The Scoop: Nuki has engineered smart access solutions that can help streamline at-home date nights and give singles greater control over their domain. The Smart Lock integrates seamlessly into most smart home systems and allows residents or guests to use their smartphone as their key. Since 2014, Nuki has opened the door to technology that fosters a secure home environment and makes physical keys obsolete.
I wanted to make my first Christmas with my boyfriend special by giving him a key to my house with a note saying, “Since you already have the key to my heart.” I thought it would be the most romantic and touching present of the night.
But when he opened the small box, my boyfriend just looked confused. He held up his key ring, saying, “I already have a key.”
I’d loaned him a spare key the month before because I left the house early in the morning while he was sound asleep. I hadn’t noticed that he’d gone ahead and kept it. “You stole that key,” I clarified. “This one is officially yours.”
Nuki allows people to use smart technology to automatically lock and unlock their doors.
The act of giving a key to a romantic partner can be a symbolic relationship-building gesture, or it could just be an act of convenience. Dating logistics are much simpler when both people have the freedom to come and go, and the Nuki Smart Lock has made it easier for singles to offer short-term or long-term key privileges to their dates.
Nuki was founded by Austrian brothers Jürgen and Martin Pansy to create a smart alternative to bulky, jangly keys. They imagined a world where they could use their smart device to unlock and lock doors automatically.
In 2014, the brothers started looking for investors and saw a lot of pushback from business professionals who thought a digital door lock was impractical, impossible, or unsellable. Fortunately, the naysayers didn’t stop Nuki from releasing its Smart Lock solution, which to date have been sold more than 150,000 time in more than 100 countries worldwide.
“Martin and Jürgen didn’t let themselves be discouraged,” said Clarissa Morales, Head of Marketing at Nuki. “They trusted their intuition, and this led to an incredibly successful crowdfunding campaign.”
Over 150,000 Smart Locks Sold & Installed Worldwide
In its early days, Nuki appealed mostly to techies who wanted to convert their home into a smart house. These early adapters saw the potential for smart solutions to streamline everything from turning on the lights to locking a door, and they got a jump on it before Alexa and Google Home became household names.
Nuki’s customer base has expanded rapidly in recent years as men and women of all ages have embraced smart technology. The Smart Lock is useful to anyone with a front door, and it has been installed at over 150,000 properties in 100 countries to date.
The Smart Lock has also proven particularly popular among rental companies seeking a simple and contactless way to allow renters and visitors to enter the premises.
The scaleup company is based in Graz, Austria, and currently has 80+ employees on the team.
“What makes us special at Nuki is that we do certain things consistently differently,” Clarissa explained. “For example, we want everyone to feel relaxed at work, which is why we wear socks or slippers in the office.”
Nuki has partnered with over 100 companies, including Google, Apple, Amazon, and Airbnb, to ensure the Smart Lock can integrate seamlessly into any smart home network. In 2019, the Nuki Opener has been launched to provide a solution turning also the main entrance of multiparty buildings into smart access systems.
Key Solutions to Make Your Daily Life Easier
Over the years, Nuki has helped normalize the idea of a digital door lock. Its team can offer tips and insights to make singles feel comfortable adopting a new smart lifestyle.
“Imagine that you could give access to your home with digital access permission,” the Nuki team said. “When the time is right for you, just send a digital key to your partner via WhatsApp (or other messenger services).”
Once you install a Smart Lock, you can grant temporary or permanent access to another person through the Nuki app.
The Nuki Smart Lock offers an easy installation process that only takes a few minutes and doesn’t take any tech experience to complete.You simply mount the Smart Lock over your door’s existing cylinder and download the app for free to finish the setup. No drilling or screwing required. You can check on the website to see if the device fits your door.
Nuki has earned recognition for its secure encryption. An independent German IT research firm called AV-Test has repeatedly tested the software and found it up to par. It has earned the certificate of an Approved Smart Home product for three years running.
“In the past two years, the solution has convinced with a well thought-out and adequately implemented security concept and exemplary practice in the area of data protection and privacy,” the 2020 AV-Test report says. “This year, our testers again found an unchanged solid implementation, which repeatedly left little room for serious criticism.”
The Nuki Smart Lock has made quite an entrance in modern society and provided a solution for rental companies, renters, homeowners, and actively dating singles who want to lock and unlock their doors in a smarter and more streamlined way.
“My everyday life has become a lot easier with Nuki,” said Mark Heigenfeld of TecTest. Mark is in a wheelchair and uses a Smart Lock to unlock his door automatically when he approaches. “I am really happy that my smartphone is now my key.”
Singles who have a Smart Lock no longer have to worry about being locked out of their homes. Their smartphone is their master key, and they can also connect an Apple Watch or Smart Assistant to the system as a backup. Nuki offers an automated locking system — which allows users to set the door to lock at certain times of the day — and automated unlocking system — which activates when the user approaches the door — to give users greater peace of mind and allow them to come and go without carrying any physical keys.
Nuki Unlocks New Possibilities in the Dating World
Giving someone a key can make an at-home date night more intimate and convenient, but it can also raise security concerns if every potential partner has a key to a single person’s domain. Fortunately, the Nuki Smart Lock offers a high-tech solution to this issue and allows daters to welcome new romantic interests with open arms and keep others from unwantedly being able to lock their doors.
Whether you’re giving someone a key out of love or out of convenience, the whole exchange is much smoother and more automated when you have a Nuki Smart Lock installed. You can grant a date limited access to your apartment or house, or you can provide full access to a long-term love who has earned your trust. All permission that you have handed out can be revoked at any moment with a simple click in your Nuki app.
Smart Lock puts singles in control of who can come and go, and that empowers them to date with more confidence.
“A Smart Lock is a useful gadget at the beginning of a relationship,” Clarissa said. “But also when a relationship is coming to an end, a Smart Lock can simplify the topic of handing over the keys.”
