Encode Smart Wi-Fi Deadbolt Lock with Touchscreen Keypad, Keyless Front Door Entry, App Control, Alexa, Google Home and Airbnb Compatible, Satin Nickel, BE489WB CEN 619

I installed the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt on my front door and it’s been one of the best “quality of life” upgrades I’ve made. The hardware feels solid and secure (typical Schlage), and the aged bronze finish looks great and hasn’t shown fingerprints the way shinier finishes do. Setup was straightforward: the app walked me through pairing to Wi-Fi and calibrating the bolt, and I had it working within minutes. The biggest win is keyless entry—no more hiding spare keys or worrying about lockouts. The touchscreen is responsive, and I love being able to create and delete access codes from my phone. It’s perfect for guests and deliveries, and if you host on Airbnb, being able to make time-based codes is a game changer. Smart home integration has been reliable for me. I use it with Alexa/Google for lock status checks and routines, and the auto-lock feature gives me peace of mind when someone forgets to lock up. Notifications have been accurate, and I like being able to see when a specific code was used.

The smart model’s keyless entry is a total game-changer—just punch in a code or use the app, and you’re in. No more juggling groceries while digging for keys! The app is super easy to use, letting you change codes, unlock remotely, and check activity in seconds. I do wish the batteries lasted a bit longer, but the battery-level indicator is a lifesaver—it warns you well in advance, so I’ve never been locked out like I was with my old lock. Honestly, I’d recommend this lock to anyone. It’s better than anything I’ve found in local stores, and installation is a breeze thanks to the QR code instructions.

I bought this lock after locking myself out of the house, not for the first time. (But the last). I wanted one that would work with Alexa, without having to add anything else. I saw less expensive ones but they would have required me to buy and add other things to my network. Additionally Schlage is a well-known lock company and this lock was well rated for security. I did not install it myself, as I had someone who was doing other repairs install it for me. It seems easy enough, but I'm just not handy like that. So I can't rate the installation. It took several tries to connect to wifi and bluetooth, but once I did ), it was fine. Right after I installed this lock, I went on vacation. I was nervous about it not working properly, since I did not have time to get a duplicate key made for my pet sitter. (I actually left the key hidden for her outside in case something went wrong). It worked perfectly. I gave her a code she picked, assigned her name to it, and every time she went in/out of the house, my phone alerted me. (You can adjust those notifications). It also alerts me if the door is unlocked any other way, such as by key, thumbturn, or another code. I haven't had any issue with it, and haven't used the key in weeks. I like the Alexa feature that lets you check if the door is locked. I should note that the door will register as "locked" as long as the deadbolt is turned, regardless of if the door is closed. It doesn't recognize whether the deadbolt has made any connection with anything, just that it's in the lock position. The ability to lock and unlock via the app is very useful, I like to unlock the door from the car and not have to worry about my hands being full at the door. The app will also show you the history of when the door was opened and how (or by who). There are some extra steps to go through to be able to lock/ unlock your door with Alexa... I've chosen not to do that because in concerned about making it easier for others to unlock the door. I don't have any issues with this lock so far. There were additional features on other locks that I would've liked to see on this lock, particularly given the cost, but I had other issues with those locks (many were from companies I've never heard of, or required additions to my network to set up properly). All in all, this is a good lock and provides extra pace of mind whether away or at home.

