[Kirby64]

Automatic unlock with a phone is not an anti feature. If it replaces your key fob completely, then it’s one less thing you have to carry. I haven’t carried keys of any kind for… 6 years at this point?

Also, remote start/temp control that works no matter the distance as long as there’s internet connectivity is superior to a radio based implementation. There’s plenty of places that are largely RF impermeable, or otherwise distance is too far. If you’re in a store, 100ft is barely any distance, especially with the layers of concrete in the way.

[devilbunny]

> I haven’t carried keys of any kind for… 6 years at this point?

You do you, of course, but I've absolutely relied on physical keys on numerous occasions over the years even when electronic methods exist.

Garage door spring broke or power is out, and battery died on your electronic house lock? You're not getting in.

Keyless fob ignition car ends up in a very strange state where, even though I have the fob in my hand and the car is running, it won't respond because the doors were locked from the inside by the dog? Happened.

Actually had that conversation about the house with my wife when she didn't carry house keys: do you want to find yourself stuck out of the house while the pets freeze or boil because you didn't just carry a damned key?

[Kirby64]

> Garage door spring broke or power is out, and battery died on your electronic house lock? You're not getting in.

How, exactly, would this happen simultaneously? Any reasonable system should alert you when batteries in your locks are running low. Unless you brazenly disregard those warnings (since, the low battery at least on mine means you still have... weeks left of battery), you will always have access. Also, with multiple entry-points into the house, you'd need ALL door locks to have their batteries die simultaneously. And the power to be out. That's a level of redundancy that is just unreasonable.

> Actually had that conversation about the house with my wife when she didn't carry house keys: do you want to find yourself stuck out of the house while the pets freeze or boil because you didn't just carry a damned key?

In what world would your pets die because you got locked out of the house? You should have AC/heating... and in some sort of power outage event (which, also, would require you to not be home either), your pets are certainly not going to freeze/overheat immediately. In such a crazy unrealistic scenario, breaking a window or drilling out a lock is a straightforward solution. But also, that would require so many multiple events to happen simultaneously (to get to needing to break a window) that it will never reasonably happen.

[camtarn]

In the UK, and I'm guessing a lot of other parts of the world, many people live in apartments with only a single entrance door.

Pets which require medications on a schedule might become very ill without them. But yes, I suspect that any country where the weather is enough to kill your pet should probably be running AC/heat on a thermostat instead of manual. (Here in the UK, we rarely have AC, and a lot of people just put on heat manually when they're cold - but our weather is pretty mild.)

Personally I would never rely on a phone to get me into a house or vehicle. Mine runs out of battery too frequently. I've already been bitten by not being able to take a bus because my phone died and I couldn't pay for a ticket.

[Kirby64]

Smart locks typically have more option than just a phone to open them. Keypad, fingerprint, etc.

For ones that support Apple's Homekey, it doesn't even matter if your battery runs out. Apple devices still provide Homekey via NFC even with a dead phone.

I don't think this exists yet for car keys, although I know there's work on UltraWide Band key support.

Also, this seems substanially less fragile than just... losing a pair of keys. It's not evitable that your battery in your lock runs out (again, unless you ignore warnings), but losing your keys is one of those 'hard to prepare for' events.

Migitation for losing your keys could just be keeping a spare key with a neighbor/friend/whatever... but, well, you can do that with an e-lock too (cause they all have regular keys for true backup).

[camtarn]

> Smart locks typically have more option than just a phone to open them. Keypad, fingerprint, etc.

Ah, that's a fair point.

> Apple devices still provide Homekey via NFC even with a dead phone.

Huh, that's neat. I haven't come across that as I'm not an Apple user.

[grahamj]

Yep. I’ve forgotten or lost keys in the past and been locked out, but never have all of my e-locks and garage died at once.

[taneliv]

I've found myself stuck out of the office in minus fifteen degrees because the keylock app had stopped working due to a backend upgrade gone subtly bad.

Fortunately this was in an urban area and I could find a cafe that was open within the walking distance. I don't know if they allowed pets to thaw in there. It took about an hour for maintenance to open the doors (with a damned key) and let people in.

[asdasdsddd]

The time I save pays for a locksmith many times over. I also give my friends/my condo spares so this is never actually an issue.

[SoftTalker]

> the doors were locked from the inside by the dog

That happened to me once. Keys were in the car too. We had to try to get the dog to step on the button again to unlock the car, which she eventually did. Glad it wasn't a hot day.

[jdminhbg]

> Keyless fob ignition car ends up in a very strange state where, even though I have the fob in my hand and the car is running, it won't respond because the doors were locked from the inside by the dog? Happened.

This is a good reason to have your car connected to the internet, you can use your app to turn it off and unlock it.

[devilbunny]

I didn't want it off. It was New Orleans in summer. I wanted it unlocked.

I suppose you could dream up some situation in which the fob is outside the car, someone is inside, creepy people come up and take the fob, and you want to be protected by locking from the inside.

But in that case, internet unlocking should be blocked as well, right?

It was a very bizarre experience. Anyway, wouldn't have mattered: it's my wife's car, not mine. So I wouldn't have the app.

[jdminhbg]

I also don't understand the weird rules key fobs and locks have, the states seem totally divorced from the real world.

But part of the nice thing about the app is that there's no cost to having extra "keys," so there's no reason to not have the app for your wife's car on your phone.

[devilbunny]

I would have to have Mercedes.Me service (which we do not) and be willing to let them spy on everything we do. No thanks.

When I press unlock on the fob for my 2001 car, it unlocks unless the battery is dead. I can even reprogram it for two brand-new fobs without going to a dealer.