Day after day with the smart door I answer the phone without being home | your technology | Country

For the past few weeks, every time a messenger has come to my house (and there are usually very few because of my work) and I’ve told them on the phone that I couldn’t come to them in person because they weren’t already there, they just didn’t believe it. But it was true: I would answer from my mobile phone while I was shopping at the supermarket or strolling in the park. Between displays of disbelief and surprise, on all these occasions I had to explain that my door is “smart” and allows me to do this and more thanks to three devices: a Ring intercom, a Nuki Smart Lock 3.0 Pro and an Ezviz peephole DP2C, each one managed from the own app with it.

All three devices are placed inside the house, although the first device helps control the door to the building, while the other two do the same with the door to the house. From the outside, it is noticeable only that the traditional peephole has changed: now it has become much larger, it is equipped with a camera and lights up when a person approaches. What do the neighbors think? At first, everyone was curious. Then when you explain the setup to them, they love the idea.

What can I do with this group?

In fact, talking to the messengers is nothing more than an anecdote among all the possibilities offered by the provision of “intelligence” to the door. Thanks to the intercom, first of all, in addition to answering the phone, I can open the building gate remotely or leave an activated function that opens it automatically when a scheduled Amazon delivery arrives. I have to admit that I keep this latter usage detached, as I’d rather be the one making the decision on what to do at all times.

The smart lock, on the other hand, uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to detect when you approach (rather than the phone on which the app is installed), activates at the moment, and automatically unlocks the door to the house. It is a very useful thing if, for example, you arrive loaded with shopping bags. But at the level of security it is also very interesting, since it is possible to manually grant access to other users or create a “virtual copy” of the keys to leave them with family or friends in case they have to enter the house anywhere. the time. It will be enough for them to download the app on their phone and give them permission.

Finally, the connected peephole has its own doorbell that connects directly to the mobile phone, and is able to speak (and see) from who is in front of the door. In addition, it records a few seconds each time someone is in this area and stores these small videos on a memory card or in the cloud for days and periods of time. Therefore, in the event of any accident, it is very easy to review what happened. In fact, on one occasion, a neighbor found the doormat “up” and freaked out, thinking it might be a sign of possible burglars: we were quickly able to verify that it was an oversight by the cleaning crew. In this sense, although the Ezviz’s peephole has a function that sends a warning every time it detects motion in front of it, I deactivated it a few days after I started using it: the notifications were common—and annoying.

What is a normal day like? When I wake up and say good morning to Alexa, the assistant tells me the weather, if I have an event and opens (not unlocks) the door to the house, whose lock we left ‘unlocked’ all night

Day after day

How would a “normal” day be with that door? When I get up in the morning, I usually say good morning to Alexa. With this greeting, the assistant tells us what the weather is, if I have an event scheduled and opens (the one that does not open) the door of the house, whose lock we left “locked” during the night. When we leave, a message on my Apple Watch tells me the door has been opened and closed, and I usually press the shortcut to lock it from the watch itself. If one day I don’t remember or my hands are full and I can’t do it, as soon as I leave the garage and walk about 50 meters away, another warning pops up: “Looks like you’re moving away, do you want to lock the lock?”

The messenger always arrives throughout the day: when he calls the phone, the call “skips” the Ring app. I open it, even when he is not there, and usually tell him to leave the package with the concierge of the building; He is trustworthy, so sometimes I call him home and leave him at the entrance: I see when he arrives, I unlock him, and when he leaves, I lock the door again from a distance.

My partner is the first to come home: when he gets on the elevator, the lock detects that he is approaching and opens on his own. Once this happens, the Nuki app also automatically tells me: “Pablo opened the door.” If someone unauthorized by the smart lock uses a key, I also find: “Someone opened the door”. And if I don’t know who it might be, I have a chance to check what’s going on.

Some additional considerations

Is it necessary to take into account any additional consideration regarding, for example, the legality of recording images? If an active security camera is being used continuously then permission from the community is essential, but digital holes are not subject to data protection law, so a permit is not necessary. In fact, in Spain there have been some claims in this regard that have always been made: the AEPD considers that it is activated only when you stand in front of the door and through it you can see the same thing as from a conventional peephole, there is no breaking the law, as stated in this The verdict.

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