LevelBolt (Wi-Fi) Smart Deadbolt - Make Your Lock Smart & Keep Existing Hardware and Keys - Lock/Unlock from Anywhere - Level App for iOS & Android - Works with Apple Home, Alexa & Google Home

TLDR; Perfectly designed and machined, easy to use and integrate, but you'll likely need to do a little work on your door unless your builders were perfectionists. Also, get the connect wi-fi dongle.I recently got a house with a smart lock that told me I was unable to use it due to not being the "owner." While this makes sense from a security perspective, there was apparently no way to reset the device, even with full physical access, without engaging the prior homeowner. This wasn't a problem as we'd been in contact, but annoyed me no end. That, plus the fact that the prior smart lock was a tumor attached to the deadbolt, ate batteries, etc. led me to seek out a better solution.Level's bolt is the better solution. It is hidden in the door, uses your original hardware, seems to not be vulnerable to any standard attack with magnets etc. It's designed very well, to spec and standards, and works perfectly. The app is low footprint and can be dropped once you hook the lock up to google home or alexa. It just offers more details about lock and unlock history.I gave "alexa integration" five stars, though I am using it with Google Home. I have to assume the experience is similarly easy.Ease of install should be five stars, but it does require more fiddling with hardware than other on-top solutions. Ideally this would amount to a couple more screws to take out. However, beware that most homes are not drilled and cored to exact spec. This lock measures perfectly according to spec, but my door did not. I ended up carving out a little more wood on the wall side for the deadbolt to fit through (not much, it was flat before but drilled offcenter with a round hole). I also had to do a bit of carving with a chisel to get the strike plate on the door side to fit properly. All-in all, it was very satisfying and not hard, just a little time-consuming. Once it was in place, the rest of the setup only took a couple minutes.I'm fairly certain that the problems with door fit were why the prior lock solution ate batteries, as the motor in it had to struggle (as would a human with fingers) to get the deadbolt into place. Now that the hole is in the proper place for the deadbolt, keys, fingers, and the smart lock all work with no pressure/effort, and the lock has been in place for longer than it took to burn through a new set of batteries on the prior smart lock I had.Big thumbs up.

Things I wish I’d known from the beginning:I had so much trouble setting up this lock. I couldn’t get the lock to connect. Then I couldn’t get the Level Connect to connect (for wifi). I called Level's customer service hotline and got help from a really great guy. I was on the phone with him for over an hour but he helped me to get everything connected and I could not have done it without him. But then I couldn’t get the lock installed.I have a Schlage deadbolt (Camelot, single cylinder). Single cylinder means a thumb turn on one side an a keyed lock on the other. Some deadbolts actually need a key on both sides. This is called a double cylinder. The Level Bolt does not work with double cylinder locks. So my deadbolt was on the list of compatible locks but it just wasn’t lining up. So I called Customer Service again. This guy had me send him pictures. It clearly was not lining up. He couldn’t figure it out.I ended up calling a friend who knows a lot about locks. He was able to see that the tailpiect (the long nail file looking metal bar) was not turning the same way as the level lock. Think of a clock with a hand that only turns from 10 to 2 compared to a clock with a hand that only turns from 12 to 3. The Level Bolt bar turns from 12 to 3 but the bar on my Schlage deadbolt turned from 10 to 2. I had picked the wrong tailpiece adapter. (The Bolt comes with 3). Two of them look very similar, but they aren't. Two of them are long narrow rectangles, the other one is a square. If you happen to need one of the long narrow rectangle pieces, make sure you pick the right one. If you’ve picked one and your original exterior hardware isn’t lining up, try the other one. I really hope that this helps someone. I am so glad my friend was able to help me as I was about to return the lock. I am glad that I didn’t. I really like the Level Bolt so far and I’m so glad I can use my original deadbolt. And it was such a simple fix!

If you’re looking for a sleek way to incorporate a WiFi deadbolt into your existing hardware, KEEP LOOKING, unless you want to be stranded outside your door with an app that cites “connectivity issues” or “something went wrong” after it successfully locking and unlocking +5 times in a row hours earlier.While to concept of this deadbolt is extremely appealing, that’s where it all ends. It’s a concept with poor design, a weak locking mechanism, poor WiFi connection, and very little customer service help available.While renovating a home, and having a brand new front door professionally installed we opted for this tech to allow for us to select a sleek deadbolt and handle design while still incorporating some tech for ease of locking and unlocking without a key. Our deadbolt turns with zero resistance, zero. It’s like butter, and this thing still can’t reliably lock or unlock itself.This thing is unreliable, fails regularly to unlock or lock, and provides unhelpful error codes. Sometimes it says a lock request failed, only to find it did lock itself, and similarly with unlock requests…I’ve read elsewhere that clearly this company had a great idea, and spun this up in hopes of being purchased. I’d say that’s quite possible.Rather than spending $250 on a reputable company’s smart lock, I took a chance on this startup, and regret it with every bone in your body.But hey, you can’t tell I have a smart lock when you look at my door, and when you try to use it like a smart lock you can’t.