Smart Lock Stories #1 | The Busy Family

Smart home technology has quickly become an integral part of our everyday lives. From waking up in the morning and switching on your smart TV, whilst still tucked up in bed, to setting your smart alarm just before you turn off the light. Without even noticing, smart technology has cemented itself as the popular choice for busy homeowners.

And as with the ongoing developments and new products regularly introduced to the market, millions of us have been able to utilise the many benefits that smart home technology can provide. And this type of technology is a particular favourite for busy families, who can use smart products to help their lives run as smoothly as possible.

With school drop offs, dentist appointments and an array of extra-curricular activities to attend, families are always on the go. Which is why smart technology can be of huge benefit to parents and their children. One product that helps to make family life run that little bit easier is a smart lock. With the ability to monitor, control and allow trusted visitors into your home with just the tap of a button, a smart lock is a great addition to a family home.

And to show you just how beneficial a smart lock can be for your family, the Jones’ have shared a diary of their day to highlight exactly how they use their smart lock to take the stress out of the school run.

The Jones Family – Jennifer, her husband, Mark, their two children and pet dog

6am:

It’s Monday, so we’re up nice and early to prep for the day, and week, ahead. Our youngest daughter, Lucy, goes to school around half an hour away, so I help to get her up and ready so my husband, Mark, can drop her at the gate before he heads off to work.

Our eldest daughter, Jane, has just started the local high school, so she can walk there on her own accord. We’ve recently entrusted her with her own smartphone, after many years of persuasion, so she can not only keep in touch with us, but also let herself in and out of the house with our handy smart lock.

8am:

With Mark and Lucy out of the house, I head out to work, leaving Jane to walk to school and secure the smart lock behind her. With it being so quick and easy to use, she’s got the hang of it already, which means I don’t need to worry about her forgetting her key anymore!

8.30am:

When I get to work, I can check to see if Jane has left the house, and at what time, using the audit function in my Access app. This just helps to give me peace of mind that she’s locked the door safely and securely behind her, and, of course, that she’s left the house on time!

10am:

Now we have finally invested in our smart lock, we have enlisted the help of a dog walker to check in on our dog, Jasper, twice a day when we’re both at the office. This has been a huge help for us. All we needed to do was create her very own virtual key for her in the app to allow access between 10am – 3pm on the days we need her, and she can just let herself in via her smartphone.

Having a smart lock meant that we didn’t have to worry about getting an additional key cut for her, and we also don’t need to be concerned that the key could get into the wrong hands. We can just simply revoke it if necessary.

And once again, the audit trail function in the Access app is a brilliant help, as this allows me to check that the dog walker has arrived back and locked the door behind her. And as we’ve paired an Indoor Camera in the kitchen too, I can just check that Jasper is settled when she leaves, without having to disturb him.

12pm:

This has been a particularly busy Monday, as we’ve also needed someone to come and look at our boiler urgently. As I wasn’t working from home today, I gave our trusty heating engineer a call who said he could pop round today, as we can’t be without our heating any longer in the middle of winter!

He visited at midday, and all I needed to do was grant him a temporary virtual key before I headed off to a meeting, so he could let himself in without one of us needing to be at home. It really has been a lifesaver for us!

2pm:

The final visit from the dog walker was at 2pm, of which I was notified that she’d come and gone through my Access app. Being able to track all these actions on my smartphone is a great help, particularly when I’m in and out of meetings all day.

3.30pm:

As it’s still getting dark quite early, I also like to check that Jane has got back in from school, so I have a quick look on the app for peace of mind. I can see she got home 10 minutes ago, and Mark has arrived home with Lucy now too.

5.30pm:

I leave the office and head back home, but stop off at the supermarket for food and household items beforehand. Once home, with my hands full of shopping bags, as we have the smart lock, I can just easily open the front door without the need to dig around to find my keys.

Having a smart lock installed in our home has allowed us to have the freedom and flexibility to have full control over our home security, even with our busy lifestyles. The ability to revoke keys, whilst also being able to give out key fobs, tags or cards to trusted friends and family has meant that we can always know who is entering our home and when.

As you can’t always be ‘home’, for us, a smart lock has been the next best thing.

Want to find out more about the range of smart locks available from Yale? For further information or product details, please visit your local site.