Assa Abloy, the parent company of Level, has laid off most of the company's staff. While the Apple Home Key locks will work in the short term, others are concerned about the platform's future.
The Verge reported on June 26 that Assa Abloy laid off most of Level Home's employees and is folding the smart lock maker into its Kwikset brand. Assa Abloy disputed reports that Level was shutting down.
The company said it will continue developing, selling, and supporting its smart locks while keeping customer support in place. Existing owners shouldn't expect immediate problems.
Basic locking and unlocking through Apple Home and Matter should continue because those features work locally instead of relying on Level's cloud. Features such as the mobile app, auto-unlock, and door status updates still depend on the company's online services.
Assa Abloy hasn't announced any plans to shut those services down. If that ever changed, cloud-based features could stop working while local Apple Home and Matter functions would continue.
The restructuring reportedly includes the departure of Level co-founders John Martin and Ken Goto along with most of the engineering team. However, a small group of employees will stay on to finish a smart lock designed for multi-family housing.
According to The Verge, the anonymous source who described the restructuring offered a much less optimistic view of Level's future.
"I think consumers should know that Assa Abloy is not equipped to preserve the customer base," the source told the publication.
Assa Abloy bought Level Home in 2024 and already owns Kwikset and Yale. Folding Level into Kwikset brings three smart lock brands under the same parent company.
Level will continue operating as a business within Assa Abloy, the company said. Assa Abloy said it remains committed to investing in the smart lock category and doesn't expect existing customers to see any changes to product support.
Level earned a following by hiding its battery, motor, and electronics inside a standard deadbolt instead of adding a bulky interior box. The design, combined with support for Apple's Home Key feature, made it one of the more distinctive smart locks in the Apple Home ecosystem.
Current owners don't need to replace their locks or worry about losing basic functionality based on Assa Abloy's statements. The bigger unknown is whether Level will keep introducing new products and features, or if the Level cloud functionality will keep working, after losing much of the engineering team that built the platform.
