Hands-on with the Level Lock Pro: sleeker, smarter, still very expensive

Smart locks are among my favorite pieces of smart home tech, offering convenience and peace of mind; I haven’t used a key in years. But most of them are big, clunky, and unmistakably “techy.” Keypads, bulky battery housings, and fingerprint readers mean they really stick out, on both sides of your door. If you want the convenience of a smart lock without the look of a smart lock, there’s really only one option: Level Lock. And now Level has launched its latest model, the Level Lock Pro.

For nearly a decade, Level has been making smart locks that look like regular deadbolts, with all the smarts hidden inside the footprint of a traditional lock. The Pro keeps that discreet exterior, but the interior has been totally rebuilt.

The $349 Level Lock Pro launches today and adds a faster dual-core Bluetooth/Thread chip, a built-in door sensor, a passive infrared sensor for presence detection, and double the battery life of the Level Lock Plus. It can be controlled with a regular key, Apple’s Home Key, a key fob, an optional keypad ($80), and with an app using Bluetooth or Matter connectivity.

Matter support means the Pro works with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings, among other options — a significant expansion from Level’s earlier Bluetooth-only locks, which were limited to Apple Home and Ring out of the box.

“The lock’s firmware platform is entirely new and built around Matter,” Ken Goto, Level’s founder and CTO, told The Verge in an interview. “This makes it faster and more responsive today, and moving forward, gives us a platform for creating new features and functionality.” He said the company is actively working on support for ultra-wideband (UWB) hands-free unlocking and the upcoming Aliro smart lock standard, which should standardize how smart locks use UWB and bring NFC tap-to-unlock to Android phones.

I have been testing the Pro for a few days, and it’s significantly faster than the Level Lock Plus I tested previously. The hardware remains almost identical; there are just a few subtle updates, including a color-matched strike/bolt plate and key cylinder and glass on the outer bezel hiding a new PIR sensor that’s designed to extend battery life.

I didn’t install the lock on my front door; my past testing has shown that Level Locks can have alignment issues on older doors like mine. Instead, I used a custom mini test door provided by Level. While the locks can work on older doors, Goto confirmed that they work best with factory-cut doors from the last 10 years.

The most notable feature upgrade compared to prior models is the built-in door sensor, which Level locks lacked until now. This tells you via an app if the door is open or closed, not just whether it’s locked or unlocked — so you don’t think you’ve locked it remotely when it’s actually wide open. Unlike other smart locks that require a chunky sensor stuck to your door frame, Level’s is completely hidden inside the lock.

Because of varied support across Matter platforms for notifications from door locks, the door sense works best with Level’s Connect Wi-Fi bridge, a $79 plug-in device that connects the lock to Wi-Fi and can also add cloud-to-cloud integrations with Google Home and Amazon Alexa (Ring is no longer supported).

Alongside notifications for door open/closed status, the Connect also adds alerts for who unlocked or locked it and battery life, not all of which are available yet in Matter.

The door sense feature works in some Matter platforms, but not all. I tested it with Apple Home and only got basic locked/unlocked alerts, no open/close status. When connected to Google Home, I could see the door status. This patchwork of features across platforms is one of Matter’s current frustrations. Other than that, however, the lock worked flawlessly over Matter, responding instantly and sending notifications promptly.

The Pro is Level’s first Matter-native smart lock (its Level Bolt and Level Lock Plus can be firmware-upgraded as they have a Thread-capable radio). You can add it directly to any Matter platform by scanning the code and get out-of-home control, voice control, and the option to add the lock to smart home routines and automations. Plus, you can still connect it to the Level app over Bluetooth for features like auto-unlock and controlling it with your phone locally if the power is out.

The auto-unlock feature worked fine, but sometimes took a few seconds to unlock after I was at the door. Auto-unlock uses your phone’s location, based on geofencing, and its Bluetooth connection to determine when you’re near the door and unlock.

Weak GPS at my house is partly to blame for the sluggishness. I have this problem with auto-unlock on most smart locks. That’s why I’m looking forward to UWB hands-free unlocking, which uses direct radio-to-radio communication, so it should be more reliable. Goto told me that processor-wise, the Pro is capable of supporting UWB, but as the Aliro standard isn’t final, he couldn’t commit to a timeline.

In practice, I found Apple Home Key the most reliable way of unlocking the Pro. If auto-unlock didn’t trigger fast enough, a quick tap with my iPhone or Apple Watch unlocked it promptly.

Level has a touch-to-unlock mode, similar to auto-unlock, which also uses your phone’s Bluetooth for authentication along with GPS. The main advantage here is that it ensures your door only unlocks when you touch the capacitive area on the lock, as opposed to auto-unlock, which opens as you approach. You can’t have auto-unlock and touch-to-unlock enabled at the same time.

I only tested the lock for a couple of days, so I can’t comment on battery life, but Level claims up to a year on one CR2. The Level Lock Plus, the other lock in the lineup with an NFC radio for Home Key and key fobs, has a 6-month battery life, so the Pro doubles that. The new chip with built-in Matter-over-Thread support and the new PIR sensor to reduce false wakeups of the onboard radios are the major changes helping extend battery life.

The Level Lock Pro feels like the most complete realization of Level’s minimalist smart lock vision so far. It’s faster, smarter, and now adds door sensing without compromising its sleek design. Native Matter support finally addresses the connectivity headaches that have plagued prior models, making setup closer to plug-and-play.

But you may struggle with the Level if your door isn’t perfectly aligned, and inconsistent platform support means you’ll want the $80 Level Connect bridge for the full experience, pushing this already pricey lock into very expensive territory.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge