Customers of smart lock vendor Lockstate have been left in the lurch after a software update ‘bricked’ their ability to access their homes.
LockState Marketing Manager John Cargile told Ars Technica that approximately 500 customers were affected. The routine update, intended to make Lockstate’s 7i smart locks more secure, was accidentally rolled out to 6i customers to the opposite effect. It left earlier 6i units both unable to be locked and no longer able to receive over-the-air updates.
As a worldwide partner with Airbnb, Lockstate’s products are widely recommended and used by many Airbnb Hosts.
In a notice sent out to impacted customers, LockState CEO Nolan Mondrow says that “we are sorry to inform you about some unfortunate news. Your lock is among a small subset of locks that had a fatal error rendering it inoperable. After a software update was sent to your lock, it failed to reconnect to our web service making a remote fix impossible.”
The company then offered customers their choice of either sending their lock to LockState for direct repair or waiting on the company to send a replacement part. In the meantime, they say customers can use a physical key to unlock doors.
“We realize the impact that this issue may have on you and your business and we are deeply sorry. Every employee and resource at LockState is focused on resolving this for you as quickly as possible,” Mondrow said.
