Guides
How these locks work, what goes wrong, and what to check before you buy one.
All guides
Can you fit a smart lock to a composite door?
Usually, yes — a composite door locks the same way as a uPVC one. What makes it different is everything around the lock: a thin skin, a solid core and a door that is often thicker than you expect.
17 Oct 2026 · 4 min
Fitting a smart lock to a door whose multipoint lock is faulty
On most uPVC and composite doors a smart lock does not replace the locking mechanism — it drives the one already in the door. If that mechanism is worn or broken, the fault comes with it.
17 Oct 2026 · 6 min
Are smart locks more secure than a normal lock?
Put a smart lock and a good British Standard lock side by side and the question answers itself badly, because the two are not really competing on the same thing.
2 Sep 2026 · 12 min
Digital, electronic, keyless, smart: do the names mean anything?
Four names circle the same shelf, and none of them is a standard. Sorting out which words carry meaning is the quickest way to stop comparing the wrong things.
14 Aug 2026 · 4 min
PIN, fingerprint, card, app or key: which to actually use
Most locks worth fitting offer five ways in. The mistake is picking one and turning the rest off.
7 Aug 2026 · 2 min
Smart locks and tenancies: what each side needs to check
The hardware is the easy part. Most of the trouble in rented property comes from permission, fire doors and who holds the codes.
7 Aug 2026 · 2 min
What happens when a smart lock's battery dies?
It is the first question almost everyone asks, and the honest answer is that being locked out by a flat battery is close to a solved problem — if you buy accordingly.
7 Aug 2026 · 3 min