Smart Locks For Multipoint Door Locks

A lot of smart locks happily advertise that they can be easily installed as they are fully compatible with cylinder-type deadbolts. Whilst a lot of Americans doors use these type of door lock, its increasingly common to see multipoint locks used instead. Can these be used with smart locks, then, or are multipoint locks incompatible?

There are thankfully a range of good quality smart locks that work with multipoint locks – including the Yale Conexis L1 and other smart locks from Avia and Netatmo.

A Recap Of How Smart Locks Work

A smart lock either replaces your existing door lock/handle, or sits ‘on top’ of it and turns the door lock as needed.

The smart lock will support Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS (location) and sometimes other technologies (such as geofencing/iBeacons), and it’ll use these to scan and see whether you’re returning home.

It’ll do this by having two main ‘zones’ around your house (known as geofences): one that is very near your house, and another which is around your immediate neighborhood:

A Google Maps diagram with an orange pin showing home (not my actual home!), then two geofences at 10m and 100m points to show the virtual boundaries the lock app works off.
Illustration from Google Maps about how two virtual boundaries – geofences – can be used.

This means that when you go into the ‘neighborhood zone’ at 100m/328ft, your smart lock’s phone app will start doing more detection on your exact location.

When you then get to within 10m/33ft, it’ll start going into ‘active’ mode and trying to talk to your smart lock using Bluetooth and WiFi (which are shorter range technologies, and hence can be used to track that you’re walking towards your front door).

Once you’re right by your front door, the smart lock and the phone app will ‘agree’ this fact, and unlock the door for you. This is called ‘auto-unlock’ and it’s a really convenient feature.

Obviously the way that a smart lock unlocks the door will vary depending on the type of lock you have, i.e. a single-cylinder deadbolt smart lock just needs to turn the single cylinder, whereas a multipoint door lock is more involved because various levers and latches need to be moved up/down before the lock cylinder can be unlocked.

Multipoint Door Locks

A multipoint door lock has a lot more parts to it (literally) than a standard deadbolt lock: they have a range of levers and locks running up the side of the door. When you want to lock the door, you must pull the door handle upwards to engage these levers and locks:

Photo showing the door handle for my back door, which drives the multipoint door lock.
My back door handle – pulling the handle upwards moves the multipoint levers/locks into position.
Three multipoint areas circled in a photo showing my UPVC back door (fitted with a multipoint door lock).
Three circled areas showing the multipoint door lock parts of my back door.

A multipoint door lock is one of the more secure types of lock, and they’re now fairly standard in the UK and are growing in popularity in other countries too.

The downside is that they are more complex to install and maintain, and replacing the whole locking strip can be expensive. The other – more relevant – downside is that since these locks aren’t as common worldwide, there aren’t as many smart lock products that support them. Fortunately, though, there are some.

How Smart Locks For Multipoint Doors Work

As explored above, the main way that a multipoint door lock works is:

  • To lock the door, pull up the door handle to engage the various levers and locks in the door strip.
  • Put a key into the lock, and turn it to lock the door.

So there’s two main parts to it: the fact that the door strip needs to be engaged (via the door handle), and the fact that there’s still a lock cylinder which needs to be locked/unlocked as required.

Hence a smart lock for multipoint doors can either replace the whole lock and door handle, such as the Yale Conexis L1:

Marketing image for the Yale Conexis L1 smart door lock, with both internal and external door handle views.
The inside and outside view of the Yale Conexis L1 smart door lock.

Or it can provide just the lock cylinder part, but in a way that it’ll engage the multipoint locking strip when it locks/unlocks, such as the Netatmo Smart Door Lock:

Marketing image for the Netatmo smart door lock, showing the exposed internals of the lock cylinder.
The Netatmo smart door lock, which supports multipoint locking systems or single-lock doors too.

Neither approach is cheaper or more expensive than the other. Indeed, the Netatmo is around twice the price of the Yale Conexis L1, even though you get more hardware with Yale’s product.

So you mainly have to decide which you would prefer to install and look at each day. Both approaches are similar difficulty to install, but the looks are definitely different: the smart handle approach means that more of the smart electrics can be hidden inside each handle, and so the end product isn’t big and bulky.

Warning: Most smart multipoint door locks still require you to physically pull the handle up/down before the smart mechanism can lock or unlock the door. This is because the smart lock often can’t exert the required force to arm each point along the multipoint strip. This does mean that smart multipoint locks aren’t as useful as general smart locks (for other door lock types).

Whereas the Netatmo (and Nuki smart locks) approach ends up having a big ball/cylinder at one end, which houses the smart electrics and the mechanism that will ultimately engage the multipoint lock.

I personally prefer Yale’s approach since it’s sleeker and looks less like a “smart add-on” to an existing device, but it’s genuine preference: some people prefer something that stands out and says ‘yes, I’m a smart device’.

Are Smart Multipoint Door Locks More Secure?

In general, smart multipoint locks are the most secure approach you can have, yes: you have all the benefits of the already-secure multipoint door lock design, whilst also going away from depending on keys which can be stolen or lost.

