Support between smart speakers or virtual assistants like the Google Assistant used on Google Home devices and the variety of home automation devices on the market continues to expand and become more intuitive. This week August announced they made some changes to their August Smart Lock devices and how they interact with the Google Assistant to make it easier to issue commands, expand support for their sensors, and expanded the supported devices.
The August Smart Lock and August Smart Lock Pro are devices that can be used with some existing deadbolt locks to do things like lock and unlock doors. The company added some technology called DoorSense that can tell if a a door is open or closed. DoorSense has been added to Google Assistant so that users can now directly query the Google Assistant with a command like, “Hey Google, is my door closed?” to get an answer. In the past, users had to use “Ask August” in commands like “OK Google, ask August to lock the front door” to query door status or issue lock/unlock commands.
Along with the easier command and DoorSense integration, users can issue commands or queries using the Google Assistant on eligible Android phones, the Google Assistant app on iOS, and most other devices that support Google Assistant.
To make use of the expanded functions and Google Assistant integration, the August Smart Lock or August Smart Lock Pro does have to be connected to a WiFi network using their August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge or an August Doorbell Camera. An August Smart Lock + Connect package currently runs $199 while the pro version with the bridge device sells for $279. The August Doorbell Cam Pro sells for $199 if you wanted to go that route.
