housethingsgoing
A frog and a duck living in a 4rm resale flat
Installing a digital lock only 1.5 years after moving in?!
97
Fun fact: we lived without a digital lock for more than 1.5 years after we moved in 🙂 But eventually the keys got too cumbersome for us (and life is bad when you are a duck who keeps forgetting her keys 🥲) so we got this digital lock from Aqara! It’s been about 2 months of using it + learning new stuff along the way but overall we’re pretty pleased with it - hence this review: 
This is how the lock looks like on our door - honestly it’s pretty big 😅 we wanted to go for a deadbolt version but we heard that HDB main doors can’t use deadbolt locks so we didn’t try (But we’ve never managed to actually validate this fact - does anyone know? 🥺) The lock comes with the usual functions - passcode, fingerprint, temporary password etc etc - won’t go into all these because they are all listed in the product details of wherever you’re buying your lock from 🙂 
One thing that has been particularly helpful though, is the log in via iPhone/Apple Watch function! For some reason, the lock never detects Duck’s fingerprint even though she registered that into the system (on both thumbs too!!!) - so instead of wondering whether it’s because her thumbs are too fat, she just taps in via her phone and watch. (And also - yes we never removed the protective plastic from the keypad 🤣 doesn’t affect the functionality of anything though) ‼️ but one thing we realised is that the lock is VERY heavy, so it makes our door significantly heavier (increases the risk of slamming - which damages the lock). Our door hinge was never replaced and is looking rather weak, so we’ve had to be extra careful to hold on to the door and prevent accidental slamming ‼️ 
Here’s a side profile of the lock! One function we’ve never actually used is the triple lock function. As you know, digital locks automatically lock the door from outside whenever you close the door (i.e you can just open it from inside whenever, but you need the passcode to open it from outside). But this lock comes with an additional two manual locks that you can turn to VERY SECURELY lock the door from the inside. We… have never actually used this because uhm… we’re not too concerned about burglars (there’s really nothing to steal in our house unless you want to steal our Taobao hauls) 
The lock also comes with an app - which is where we discovered another downside - we can’t really activate any of the more complex functions without an Aqara smart home hub 🥲 But we don’t have any other Aqara items (or any other compatible smart home devices) so the app is pretty much neglected oops. But we also found out that you can track the time at which each user enters the house - which according to our installer, is very helpful for wives to spy on their husbands 🤨 (And also yes the name of our house is called Frog’s Swamp 😛) 
The installation process itself was pretty straightforward - we bought our lock from Hipvan/Communa and it came with free installation 🙌🏻 Everything took around an hour - from the removal of the old lock, the drilling of the door to the installation of new lock. Installer also very helpfully walked us tech noobs through the app 👍🏻 Do expect quite a bit of noise and dust from the drilling - so a solid round of mopping the floor will be needed after that. 
And now here are some other random questions we get asked! 🔐 “Why yall don’t buy the lock from Taobao? It’s cheaper!” YES we definitely considered that as diehard Taobao fans, but while the cost was lower, we also factored in the cost of hiring an installer locally as well as the lack of local warranty (Duck would have a mental breakdown if our lock just died and couldn’t be revived) - The local installer that came with our purchase also asked additional questions (eg what’s the thickness of our door) to make sure the lock would actually work for us before they came over to our house! - we have friends who are using the Taobao Aqara locks, and while they work fine, there’s the issue of having to use the china version of the app, which might not link up with other sg smart home systems, etc (we already faced this issue with our Xiaomi app and appliances so 😭 ) - AND ofc we stacked Communa voucher code and seasonal sales discounts to get a pretty good price on our lock So overall while we did pay slightly more for our lock, the additional peace of mind felt well worth the money 😛 🔐 “Do you have a gate lock?” Nope we don’t because… we trust in humanity 🤣 also even with the HDB lock, we don’t keep our gate locked most of the time as our main door is usually closed (and locked) 🔐 Why Aqara? We’ve heard good things about the brain and it seems rather reliable - plus Duck has had experience using those self-entry workout studios so she did have some experience/preferences for specific lock brands 😛 Let us know if you have any other questions about our lock!
2 November
