Want to keep your valuables safe? Well, here’s the key to success...

High-tech padlock has wide range of uses

Even though the lock and key have been with us for thousands of years, it was the industrial revolution of the 18th Century that saw technology advance sufficiently so that a simple key could provide reliable and convenient security for business and home owners. From high-street shops to garden sheds, we still rely on very old tech to keep our belongings secure. It seems a natural evolution, then, that it is the digital revolution of this century that may well be changing how we keep our valuables safe.

Unpacking the Noke, it has all the reassuring look of a conventional padlock, but its high-tech contents are hinted at by the small LED bulb on the front.

It measures around three by two inches and its weight of 12.8 ounces, coupled with steel and its boron-hardened shackle, give it a secure and sturdy feel. What differentiates it completely from standard padlocks is that the Noke operates through Bluetooth and has no key; instead, it relies on an Android or iOS phone to operate it.

I downloaded the Noke app from iTunes and created an account. The app will handle all of the Noke locks you own, and the process of adding locks is a straightforward one. I activated the lock by clicking its shackle and gave it a name in the app, indicating that it was on my shed door, then snapped a photograph of the shed that can be used as a visual reference when using the app. As a fallback, at this stage you can create a quick-click code that can be used if you forget your phone. I created a sixclick signature that can be tapped out using the Noke’s shackle to open it in emergencies.

With the padlock set up, it took a few moments for my details to be saved and sent to the Noke cloud, and then it was ready to use.

Using the Noke is intuitive because it works exactly like a traditional lock. I attached it to my garden shed door, locked it and returned my phone to inside the house. The lock remained closed when I tried to open it and its sturdy feel would likely deter an opportunistic snoop. I fetched my phone and this time, its proximity to the lock meant that it opened about a second after I clicked the shackle.

There are more smart features to the Noke. The most impressive of these, perhaps, is the ability to add additional users to an individual padlock. This means you can add a family member to an account, giving them full access to come and go as they please, and it also allows you to add guest users. These users can have one-time only access or access on a given day of the week between certain hours, which would be ideal for colleagues or workmen who need access while you’re away.

I left the lock on duty in my garden for a week, so it endured both rain and sun and it appeared adequately weatherproof, opening without any difficulty on my return.

The only access difficulty I had was when experimenting with the fallback click-code, and this process does need some practice. Also, perhaps the loop of the lock could be a little larger, for use on gates or with a chain on motorcycles. But aside from this, the gadget successfully illustrates how new technology, combined with smart thinking, can bring efficiency to age-old challenges.