What if smart locks stop to work for over 24 hours without homeowners knowing the reason? They can be locked in the house or out of the house. Last week the Yale Home app went down for over 24 hours for customers in the UK. They couldn’t lock or unlock their doors, or arm or disarm their Yale alarms.
Yale initially said on Twitter that an unplanned network maintenance could cause some connections issues for some, and the work should be completed within 24 hours.
However, the work took over 24 hours due to “an unforeseen issue,” Yale said. And Yale became unavailable for more hours.
Frustrated users then logged on to Twitter to complain about the situation. Some were sitting outside because they couldn’t disarm the alarm; some were stuck in the house; and some couldn’t let family members into the house remotely via the app.
Although Yale alarms could be disabled via companion keyfob or keypad, or a PIN code, some said they were unable to access the smart alarm via keypad or to find the PIN codes which were stored within the app.
People expressed their anger on social media until the next day, until Yale fixed the problem and released a new version of Home app.
Some customers complained that Yale didn’t notify customers via emails or mobile notifications before the maintenance started. Or they would have had been prepared for the upcoming inconvenience.
Bluetooth-enabled Yale smart locks weren’t affected because they can operate independently via the Conexis app.
This is not the first time a smart security system goes down. Last year, LockState customers reported problems with their Wi-Fi smart lock products. The company later said the issue was caused by a firmware update sent to the wrong product. As a result, some Airbnb customers couldn’t check in the property they’ve booked.