Review: Aqara U50 Smart Lock

Aqara’s newest lock, the U50, has been on my front door for the better part of three months. I almost forgot about it as it smoothly inserted itself into my family's life just before the holiday season. My family learned the new code, and even though I handed out the included two keys, none of us needed them.

It's the most affordable lock I've tested. However, it comes with all the features I want in a smart lock: automated locking after a certain time and the ability to generate multiple entry codes, and it can tell if the door is open or closed without any added extra accessories or sensors. It doesn't even have any of the sneaky subscription fees that you'll find with some smart-home and security companies.

I really like this lock. But you'll want to get the Aqara M3 Hub ($110) to get access to all of its features, and the hub's price tag just about doubles the cost of purchasing the lock. If you can get by without needing Wi-Fi access, though (which means no smart-home integrations and no remotely checking on the door's locked status), this affordable lock is a great purchase.

Slim Formation

The U50 has a minimalist design, with a simple, modern-looking keypad on the exterior panel and a sleek deadbolt on the interior panel. I like the large sans serif font Aqara has on the keypad, and there are two buttons after the zero: an Away Mode button, which you can configure in the Aqara app, and an Enter/Lock Button, which you need to click after entering the door code or to relock the door after yourself. The keypad does require you to tap it and wake it up before you enter the code, which isn't difficult, but I had to intentionally press a button to wake it up versus lightly tapping somewhere on the keypad.

There's also a large area underneath the keypad that is actually a hidden keyhole. It's covered with a panel that you slide downward to reveal the keyhole. The sliding cover will click into place to stay open, so you don't need to worry about holding it open while you use your key. It's a nice extra security feature if you're worried about lock pickers, since it's not obvious just by looking at the lock that the panel will slide open. You can also have a professional locksmith rekey it.

What really impresses me about this lock is that even with the affordable price, it has a built-in sensor to tell you whether the door is closed. This isn't as huge of an issue on my current door, but my last apartment had a door that liked to open itself when it wasn't locked. Smart locks come in handy to both automate my door to be locked and warn me if the door somehow ends up open. But they usually require an exterior sensor, often on both the door and doorjamb to sense if the door is correctly in place. The U50 doesn't need that. Instead, it has a built-in gyroscope, which measures an object's rotational motion, that can tell if the door is in a closed position or not.

It's powered by four AA batteries that sit inside the interior plate. There's also a USB-C charging port on the bottom of the interior lock if you need emergency power to the lock, though it should work as a normal “dumb” lock once it loses power.

Range Game

On its own, the Aqara U50 is technically a Bluetooth lock, but you can add on an Aqara hub to turn it into a Wi-Fi-connected lock that can sync with smart speakers and other smart devices. It's Matter-compatible, too, if you get one of Aqara's Matter-compatible hubs like the M3. The M3 is the main hub Aqara currently sells, though there are older models Aqara users could have that might not be Matter compatible.

I tested the U50 with the M3 hub, and even with the hub connected to my lock, I still found I didn't have access to all features as I would on other Wi-Fi locks. It still wanted Bluetooth access if I wanted to unlock the door remotely, and required Bluetooth access to change certain settings, even if I was in the house on the same Wi-Fi as the hub itself. My hub also disconnected from the lock a few times, though the U50 worked normally without the help of the hub, remembering both the codes I had set up and to auto-lock the door after 10 minutes.

I suspect the hub didn't like being placed in a more central part of my home instead of next to the lock and front door. You really get the most out of Aqara's automation and features if you have more Aqara products you can link the lock to, but you might find yourself also battling the perfect location for your hub and all of these items. My house is particularly tricky since it's a long, three-story townhouse, so folks with a more standard, single-level home likely won't run into the same issues I did with having devices three stories apart.

The U50 is also HomeKit compatible, which won't require an Aqara hub but will require a HomeKit hub—aka a HomePod smart speaker or Apple TV—in order to control it remotely. It'll work with Apple HomeKey after you've got it connected to an iOS device. You can also set it up to work with a near-field communication card, provided you bring your own NFC card.

While the hub isn't perfect, I appreciated that Aqara doesn't have any subscription levels needed for its lock. Aqara doesn't seem to have any subscription pricing at all. It functions plenty well on its own, and if I bought this lock for myself, I'd be tempted to skip out on the hub altogether unless I knew I'd be setting it up for multiple smart-home integrations. The only downside is you won't be able to check the door status as easily without the hub, so if you like to check that the door is closed and locked from afar (or from the third floor, like I am), you'll still want to snag that M3 hub.