Lockitron offers, for a $295 one-time fee, a deadbolt locking mechanism for standard doors that can be controlled remotely via your smart-phone using NFC.
This allows you to effectively replace your door keys with your phone, by using a phone app in order to lock or unlock your door.
The deadbolt comes with physical keys which act as a backup in case of loss of power or Internet connectivity. The latency for opening the door from the moment the command is given on the phone is currently between 0.5 and 2 seconds; initially, the app takes 3 to 6 seconds to start up on the phone.
There are some trust issues that the company must overcome; as a de-facto door lock provider, Lockitron helds the authentication keys to all the doors where they are installed, making them and their devices susceptible to cybernetic attacks. The concept of a computer hacker opening your front door lock becomes a reality. And the FBI won’t have to destroy front-doors next time they come for a raid, they’ll just have their own Lockitron master-key instead :-). Would you use one for your apartment?
