The 5 Best Smart Locks of 2025

Wirecutter takes security and privacy issues seriously and, as much as possible, investigates how the companies whose devices we recommend deal with customer data. We research all of the security and data-privacy practices behind our picks, and we send an extensive questionnaire to the companies to confirm issues that we think should be of primary concern for any potential buyer.

Some people assume that connecting a front door lock to the internet adds a new way for thieves to infiltrate the home and that a smart lock is fundamentally more vulnerable than a standard door lock.

Our view is that, while it’s technically possible for a smart lock to be exploited electronically, through nine years of closely testing and writing about these devices, we have yet to find a single case of a smart lock being electronically exploited in the real world—only in labs or at hacker conventions. The reason is straightforward: Residential burglars are less likely to be sophisticated hackers than common thieves who rely on a trusty crowbar or screwdriver to enter. And by that logic, smart locks are the more secure option, because they can tell a homeowner any time someone enters their home (some locks even have built-in tamper alarms). As such, we believe that most homes will always be more secure relying on a smart lock.

We’ve come to realize that lockpicking is not only less difficult than it may seem, but also the wrong thing to worry about when it comes to securing your home. Video: Jon Chase

Similarly, our research and FBI burglary statistics show that lockpicking isn’t a realistic threat to homeowners. Most residential burglars either enter through unlocked doors or kick in locked ones. Burglars don’t have the time (or the skills) to fiddle with lockpicks. (For more on this topic, see “It’s Ridiculously Easy to Pick Some Smart Deadbolts, But We Aren’t Alarmed.”)

Until recently, deadbolt locks have been graded on a scale of 1 to 3 on their ability to withstand brute-force entry attempts—namely, smashing—by ANSI and BHMA. For deadbolts, Grade 1 is the top ranking, reserved for a commercial-use lock with a 1-inch-thick latch bolt that can endure 10 strikes of 75 pounds and a million open/close cycles. A Grade 2 lock is considered closer to residential level, with a bolt that is 0.625-inch thick and able to withstand five strikes of 75 pounds and 800,000 cycles. In 2021, BHMA launched a new system for residential locks that grades deadbolts from A to C in three categories—security, durability, and finish—with the top grade being AAA.

The smart locks we recommend are as safe as or safer than their mechanical counterparts (which, for instance, can’t alert you when your front door is unlocked or opened). The Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt and Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Lever are both ANSI Grade 1 and BHMA AAA. The Yale Assure Lock 2 is ANSI Grade 2. The Aqara Smart Lock U100 meets ANSI Grade 3 standards—though it has not been officially certified—which is the lowest level for a residential lock. (The Yale Approach Lock with Wi-Fi + Keypad, our deadbolt adapter pick, can’t be graded because the security level depends on the deadbolt it’s attached to.)

A major security consideration with smart locks is whether to enable auto-lock and auto-unlock, features found on all our picks. These features trigger the lock based on your location (a technology also known as geofencing) via some combination of Bluetooth, cellular signal, GPS, and Wi-Fi. Having your door automatically trigger as you walk up to it is the essence of convenience, but it puts you at risk of an accidental trigger that leaves your front door open to anyone. Some models come with a little magnet, which you install near the lock, to determine when the door is closed or open, ensuring that you don’t lock the deadbolt when the door is left ajar. Another option for some locks is to use geofencing as a trigger, which requires that you confirm the unlock signal on your phone before it can activate, a far more secure but also less convenient approach.

Overall we believe that carte blanche geofence triggering is essentially risky, especially for city dwellers, who are more susceptible to an opportunistic thief (who may be in the vicinity when a door is accidentally unlocked). If you live in a suburban or rural location, the risks are more of a personal judgment call.

In general, the companies behind our picks have very good security and privacy policies. They all require you to create a login in order to use the smart features, they all encrypt those credentials when they store the data in the cloud, and none of them share your personal data or location info with third parties—that is, unless you opt to do so by integrating your lock with a platform like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

We continue to test all of our picks, a process that includes keeping track of app, firmware, and policy updates as well as hardware and software incidents. Should any privacy or security issues be found with any of our picks, we’ll share them here and, if necessary, update or alter our recommendations.