Smart locks may still be a niche product, but lock giant Assa Abloy is clearly betting on a digital future for our doors. Despite the US Department of Justice suing the Swedish company for trying to buy up too many smart lock makers, it has just acquired another one: sleek smart lock maker Level Lock.
With this latest purchase, Assa Abloy, which owns a whopping 190 brands in the access control space, could now have an important piece of the puzzle to lead the market into a digital future. “Their innovative platform enables an easy transition from mechanical locking systems to digital access solutions with minimal effort,” said Lucas Boselli, Executive Vice President of Assa Abloy, in a press release.
Level's technology does away with the large, bulky housing common in connected locks. Instead, everything needed to digitally control and power the lock is built into the latch mechanism. From the outside, a Level smart lock looks like a traditional lock. The company offers a retrofit solution for an existing latch and all-in-one smart locks with features like touch-to-unlock and Apple Home Key unlocking.
The obvious step for Assa Abloy is to integrate Level's technology – both hardware and software – into its existing range of locks, including Kwikset and its sister brand Baldwin, and make smart locks that don't look like smart locks. This would be an easier transition for the mass market than the current method of sticking a big black box to your door.
Assa Abloy has a long history of integrating innovative technologies into existing products. When the company bought August in 2014, it added the smart lock startup's clever auto-open technology to Yale's smart door locks and used the Connected by August modules to keep its products at the forefront of the smart lock market.
Last year, however, Assa Abloy was forced to sell Yale and August (to US-based Fortune Brands) in order to buy two arguably bigger fish in the US residential lock hardware market – Kwikset and Baldwin (which were part of Spectrum Brands). While August was lost entirely, the company was able to keep Yale outside the US. Yale now consists of two separate companies: Yale US (owned by Fortune Brands) and Yale Rest of World (owned by Assa Abloy).
According to the Justice Department, Kwikset and Baldwin, as well as Yale and August, were too many lock manufacturers for a single company: “The proposed transaction would transform these markets and give Assa Abloy a virtual monopoly in high-end mechanical door hardware and more than 50 percent of smart locks, leaving only one significant competitor.” That competitor is Schlage, which is owned by Allegion.
Despite complying, Assa Abloy acquired another smart lock startup, Level, just a year later. This one – which had revenue of $16 million in 2023 – is likely too small to attract the Department of Justice's attention again, but Level's smart lock patents could provide the company with the opportunity for another technological leap forward.
While Level is innovative, its high price and limited connectivity options make it a small player in the smart lock space. Assa Abloy says it will continue as an independent company, but they said that about August too. We haven't seen a new August product since 2020.
Like August and Yale, Level's technology will likely become part of Assa Abloy's larger brands, such as Kwikset. Assa Abloy is also fully committed to Matter, which means it now has a clear path for both technology and connectivity. The next path is to make smart locks easier for us to use. Automatic unlocking, fingerprint access, keypads and app control are all useful, but what people really want is a digital key.
To solve this problem, Assa Abloy, Apple, Google, Samsung, Allegion and others are developing the Aliro access control standard. This industry standard aims to provide a universal way for smartphones and smartwatches to communicate with a lock. The idea is that Aliro will let you open your door with just a tap, regardless of who made the door lock or what phone or watch you use.
Aliro is still in the concept phase (there are no official specs yet), but will include UWB, NFC, and Bluetooth. Apple's recent announcement that it is introducing UWB automatic unlocking for Apple Home is related to Aliro, and the company's Home Key technology will likely be part of the standard as well. The stage is being set for the next generation of smart locks, and with Level, Kwikset, Matter, and Aliro on offer, Assa Abloy is positioning itself squarely in the spotlight.