December 01, 2025

Unlock front door when you come home

Arriving home with arms full of groceries and having the door automatically unlock is a luxury that becomes essential once you experience it. Combined with lights turning on and music starting, it creates a truly welcoming smart home experience.

🏡 Why This Automation Is Valuable
  • Convenience: No fumbling for keys with groceries. Hands-free entry. Works automatically for everyone with app.
  • Combined Experience: Door unlocks, lights turn on, music starts playing, thermostat adjusts - perfect welcome home
  • Universal: Works for all household members - kids arriving from school, partners coming home from work, anyone with location enabled

Use cases

Daily Arrivals

  • Grocery Shopping - Arms full, can't reach keys
  • After Work - Seamless entry after commute
  • Kids from School - Safe automatic entry

Special Situations

  • Package Delivery - Easy re-entry after retrieving packages
  • Late Night - No searching for keys in the dark

Products needed

Essential Equipment

Smart Home Platform App
On every adult's phone
Options: Home Assistant Companion, SmartThings, August App, HomeKit (Apple)
Requires location services enabled on all phones
Smart Lock or Deadbolt
Brands: August Smart Lock, Yale Assure Lock, Schlage Encode, Kwikset Halo, Zigbee/Z-Wave locks

Optional Enhancements

Driveway Motion Sensor
Additional verification for security
Smart Doorbell
Visual confirmation of arrival
Geofence Zones
Approaching/arriving triggers for staged actions

Basic automation setup

IF person arrives home AND within 50 feet of front door THEN unlock front door AND turn on entry lights
🔒 Security: Multiple Verification Points Required
  • Never rely solely on GPS! Use multiple signals for safety.
  • ✅ Recommended Verification: Phone location (primary) + Motion in driveway (physical confirmation) + Time delay (20-30 seconds to confirm) + Away → Home state change (must have left first)
  • ❌ Don't Do: Unlock based only on GPS, no delay/verification, no motion confirmation

Triggers

  • Any phone/person arrives home (enters geofence)
  • Person state changes to "home"

Verification: Person has been "away" before arriving (prevent unlocking if already home)

Conditions (Recommended for Security)

  • Motion detected in driveway (optional but recommended)
  • Person was away for at least 5 minutes
  • Time delay: Present for 20 seconds before unlocking

Optional: Only during typical arrival times, not during sleeping hours

Actions

Immediate: Unlock front door
Associated: Change house mode to "Home" • Turn on entry lights • Start music • Adjust thermostat • Stop robot vacuum • Disarm security

Platform-specific examples

Home Assistant logo

Home Assistant

Trigger Person arrives home (state 'home') for 20 sec
Condition Was previously 'not_home' + driveway motion (optional)
Action Unlock door, send notification, set mode "Home"
SmartThings logo

SmartThings

Routine 1 Member arrives + 20 sec → Unlock door
Routine 2 Door unlocks → Mode "Home", lights, welcome scene
Hubitat logo

Hubitat

Trigger Presence sensor arrives for 20 sec
Condition Previous state was "not present"
Action Unlock door, Mode "Home", welcome actions
Setup: Combined Presence or Life360 + Rule Machine
Apple HomeKit logo

Apple HomeKit

When I arrive home (or anyone arrives)
Do Unlock door, Turn on lights, Activate home scene
Note: Requires device to be home hub

August/Yale App

Built-in Most smart locks have auto-unlock feature
Setup Settings → Auto-Unlock → Set distance threshold
Alexa logo

Alexa

When You arrive home + Wait 20 sec
Action Unlock door (requires voice PIN), lights, music
Google Home logo

Google Home

Starter When I arrive home + Delay 20 sec
Action Unlock door, Turn on lights, Change mode

Home mode actions

When door unlocks OR person arrives, activate Home Mode:

Lighting

Climate

Security

Entertainment

Appliances

Notifications

Send useful status updates:

Security considerations

Important: Multiple verification points

Never rely solely on GPS! Use multiple signals:

✅ Recommended Verification:

  1. Phone location (primary)
  2. Motion in driveway (physical confirmation)
  3. Time delay (20-30 seconds to confirm)
  4. Away → Home state change (must have left first)

❌ Don’t Do:

Geo-fence configuration

Home zone settings:

Test and adjust:

  1. Set initial radius
  2. Test arriving from different directions
  3. Note when trigger happens
  4. Adjust for 20-30 seconds before reaching door

Security best practices

Driveway motion sensor: Add condition: Motion detected in driveway

Why: Confirms physical presence, not just GPS.

Time-based restrictions:Add condition: Only between 6 AM and 11 PM

Why: Unusual for late-night arrivals, adds security.

Notification always: Always send notification when door auto-unlocks, including person’s name

Why: Aware of all auto-unlocks, spot any unusual activity.

Advanced features

Approaching home detection

Create “Approaching” zone (500m radius):

Benefits:

Setup: Create automation triggered when person enters approaching zone:

Staggered unlocking

Only unlock when very close:

Zone Strategy:

Person-specific actions

Different routines per person:

First person vs. additional

Different behavior for first arrival:

Add condition: Check if only 1 person is home (first arrival)

First person:

Additional arrivals:

Troubleshooting

Door unlocks too early

Causes:

Solutions:

Door doesn’t unlock

Check:

Fix:

Unlocks while approaching

Causes:

Solutions:

False unlocks from GPS drift

Causes:

Solutions:

Manual override options

Always Maintain:

Disable auto-unlock:

Battery backup

Smart lock considerations:

Low battery automation: Create automation that monitors lock battery level and sends notification when it drops below 20%.

Related automations:

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