Multipoint locks are better than single-cylinder deadbolts because they provide secure levers and latches all up the door frame, leading to a more secure door. If someone wanted to break into your house with a deadbolt style lock, there is a single point of failure: break the lock, and the whole door will open. This compares to a multipoint lock which would require 4-5 (or sometimes more) different parts of the locking mechanism to be broken down.

Secondly, a smart lock is generally more secure than a traditional lock because a ‘dumb’ lock relies in you using a key, but anyone with that key – or a copy of it – can enter your home. So if your key is stolen or copied, that other person can now enter your house. The same isn’t true with a smart lock.

Yes you could lose your phone (containing your smart lock app), but entry can be quickly reset over the internet – see August’s simple reset instructions for an example of how to do this with an August smart lock.

In other words, if your door already has a multipoint door lock, moving to a compatible smart lock is a good move because of all the added convenience the smart functionality introduces, without decreasing the security of your house.

Recommended Smart Locks For Multipoint Doors

I’ve already mentioned a few smart locks which are compatible with multipoint doors, although I wanted to recap them here. Since multipoint doors are mainly adopted in Europe right now, some of the products below are only available to buy in Europe.

Yale Conexis L1 Multipoint Smart Lock

Yale are one of the oldest and well-known lock makers in the world, with 180 years of experience. They broke into the smart home sector just over 5 years ago, with a range of nice and well-built products. Their Conexis L1 smart lock replaces your entire door lock and handle, and it currently retails for around £165 (€185):

Marketing image for the Yale Conexis L1 smart door lock, with both internal and external door handle views.
The inside and outside view of the Yale Conexis L1 smart door lock.

You can also purchase a z-wave module for £35 which will allow further integration with your smart home hub.

Netatmo Smart Door Lock

The Netatmo lock works with both single and multi-point locking cylinders, and it replaces just the lock:

Marketing image for the Netatmo smart door lock, showing the exposed internals of the lock cylinder.
The Netatmo smart door lock, which supports multipoint locking systems or single-lock doors too.

The lock comes with really fancy looking keys that use NFC (near field communication) to provide a high-tech key-based option – in addition to the usual smartphone app based unlocking. It’ll ship in later 2020 and is expected to be quite expensive – between €350 and €400, i.e. more than twice the price of the Yale Conexis.

The Ultion Smart Lock

The Ultion Smart Lock is another great option to consider. Like the Yale Conexis L1 lock, it replaces the handle as we well as the lock cylinder itself:

Marketing image of the Ultion Smart Door Lock
Marketing image of the Ultion Smart Door Lock

This has all the usual features that you would expect (unlock on approach, auto-lock, giving temporary access to guests), and it can also be configured with HomeKit – which is a neat option for Apple fans.

This is mainly sold in the UK and Europe right now, but Ultion do say that it should be available in America at some point.

Origin Smart, by Blusafe

A British firm called Bluesafe released their Origin Smart smart lock in late 2021, and TechAdvisor have gave it a fairly good review with an 8/10 score. It has fingerprint unlock support and starts from £275, although extra Wi-Fi support (allowing app control when you’re away from your home) costs £25 more:

Their website also makes clear that they work well with multipoint locks, saying:

Origin Smart only works with lift lever multipoint locks… Origin Smart is designed to work with 92mm multipoint locks, which are the most common on the market.

Blusafe website, accessed June 2022

Avia Smart Lock Ultra Smart

A final option to consider is Avia’s smart lock ultra smart, which is similar to the Yale Conexis in that it replaces the whole door handle and cylinder with its own smart handle/lock.

It has good integration with Apple’s HomeKit and it also supports Bluetooth 5 for longer range and communication than Bluetooth 4 and LE tends to offer.

You can customize it quite a lot when buying it, and the order process asks you various measurements so Avia know that they’ll deliver you a smart lock that works with your specific door.

You also get a smart key fob which looks like something you have with a fancy car, and the option to buy more for £69 each.

Overall it’s not cheap at £350 (€400) but it comes with a wide range of options and lots of Apple integration which Apple fans should fine useful.

About Tristan Perry

Tristan Perry is a software developer who is passionate about tech gadgets, DIY and housing. He has therefore loved seeing smart homes hit the mainstream. Tristan also has an academic background (in Math & Computer Science), and so he enjoys digging into the technical ways that smart home devices work.

Tristan owns close to a dozen Amazon Echo devices, way too many Philips Hue bulbs and lightstrips, a boat-load of Ring Cameras and Doorbells... and a bunch of other smart home devices too (from Reolink, Google Nest, GLEDOPTO and others).

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions about this article, please leave a comment below. Please note that all comments go into a moderation queue (to prevent blog spam). Your comment will be manually reviewed and approved by Tristan in less than a week. Thanks!

33 thoughts on “Smart Locks For Multipoint Door Locks”

  1. I was interested to read your article after seeing the picture of your door and mentioning multipoint locking doors. I have an outward opening Smart 50 aluminium door and in researching a smart door lock to be able to use with my door and Home assistant smart home system I have found very few that are compatible with either multipoint locking doors or compact enough to be used with an outward opening door.
    I was left disappointed by the article that it did not cover either of these points that your door has, not if indeed you had used and of the products yourself on the door as clearly the Avia Smart Door lock would not fit.

