I saw the first smart lock with UWB at CES 2025 - and it feels like a keyfob for your front door

The Ultraloq Bolt Mission is this year's most groundbreaking smart lock at CES. It is the first to market that supports ultra-wideband and unlocks hands-free. This means that whenever an approved device, like your phone in your pocket, approaches within 10 feet of the smart lock, it will unlock.

We named it the official Best of CES winner in the Privacy & Security category. See all 12 of the official Best of CES winners named by the CNET Group (ZDNET, CNET, PCMag, Mashable, and Lifehacker) in partnership with the organization that runs CES. 

Also: The best CES 2025 products you can buy right now

The Ultraloq Bolt Mission lock is smart enough to know when a user is on the indoor or exterior side of the door. In addition to UWB, the Ultraloq Bolt Mission also supports NFC-enabled devices to unlock it. This allows you to unlock your door with a single tap of your compatible phone or smartwatch. It is initially compatible with Android phones, but U-Tec, the company behind Ultraloq, plans to support Apple Home Key.

Doesn't require a separate hub

Since the lock connects to Wi-Fi, it doesn't require a separate hub but supports Matter over Thread. The lock can connect and conserve battery over a low-power connection if you already have a Matter gateway with Thread support at home. The Matter over Thread connection can extend the battery life to a year. With Wi-Fi only, the eight AA batteries inside the lock can offer about six months of use.

In addition to the UWB and NFC unlocking methods, the Ultraloq Bolt Mission has a keypad for entering a keycode and a slot for a physical key. 

Also: I tested a smart lock with facial recognition

This lock's UWB support makes it highly accurate, thanks to the technology's precision tracking. This protocol's real-time location precision makes it more accurate than Bluetooth and other forms of geofencing, and it's secure -- thanks to its wide bandwidth.

Availability

The Ultraloq Bolt Mission UWB + NFC smart lock is available beginning this quarter for $400.