I’ve been testing the best smart locks for years, and while there’s been a lot of advancements when it comes to entry methods and design, one thing has stubbornly remained more or less the same: battery life. Every four to six months, I always had to change the batteries in the locks, which isn’t time consuming, but it is annoying, and it generates e-waste.
That could all be changing. At CES 2026, companies are introducing smart locks that might never need to be recharged, while others are launching models with long-lasting rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. On top of that, we’re also seeing the Matter standard take over, and newer and smarter facial recognition added, so you may never need to remember a passcode again.
