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Amazon debuted a Door Lock API today that gives the makers of locks connected to the internet the power to lock or unlock doors with Alexa. The API is part of the Alexa Skills Kit.
As part of the launch, smart locks from Schlage, Yale, Kwikset, and Z-wave will use the API.
August and Vivint smart locks, which were customized to interact with Alexa last year, will also use the Door Lock API, according to an Amazon spokesperson. The August Home Alexa skill can still be used to lock and unlock doors.
If the prospect of unlocking doors with your voice freaks you out, rest easy. While the Door Lock API makes its debut today so you can say “Alexa, lock my front door,” the ability to unlock doors with your voice is not yet available.
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“We’re currently working on a variety of security and safety tools within the Door Lock API in order to support unlock controls in a secure manner. We will not launch unlock support until those security requirements and options are in place,” said an Amazon spokesperson in an email to VentureBeat.
Amazon declined to share more information about the kinds of “security and safety tools” being built into the Door Lock API.
One feature that could improve security for devices that use the Door Lock API: the ability to distinguish between voices. On Monday, Time quoted an anonymous source familiar with Amazon’s Alexa strategy who said Amazon is currently working to give Alexa the ability to set certain commands to specific voices.
