Does the August Smart Lock Pro work with Z-Wave?

With support for the Z-Wave protocol, the August Smart Lock Pro can connect to other Z-Wave-enabled accessories, allowing for robust home automation that offers both the convenience and security you need out of your smart home products.

The Smart Lock Pro is actually a Z-Wave Plus device. This means that it takes advantage of more recent Z-Wave hardware platforms while also being backward-compatible with previous Z-Wave products.

Originating in 2001, Z-Wave is a privately-owned wireless communications protocol intended primarily to enable home automation. Z-Wave products utilize a technology that you may have been hearing about lately to communicate with one another: mesh networking. Instead of creating a Wi-Fi network that you can use, Z-Wave home automation products use it to provide reliable interoperability.

One of the primary strengths of Z-Wave is that every product that supports it is interoperable. So instead of locking you into home automation products from one manufacturer, Z-Wave allows devices from different manufacturers to talk to one another, much like Apple's HomeKit.

This interoperability is achieved through a combination of hardware and software. Z-Wave products utilize a chip that provides low-power communication capabilities between Z-Wave devices, also known as nodes. Because Z-Wave doesn't use Wi-Fi, a central hub that connects both to your Z-Wave products and your home Wi-Fi network can be useful in giving you control over your smart home products through your smartphone or a voice assistant device like a Google Home or Amazon Echo.

The August Smart Lock Pro is a Z-Wave Plus device, making it compatible with older Z-Wave products and other Plus nodes. Z-Wave Plus devices take advantage of what's known as the 500 Series Z-Wave hardware, which enables enhanced functionality for the products that utilize it. This functionality includes better range and battery life, over-the-air upgrades, additional radio frequency channels, and more, without sacrificing interoperability with older products.

Z-Wave has been around for a while, having over a decade to mature into a solid, reasonably secure home automation system. Support for Z-Wave from the August Smart Lock Pro combines the easy-to-use lock with a vast ecosystem of products that doesn't lock you into a single manufacturer. If you don't want to use Apple's HomeKit, Z-Wave provides many of the same advantages and features, including increased security, interoperability of devices, and ease of use.

It won't make your Smart Lock Pro lock any better, but Z-Wave will help you create a safer smart home.