Schlage Sense Pro UWB smart lock review: What price beauty?

The Schlage Sense Pro is an unobtrusive match for my door hardware.

Back in March I took possession of an Aqara UWB Smart Lock, which allowed me to live out my Star Trek dreams by using Ultra Wideband technology to sense my arrival and unlock the door without any interaction from me. Now a second UWB lock has arrived on the scene, Schlage’s Sense Pro UWB smart lock. I’ve spent the last month locking and unlocking my front door with it, and it’s got some definite strengths over the Aqara lock—as well as some definite weaknesses.

Let’s start with the prices. The Aqara is $269, and the Schlage lock is $400. While it can be hard to justify a smart lock at any price, it’s extremely difficult to recommend one lock with much the same feature set over another when there’s this kind of price disparity.

And yes, these locks are very much playing by the same playbook: Both use UWB and Apple’s HomeKey technology to detect when your iPhone (11 or newer) or Apple Watch (Series 6 or newer) approaches your door, unlocking without having to wait or tap your device against the keypad. You can read my previous review for more about how this works, but it’s a huge improvement on both NFC tap-to-unlock and Bluetooth proximity detection, because it can wirelessly detect if you’re inside or outside the door—and only unlocks when you’re approaching from the outside.

The Schlage Sense Pro trades versatility for compactness and attractiveness. The Aqara lock is a big black slab, compared to a relatively squat keypad that comes in either black or satin nickel (a perfect match for my front door hardware). Schlage’s lock is undeniably better looking. It also has a light-up keypad so you can unlock it with a code, and you can program additional codes via the Schlage app or directly via the Apple Home app. And it supports NFC unlock, so if someone in your house doesn’t have a UWB device, they still have an avenue to electronically unlock the door via a tap.

Past Schlage smart locks—I used one for several years before buying the Aqara UWB model—offered a little 9-volt battery nubbin at the bottom of the outside to provide emergency power if the device’s batteries died and you needed to get into the house. This model has a USB-C port to do the same thing, and I don’t know about you, but I’m far more likely to source a USB-C cable (and an iPhone to provide power) than I am to find a 9-volt battery laying around outside my house.

Unlike the Aqara lock, the Schlage Sense Pro doesn’t have a thumbprint scanner or a physical key. The Aqara’s thumbprint scanner works but always seemed a bit pointless to me; the key, on the other hand, might have value if you like the idea of using a hide-a-key or giving a physical spare key to a friend. Alternately, it might seem unnecessary or even a security flaw. Trade-offs.

The interior deadbolt box is… less unobtrusive.

The Schlage Sense Pro is powered by four AA batteries that slide into the lock in a plastic sled; I found that if I was too forceful sliding the sled in, a battery occasionally popped out. I strongly prefer Aqara’s battery solution—a power-bank-style rechargeable battery pack that offers long life and a relatively easy USB charging path—to swapping AA batteries every so often.

My front door is not quite perfectly aligned, so automatic locks sometimes fail to lock it properly. The Schlage’s lock motor is forceful enough to do the job, but a lot less forceful than the Aqara’s, which would often have enough oomph to get the door closed even if it had to push really hard. In truth, though, both locks were equal in their ability to lock my weird door, though Aqara is much more aggressive in making a noise when it fails to lock the door, which I appreciated more than Schlage’s somewhat muted alert.

I also appreciated Aqara’s gesture to lock the door when leaving the house—you basically tap the pad anywhere—to be a lot easier to use than the Schlage lock, which requires you tap the top portion of the touch pad twice. I got used to the double-tap, but Aqara’s was faster and less fussy.

When testing the Schlage Sense Pro, I also ran into a very odd quirk where the lock became completely unresponsive until I pulled the battery sled out and put it back in—essentially, power cycling the lock. According to Schlage, this was likely due to a faulty lock and the company supplied me with a replacement that hasn’t shown any signs of the same issue.

Both locks do a great job of unlocking automatically. This is what the whole show is really about: If I walk up to a door with my watch on my wrist or my phone in my pocket, does the door unlock by the time I put my hand on the latch? Yes, almost all the time. Very occasionally there would be a slight pause when I reached the door, but almost never. It really is a magical feeling to have your door know that it’s you and unlock as you approach, and if you connect it to other HomeKit automations, you can have that unlock trigger other devices, like turning on your entryway lights.

In the end, the Schlage Sense Pro is a very nice lock, with a restrained look that I prefer to the Aqara’s industrial black block. Aqara’s extra locking methods (fingerprint, traditional key) are not really ones I feel are necessary. Yes, Aqara’s battery approach is better than Schlage’s, but I’ve been using AA-powered locks for ages, and it was fine, if a little annoying.

All in all, these locks are pretty close to even, with Schlage having the advantage in aesthetics. The problem is that the Schlage lock costs $130 more than the Aqara. If you don’t mind the extra charge for a more attractive lock, I won’t fault you, but for most people a smart lock is a bit of a splurge purchase as it is. It’s not the kind of product that can be snuck by household members who are less enthusiastic about technology, and sometimes the price tag is all it takes for the household to decide that it’s not worth doing.

The Schlage Sense Pro is a great product that brings that Star Trek feeling to my front door—but at a price than makes me wince. The first UWB lock that arrived on the scene, Aqara’s U400, is equally capable—and a lot cheaper.