Until now, there was one way to put Staykey codes on your door: a Home Assistant hub at the property. It's still the way we'd recommend for most hosts. But not every host wants a hub, so this month we added a second option: connecting your locks through the cloud account you already use with your lock's app.
Before the how-to, the why.
The problem we kept running into
Home Assistant's one real cost has always been setup. To get a fresh code on the front door for every stay, a host first had to buy a hub and learn what Z-Wave is. For some people that's a fun Saturday. For a host with one Schlage on one condo, it was the reason they never got started.
Meanwhile, that Schlage was already online, in the Schlage app. The hub stood between the host and something the lock could already do.
What cloud accounts do
A cloud account is the account you already use with your lock's own app: Yale, Schlage, Kwikset, August, and more. You sign in to it once from Staykey, on a secure sign-in page from our lock partner. Your password goes to the lock brand, not to us.
Every lock in the account then shows up in Staykey, and you choose which one belongs to which property. One sign-in covers all of your properties. From there it works like any other Staykey lock: a code goes on before each stay and comes off afterwards, cleaners and access passes get theirs, and you can see whether the lock is locked, online, and how its battery is doing.
What it won't do matters just as much:
- No remote unlock. This route is door codes only. Staykey can't open the door from your dashboard, and a guest can't tap Unlock in their portal. They type their code at the door.
- It won't touch your other locks. Signing in doesn't hand Staykey every lock in the account. It manages only the ones you pick for a property.
When you add a lock, Staykey checks it first. A lock that can't take door codes from its maker's cloud, or can't take Staykey's 4-digit codes, can't be added. We'd rather tell you now than when a guest is in the driveway.
What it costs
Every device connected through a cloud account costs us a monthly fee.
So every property includes one device connected this way, and we cover it ourselves, free trial included. For a property with one lock on one front door, cloud accounts cost nothing extra.
A second device at the same property is $6/month, to cover what it costs us. Only your organization's owner can add one, once your plan has started, and Staykey asks you to confirm the charge first. Remove the device and the charge stops. Details are in understanding your billing.
Devices on Home Assistant cost us nothing per device, so they stay unlimited with no per-device fee. That hasn't changed.
Why we still recommend Home Assistant
Everything we wrote in April about outages is still true. A cloud-connected lock depends on the internet and on its maker's servers. If either is down, Staykey can't put a new code on the lock until it's back. Codes already on the lock keep working, because the lock checks them itself. But every change rides on the lock maker's servers, and a Home Assistant hub doesn't need them.
Home Assistant also does what cloud accounts don't: remote unlock from your dashboard and the guest portal, thermostats, garage doors and sensors, and as many devices as you like for the same flat price. So, honestly:
- Pick a cloud account if what you need is door codes on a lock you already own and already use with the Yale, Schlage, Kwikset or August app, and you don't want a hub. It's the fastest way to get started.
- Pick Home Assistant if you want remote unlock, more than one or two devices per property, thermostats or garage doors, or locks that don't depend on their maker's servers.
You don't have to choose forever. A property can use both, so you can start with a cloud account and add a hub later. More options, not a new rule.
One page for everything you've connected
Cloud accounts live on a new Integrations page, under Settings in your account menu. It's the one place for everything connected to your properties: cloud accounts, Home Assistant hubs, email forwarding and calendars.
At the top, Needs attention collects anything that's broken, like a cloud account asking you to sign in again, with the fix right there. Below it, each cloud account lists its locks, where each is used, and a Use at a property link for the rest.
One switch for new stays
Every way of adding a device, from a cloud account or from Home Assistant, now offers a Use for new stays switch. Turn it on and new stays at that property get access to it automatically. It saves the step most of us forget: adding a lock, then wondering why the next guest's code isn't on it.
Getting started
Open Integrations, choose Connect an account, and sign in with your lock brand. The step-by-step guide covers the rest, including what to do when a code is changed in the brand's app.
If you're already on Home Assistant, you don't need to do anything. Home Assistant is still our favorite path. Now it's just not the only one.
Related reading
- Help: Connecting a cloud account: signing in, choosing locks, and extra devices.
- Help: Supported smart locks: what each route can do, and which locks we've tested.
- Post: Why we don't do cloud-only smart locks: the case for Home Assistant, which still stands.
- Post: Access passes, and an activity feed that doesn't guess: passes work with cloud-account locks too.