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Level Lock had hidden Thread radio, will support Matter over Thread

Unbeknownst to buyers, Level included a secret Thread radio in all of its well-reviewed smart locks that will soon be updated to support Matter.

In a statement to The Verge, Level Home CTO Ken Goto said, "all Level Locks are 100% hardware compatible with Matter." They'll be updated in the future to support Matter, though no timeline was provided.

All Level locks are included in the update: the Bolt, Lock, Lock Touch, and the all-new Lock Plus. The Level Lock Plus was just released and touts Home Key support as its distinguishing feature.

Matter is an IP-based standard, meaning it works over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or Thread. However, Matter does not support Bluetooth, so it was assumed Level Locks would not adopt the standard.

We reviewed the Level Lock Plus at launch and largely considered it to be the go-to smart lock for HomeKit users. This Thread update will make it only more useful as it can help solve connection issues for those who don't have a Home Hub within Bluetooth range.



10 Comments

netrox 12 Years · 1510 comments

Wow, what a nice surprise. I like when companies don't mention the hidden features until it's official and can be supported. 

That's what I hope with HomePod mini with their mysterious humidity/temp sensor that's not being used for consumers. I hope with update, it will show those sensors. 

mikeybabes 11 Years · 78 comments


The same lock which offers about 5 seconds of protection. Expensive lock cheap barrel internals from the dollar store. Not so secure for 300+ bucks.

AppleZulu 8 Years · 2205 comments


The same lock which offers about 5 seconds of protection. Expensive lock cheap barrel internals from the dollar store. Not so secure for 300+ bucks.

Wut? You mean the key cylinder has the same vulnerability to lock pickers as pretty much every other key cylinder on billions of other locks that everyone else everywhere has?

Of course, most of those other locks won’t send an alert to the owner the moment someone opens it, so there’s that…

Andrew_OSU 6 Years · 574 comments


The same lock which offers about 5 seconds of protection. Expensive lock cheap barrel internals from the dollar store. Not so secure for 300+ bucks.

This is literally a commonality among key cylinder deadbolts. Basically, every other deadbolt down the aisles of Home Depot and Lowes offer the same protection. It's like the entirety of the internet just realized how vulnerable your standard locks are yet they all have them on their homes.

ihatescreennames 19 Years · 1977 comments

AppleZulu said:

The same lock which offers about 5 seconds of protection. Expensive lock cheap barrel internals from the dollar store. Not so secure for 300+ bucks.

Of course, most of those other locks won’t send an alert to the owner the moment someone opens it, so there’s that…

Not to mention, if a friend who will be staying with me arrives when I won’t be home I don’t need to hide a key outside for them to use and hope it’s in a good spot and nobody noticed me putting it there.

Or when I’m in bed for the night and my SO gets panicked that the garage door isn’t locked I don’t need to get out of bed, go downstairs and through the garage either in the dark or squinting because I’m turning on lights to verify that yes, it is locked.

 We go for frequent walks and exit/enter via the garage door with a deadbolt. Neither of us likes to carry our keys when walking, and with a lock like this we don’t need to. 


People act like $330 is a crazy amount of money. I know people whose cable/internet bill is almost that every month.