The best feature depends on your phone
Latch 5 Pro is meant for the door you open many times a day: the garage entry, a side door into the kitchen, a home office or a rental unit. It replaces the lever and latch and gives that door four ways in. A fingerprint reader sits below a touch keypad on the outside panel, a tap zone in the keypad reads a wallet key on your phone, and a mechanical key stays as the backup.
The wallet tap is the headline feature, and it is also the reason to check your phone before ordering. Latch 5 Pro is certified for Aliro, the Connectivity Standards Alliance's standard for door keys stored in a phone wallet. Today Samsung Wallet is the only wallet ULTRALOQ supports. Apple Wallet and Google Wallet are listed as coming soon, with no date. ULTRALOQ's September launch announcement and its Aliro page present Apple Wallet keys as part of the package, which runs ahead of what this lock does today.
Samsung households get the full version
On a supported Galaxy phone, Samsung Wallet adds the digital home key while you set the lock up in SmartThings over Matter. Because Latch 5 Pro is a Thread lock, that route also needs a SmartThings hub with a Thread radio, such as a SmartThings Station. Each household member with a Galaxy phone can keep their own key in Samsung Wallet and tap the lock without opening an app, and SmartThings can use the unlock to start a routine.
Apple Home and Google Home households still get a capable Matter lock. Through a compatible controller and Thread border router, you can lock and unlock it and use it in automations from Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings. What they lose is the tap. For an iPhone household that leaves fingerprint and codes, and the U300 offers both plus a working Apple home key for about $20 less. Android phones without Samsung Wallet get no wallet tap from either lock today; ULTRALOQ's promised Google Wallet support could become a reason to choose Latch 5 Pro, but it has no date. ULTRALOQ does not list Home Assistant for Latch 5 Pro, although its general Matter page names Home Assistant Yellow as a Thread controller for its locks.
Fingerprint and codes still do most of the work
On a busy shared door, the fingerprint reader and keypad will matter more than any wallet. ULTRALOQ allows up to 50 users and 50 PIN codes, enough for a family plus cleaners, contractors or short-term guests. Users, shared keys and the activity log live in ULTRALOQ's Xthings Home app, while your Matter platform handles locking, unlocking and automations. Remote access through the app is advertised, but what this lock needs for it is unclear. ULTRALOQ's general Matter page ties remote control in Xthings Home to a U-tec Wi-Fi Adaptor, so ask ULTRALOQ whether Latch 5 Pro needs one before relying on remote code changes for a rental.
Six AA batteries power the lock. ULTRALOQ estimates up to a year on alkaline cells and up to 18 months on lithium when it runs over Thread. Matterhome has not tested battery life, which will vary with use, environment and battery type.
Check the door before ordering
Latch 5 Pro fits a standard pre-drilled US lever door: a 2⅛-inch bore, a 2⅜- or 2¾-inch backset and a door between 1⅜ and 1¾ inches thick. It works on left- or right-handed doors and needs no wiring. On a front door that also has a deadbolt, Latch 5 Pro leaves that deadbolt manual. The U300 takes doors from 35 to 55 mm (about 1⅜ to 2⅛ inches), so a 2-inch door fits the Aqara and falls outside ULTRALOQ's range.
ULTRALOQ calls the exterior assembly weather-resistant but publishes no IP rating, and the interior assembly is for indoor use only. A covered garage entry or side door is the safer home for it. Aqara rates the U300's outdoor panel IPX4 against splashing water, though the U300 also belongs on a door with some shelter.
Against the Aqara U300
The Aqara U300 does the same job on the same door with a keypad, a mechanical key and Matter over Thread, and its fingerprint reader sits in the lever you grasp, where Latch 5 Pro puts its reader on the panel above. The U300 costs about $20 less and its Apple home key works on an iPhone or Apple Watch now. Latch 5 Pro answers with the Samsung Wallet tap and a published limit of 50 users and 50 PIN codes.
The decision follows the phones in the house. Buy Latch 5 Pro when the people using the door carry Galaxy phones and SmartThings already runs the home. Buy the U300 when anyone expects to tap an iPhone, when the door is thicker than 1¾ inches, or when fingerprint and codes are all you need and the lower price wins.
Apple Home and Thread details
- Matter version
- 1.4
We list only values our sources state. Values shown were taken from this review's sources and are awaiting an editor's check.
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