Homeowners Are Increasingly Installing Smart Locks: Report

A new report from Parks Associates suggests that smart door locks are becoming more and more popular with modern homeowners, who are increasingly taking security into their own hands and installing the technology themselves. The firm’s DIY Home Security Tracker found that while only 39 percent of smart locks were installed by homeowners in 2016, that number had ballooned to 59 percent by the end of 2018.

However, Parks Associates also suggested that the trend may not last, especially if installation is included in the cost of a new smart lock system, as is now often the case.

“Consumers report installation is easy, but as products aim to broaden their appeal, they will attract more consumers with do-it-for-me preferences,” said Parks Associates Research Director Brad Russell. “Many new business models cover complete installation of an entire ecosystem, which will appeal to a variety of consumer segments.”

Russell listed Comcast, Vivint, and Control4 as some of the companies now offering installation services. He went on to argue that while many consumers and manufacturers still have doubts about the performance and security of door locks with voice recognition capabilities (like those with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant), the adoption of face and fingerprint recognition have made people more comfortable with smart locks as a concept.

A previous Parks Associates report found that 16 percent of households share their streaming passwords.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)