Comparison
Smart Locks
Head to Head
August vs Yale: Which Smart Lock Actually Earns Your Deadbolt?
Both promise keyless convenience. One inherits whatever deadbolt is already on your door; the other brings its own certified one. And the corporate premise this comparison used to rest on expired in June 2023.
By Johnny T.
·
March 2026
·
11 min read
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Researched — not tested
We own neither of these locks. Everything below is manufacturer specification, certification records, published security research and corporate filings — tagged so you can see which is which. Two claims in the earlier version of this comparison were wrong and are corrected in place.
Yale if the deadbolt on your door is mediocre. August if it is good, or if you rent. That is genuinely the whole decision, and it follows from one structural fact: August inherits whatever lock is already on your door, and Yale brings its own certified one.
Everything else — apps, ecosystems, battery chemistry — is close enough that it should not decide it for you. They run the same app lineage and, in North America, they now belong to the same owner.
How to read this page
This is a comparison of two products that are no longer competitors in the way the marketing implies. Read the ownership chapter before the feature table.
TestedPhysically in hand. Nothing on this page carries this tag.
DocumentedPublished specification, standard, regulatory filing or security research.
ManufacturerThe maker’s own claim. A claim, not a fact.
CommunityOwner reports and locksmith consensus. Informed opinion.
CorrectedSomething we previously published that the record doesn’t support.
The short version
August automates the lock you have. Yale replaces it with a Grade 2 one. If your current deadbolt is decent, August. If it is builder-grade, Yale. If you rent, August and it is not close.
This page opened, for a long time, with the line that August and Yale are siblings owned by ASSA ABLOY, the Swedish conglomerate that quietly owns half the door hardware on earth. It was the hook of the whole comparison. Corrected
It was accurate when written. ASSA ABLOY acquired August Home in 2017 and had owned Yale far longer. Then a court intervened.
The 2023 divestiture
ASSA ABLOY agreed to buy Spectrum Brands’ hardware division — Kwikset, Weiser, Baldwin — for $4.3 billion. The United States Department of Justice sued to block it. The settlement let the deal proceed on condition that ASSA ABLOY divest its August and Yale residential and multifamily smart lock businesses in the United States and Canada, which went to Fortune Brands for $800 million. Both transactions closed on 20 June 2023. Documented
So in the United States and Canada, both of these brands now belong to Fortune Brands — alongside Master Lock, SentrySafe and Moen. Outside North America, ASSA ABLOY still owns them.
Does that change the answer? Not directly — the hardware is the hardware. But it changes what the comparison is. You are not weighing two philosophies from a lock conglomerate with a century of cylinder engineering behind it. You are choosing between two product lines inside a consumer-brands portfolio, which is a different kind of promise about firmware pipelines and cloud services five years out.
The court filings are also unusually candid about why the divestiture was demanded: the Department of Justice recorded that ASSA ABLOY had invested in a smart lock lineup specifically to take shelf space from Kwikset, and then moved to buy Kwikset instead. Documented
This is where the comparison gets uncomfortable for August, and the discomfort is structural rather than a criticism of the build.
The August has no security rating of its own. It mounts over the interior thumb turn of your existing deadbolt and turns it. The exterior cylinder, the bolt, the strike, the throw — all unchanged. If the deadbolt underneath is builder-grade, August adds app control to a builder-grade lock. If it is a Schlage B60N, you have Grade 1 and AAA with automation on top.
The Yale ships as a deadbolt certified Grade 2 by the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association — ANSI/BHMA Grade 2. Manufacturer That is a known, tested quantity: five blows from a 75 foot-pound impact ram during certification, against ten for Grade 1 and two for Grade 3. Documented You are not rolling the dice on whatever the last owner installed.
The comparison that actually decides it
Go and look at your current deadbolt before you buy either. If it is a Grade 1 Schlage, August is the better buy and the cheaper one. If it is a Grade 3 store brand, Yale replaces a genuinely weak component and August merely motorises it.
That single check is worth more than every feature comparison below it.
The digital record, corrected
An earlier version of this page said that neither brand had suffered a major publicised breach, and specified a key length for the Bluetooth encryption on both. Both statements have gone. Corrected
At DEF CON 24 in 2016, researcher Jmaxxz presented Backdooring the Frontdoor: a man-in-the-middle attack that bypassed August’s app certificate pinning, a full mapping of the web interface, escalation from a guest account to owner, and credentials recoverable from the app’s debug logs. Documented That is a major publicised security event by any reading.
To August’s genuine credit — and this is the part the outrage coverage skipped — patches shipped roughly ten days later. Documented In a category where ignoring researchers is the norm, that is a meaningful signal. Our August review goes through the whole record.
August wins installation outright, and for renters it is not a contest. You replace the interior thumb turn, which takes ten to fifteen minutes with one screwdriver, requires no drilling, and leaves the exterior of the door untouched. Your landlord does not need to know, your keys still work, and you can restore the original hardware on the way out. Manufacturer
Yale requires a full deadbolt swap. New hardware visible from outside, potential bore mismatch, and a conversation with a landlord at minimum. For homeowners that is a non-issue. For renters it is often the end of the discussion.
