Ring's First Smart Lock: A Hand-Crank Dial, Sidewalk, and No Word on Matter

Ring announced its first smart lock on October 9, alongside a batch of new cameras. It goes on sale in the U.S. in early 2027 in black, silver and brass. The headline feature is clever: a power dial built into the lock that you turn by hand when the battery is dead.

What stood out to me just as much is what neither Ring's blog post nor Amazon's announcement mentions: a price, Matter, Thread, or any platform other than Ring and Alexa. This is an Amazon-ecosystem lock, and it connects over Amazon Sidewalk instead of your Wi-Fi. That's great for some homes and a non-starter for others.

The power dial

Ring's pitch is that every smart lock shares one problem: what happens when the battery dies. Its answer is a "first-of-its-kind power dial." Come home to a dead lock, turn the dial "a few times," and it powers back up. Jamie Siminoff, Ring's founder and chief inventor, put it this way in Amazon's post: "A lock has to work every time."

I like the idea. The usual smart lock fallback is a physical key, which only helps if it's in your pocket. A dial only needs your hand.

What Ring hasn't published yet:

How many turns, and how much charge that gets you. Is it one unlock or a day?
Battery type and expected life.
Whether there's a physical keyway at all. Both pages pitch "four ways into your home without a key," and Siminoff talks about "no backup key or battery to carry." Neither page says a key cylinder exists. If the dial is the only fallback, I want to know how it behaves in the cold and after a few years.

Four ways in

You get a fingerprint reader, a backlit touchscreen keypad, the Ring app and Alexa. Amazon says "unlocks happen right on the device," so the fingerprint reader and keypad shouldn't need a network round trip. Scheduled access looks good: Amazon's example is a dog walker who can get in every Tuesday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. and never outside that window. It fits a standard single-cylinder deadbolt with no extra wiring, works with Ring doorbells, cameras and Ring Alarm, and logs every event in the Ring app. Alexa voice control requires setting the lock up in the Ring app first.

Sidewalk, not Wi-Fi

This is the part to understand before you get excited. Ring says the lock "stays connected through Amazon Sidewalk, so you don't need to worry about wifi range or router placement." The footnote: "Requires Amazon Sidewalk coverage for use. Coverage may vary by location and is subject to change or interruption."

Amazon's Sidewalk FAQ explains what that means. Sidewalk is a low-bandwidth community network carried by "Sidewalk Bridges," which are many Echo speakers and displays plus select Ring devices. It uses Bluetooth and sub-1 GHz radio, and each bridge shares a capped slice of your internet connection with nearby Sidewalk devices, including your neighbors'. Amazon caps that slice at 0.15% of average U.S. household internet use. Sidewalk is available in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and Ring's support page says it's on by default on compatible devices unless you've turned it off.

A lot of people did turn it off. Amazon's FAQ says your bridges keep their original functions with Sidewalk off, but you lose "Sidewalk's connectivity" benefits. My read: with Sidewalk off, this lock loses its connection for remote locking and status. Ring hasn't spelled that out for the lock, so I'd want a direct answer before preordering. Ring's support page also links an address coverage check. Use it.

The upside is real. An Echo in the front room can act as the bridge, and the lock isn't one more Wi-Fi client struggling at the edge of your coverage by the front door.

The subscription footnote

The sentence about the Ring app (check status, lock the door, manage who gets access) carries this footnote: "Compatible Ring subscription required for digital arming/disarming and certain other in-app features." Ring doesn't list which lock features fall under "certain other." Scheduled guest access? Remote unlock? The activity history? Until Ring publishes that split, budget for a plan, or wait.

How it compares to Apple's lock

Four days later, Apple announced the LG Smart Deadbolt Lock as part of Home Collection, and the two locks are opposites:

Price: Apple says the LG lock starts at $349.95 (U.S.). Ring's pages give no price.
Standards: Apple says the LG lock is Matter compatible, supports Aliro, and works "entirely locally," so core access keeps working without internet. It also supports Thread, like the rest of the Home Collection line. Ring's pages don't mention Matter, Thread or Aliro.
Fallback: Apple's lock has a hidden backup key slot and a PIN pad. Ring's fallback is the dial.
Hands-free: The LG lock uses Ultra Wideband to unlock as you walk up with an iPhone or Apple Watch. Ring leans on fingerprint and keypad.
Timing: Apple says Home Collection starts shipping in December, with select accessories in early 2027, and doesn't say which. Ring says early 2027.

I covered the rest of Apple's lineup, including the iCloud+ camera tiers, in an earlier issue. If you run Apple Home, Google Home or Home Assistant, the Apple lock is the one with a stated path into your platform through Matter. The Ring lock, as announced, lives in the Ring app and Alexa.

The rest of Ring's announcement

Outdoor Cam 4K Plus in battery, plug-in, hardwired, solar and PoE versions.
Spotlight Cam 4K Plus with a 550-lumen spotlight.
Floodlight Cam 4K Plus with 24/7 Recording (subscription required; recordings kept in the cloud up to 14 days).
Indoor Cam 4K with a 115-degree field of view, Wi-Fi 6 and a physical privacy shutter.
Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam 2K with 360 degrees of pan, 175 degrees of tilt, and a shutter that disables both camera and mic.

Amazon's post also says Ring's TAKE (Throw Away the Key Encryption) will become the default encryption for all Ring customers once fully rolled out. It doesn't say what that means for the lock specifically.

Who should wait, and who shouldn't

If your house already runs on Ring and Echo, this lock looks like a natural fit. The dial solves a real problem, Sidewalk gets it off your Wi-Fi, and your Echo devices can carry the connection. Get on Ring's update list and wait for the price and the subscription details.

If you're in Apple Home, Google Home or Home Assistant, nothing Ring has published says this lock will show up in your system. I'd pass until Ring says otherwise.

Before anyone buys, these are the answers I'd want: price, battery type and life, how many turns per unlock, which features need a Ring plan, whether it works at all with Sidewalk turned off, and whether there's a key.