Connected locks need power, and the more they do — driving a deadbolt rather than merely releasing it — the more they need. The result is a well-known anxiety: a flat battery in cold weather, and a homeowner locked out of their own house. Amazon's Ring brand thinks it has an answer: a hand crank. Its first connected deadbolt, due in early 2027 and priced at $250 in the US, has no physical key but a rotating knob; turning it drives a small dynamo that tops up the battery enough to enter an access code and open the door.
'That lock has to work every time, and up to this point a dead battery could mean you're locked out of your own home,' Ring founder Jamie Siminoff said, describing the design as a strike against 'smart lock anxiety'. With charge in the battery, the lock can also be opened by fingerprint, app or Amazon's Alexa assistant. It connects wirelessly over Amazon Sidewalk, the company's long-range, low-power network built on LoRa, which carries payloads of up to 256 bytes per message — enough for lock commands while keeping energy use low.
Ring accompanies the lock with five new cameras, all open for pre-order: an Outdoor Camera 4K Plus, a battery-powered Spotlight Camera 4K Plus, a Floodlight Camera 4K Plus, an Indoor Camera 4K with a physical privacy cover, and a 2K pan-and-tilt indoor camera that rotates 360 degrees and follows movement around a room. The kinetic idea is not new in itself — professional access-control systems have long used battery-free locks driven by the turn of a key — but bringing it to a $250 consumer deadbolt is.
