Lockly Smart Safe Review: Big Protection for a Small Safe
Lockly's biometric safe is far from large, but there's a lot to appreciate in this tiny powerhouse.
Our Experts
Score Breakdown
Pros
- Great biometric access options
- Strong defense against forced access
- Mounting kit included
- Straightforward app
- Fireproof inlay
- Internal lining and LED light
Cons
- Too small for some home uses
- Fire protection could be better
- Side covers are more vulnerable than the rest of the safe
Home safes come in all shapes and sizes, but Lockly's model finds a narrow niche for small, smart safes that work very hard not to compromise on protection. The result is a small but powerful safe, large enough to keep vital documents, cards, jewelry, gifts (or guns) inside, but small enough to easily fit on a shelf or in a drawer.
I gave Lockly's safe a complete workout, including multiple attempts to break inside. Far from flimsy, it's a highly secure, robust home safe package -- as long as you don't need lots of room. Perfect for an office, apartment, small bedroom or garage, Lockly's safe delivers, as long as you're willing to pay over $300 for a safe this size. Let's dive into the details.
Lockly Smart Safe: Design and Size
Lockly's smart features run on four AA batteries.
Lockly's letterbox-like safe is one of the smallest we've tested, well under 1 cubic foot. While there is plenty of room for small valuables like passports, cards, jewelry, anything you can fit in an envelope and even a handgun or two, you won't be fitting much else inside. That's an immediate limiting factor, but if you can get over the capacity Lockly's design is deeply impressive.
The alloy steel construction with a pneumatic-powered lid is sturdy, weighty and well-made. I'll get into more specifics below when I talk about durability, but this safe is built to withstand almost anything. "Almost" includes fire protection: It doesn't have technical fireproofing, which is a pity, but it does have fireproof inlays to help reduce the impact of a house fire and hopefully keep items inside from burning.
The interior includes an LED light for illumination, a soft pad so delicates can resist scratches, and multiple pockets of different sizes. It also houses the battery pack, which requires four AA batteries to operate but hides well when completed. Those batteries should last about a year or two, depending on how the safe gets used. Now let's look at what they power.
Lockly's safe interior includes padding, an LED and fireproof inlays.
Lockly Smart Safe: Access Control
On the front of Lockly's safe is a touch panel including a fingerprint sensor and below it a single physical lock. It's a compact, effective approach, allowing you to input dozens of fingerprints to give multiple people instant access. Once programmed, I found the fingerprint reader highly accurate and very, very quick to act: It's satisfying to see the pneumatic door release with just a touch.
Those circular number buttons also offer an alternative for number-based unlock codes. While it seems like an odd design at first, it has another role besides saving space: Lockly supports a self-randomizing mode that changes which numbers appear on which buttons after every use, so you can't just count on the pattern of button presses to unlock it. If someone keeps trying to access the safe when they don't have the code, Lockly will send a tamper alert to you or log it in the access history that you can view at any time.
Finally, that physical key option is specifically designed to deter picking the lock, so traditional lock-picking efforts won't work on it.
Lockly Smart Safe: Durability and Lock Testing
A home safe isn't much good if someone can pick it and carry it away to break apart later. Lockly solves the first problem with an included mount kit so you can bolt it to a surface. For the second part, I had to get a little more active. Fortunately, my property has a fair collection of jagged lava rocks -- you can see where this is going.
Lockly's exterior held up surprisingly well to smash tests.
After dropping, throwing and repeatedly crushing the Lockly safe with rocks, I can say it's as durable as it feels. In fact, I'm impressed the safe showed such little damage afterward, the sturdy metal only suffering scuffs and dings, with the touch panel coming out intact. The side coverings fared worse, with one coming slightly loose after the abuse. It was the one weak part I noticed on the safe, although I'll note the side panels are mostly for stability and appearance and don't affect the overall integrity of the safe.
Blows to the safe did loosen one of the hard plastic sides, but this did not compromise the safe.
Then I tried a more subtle break in. I'm no LockPickingLawyer, but like many of you I've watched the guides on how to break into cheap safes with the right application of force, such as using a crowbar or screwdriver slammed into the right places. I've also tested it out. For a safe this small, I chose a hefty flathead screwdriver, a trusty hammer and made a whole lot of noise.
Screwdriver leverage did surprisingly little damage to Lockly's lid and couldn't force the safe open.
The result was again in Lockly's favor. I focused on the weakest points of the lid where it's bolted into place, hoping to pry the bolt out enough to force the lid open or break it around the bolt. Nothing worked. In fact, I was surprised just how little damage the lid suffered from my attempts, showing only minimal gouges. Eventually, I reached the point where my attempts seemed more likely to damage my screwdriver than the lid.
With large power tools and time, I'm certain I could break into the Lockly Smart Safe, but that's a bit outside the expectations for a smaller safe like this, so I retreated (for now).
Lockly Smart Safe: Smart Features and App
Lockly's app is very straightforward.
Lockly's app is made to work with any of its smart lock products, and it treats the safe as another one of those models. I found setup and controls streamlined, with no major surprises. You can connect to Wi-Fi with an included Lockly hub, or just stick with Bluetooth for nearby control and a bit more security.
The unlock logs from part of my tests, showing in Lockly's app.
The app is easy even for inexperienced users. The primary page can lock or unlock the safe, and you have menu options to see the access log or visit settings and tweak some of the modes, including the number randomizing option I mentioned above. It's straightforward, not a lot of depth but no worries about complexity, either. However, you won't find any compatibility with other home platforms or voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant here.
Lockly Smart Safe: Value for Money
Lockly's safe is expensive, selling at $360 -- although I have found it at significantly lower prices with some discounts and site searching, in some cases below $300. The high price makes more sense after testing, with the safe's combination of smart features and strength. However, it's still fairly expensive for a smaller safe, and may not be suitable for all budgets. This is largely a case of "you get what you pay for," but my list of the best smart safes also includes more affordable options.
Lockly's safe stood up to some abuse and came out working, albeit a bit battered.
Final word on the Lockly Smart Safe
I beat it up, I tried prying it open, I found out the lock couldn't be picked -- that's an excellent start for a smart safe that keeps on ticking. Lockly adds to that durability with some useful, snappy smart features, including options that allow you to just operate from Bluetooth if you'd prefer to avoid Wi-Fi.
While it scores top marks for both tech and security, I do wish the safe had more built-in fire protection than just its inlays, and you'll have to pay quite a lot to get such a complete package. But if you've been wanting a safe this size for your smaller valuables, it's hard to go wrong with Lockly's model.
