Philips 1000 Series Electronic Deadbolt

Equipped with a biometric fingerprint reader, a bright and responsive touch screen, and a traditional keyway, the $139.99 Philips 1000 Series Electronic Deadbolt offers several ways to unlock your door. This smart lock is easy on the eyes and fairly painless to install, but it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity and doesn’t work with other smart home devices. Moreover, its mobile app is limited to generating one-time PIN codes and can’t be used to lock and unlock your door. If you can live without a fingerprint reader, the Yale Assure Lock 2 (starting at $159.99) is a much better value that offers a more useful mobile app, lots of third-party integrations, voice control support, and Wi-Fi. And if you're willing to pay more, the $249.99 Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro Wi-Fi is our Editors' Choice winner because it offers the best of both worlds, with built-in Wi-Fi and a fingerprint reader.

Better Looking Than Your Average Door Lock

The 1000 Series is a sharp-looking lock that comes in glossy black, matte black, or satin nickel trim options. It’s a complete lock assembly that includes exterior and interior escutcheons, a deadbolt latch and strike assembly, mounting hardware, a user guide and mounting template, two keys, and four AA batteries that are rated to last up to one year before needing to be replaced.

The exterior escutcheon measures 6.2 by 2.6 by 0.75 inches (HWD) and has a glossy black touch screen that activates when you place your hand over it. The pad has numbers 0 through 9, a checkmark key that acts as an unlock button once you’ve entered a code, and a X key used for programming. Each key press is accompanied by a beep to let you know that the entry was accepted. To lock it from the outside, just press any key for one second.

(Credit: Philips)

At the top of the lock is a backlit chevron-shaped status indicator that glows blue when the touchpad has been activated, momentarily glows green when the door is successfully unlocked, and glows red when it is locked. It also audibly tells you when the door has been locked or unlocked. The bottom portion of the escutcheon holds a round biometric fingerprint reader (with support for up to 50 registered fingerprints) that slides away to reveal a traditional keyway.

The interior escutcheon shares the same color scheme as its exterior counterpart and measures 6.5 by 2.6 by 1.2 inches (HWD). It has a thumb-turn knob for manually locking and unlocking and a Privacy button that locks the door with a quick press. A three-second press of the Privacy button disables the outside keypad and fingerprint sensor, and you can return it to normal operation by entering the master PIN code. A panel at the top of the interior enclosure slides up and off to reveal the battery compartment and a reset button.

Registering fingerprints, adding and deleting user codes, and setting the auto-lock timer requires programming via the touch-screen keypad. The lock stores up to 20 PIN codes and offers voice guidance that makes it easy to program. From the touch screen, you can also enable Away mode, which disables the keypad and fingerprint reader and sounds an alarm when the interior thumb-turn is used.

Other features include a wrong code entry limit that will shut down the lock for three minutes after 10 unsuccessful attempts, a low battery alarm, and a silent mode that mutes the keypad sounds. Missing is a sensor that tells you if you’ve left the door open, geofencing capabilities, and event notifications, all features that you get with both the Yale Assure Lock 2 and the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro Wi-Fi locks.

(Credit: Philips)

The lock doesn’t have a Wi-Fi radio, and a Philips spokesperson says it does not use Bluetooth. It's unclear how it connects with the app, and Philips has not provided an answer. Just know that you can’t connect it to your network, control it remotely, or use Alexa, Google, or Siri voice commands to lock and unlock your door like you can with the Wi-Fi-equipped version of the Yale Assure Lock 2. In fact, the 1000 Series doesn’t offer many smart features whatsoever: You cannot control it or generate regular user PIN codes from its Philips Home Access companion app (available for Android and iOS). The only thing the app lets you do is generate one-time user PIN codes that you have to manually share with the intended users. Once the one-time code is used, it is no longer valid.

The Philips Home Access mobile app opens to a home screen where the lock appears in its own panel. There are buttons here for adding another device, adding a guest, and viewing your account profile, but the Guest button is not supported with this lock. Tap the lock button in the app to generate a one-time code and to view a list of generated codes with the date and time of their creation.

The Yale Assure Lock 2's more robust companion app lets you create entry codes and access schedules for guests, view a timeline of door and lock activity, and manage settings such as smart alerts and Auto-Lock and Auto-Unlock automations.

Reliable Touch Screen Controls

Installing the 1000 Series lock was relatively easy in testing, although I did experience an app-related hiccup along the way.

After removing my current deadbolt lock I installed the Philips latch and strike plate and slid the exterior escutcheon into place. I attached the exterior component to the mounting plate, snaked the data cable through the hole, and connected it to the port on the interior escutcheon. I then secured the interior escutcheon to the mounting plate and used the thumb-turn to make sure the lock operated smoothly. As long as the holes on your door are pre-drilled, all you need for the installation is a Phillips head screwdriver.

(Credit: Philips)

With the physical installation out of the way, I installed the four batteries, downloaded the mobile app, and created an account. I tapped Add Device on the home screen and used my phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the back of the battery cover. Here’s where I ran into trouble: The app was unable to identify the lock using the QR code, so I manually entered the ESN number (also found on the battery cover). At this point, the app recognized the lock, but the device failed to make a connection with my phone. After several failed attempts, I called tech support and was informed that this was a known glitch that was being worked on. Following the friendly technician’s instructions, I logged out of the app, logged back in, and scanned the QR code. This time the lock immediately connected, so I gave it a name to finish up the installation.

The 1000 Series lock worked well in testing. The touch screen was responsive and well lit, the voice-guided instructions made it fairly easy to program, and the fingerprint identification and Auto-Lock features worked perfectly. I just wish the app offered more functionality to let you add fingerprints and change auto-lock settings, because doing this from the touch screen isn't always convenient.

Not Quite as Smart as It Looks

If you’re ready to ditch your traditional door lock for a more versatile one, the Philips 1000 Series Electronic Deadbolt is a striking option with some smarts. It supports fingerprint, touch-screen keypad, and traditional keyed access, and works with a companion app that lets you create one-time unlock codes. For some buyers, that might be all you're looking for. But for $139.99, you should be able to lock and unlock the door and delete expired codes using the app. For a few extra dollars, the Yale Assure Lock 2 gives you a much more feature-rich companion app and HomeKit support on all models. And for all the bells and whistles, check out the (much pricier) Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro Wi-Fi, which features a fingerprint scanner and built-in Wi-Fi.