Smart locks are a fundamental component of a modern home. You can add countless features to your smart home security with a smart lock. For example, you can set a temporary, one-time entry code for landlords or maintenance workers, set automatic closing times to ensure your front door is never accidentally unlocked at night, or unlock the door with the lock’s corresponding mobile app. But things are going to get even more evolved and your next house key will be your smartphone!
Android: your next home key will be your smartphone!
Many smart locks will increasingly begin to incorporate NFC-based digital keys. Using the same technology that allows you to touch your phone to a cash register to pay with a digital wallet like Google/Apple/Samsung Pay, you will soon be able to unlock or lock a smart lock with the touch of your smartphone or, even more conveniently, when your hands are full, from your smartwatch.
If you have an Android smartphone, a joint effort is underway by tech giants and smart lock manufacturers to create a universal standard for digital keys across all major smartphone/watch and smart lock brands. Since 2021, companies like Apple, Google and Samsung have been working with the manufacturers of leading smart locks. Examples of this are Yale and Schlage, in a standard called Aliro. For years, this open standard, which would allow universal communication between cell phones and smart access readers, was nothing more than a theory.
The launch may be closer
But a recent post on Telegram, made by AssembleDebug on the GApps Flags & Leaks channel, indicates that the launch of Aliro may be close. This was supported by evidence found on AOSP by Android Police contributor Mishaal Rahman.
Android is adding support for Aliro, the open standard for smart locks and digital keys. As spotted by AssembleDebug, the latest version of Play Services added a new service named AliroNfcApduService.
Also in AOSP, work has begun to update the UWB stack with Aliro host support. https://t.co/cn8fuPJ1P3 pic.twitter.com/gSBNyRwYeW
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) February 6, 2024
In the February 6 post from AssembleDebug X, the leaker stated that the new Aliro service is part of the latest beta version of Google Play Services. Also that the service is currently disabled. However “it indicates the beginning of work on this standard”. Host support for the new open standard has also been spotted in AOSP, Android’s open source code base.
In November, The Verge reported that integration of the Aliro standard in any capacity was still at least a year and a half away. It’s easy to hope that AssembleDebug’s findings, just a few months later, indicate that a very early version of this service could be available to non-beta users much sooner than that.
Unlocking a smart lock with universal digital keys will be monumentally useful in smart homes. However, the possibilities go far beyond that, as The Verge highlights. However, we may eventually see these capabilities implemented on a large scale in gyms, offices or hotel rooms.