Aqara Smart Lock U600

One handle set does the work of two devices

The other Matter locks Matterhome covers for British front doors, including Aqara's own U200 and Yale's Linus L2 Lite, are motors that fit over the inside of a euro cylinder, with a separate keypad outside if you want one. The U600 replaces the handles instead. Its outer panel carries a fingerprint reader, a numeric keypad that doubles as the NFC reader, and a keyhole for the two supplied keys. The inner panel holds four AA batteries and a lock button. The multipoint lock body inside the door stays where it is.

On a uPVC, composite or timber door that it fits, that is a tidier way to add keyless entry than a cylinder motor. There is no motor housing on the inside of the door and no second device to mount and keep powered. Inside, the U600 is a strip 40.5 mm wide and 25 mm deep. The U200 offers the same entry methods as two pieces: a motor box about 153 × 62 × 61 mm inside and a battery keypad outside.

Apple Home gets the most complete version. Tapping an iPhone or Apple Watch on the keypad unlocks the door with Apple home key, which needs an Apple home hub such as a HomePod mini or Apple TV 4K. Aqara lists no UWB radio and sells Home Key as a tap, so expect to tap the keypad every time you come home. SmartThings households can use a Samsung Wallet digital home key instead. Google Wallet is not among the supported wallets, so other Android households rely on the fingerprint reader, codes and app control.

You still lift the handle

The U600 does not motorise the bolts. A typical British multipoint lock needs the handle lifted to drive its hooks and bolts into the frame, and that stays the job of whoever closes the door. Lifting the handle throws the bolts, but the electronic lock only completes when you press the lock button, lock from an app, or let auto-lock do it after a countdown you set. Until one of those happens, Aqara does not count the door as locked.

That limits what a remote lock command can do. Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, SmartThings or Home Assistant can complete the electronic lock from anywhere with a suitable hub, but none of them can throw bolts that nobody lifted. If someone leaves the door on the latch, a lock command from bed cannot throw the hooks and bolts, and a cylinder motor such as the U200 or Linus L2 Lite cannot either.

That makes auto-lock the setting most households will want, and it needs Aqara Home. If you add the U600 straight to a Matter platform without it, the Auto-Lock and Night Latch settings are unavailable. Night Latch is Aqara's mode that limits outside entry to administrators, Bluetooth and the backup key until the next normal unlock. Aqara Home reaches those settings over Bluetooth without an Aqara hub, so set the lock up there first and then add it to your Matter platform. Remote features inside Aqara Home, such as setting scheduled guest codes while you are away, need an Aqara Thread hub like the Hub M3. Some Matter platforms cannot create lock codes at all; Apple Home can.

Measure the door, then call the insurer

Fit decides this purchase before features do. The door must be 40 to 80 mm thick, with a 35 to 70 mm backset, 72 to 92 mm between the handle spindle and the cylinder centre, and a handle that opens with less than 60 degrees of travel. A door can pass those numbers and still fail partway through fitting, after the old handles and cylinder are already off. Aqara has you set the spindle in a test position and press the handle fully; if the latch does not retract completely, the lock is incompatible and goes back. A door that already takes force to lock needs adjusting first, because the U600 cannot correct sagging or misaligned bolts. Aqara does not say whether split-spindle or auto-engage multipoint locks work, so ask before ordering if your door has one.

Fitting also removes the euro cylinder. Aqara's certification marks include EN 16867, the European standard for electronic door handles, with no grade given, and it claims no TS 007 or BS 3621 rating. Aqara itself tells buyers to check with their insurer, and that call belongs before the order. The upside for renters is that Aqara describes a 15 to 30 minute screwdriver job that needs no changes to the door and can be reversed when you move out, provided you keep the original handles and cylinder.

One set of batteries

Four AA cells run everything. Aqara rates them at up to 10 months from a laboratory test of 10 wake-ups a day at 25°C, so a cold winter or a busy household can shorten that. The app warns at 20% and 10%, and a USB-C port on the outer panel takes a power bank or a phone for an emergency unlock if the cells run flat while you are outside. That is simpler upkeep than the U200's rechargeable motor plus AAA keypad. The outer panel is rated IP65.

Worth the premium for the right door

At about £230 from Aqara's store, the U600 costs about £50 more than the U200+ Kit. Yale's Linus L2 Lite, whose UK version is sold for lift-to-lock doors, costs about the same as the U600 once you add Yale's fingerprint keypad at list prices, and like the U200 it is a cylinder motor plus a separate keypad.

The U600 earns its premium when the door fits its measurements, the insurer accepts it without the cylinder, and you want fingerprint and Home Key entry on the handle with nothing bulky inside. Choose the U200 when you want to keep a cylinder you trust or the door fails the U600's measurements, and the Linus L2 Lite, at a little over half the U600's price on its own, when phone access and Auto-Unlock on arrival are enough. Skip all three if you need a front door that locks itself without anyone lifting the handle.