Do you lock both your front door and gate?
I’m not sure about you, but I can never be bothered to always unlock and lock both the door and gate every single time I leave or enter my home.
And neither does the rest of my family, because it's simply too much of a hassle.
In fact, over time, I’ve given up on closing the gate entirely.
Despite my parents’ reminders to do so, I never understood the point if we were never locking it anyway.
That’s why when I heard from a friend who uses a digital lock talk about how it locks automatically, it naturally piqued my interest.
Is manual better?
In my parent’s home, we have a manual lock, a default for many homeowners in Singapore.
However, over time, I have slowly realised the other drawbacks of a manual lock, especially in my household.
My dad has a bad habit of accidentally leaving his keys in the lock after getting home every so often, something my mum would discover only the next morning and gently chide him for.
And my sister, who has her own place, would always have to make it a point to call before visiting to check if anyone is home, as she doesn’t have her own set of keys.
There’s also the occasional times one of us gets locked out because we forgot to bring our key, and this doesn’t include the times I squirmed outside my front door fumbling for my keys when I needed the bathroom.
Despite all these little pet peeves, replacing our lock has never really ever come up – like any other Asian family, mine isn’t the type to replace something that isn’t broken.
But now that I’m a working adult in this household, I decided to take the initiative on this matter. I brought my parents to AN Digital Lock’s showroom in Paya Lebar to take a look at the options we had for going keyless.
Visiting the showroom
Right off the bat, we were overwhelmed with choices, so we were grateful to the salesperson who showed us around their top sellers, such as German brands Hafele and Kaadas.
To prepare for the visit, I took a photo of our front door and gate, as well as measured the distance between them.
It turns out that there was enough space between the two for any type of lock AN Digital Lock sold.
While we were there, I encouraged my parents to ask as many questions as possible.
My parents were impressed by the dual-locking feature, which unlocks the front door together with the gate so you only need to verify once.
We learnt that digital locks are actually quite common overseas, especially in countries like Korea, where a majority of households use digital locks.
Digital locks are also more secure against lockpickers because of its alarm system.
A lot of the locks share the same functions, so I really felt that shopping in person is definitely required in this case, to get a feel for and experience the tactile sensation of opening and closing the door.
Especially given that this is probably something you’ll likely use on a daily basis.
Though my parents are typically the indecisive type, they were particularly drawn to a Phillips lock because it did not have a spring mechanism that they did not like.
After picking out the lock model and colour, all we had to do was set a date for the installation.
In case you’re interested, in addition to metal gates and wooden doors, AN Digital Lock also offers other accessories like digital door viewers and door closer.
They also have a free delivery and installation, so the process was seamless and straightforward.
Installation and set up
The staff arrived at my address and installed both locks in less than an hour – which my parents supervised with interest.
He then spent some time teaching me how to connect the locks to an app on my phone.
From there, registering new PINs, fingerprints and access cards is actually quite an intuitive process.
Honestly, the hardest part of the installation and set up process was getting my parents to agree on a PIN code for the locks.
There are multiple ways to unlock the door and gate:
- Fingerprint
- PIN code
- Via Bluetooth on the Phillips app
- RFID access card
- Manual key
Due to the condition of my parents’ fingers, they both faced troubles with the fingerprint verification.
This was something we expected, so we were glad that my mum could use a PIN code while my dad used an access card.
Now, all we need to do is make sure we put fresh double-A batteries in the locks every six months.
And if the lock runs out of batteries or malfunctions, both locks can also be unlocked manually with a key – one we keep in the car, and the other at home.
Additionally, AN Digital Lock provides a three year warranty for its products and lifetime technical support, so you can give them a call for any issues, including being locked out of your home, free of charge.
Verdict from the family
That afternoon, we updated my brother about the new lock over WhatsApp:
After trying it out for over two weeks, the digital lock is really a drastic improvement on a day to day basis in simplifying the process of getting and leaving home, while ensuring that both the gate and door are securely locked.
As my parents are not the most tech savvy, I was surprised how quickly they adapted to the new locks.
Though it will take some time to get used to, my parents’ verdict on the lock was clear.
“Don’t need to dig for the house key, can also open the door, it's easy to use!”
My brother also only had one thing to say about the digital lock:
“Shiok.”
Now when I leave the house, I make it a point to close the gate behind me, just to hear that satisfying click of it locking automatically.
AN Digital Lock
If you’re also thinking of making the switch to keyless yourself, AN Digital Lock has a 10-year track record in home security.
You can take a look at their range of offerings on their website, and I highly recommend visiting one of their three showrooms in Boon Lay, Sembawang and Paya Lebar.
This sponsored article by AN Digital Lock made this writer feel like she’s living in a high-tech home.