Control your August Smart Lock by yelling at Google Assistant

In the quest to smart-up your analog home, interactive door locks present a distinct conundrum: If things go screwy, you might not be able to get into your home. August Home's Smart Lock lets you lend out virtual passes for temporary guests but doesn't fully replace your existing deadbolt, meaning your metal key still opens your door the old fashioned way. While the product has been around since 2014, the company started integrating voice control last year, integrating Apple's Homekit last May and Amazon's Alexa support a month later. Today, they're rounding out the trio by enabling Google Assistant on the Smart Lock.

Users can lock their doors through the Google Home app and check its status, but won't be able to unlock it remotely just yet. In a press release, August Home said they were working with to find a "safe and secure way" to enable that functionality, which should come later this year (it took them eight months to add an "unlock" command to Alexa). You'll need the August Connect WiFi bridge to link the Bluetooth-controlled Smart Lock to a device with Google Assistant installed first.