Ring has announced the Ring Smart Lock, its first smart lock. The key feature is a Power Dial on the front: turn it by hand and you generate enough power to unlock the door, even when the battery is dead. That tackles the biggest worry with smart locks. The lock costs $249 and arrives in the first quarter of 2027, initially in the United States only.
How the Ring Smart Lock Power Dial works
The Power Dial is a hand crank on the front of the lock. Five to eight turns, depending on how fast you go, charge a supercapacitor that provides 10 to 30 seconds of power. That is enough to enter your code and unlock the door. Ring chief Jamie Siminoff describes it as a fix for “range anxiety”: the fear that a lock without power becomes a brick.
It is an emergency measure, though. The dial does not recharge the main battery, because the energy involved is far too small. That battery is a quick-replace pack that Ring says lasts about a year, and the Ring app warns you when it runs low. Once you are inside, you take the pack out and charge it as usual.
Unlocking, access and connectivity
You can open the lock with a fingerprint, a backlit touchscreen keypad, the Ring app or Alexa. The app lets you give temporary access to a cleaner or dog walker, check remotely whether the door is locked and set schedules. The lock fits a standard single-cylinder deadbolt and comes in black, silver and brass. Ring also plans to let third-party developers build software for it.
The lock connects over Wi-Fi and supports Amazon Sidewalk, so it can stay online through nearby Amazon and Ring devices if your Wi-Fi drops. That is only useful if you are comfortable with Sidewalk, which not everyone is. NFC and ultra-wideband are missing, so you cannot unlock the door by tapping your phone. For locks that do, see the Aqara U400 with ultra-wideband.
What is still missing
Ring has not mentioned Matter support and leaves Apple Home and Home Key to Alexa. If you want a lock that works across platforms, established options such as the Nuki Smart Lock Ultra are a safer bet today, and our overview of the best smart locks of 2026 shows the alternatives. The specifications are also not final, as the lock has not yet received FCC authorization.
Price and availability
The Ring Smart Lock costs $249 and launches in the United States in the first quarter of 2027. Ring has not announced plans for other regions, so for now it is mainly an interesting idea for solving the dead-battery problem.
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