outdoor sensor. And that appears to work well. We kept the smartphone with encryption key right behind the door in every possible way. And you will not be able to see the Touch to Open option on the outside. So that works well. If the phone is on the outside of the lock, it works immediately. And that is exactly how it is supposed to work.

Via the option ‘My Lock’ under ‘Keyring’ you can see the battery status of the lock and the connection to the bridge. Another option you will find here is ‘Rope from the letterbox’. With this function, anyone can open the door with a touch on the display. Handy for parties where you expect a lot of people or with children playing outside, although some caution with this function makes sense. You can also set here that the door should be locked automatically when it closes. You can also set time schedules for locking or unlocking the door. For example, do you have an interior attendant on a fixed day of the week? You can set it so that he or she can only come in during these working hours. So you no longer have to hand out physical house keys.

The ‘Activity Log’ keeps you informed of all activities related to the lock. If desired, you can also receive notifications from this. This way you know exactly which family member has come home. The app is an excellent support for the Loqed Touch Smart Lock and has all the functions on board that you could wish for.

It must be said that Loqed has been well thought out. Despite the fact that you can no longer use a key at all, there is no way you can no longer come into the house. Lost your phone or battery empty? Use the keypad. Batteries in the lock empty? Use a 9-Volt battery on the outdoor module and then the keypad or the app. It is of course mainly the idea that you no longer need house keys that you have to get used to. And during the past period I have not experienced any strange things with the Loqed Touch Smart Lock. Everything works as it should.

Yet such a smart lock is not for everyone. A smarthome stands for convenience and comfort. You will find that partly at Loqed. Touch to Open is the way to unlock the lock, but is limited by the aforementioned geofencing with a minimum distance of 500 meters for ten minutes. If you stay in here, you have to take your phone out of your pocket and open the lock or use the keypad via the app. Both ways take longer than just putting a key in the lock and opening the door. In addition, the motor also takes a few seconds to open the lock. That is logical, of course, but that is also not as fast as opening the lock manually with a key.

It is of course entirely up to you how disturbing you find this. If you have been further from home, then just touching the display to open the door is incredibly easy. Much easier than a key will ever be.

Conclusion

The Loqed Touch Smart Lock really does it differently from other smart locks. You no longer need backup keys, because there is no keyhole in your door at all. You really replace the cylinder and the Loqed is therefore not a smart lock that you place over your existing house key and cylinder. Yet you can always go back in. And that gives a nice feeling.

In addition, a smart lock has a greater threshold than other smart home equipment. After all, it is your ‘whole having and cutting’ that is behind the front door. And of course you are careful with that. The lock is SKG-3 certified (if the keypad is disabled) and this also appears to be good through end-to-end encryption, the remote blocking of keys and codes via the website and the unique encryption keys per user. The Loqed Touch Smart Lock is therefore a unique smart lock in the current market, but it may not be for everyone. The high price also plays a role in this. View the smart lock yourself on the Loqed website .