Ring’s first smart lock can be hand-cranked when its battery dies

The announcement, which marks a significant expansion for the smart home titan, introduces a device built to solve one of the most frustrating and persistent pain points plaguing the consumer IoT market today. For years, the widespread adoption of smart locks has been held back by a very specific consumer anxiety—the lingering fear that electronic deadbolts will inevitably suffer a total power failure, leaving homeowners locked out of their own properties without a reliable way back inside.

Rather than releasing a standard copy-and-paste iteration of the electronic deadbolts currently crowding retail shelves, Ring’s engineering team went back to the drawing board. The company’s new smart lock introduces an innovative mechanical fail-safe in the form of a built-in power dial. If the device’s internal battery eventually dies completely, a homeowner or visitor can simply turn the exterior dial a few times. This manual action generates just enough kinetic energy to temporarily power the lock back up, allowing the mechanism to engage and grant immediate access to the home.

The genesis of this clever mechanical solution traces back to Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, who first conceived of the idea while shopping for a secure locking system for a vacation home. Facing a unique set of circumstances with a property that experienced extended periods of vacancy, Siminoff recognized a profound vulnerability in traditional smart lock design. He struggled to find a suitable product because he knew that in a rarely used house, the battery would inevitably drain over time, rendering standard electronic access useless.

Siminoff also grew increasingly concerned about family members, friends, or invited guests visiting the property who might easily find themselves stranded outside. Because the door lacks a direct connection to a permanent electrical power source, any conventional smart lock on the market remains entirely dependent on its battery, creating an uncomfortable liability for property owners.

Refusing to accept the status quo, Siminoff turned his focus toward engineering a practical fix. Utilizing advanced design principles and prototyping techniques, he spearheaded a project centered on creating a mechanism that users could manually crank just enough to supply the temporary electrical charge needed to open the door. Once safely inside the residence, the homeowner can easily slide out the rechargeable battery pack, take it to an outlet, and charge it as they would any other household device.

According to Siminoff, the rechargeable battery pack built into Ring’s new smart lock is engineered to last for approximately one year under normal operating conditions. When the power level begins to dwindle, the device will automatically dispatch notifications to the user via the Ring mobile application, ensuring that homeowners have ample warning before a recharge becomes strictly necessary.

Beyond its unique power-generation capabilities, the companion Ring app is designed to serve as a comprehensive management hub for property access. Users can seamlessly configure and schedule access permissions for individuals who may require periodic entry to the home, such as trusted dog walkers, house cleaners, or visiting relatives. Looking ahead, the company harbors ambitious plans to open its software ecosystem, eventually allowing third-party application developers to design specialized software for the lock. This interoperability will unlock entirely new use cases—such as empowering Airbnb hosts and short-term rental property owners to automate the frequent turnover of guest access codes without administrative friction.

Versatility is also a core focus of the hardware itself, with the Ring lock offering four distinct entry methods to ensure that users never have to worry about misplacing a physical key or forgetting a digital PIN. Homeowners can unlock the door using the device’s integrated fingerprint reader for biometric security, a modern backlit touchscreen keypad, the centralized Ring app from a smartphone, or voice commands routed through Amazon Alexa.

While Siminoff openly acknowledges that the core features of the lock share functional similarities with existing competitors in the crowded smart home market, he firmly believes that the device’s direct remedy to "low-battery anxiety" will serve as its primary competitive advantage and ultimate selling point.

The power issue has consistently acted as a massive limiter, discouraging hesitant consumers from purchasing smart locks, keeping them from installing electronic access on their exterior doors, and fostering an ongoing worry about reliability, according to the founder. Furthermore, when legacy smart locks have attempted to offer backup entry methods in the past, those solutions have typically relied on cumbersome and inherently insecure workarounds—such as hiding a physical spare key somewhere obscure on the property, which compromises overall home security.

Designed for straightforward installation, Ring’s new smart lock is engineered to fit a standard single-cylinder deadbolt, making it compatible with a vast majority of existing residential doors without requiring complex retrofitting or professional locksmith services. The device is scheduled to officially launch and become available for purchase in the United States during the first quarter of 2027, pending the final receipt of mandatory Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorization. When it hits the market, it will be offered in three distinct architectural finishes—black, silver, and brass—to match various exterior home aesthetics and hardware preferences.

Alongside the introduction of its very first smart lock, Ring also used the occasion to expand its core surveillance lineup, introducing a robust suite of four new 4K security cameras. The fresh hardware drop includes the Outdoor Cam 4K Plus, the Spotlight Cam 4K Plus, the Floodlight Cam 4K Plus, and a versatile pan-tilt Indoor Cam 4K, further broadening the ecosystem of integrated safety devices that the Amazon-owned brand offers to consumers looking to secure their entire properties from a single unified application interface.