Padlocks protect our priceless notebooks and jackets from the treacherous elements of a school hallway. For this reason, we owe padlocks a small round of applause—but still, some of high schoolers’ worst battles are with a particularly feisty padlock not opening on a whim. There are three remedies for such a state of affairs: accept the padlock’s incivility, leave valuables exposed, or upgrade to a smart lock.

Design

The Tapplock One is one such smart lock, packed with a plethora of technology. While looking like a fairly solid, metal padlock from the rear, the front reveals an LED light, a button, and a fairly large black square in place of a traditional padlock’s dial. This square is not simply for decoration; it houses the essential fingerprint scanner for hastily unlocking the padlock and accessing the goods it guards. Like something out of a particular British spy movie, the Tapplock features deeper levels of authentication. Pressing the button on the bottom of the lock three times enables morse code mode, after which entering a specified sequence of presses can unlock it. Once access has been granted—which only takes a fraction of a second—the lock flashes a green light and electronically unlatches the steel shackle. However, if a fingerprint or morse code sequence is not identified, the lock shines red light into the irises of the once hopeful intruder. 

Unlike most smart tech, the lock can endure extreme temperatures and is fully water resistant. Additionally, it only needs to be charged once a year, although using a flimsy cable via a proprietary connector. 

Set Up

For a user to prime their new lock, they simply download the Tapplock app, create an account, and tap “set up a new lock.” The app then prompts them to connect to the lock via bluetooth by pressing the button twice. Now that the lock is connected the app instructs the user to place their finger on the fingerprint pad and create a morse code sequence using a series of short and long presses. Up to 500 fingerprints can be stored on a lock, so friends, family, and friends’ families could all access a lock. The app can also be used to temporarily unlock it remotely and monitor each specific time and location that it was unlocked for an extra layer of protection.

Use and Verdict

All of these features add to create a unique padlock experience that has only failed me once (it was quickly reset after accessing the app) after hundreds of uses. Designwise, the rubber ring around one of the shackles broke, but that could be due to applying unnecessary pressure on the ring rather than the metal housing itself when relocking.

Altogether, the Tapplock One and smart locks in general are a wise investment for anyone who constantly needs to access a padlock. The steep $100 price tag is justified when taking into account the time saved while accessing my locker and closing it, even before others have unlocked their traditional combination locks in the first place. After all, according to the famous idiom, “time is money,” or in this case, time is grades.