Got the lock and installed it. The directions are straight forward. Locked worked great the first day. Some things to note. • The hole where the bolt goes into the door was too small for this lock, so I had to make it a little bigger even though I had just removed another Schlage lock from the hole. • The screw holes on the striker plate for the frame side of the door did not line up with existing holes. They send you two plats but neither worked so I had to leave my old plate there. Couldn't drill new holes because the old ones were too close. • During installation of the lock itself you put the number pad in place from the outside and then attach a plate to the number pad from the inside. Don't over tighten the screws on the plate. Tighten them just enough to keep the key pad from moving around. If you over tighten you will find the screws to attach the inside part of the lock are too short. Now for the problem I really have. On day two my app, I am using the Schlage app, says I have no locks. I can unlock and lock the door by hand and I get notices on my phone, but I cannot use the app to lock or unlock the door or add new pass codes. Good thing I wasn't depending on the phone app to let anyone in the house. At this point I will never be able to rely on the lock for that issue. I attempted to reconnect the phone app to the lock, but the lock just flashes a red light and beeps. Right now, I honestly would not recommend this lock to anyone who will ever rely on using the phone app to open the door. If you just want a push button deadbolt then it appears to work for that. In my opinion having that luxury is certainly not worth $250. Little more information on steps I took to rectify this problem. Other than calling the Schlage folks for help. Oh, I did that too, but they will only help you during their business hours and that happens to be when I am at work myself. Also, don’t try their website troubleshooting because that just runs you in circles. • Deleted and reinstalled the app. Could not connect. • While following the directions on the app I randomly pushed the button on the inside of the battery pack. The phone actually paired with the lock but the lock would not connect to my WiFi so I could not proceed. • Factory reset the lock and repeated the steps of connecting including pushing the button on the battery compartment. Connected to the phone but no Wifi. • Removed and replaced the battery and reset the lock. Still no Wifi. • Provided my user information to my son who downloaded the app on his Android. He followed the directions on his app and everything worked great. Even though the app shows I have no lock paired with my phone I still get messages when someone locks and unlocks the door. Strange things. Since the lock and app are completely unreliable I will be sending it back. Oh, and why does the app need to have access to my location? That in not information that is relevant to me operating a lock. ****Update**** The lock magically reappeared in the app after being gone for two days. I guess they updated the app to fix the WiFi problem. I will continue to use the lock and app up to the point where I am out of time to return the lock. At that point if everything is still working I will come back and update my rating. For now I’m keeping it at 1 star. ****Update II**** I have been using the lock since it started working again. I have not had issues since. My wife actually purchased a second one and we now have on on the front and back door. They both have worked mostly flawlessly since the app was updated. ****Update III**** This thing is the biggest piece of crap. I have had this lock installed for about 8 months now. I have the issues listed above. The lock sucks down batteries is constantly losing connection with my family's phones and now it has completely stopped working. Oh and be ready to reset the lock and reconnect it EVERY time you have to change batteries. Update: lock died after 5 yrs. If you have $200 to spend on a digital lock and the convenience is worth it to you go for it. For me, a $200 lock should last a long time. I had 2 of these locks. One failed just inside the warranty window and Schlage replaced it. The other died in 5 years and Schlage will do nothing.

We had a $600 very sophisticated LOCKLY installed for our AirBNB rental for little less than a year. What a nightmare. The system had a hub and it would go off the internet on its own, you had to be there to sync it with your phone and power cycle it constantly. Then on top of it it was not intuitive and it took an hour of instructions so they could open it and close it and use it. The best thing we did was throw it away. It was the most stressful for us being long distance property managers but was a total nightmare for our renters. The next best thing we did was to buy this Schlage Encode Lock. First of all Schlage customer service was excellent. We called them before we purchased and they had the right answers. First of all if you are not near your rental property, and you have a trusted handyman as we do, they instructed us on how he could put the app on his phone with my husband's email and passwords. Our handyman installed the Schlage he said it was a snap, downloading the app with the snap, he synced the lock to his app. He got out of the app. my husband then went into the app on his phone and done. Now if there is any problem our handyman can go over, hubby gets out of app, he gets back in and syncs the lock and etc. Since the October 30th 2023 install our AirBNB have been there now for almost 2 months, with new ones coming in early January. I just got off the phone with our renters and the lock is easy to use there's been no issues whatsoever. It is very intuitive easy easy. Not once has it gone offline, there has been one Schlage system update which would have thrown our old LOCKLY system off and us to be personally there to sync with our phone. This one no problem. The only negative that our renter brought to our attention this morning is that the batteries need to be replaced often. He said every 3 weeks. We need to look into this, but that said, we left a whole drawer of batteries not anticipating it, but thinking good and wise to do so. It was wise. That said very easy to replace the batteries and the renters didn't even call us he just handled it. The LOCKLY system was set up so that you need a small tiny Phillips screwdriver and directions to figure out how to replace the batteries. All in all this has been an answer to a prayer on the many issues we've had with the previous lock. Hope this helps out others with this review whether you rent or using it personally.

