Most smart locks ask you to replace your deadbolt. The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock asks you to keep it. It clamps onto the interior side of the deadbolt you already own, turns the existing thumbturn with a motor, and leaves the exterior of your door - the keyway, the keys, the finish - completely untouched. That single design decision is the whole reason to buy it, and it makes the August the most sensible smart lock for a huge group of people: renters, anyone in a shared building, and anyone who simply does not want to swap hardware.
What you actually get
This is the fourth-generation August with a Keypad Touch in the box, so you get three ways in: your existing physical keys (unchanged), the app, and a code on the exterior keypad. Wi-Fi is built into the lock itself, which is the meaningful upgrade over older August models that needed a separate Connect bridge plugged into a wall socket. Built-in Wi-Fi means you can lock, unlock and check status from anywhere without buying anything extra. On the platform side, the listing names Amazon Alexa, Google and Samsung SmartThings - a strong spread for a non-Apple household.
The ecosystem reality: no Apple Home Key
Here is the honest limit, and it is the one that decides the purchase for a lot of people. This model's listing does not name Apple HomeKit or Apple Home Key. If you live in Apple Home and you want to tap your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock, this is not the lock for you - look at the Schlage Encode Plus, the Level Lock+ or the Aqara U100 instead, all of which carry Apple Home Key. We are careful about this because August's wider product line has included HomeKit on some models over the years, but we only credit what this specific listing states, and this one is an Alexa/Google/SmartThings lock. Our August vs Schlage comparison lays that split out directly.
Living with it
The features that win people over are auto-unlock and auto-lock. With auto-unlock, the lock senses you arriving and opens the door as you reach it; with auto-lock, it secures itself a set time after you close the door, which quietly ends the "did I lock it?" question. Because Wi-Fi is on board, you also get remote control and activity history - who came and went, and when - without a hub. The keypad lets you hand out codes to a dog walker or guest and revoke them later, and your existing keys still work as the physical fallback, which is genuinely reassuring.
The trade-offs are the flip side of the retrofit design. The interior assembly is chunkier than a purpose-built deadbolt because it has to house a motor around your existing thumbturn. And the exterior security is only as good as the deadbolt you already have - the August does not upgrade your bolt, it automates it. If your current deadbolt is a cheap builder-grade unit, the August makes it convenient but not stronger. Owners who want a fresh, keyless, security-graded deadbolt should be looking at a full-replacement lock in our deadbolt roundup.
Installation and power
Installation is the easiest of any lock we cover: unscrew the interior side of your deadbolt, fit the August adapter for your bolt brand, and screw the August body on. It takes a screwdriver and about ten minutes, and critically, a landlord would never know because the outside of the door is unchanged. The lock runs on standard batteries with in-app low-battery warnings, and because your original keyway is still there, a flat battery never locks you out - you use your key. Our guides on running without Wi-Fi and without power apply cleanly here: the keypad and keys keep working even when the network or the batteries do not.
Who should buy it
Buy the August if you rent, if you want to keep your existing keys, or if your home runs on Alexa, Google or SmartThings and you want remote control without changing your door. Skip it if you are an Apple Home household that wants Home Key, or if you want a brand-new keyless deadbolt rather than an add-on to your old one. Within its lane - the retrofit lane - it is the clear pick, which is why it is the retrofit entry in our best smart locks roundup.
As with everything here, this is a research-based review, not a lab test: the specs and platform support come from August's own listing and support materials, read on the date below. Our full approach is on the methodology page.