The app is the same app
Both run through the same application lineage — August’s platform became Yale Access, and the experience is essentially identical: same interface, same guest access model, same activity log. Community If you have used one you have used the other, which is exactly what you would expect from two lines under one owner.
That is worth stating plainly because it removes a whole category of pretend differentiation. Nobody should choose between these two on app quality.
Batteries
August takes two CR123 lithium cells rated at three to six months. Manufacturer Yale takes four AA cells and runs considerably longer. The gap is real and it exists because August moved its Wi-Fi radio into the lock body to eliminate the bridge — that convenience is paid for in battery life.
Are August and Yale the same company?
In the United States and Canada they are both Fortune Brands products, since 20 June 2023. ASSA ABLOY was required to divest both residential smart lock businesses in those countries as a condition of the Department of Justice settlement that let it buy Kwikset. Outside North America, ASSA ABLOY still owns them. They share an app lineage either way.
Should I buy August or Yale?
Look at the deadbolt currently on your door. If it is a good one, buy August, because it automates hardware you already trust for less money. If it is builder-grade, buy Yale, because it replaces a weak component with a certified Grade 2 one. If you rent, buy August, because it leaves the exterior of the door untouched.
Which one is more secure?
Yale, in the sense that it brings its own ANSI/BHMA Grade 2 certification rather than inheriting whatever is already fitted. August has no grade of its own, because it does not replace any part of the lock that a grade would test. Neither adds kick resistance to a weak door frame.
Has either brand had a security incident?
Yes. At DEF CON in 2016 a researcher demonstrated a man-in-the-middle attack on August that bypassed the app certificate pinning and allowed escalation from a guest account to owner. August shipped patches about ten days later, which is a strong response by the standards of the category. An earlier version of this page stated that neither brand had a publicised breach, which was incorrect.
Can I use August as a renter?
Yes, and it is the main reason people choose it. Only the interior thumb turn is replaced, no drilling is required, the exterior of the door is unchanged and your existing keys keep working. The original hardware goes back on in ten minutes when you move out.
Side By Side
August Wi-Fi Smart Lock
Retrofit — replaces the interior thumb turn only
Yale Assure Lock 2
Full deadbolt replacement, both sides of the door
August security grade
None of its own — inherits your existing deadbolt
Yale security grade
ANSI/BHMA Grade 2 Manufacturer
August batteries
2 × CR123 lithium, rated 3–6 months
Yale batteries
4 × AA, longer service interval
August connectivity
2.4 GHz Wi-Fi built in, no bridge. No Z-Wave
Yale connectivity
Bluetooth in the base lock; Wi-Fi, Z-Wave and Matter as separate modules
App
Shared lineage — essentially the same experience on both
Owner
Fortune Brands in the United States and Canada since 20 June 2023 Documented
Renter friendly
August yes, Yale rarely
The honest version of this comparison is shorter than the page it lives on.
Buy August if you rent, if the deadbolt on your door is already good, or if you want the smart layer to be invisible from the street. It is the better value in every one of those cases, and the retrofit design has a real structural virtue nobody advertises: your key and your thumb turn keep working when the batteries, the network or the company do not.
Buy Yale if you own your home and the lock currently on it is builder-grade. You are not paying for smart features in that case so much as for a certified deadbolt that happens to have a keypad, and that is a defensible purchase on its own terms.
Buy neither yet if your strike plate is held in with three-quarter-inch screws, because both of these locks fail at the jamb long before anyone touches the cylinder. Eight dollars of hardware and twenty minutes fixes it. Start there.
The short answer
Check your existing deadbolt first. If it is good, August. If it is not, Yale. And in North America you are buying from the same company either way.
Sources & Method
- Ownership — corrects our previous statement — Documented Corrected The May 2023 proposed Final Judgment in the Department of Justice action against ASSA ABLOY required divestiture of the Emtek, Schaub, August and Yale residential and multifamily smart lock businesses in the United States and Canada. Fortune Brands acquired them for $800 million and both transactions completed on 20 June 2023. Earlier versions of this page described Yale and August as ASSA ABLOY brands without qualification. ASSA ABLOY — completion announcement
- August security research — Documented Corrected At DEF CON 24 in 2016, researcher Jmaxxz presented Backdooring the Frontdoor, demonstrating a man-in-the-middle attack that bypassed the mobile app’s certificate pinning, a full mapping of August’s web interface, escalation from a guest account to owner, and credentials recoverable from the app’s debug logs. Patches shipped roughly ten days later. Any claim that neither brand has experienced a publicised security event is incorrect. Quarkslab — examining the August Smart Lock
- Grade 2 test values — Documented Grade 1 requires surviving ten blows from a 75 foot-pound impact ram with the lock still functional, Grade 2 five, Grade 3 two. NoPryZone — ANSI grades explained
- Encryption claim removed — Corrected An earlier version specified a key length for Bluetooth encryption on both locks. Neither figure could be verified against a primary source and both have been removed.
- Antitrust background — Documented The Department of Justice complaint recorded that ASSA ABLOY had invested in a smart lock lineup intended to take retail shelf space from Kwikset before moving to acquire Kwikset’s parent division. United States v. ASSA ABLOY AB — competitive impact statement
We own neither lock and nothing here is hands-on. If you have run both — particularly on battery life or what the ownership change did to your app — tell us and you will be credited.
