Do smart locks work if the WiFi goes down?

This is a fair concern, locking yourself out of your own home during an internet outage is a real worry, and the good news is most quality smart locks are built with this in mind, the entire product category has this exact scenario factored into its design.

What keeps working without WiFi

Fingerprint, keypad code, and physical key backup all operate locally on the lock itself and don't depend on an internet connection at all. Locking and unlocking at the door works exactly the same during an outage, the lock's core function was never actually dependent on WiFi to begin with, only the extra remote features are.

What stops working

Remote unlock from your phone away from home, and any notifications about who accessed the door, do require an internet connection, since those features rely on the lock communicating with the app over WiFi. Worth being clear-eyed about this distinction so you're not relying on remote unlock as your only access method.

Why this is a real consideration when buying, not just theoretical

Some cheaper or poorly designed smart locks genuinely do require an active internet connection even for basic local unlock, which defeats the purpose of a physical door lock. Checking that fingerprint or keypad access works fully offline is worth confirming specifically before buying, not something to assume applies to every product on the market.

What we recommend

We always set up at least one non-app unlock method, fingerprint or keypad, alongside app access, specifically so a WiFi or internet outage never actually locks you out of your own home, and we only recommend locks we've confirmed genuinely work this way.