***Updates at bottom*** I'm leaving my original review, but will update at the bottom... I needed something that would allow me to remotely let my kids in, since keys can get lost or stolen and codes can be forgotten. But the code option is nice just in case. This has all those options! However, not all of them work. The key pad is dead upon installation. I've checked several times for what I may be missing, but nothing has resolved the issue. Is it supposed to light up? It does not. No response to anything. The physical installation wasn't too bad. Had a couple of do-overs, but things fell into place. Probably the most confusing part was getting the tiny screws through the internal part and into the plate to secure it to the door. If you have a well-lit area you can look through the hole and see the place you need to aim for. The app works... okay. The wifi is very short-ranged and weak. My router is about 10 feet away from it, if that, but on a different level. Less than 1 bar, and constantly not connecting. Took about 10 tries to get the firmware updated due to connectivity issues. I have a mesh router, but another review indicated it won't work, though I have not tried it yet. I think they have one you can buy for $70. You know... spend MORE money on an already overpriced lock. The app also has issues knowing the status of the lock. Most likely that's the connection problem causing that. Unfortunately I bought this 4 months ago, so I'm SOL. Schlage will charge you, apparently, for tech support. No clue on warranty though. I will attempt that soon. If Schlage can get me up and running without sneaky up-selling or anything, I will revise this review. But, as of now, I do not recommend this. ***Update #1*** 12/9/24 After posting this review, I did call tech support. Took over an hour to get through. During the beginning of the call, they text you a link to complete some information to submit. After an hour, I spoke with someone who sent something on to a support person, whi was supposed to email me within 48 hours. That would have been by this past Wednesday. It is now Sunday and nothing yet (it's the weekend, so I didn't expect anything past Friday, which was still 48 hours after the 48 hours), not even in my Spam folder. I will be emailing them later with the number they gave me for reference. ***Update #2*** 12/21/24 I never received a call or email from a technician, but by the end of last week, I received an email stating that a replacement lock was being sent to me with tracking numbers. It took about a week to get here (which was expected), arriving yesterday. This morning, I decided to swap out the old and replace with the new. The process is easier fir me this time since everything else was already installed. Just needed to swap the back and the front. You definitely want to test it out first to make sure the keypad is working. The cable has a little release on it to get it to disconnect, since you will need to connect it before putting the cable through the door. Load the batteries properly and insert the battery tray into the back of the lock. After a brief moment, you should see lights on the keypad and hear beeps. Disconnect and install with the instructions. I bumped it from 1 star to 4 stars currently. Once it works, it's great! Still not thrilled with the wifi range strength on it, but so far it has connected. I know the defect in the first one was probably affecting the wifi connection. Funny that I had to connect using my guest wifi connection, since that is the weakest of all. But it works. I have a mesh router that I've not used yet, so I may try that soon to see if it helps. Schlage did say it will work, but only using 2.4 ghz not 5 ghz.

The instructions in the box plus an installation video that popped up on my phone when I scanned a barcode in the user manual made this a rather easy installation process. I replaced a basic mechanical Schlage deadbolt lock, so the holes were already there. I like the many features such as assigning temporary access codes, auto-locking after a specified time, being able to control and configure everything via the free Schlage Home app and various other things. Now our house-sitter won't lock herself out of the house again when we are away on vacation. It has a BHMA Grade 1 rating, according to the specifications sheet, which is considered the best of the best in locks. You can create from 4-8 digit access codes and store up to 100 different codes via the app. I also like that it is WiFi compatible right out of the box and it doesn't require an aftermarket hub to connect it through. Mine quickly found and connected directly to my home network router. It only works with 2.4GHz, not 5GHz. Not a big deal with me, I have both. It is Android and iPhone compatible, works with Alexa, Google Assist and my Ring security camera app. So far, I haven't found anything that I do not like about this Schlage Encode. After slightly more than six months since I installed this it shows 39% battery life in the app with WiFi enabled the entire time, so it drops about 10% per month. It looks nice, too. I will update my review if something changes. Here are some hopefully helpful hints to pass on after reading some other reviews where people were having trouble. 1. If the battery life on yours is short, make sure that the lock bolt does not bind. There should be no extra friction when you manually operate the lock via the lever, whether you do that with the door open or closed. 2. If you cannot see the keypad numbers at night, press the Home button in the bottom left corner of the keypad to wake it up and then you can enter the access code.

Makes life loads easier. No need to keys, can control remotely, app is easy to use, installed really quickly, looks good.