Lockly’s Latest Smart Lock Unlocks Your Door by Scanning Your Face

Do you wish your front door could see you coming? I certainly do, since I’m usually either wrangling a toddler (often in a swimsuit these days, and dragging along a myriad of towels and floatation devices) or coming back from an outdoor power walk that I’d rather not bring my keys on. I’ve enjoyed geofencing features that let my door unlock when it senses my phone is nearby, or reached for the pin pad to quickly unlock my door with my fingerprint—anything in the name of not needing to hunt for my keys.
Now, I don’t even need my phone or a free hand. The Lockly Visage, announced at CES 2024 as part of Lockly’s new Zeno line, uses infrared sensors to see me coming and recognize my face, so that it can unlock my door as I walk up. It also has other common entry options—fingerprint reading, access codes, and brand-new physical keys—if not every member of your house wants their face scanned.
It’s the first time face recognition has been added to a smart lock that any homeowner (or daring renter) can buy. Similar features have been available in smart security cameras and video doorbells, but the locks themselves haven’t been able to recognize you—until now. While I found the setup a little frustrating (more on that below), I was happy to find that the lock itself worked perfectly, always recognizing me as I walked up to my house, whether I was wearing sunglasses or was backlit by an intense afternoon sun.
Successful setup with the Lockly requires speed once the battery is in. The physical setup isn’t too hard, just lengthy, and it does require both a Phillips-head and flathead screwdriver. It took me about an hour of reading instructions, removing every piece of my current lock, and then installing the Lockly Visage. Make sure to charge the battery in advance, or at least while you’re doing all of that physical unboxing and install. Since you have to fully dismember your lock, I don’t recommend the Lockly for renters, unless you trust yourself to put it back so well that your landlord won’t know.
Once physical setup is done, don’t put the battery in right away. This was my mistake. Once the battery is in, the Bluetooth connection opens up and only stays up for a few minutes. I kept getting timed out when I was trying to set up Visage ID (the name for Visage’s face recognition), but Lockly says they’re pushing an app update soon to fix the short-lived Bluetooth situation. Speaking of the app, there’s two of them—an older Lockly app that works with this lock and previous Lockly devices, and a brand-new Lockly Home app (iOS, Android) that currently only works with the new Zeno line. You can choose to use either, but the Lockly Home app is much nicer to look at. Previous Lockly products will be added to that app soon, too.
Either way, before you put in the battery and start the Bluetooth timer, download the app and locate the Activation Card inside of the box, which should be adhered to the interior lid of the box. Don’t lose this card, even after you finish the lock setup—you’ll need it if you ever reset it. Once you have both these things ready, only then insert the battery and start the setup process within the app. You’ll follow steps for creating an account, connecting Wi-Fi, and setting up an unlock code for the door.
If you want to set up Visage ID, you can do it during this setup window too. I’d say now is the time to do it, with that active Bluetooth connection. You can remove the battery for 10 seconds and then place it back in again to restart Bluetooth later on, but it’s ideal to do now. If your Wi-Fi doesn’t sync immediately (mine didn’t!), skip it and do it later, since you don’t need that active to set up face recognition.
You may be prompted to set up Visage ID—if not, go to the Access page, click on your name, and select Visage ID to set it up. The app will check for that Bluetooth connection before scanning your face, and you’ll want to be standing outside, in front of the lock and ready for scanning. Similar to a fingerprint read, you’ll move your head from side to side as prompted to finish the setup. It took less than a minute of scanning for me, and you’ll want your phone screen visible to see which direction to move your head in, or switch off mute for audio prompts.
In that user page where you’ll add Visage ID is also where you can add fingerprints and edit your personal access code. The app prompts you to set up your admin access code during setup, but you can change it here if you want something else. I found I preferred fingerprints over the access code since it was much faster, but the face recognition is just about equally fast—both felt nearly instant—without needing to lift a finger. My husband and sister, on the other hand, preferred access codes and the physical keys Lockly includes with the lock, which they found easy to use.
So how does the face recognition technology work, and is it a camera? The answer turns out to be both yes and no.
The Lockly Visage uses infrared (IR) sensors to see when a person is approaching and who they are. Lockly says it’s technically a camera designed to work at a specific wavelength so that it can identify real people, rather than be fooled by photos or 3D prints. But it’s not capable of taking a photograph the way a smart video doorbell or security camera can.
There’s two IR sensors, both with 2-MP resolution, set up like a pair of binoculars inside the lock. It has a combination of live-body detection and face recognition built into these sensors, so the Visage first notes that a real person is approaching and then use its face recognition to see if it’s someone it should unlock the door for. The sensors have a 2.6-foot range for person detection and can unlock in under two seconds.
I’ve been impressed with how easy the Visage is to use, and how fast it responds. Even with the sun directly behind me or a pair of sunglasses on my face, the Visage was able to recognize and unlock the door for me. It felt nearly instant, and I didn’t need to lean forward or activate it in any way besides approaching my own door (though I was always tempted to do so). The lock uses its fingerprint reader’s LED light to show you it sees a person by turning blue, and then switches to green when it recognizes you and is unlocking the door.
While the face recognition is what’s exciting, the rest of the standard smart-lock features also work consistently well. There’s an auto-lock that you can set to a custom time, and the amount of times per day I get a notification that the front door is auto-locked is a little alarming, to say the least. Not about the lock, but about my household’s laziness when it comes to locking the front door. You can set up custom codes for your family members so you can easily tell who’s coming and going (and who’s leaving the front door unlocked after they come inside).
There’s also an included door sensor that connects directly to the Lockly. This isn’t unusual; some other locks include them or offer them as an accessory. It’s not super pretty, with the little white wire running between the lock and sensor, but it means you don’t need to manage a separate Bluetooth connection like you would for the Yale (and August) locks. It worked well, too, and made it easy to check in the app if my door was closed as well as locked.
The Visage also works with the big three voice assistants: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Home. Amazon and Apple are easiest to set up, since there’s a page in both apps to access both of them. There’s a HomeKit code to scan on both the physical lock and the activation card, too, and the lock is Matter-compatible.
It’s interesting that it’s not a full-fledged camera, but it gives you the benefits of a camera’s face recognition without needing things like video storage or to check a videofeed and confirm. I like that I don’t have to manage a true videofeed, but since I don’t have a video doorbell, it would be nice to know there’s a package at the door.
It’s certainly a cool lock if you want one that can open without lifting your hand or needing an active Bluetooth connection to tell the lock you’re home. You might also still want to get a video doorbell if you want a proper videofeed, or Lockly makes the Lockly Vision ($400) with a built-in security camera if you’re looking for a true two-in-one device. But I’m happy with the futuristic feel of walking up to my door and knowing it sees me.