Thorbolt Unveils its First Deadbolt Lock w/ Thread

Thorbolt, the smart lock brand behind the popular MK1 Fingerprint Door Knob with Thread (video HERE, review HERE), has now announced its first standard deadbolt lock, the Thorbolt X1.

Like some recent smart locks that have come to the North American market, the X1 uses Thread as its wireless protocol, although this is an exclusive to Apple Home, as it uses HomeKit over Thread. It offers multiple ways to unlock your door, which includes Apple HomeKey, voice control (Siri), a touchscreen keypad, a fingerprint reader, app control, and of course physical keys (provided). If the fingerprint reader is as fast as the one on the MK1, it’ll be pretty fast.

The company states the deadbolt mechanism uses X-Motor technology that makes the lock open and close faster than standard, whilst also being quieter. Whilst some smart locks with Apple HomeKey have the NFC sensor embedded in the centre of the keypad, the X1 features an exclusive zone at the top of the unit away from the keypad, solely for HomeKey use, thus eliminating accidentally triggering the keypad when using your Apple Watch or iPhone. The fingerprint reader is located on the bottom left corner, which is also a bit of design departure from other locks.

Although initial shipments may only come in one finish, the company plans on launching the X1 with four finishes, similar to what is found with the MK1 door knob, with Black (pictured earlier), Silver (pictured above), Space Grey, and, Titanium finishes.

Along with the unique NFC area and the placement of the fingerprint reader, the front panel has a section that houses both a standard keyhole, alongside a USB-C port, with the latter to provide temporary power in the event of the batteries unexpectedly running out of power. Speaking of which, the X1 is designed to hold 8 AA batteries, providing 18 months of standard usage, before requiring replacements.

The X1 can store up to 100 individual fingerprints and 60 passcodes, all of which are stored on-device and encrypted to AES128 security standard, with no cloud storage of any kind used. The lock also supports the Manage Access feature that allows you to manage and generate passcodes directly within Apple Home, and send them to others. As it’s for outdoor use, the lock is IPX5 rated.

The Sleekpoint app is required for adding fingerprints, as is the case with all locks of this type, but the app has a mode that allows you to use it without the need to set up an account. The app also offers support for things like keypad sensitivity settings, Away mode (for low power usage), and even passage mode, simply by deactivating the ‘Auto lock’ feature.

There’s no information on pricing or availability at present, although once we get that data, we’ll update the article with the information.