lock

August Wi-Fi Smart Lock (4th Gen)

August

mid Owned and reviewed local: fair Wi-FiBluetooth

Price: $199.99 verified Oct 30, 2026
HA fit: fair
Offline: no
Setup: easy
Hub needed: no

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Owner’s hands-on review ★★★☆☆

Stays connected, good form factor, but...

This review covers the 2nd-generation lock.

Along with a slew of Hue bulbs, it’s the longest-surviving smart home device I own. It has stayed connected the entire time, with Bluetooth as a backup for phone control. What I’ve never loved is that it leans mostly on the cloud integration. I’ve since switched to the Bluetooth integration Yale added, which seems good so far, though I haven’t run it for long.

The downside: Minnesota’s temperature swings make the door and frame expand and contract. When that happens I can still throw the bolt by hand without much trouble, but the August lock doesn’t have quite enough torque to manage it, and it lets out an awful screeching sound trying. That’ll probably push me to replace it before this winter.

Site owner · 2026-06-10

Quick verdict

The August retrofit design is its killer feature. Snap it over your existing deadbolt, keep your keys, no locksmith needed. It works with basically every voice assistant. The August integration itself is cloud based, but Home Assistant's Yale Access Bluetooth integration controls this lock locally over Bluetooth once you have the offline key, so it is more local-friendly than its cloud reputation suggests.

Standout: Retrofit design installs over your existing deadbolt in minutes with no locksmith needed.

Notes last checked Mar 22, 2026.

Compatibility snapshot

Home Assistant fair

Apple Home good

Google Home good

Alexa good

Works offline partly / no

Setup easy

Extra hub needed no

Power battery

Local control facts

Home Assistant: august integration, Cloud Push (home-assistant.io, checked Oct 10, 2026)

Why it stands out

retrofit design fits over existing deadbolt, so you keep your keys
broad ecosystem support across Apple Home, Google, and Alexa
built-in Wi-Fi eliminates the need for a separate bridge

Reasons to hesitate

cloud-dependent for remote access and most integrations
battery life can suffer with heavy Wi-Fi usage
the August integration is cloud based; local control needs the Yale Access Bluetooth integration plus a Bluetooth adapter or proxy within range of the door

Best for

renters who cannot replace their deadbolt
multi-ecosystem households wanting broad voice assistant support

Avoid if

you want fully local smart lock control
you prioritize long battery life over Wi-Fi convenience

Privacy and local-control notes

Relies on August/Yale cloud for remote access and integrations. Bluetooth provides local proximity control only.

Home Assistant support: supported · integration path: August (official core integration, Cloud Push) or Yale Access Bluetooth (official core integration, Local Push over Bluetooth).

Buying reality check

Price notes: Mid-range for smart locks; built-in Wi-Fi saves buying a separate bridge.

Verified price reads: lowest seen $164.99, latest $199.99 on Oct 30, 2026.

Oct 30, 2026$199.99amazon
Oct 29, 2026$195.99amazon
Oct 28, 2026$199.99amazon
Oct 24, 2026$198.95amazon
Oct 23, 2026$199.99amazon
Oct 22, 2026$199amazon
Oct 19, 2026$199.99amazon
Oct 17, 2026$198.89amazon

Compare side by side: see smart lock comparisons →

What changed for this product

Oct 10, 2026 · Brief

Black Friday smart home deals for Home Assistant: the prices to beat

Black Friday 2026 smart home deals for Home Assistant and local-control homes: the lowest price I've recorded for 100+ Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter and Wi-Fi devices.
Oct 8, 2026 · Brief

Ring's first smart lock: a hand-crank battery backup, Sidewalk instead of Wi-Fi, and no local hook announced

Amazon's Ring Smart Lock: fingerprint, keypad, a dial that recharges a dead battery, and Amazon Sidewalk. $249.99, early 2027, not yet FCC authorized.
Sep 6, 2026 · Corrected

29 product corrections after a source audit of 82 products

Every rating and spec sentence on 82 products was checked against the manufacturer page and the Home Assistant integration docs. Twenty-nine claims were wrong and are now fixed: six products rated a tier too kindly for cloud-only devices, two rated too harshly (the August lock has a local Bluetooth path; the Roomba integration is local push), a phantom Ethernet port, a sealed lithium backup described as two AA cells. Every product page now shows the sources it was checked against, and a link to report an error.

From the change log and the news briefs that name this product.

Verified against

Home Assistant integration docs (integration, local) · checked Sep 6, 2026
august.com (protocols, spec) · checked Sep 6, 2026
Home Assistant integration docs (spec) · checked Sep 6, 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report an error on this page and I will check it against the source and fix it.

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