    Reply
    • Thanks for the helpful and constructive comment Glenn. I do my best to try out the products I write about, but in some cases I go on experiences from friends and acquaintances instead (like this article – as you suspect 🙂 ). I know of people who have used the Avia lock with success, but I will loop back to this article and see where I can improve it.

      Reply
  2. There is now another multi point door lock option from bluesafe solutions called the Origin Smart. It has fob, app, finger print scanner and optional keypad. Seems a good option.

    Reply
  3. Hi Tristan.

    I am in Canada and have a door with a multipoint lock which I would like to replace with a Yale Connexis L1 which I can buy in the US. From what I have seen from installation videos the door hardware seems compatible. Do you know if multipoint doors in Canada/US have the same specs/Standards/compatibility as the UK?

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Hi Mike,

      That’s a good question – unfortunately I’m not too sure if multipoint doors have similar specs/measurements sorry. Having said that, Yale do have a useful compatibility guide, complete with measurements that you can verify against your door:

      Conexis L1 compability guide

      You should be able to print it and hold it to your door lock mechanism, since the PDF is a 1:1 scale.

      Reply
    • Hi Jonathan, I don’t know of any currently no – sorry! The Marvin lock is a bit more specific and while it has nice security, it does mean that ‘supply and demand’ type effects means that many smart lock manufacturers seem to be keeping away from this format currently. Having said that, Marvin do have some smart products – so it could be worth messaging them and seeing if they have any further smart products coming out soon?

      Reply
    • Jonathan,

      I’m also looking for a smart lock compatible with the Marvin multipoint door locks. I can’t believe there is nothing out there that will work. So far I can’t find anything either.

      Good luck,
      Chris

      Reply
  4. Hi Tristan
    Just a quick one…
    Regarding locking the door…
    Can you confirm that the Yale Conexis L1 still needs to pull up the door handle to lock the door?

    Many thanks
    Rob

    Reply
    • Hi Rob,

      I don’t have the Conexis L1 to hand anymore to verify this, but I don’t believe that it requires any manual interventions (i.e. it should handle the multipoint mechanism by itself).

      Your comment is approved and showing up now though, so hopefully someone with the L1 installed can confirm.

      Thanks,
      Tristan

      Reply
      • The Yale Conexis needs the handle to be manually pushed up in order to lock the door. Therefore, you can’t lock it remotely unless the handle has already been pushed up.

        This is probably the case for all smart multipoint locks because the effort/force needed to move all the multipoint components is fairly large compared to other locks.

        I’m not aware of any smart lock that can lock a multipoint by itself, but would be interested to know if there is one. Probably worth researching/mentioning in the article.

        Reply
  5. Was interested in the Yale Assure 2 SL Smart Lock for our BnB as it supports the new Matter protocol. However our home builder informed me that we spec’d multi- point doors. Are you aware of any Matter support for multipoint door smart locks?

    Reply
    • Great question. I am keeping on an eye on the situation, but right now I don’t think any multipoint smart locks support Matter. Yale have announced general Matter support, though, so hopefully they will upgrade the Conexis L1 in the future. We’ll see.

      Reply
  6. Great article! Do you know if its possible to install an August WiFi Smart Lock (4th gen) on a multipoint door lock in the UK? August seems to be well reviewed on US websites but information for the UK seems rather sparse.

    Reply
    • August are indeed a great smart lock range. As to whether it’s compatible, I haven’t tested it hands-on so I can’t say for sure unfortunately, but I think it mainly depends on the exact measurements of the lock mechanism. In theory an August smart lock can turn a multipoint door lock mechanism – if it actually fits. It’s a bit like how James of MightyGadget has a Yale Linus lock attached to his multipoint door lock:

      https://mightygadget.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Yale-linus-review-1-1024×576.jpg

      Sorry if that’s a big vague. Certainly, the August Smart Lock isn’t designed with multipoint doors in mind – but it might be possible to fudge it, assuming the measurements match up.

      Reply
  7. I want a smartlock on my my multipoint door – I understand that the smart lock can’t fully engage the handle to pull it up to be able to lock the door, but can it unlock with a code? That’s what I want – for my kids to have access without a need for physical key or phone or fob – a simple code is the mission.

    Reply
  8. Regarding a multipoint lock that doesn’t require you to first pull up the handle, the only one I’ve seen is by Hoppe but it needs to be installed on a new door – it’s not a retrofit, and of course it is expensive (thousands).

    Thanks,
    Bruce

    Reply
    • Thanks Bruce, nice spot. That definitely looks like an interesting product, although as you say, it’s a pity that a brand new door is required. It’s a frustrating situation (re: having to pull up the handle), but it’s good to know some solutions are starting to appear.

      Reply
    • Hi, thanks! Yes unfortunately right now, most of the options I have explored require you to lift the handle (other than the Netatmo one), you’re right. I’m hoping this is an area that will be improved on soon though.

      P.S. you might want to check out Bruce’s comment though which mentions a Hoppe door. This does require a whole door change, but it also gives smart lock functionality to a secure multipoint door.

      Reply

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