Access

Access is the most security-sensitive part of a smart home and the area where convenience and risk are most directly traded against each other. A per-person code that expires is genuinely safer than a key under a mat; one shared code that never changes is not.

These pieces cover locks worth trusting, temporary access for cleaners and couriers, auto-locking that works from the door contact rather than a timer, and what to do about the batteries.

Articles in this category

1. Smart locks: what to check before you buy one

   The marketing focuses on convenience. The two things that matter are whether it is physically secure and whether it opens when everything else has failed.

   7 min read · 1,509 words · Reviewed October 2026

2. Keys, codes and credentials: giving people access without giving away control

   The transformative part is not opening a door with a phone. It is granting access, knowing when it was used, and taking it away without changing a lock.

   6 min read · 1,308 words · Reviewed August 2026

3. Video doorbells: the specifications that actually matter

   The most-used device in a connected home and the one people replace soonest, almost always for reasons that were predictable in advance.

   7 min read · 1,491 words · Reviewed September 2026

4. Presence detection: the hardest problem in home automation

   Nearly every disappointing smart home experience traces back to this. Understanding why it is hard makes it possible to build something that works.

   6 min read · 1,406 words · Reviewed August 2026

5. Windows, patio doors and the openings people forget

   Front doors get the hardware. Ground-floor windows, patio doors and side gates get neither, and they matter more than their share of attention.

   6 min read · 1,452 words · Reviewed September 2026

6. Garage doors and gates: safety first, then security, then convenience

   The largest moving objects in a domestic setting, and frequently the weakest point in a home’s security. Both parts deserve attention.

   7 min read · 1,467 words · Reviewed November 2026

7. Flats and shared entrances: what you can actually do

   Most access advice assumes a house with its own front door. In a flat the entry system belongs to the building and the best improvements are agreed rather than bought.

   7 min read · 1,465 words · Reviewed September 2026

8. Deliveries and the last metre: what actually works

   Only one of the four ways a delivery fails is really about theft, and it is the one that gets all the marketing attention.

   6 min read · 1,399 words · Reviewed July 2026