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With a secret knock, this smart lock opens the door

Knock three times on the what now?

Photo of Taylor Hatmaker

Taylor Hatmaker

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If you need a smart lock to match your Nest thermostat and glossy mod furniture that we’re both pretending isn’t from Ikea, look no further. The Sesame is a smart lock for your front door that not only looks good in that under-designed, Apple-kinda-way, but it’s engineered to snap onto nearly every deadbolt style you might come across, which is good because screwdrivers are hard. 

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The Sesame just hit Kickstarter and will compete with established smart locks from Goji, Lockitron, and Yale, though its minimalist looks and bag of cool tricks could give it a leg up. Perhaps the coolest feature is Sesame’s ability to set a knock pattern that you rap out on the door itself or on your smartphone to let yourself in. Sesame syncs with the accelerometer in your phone to identify the precise rhythm, intensity, sharpness, and duration of your knock, so no two knocks are quite the same. The Sesame itself also houses an accelerometer, which is why you can knock your way into your home. 

 The lock just went on pre-order over at Kickstarter for a base level $99 ($89 early bird pricing) for the Bluetooth-LE only version, with a Wi-Fi equipped Sesame set priced at $149 ($139 early bird). It’s cool to be able to choose the less connected of the two versions, considering that the Sesame seems to take security pretty seriously with what it claims is “military grade encryption.” The Bluetooth-only system relies solely on the secure keys stored on your smartphone, which must be present in order to open your door.

And yes, of course you can open it by saying “open Sesame”; why would you even ask that? Check out the promo video below and Sesame’s Kickstarter page, which appears to be well on its way to funding only a few hours after launch.

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Photos via Sesame

 
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