August Home Inc.

August (August Home) designs and sells smart locks and related access accessories for residential doors. Its core products include the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, the August Smart Lock paired with a Connect Wi-Fi Bridge, the Yale Approach Lock with Wi-Fi, a doorbell camera, keypads (including the Yale Keypad and Yale Keypad Touch with fingerprint access), and matching door hardware such as the Valdosta Lever. The retrofit design mounts on the interior side of an existing single-cylinder deadbolt, leaving exterior hardware and existing keys unchanged, which the company positions as suitable for both homeowners and renters.

Locks are controlled through the August app on iOS and Android, and on Apple Watch, with features including auto-lock and auto-unlock, remote lock/unlock (requiring a Connect Wi-Fi Bridge or built-in Wi-Fi), an activity feed showing entries and exits, shareable virtual guest keys with time-limited or recurring access, customizable alerts, and DoorSense, a sensor that reports whether the door is both closed and locked. The company states it uses data encryption and mandatory two-factor authentication. Products carry a one-year warranty. Recent site messaging notes compatibility with both the August App and the Yale Access App.

Founding story

Company materials published in 2014 identify Jason Johnson as co-founder and CEO and designer Yves Behar as co-founder. Johnson was previously a managing partner of the startup incubator Founders Den, chairman of the Internet of Things Consortium, co-founder of mobile security company AirCover and of BookShout!, a vice president at Dolby Laboratories and at Global IP Solutions, and co-founder and CEO of InterQuest. Behar is the founder and CEO of design and branding firm fuseproject, established in 1999, and served as chief creative officer at Jawbone.

Business model

Direct-to-consumer sale of smart lock hardware, bundles and accessories through the company's online store, with listed prices such as $229.99 for the Wi-Fi Smart Lock, $249.99 for the Wi-Fi Smart Lock with Keypad Touch bundle, $199.99–$210.99 for the Smart Lock + Connect bundle, $119.99 for the Yale Keypad Touch and $29.99 for the Valdosta Lever, and periodic promotional discounts.

Latest developments

The product line now spans August-branded and Yale-branded locks, including the Yale Approach Lock with Wi-Fi and Yale Keypad Touch, which work with both the August and Yale Access apps. The site also promotes an integration allowing August smart locks to connect with ecobee Smart Security.