New door lock turns your iPhone into a house key

It seemed inevitable that we’d soon move from using keys to a more high-tech means of opening doors. However, that doesn’t make a lock you can open with your smartphone any less cool.

T3 reports that Kwikset, a maker of electronic locks, has come up with a way to let you unlock doors with your iPhone. The Kēvo includes a standard lock you can use with a key, as well as an electronic mechanism called UniKey that can be unlocked with an app on an iPhone 4S or an iPhone 5 via Bluetooth.

Here’s a look at the lock in action:

But what makes the lock really different is the ability to send a key to another person. If you have a babysitter, neighbour, or someone else stopping by the house when you’re not there, you can create a temporary key for a limited amount of time. You can also let anyone close the door behind them without a key (physical or digital) by triple-tapping the lock on their way out the door.

Engadget adds that while the app is only available for iOS at this point, it does include some cool features, including push, email and SMS notifications, as well as a log of which keys have been used when.

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The lock is powered using four AA batteries, which should last about a year. If you don’t have an iPhone, you can still use the Kēvo with an available key fob.

There’s no price for the newly-announced Kēvo, but it should be available in the U.S. this summer.

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