World enews: Lockly’s new smart lock brings fingerprint access to your existing door lock

Smart locks are a really handy addition to a home, but for those who can’t switch their existing deadbolts out — such as renters — the options have been more limited. Now, they may have an alternative: Lockly’s Flex Touch Pro is a retrofit smart lock with fingerprint access built in, meaning you can keep your existing lock and key and add smart features to it.

The Flex Touch Pro uses Lockly’s 3D biometric touch technology to enable quick access to a home; the company says that it can store up to 99 fingerprints. With the help of the associated app, you can lock, unlock, or check the door status using Google Home or Amazon Alexa; you can also control remote access and monitoring.

*The Lockly Flex Touch Pro uses 4 AA batteries that the company says last up to 9 months.*

The lock comes with three frames that allow you to attach it to your existing deadbolt. On the outside of your door, the biometric fingerprint sensor fits neatly under the lock; on the inside, a rather large housing (measuring 79 x 187 mm) fits on the door, containing 4 AA batteries.

It comes with a redesigned Wi-Fi hub that Lockly says provides better connectivity and stability. There is no support for Apple Home or Matter, but the company says Matter is under development and could possibly be added to future products.

There are relatively few good retrofit smart locks available. One of the best is the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, which doesn’t come with built-in biometric access but does work with HomeKit. The SwitchBot Door Lock is less expensive, and you can add fingerprint access via a Bluetooth keypad, but it looks like something of a kludge. Lockly’s Flex Touch Pro is expected to be available for $229 sometime in the spring of 2023.

*The Access Touch Pro lets you transfer fingerprint profiles across Lockly’s other products.*

Lockly is also introducing a full-replacement smart lock at CES, the Access Touch Pro, which is an upgrade of its current Flex Touch Fingerprint Deadbolt. The Access Touch Pro completely replaces your existing deadbolt and comes with the same new Wi-Fi hub as the Flex Touch Pro.

New features include Air Transfer, which transfers fingerprint profiles across Lockly products, and Family Mode, which lets you unlock several of the company’s locks simultaneously. According to Lockly, Access Touch Pro will be available on its website for $249.99 sometime in the first quarter of 2023.