Samsung smartphones from next year will be able to unlock smart locks with just one tap – or even that, by going hands-free with UWB. The tap to unlock functionality uses NFC instead, as you might have expected.
This will put Samsung users on par with iPhone owners, who have already had the option to unlock smart locks in a fiddle-free way. Samsung will support the new Aliro smart lock standard and add it to its Wallet’s Digital Home Key.
When that happens, tap to unlock and hands-free unlocking becomes a reality, and both can work locally between your phone and lock, with no internet connection required. Plus, you don’t even have to unlock your phone to unlock your lock.
Of course, hands-free unlocking via UWB only works if your Samsung phone supports UWB, and the list of those that do is not very big. Basically, the book-style foldables of recent years, along with the + and Ultra models of its flagship Galaxy S line.
Perhaps with the creation of this standard, more phones will add UWB support? We’ll have to wait and see. The Aliro standard was developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the same organization behind the smart home standard Matter. Just like Matter, Aliro is being worked on by Apple, Google, Samsung and major lock and chip manufacturers. The first specification of the standard is expected to be released next year, after which Samsung devices will start supporting it. And the first smart locks with Aliro support should also appear next year.