Wyze launches $130 palm-scanning smart door lock

Wyze brings palm-vein entry to an affordable smart lock

Wyze has introduced the Palm Lock, a $129.98 smart deadbolt that unlocks with a hand hover using palm-vein biometrics. The new option undercuts earlier palm locks while adding a multi-option fallback strategy: key, PIN, mobile app, voice assistants, and temporary USB-C power if the batteries are drained.

Wyze combines several technologies to balance convenience and battery life. A low-power millimeter-wave radar wakes the lock only when someone approaches, and an infrared sensor maps palm veins — a biometric approach that's often more robust than fingerprints. The lock stores up to 50 palm IDs and can generate 50 unique access codes for guests or temporary access.

Wyze rates the battery life at up to six months for the removable primary battery. A smaller internal backup battery keeps things running for up to two weeks while you recharge the main cell indoors. If both batteries deplete, you can attach an external power source to a USB-C port and still unlock with an access code — plus a sliding panel reveals a traditional key slot as an ultimate fallback.

The lock is Wi‑Fi connected, letting you lock and unlock remotely and tie into Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. It also includes a gyroscope to detect door angle so it can auto-lock when closed or chirp if left ajar. Those features make it more than a biometric novelty — it’s a full-featured smart lock aimed at everyday use.

Feature highlights

• Palm-vein biometric recognition for up to 50 users
• Removable primary battery (≈6 months) plus a smaller backup battery (≈2 weeks)
• Fallbacks: physical key, PIN codes, mobile app, voice assistant, and USB-C emergency power
• Low-power radar wake, Wi‑Fi connectivity, and door-angle sensing for auto-lock and open alerts

What this means in practice: palm vein recognition reduces the need for fiddly placement and can be more resistant to spoofing than ordinary fingerprints, while the battery design and multiple fallbacks reduce the lockout risk. At $129.98, Wyze positions palm biometrics for mainstream homeowners, rental units, and small property managers who want hands-free entry without paying premium prices.

But a network-connected biometric lock also raises deployment questions. How do you manage access for dozens of tenants? What happens when the Wi‑Fi goes down? How should guest codes be rotated and logged for audits? And what privacy controls are appropriate for storing biometric templates?

Think of the Palm Lock like a smart smoke alarm: great when configured and monitored, risky if neglected. Good practices include ensuring local fallbacks, planning battery maintenance schedules, segmenting the device on a separate network VLAN, and integrating logs into a central visibility platform for incident response.

Who should care: homeowners who want contactless entry, landlords and short-term rental operators needing temporary codes, assisted‑living facilities that benefit from hands-free access, and operators deploying many smart locks who need scalable user and power management.

QuarkyByte’s perspective: this release makes biometric door entry more accessible, but successful deployments are a mix of device choices and operational design. Quantifying availability under battery scenarios, defining access governance, and hardening network connectivity turn a flashy gadget into a reliable security control.

If you’re evaluating Wyze’s Palm Lock for a home or fleet rollout, consider testing palm enrollment flows for your user base, simulating power-loss scenarios, and mapping integration points with existing smart home systems before wide deployment.