Yeah lol, it was an interesting article overall but this is hilarious, especially from an ostensibly techy outlet.

People need to stop posting about how hot Manny Jacinto is in the Acolyte before I decide I need Disney+

Yale. I think some of their models do have a mechanical override (I texted my friends who have one and they have a version that accepts a physical key as well as a code), which seems like a much better option. I assume those are marginally more expensive, hence my apt going with this version

it needs to be way more obvious than a small red "low battery" sign in the corner of the touch screen and a verbal "low battery" warning. In any case, imho, the lack of a mechanical fail safe is completely inexcusable in a device that controls your ability to open your apartment door.

So either it didn't give me the notification because the battery wasn't quite dead enough yet, or I didn't notice it. I won't totally discount the possibility that I missed it even though I was actively paying attention (I was a little stressed), but I think if so that's a sign that [...]

because when it wouldn't unlock from the inside I went around (via the patio door) to try and unlock it from the outside using the key code. I was on high alert for it doing anything unusual since it had just locked me in, hence I'm pretty sure I should have noticed the notification at that point.

Yeah, so in this case my complaint is mostly about the principle of the thing rather than the specifics -- I didn't actually have a problem getting out of my apartment. But the first time it failed a couple of weeks ago, it definitely didn't give me the low battery notification, [...]

I feel like I'm losing my mind. Apparently I would also have found out about the low battery if I'd installed the FUCKING APP FOR MY FUCKING DOOR LOCK and allowed it to SEND ME NOTIFICATIONS I'm more techno-optimistic than a lot of people On Here but this makes me want to go The Beekeeper on them

...but the thing is, when your tech is for something like "can people open their front doors", your WHOLE FUCKING JOB is about accounting for these edge cases! If you can't do it, your tech isn't ready for the big time! This shit is why everyone hates tech companies

The issue here was compounded by an edge case wherein I almost always leave my apartment through a private gate in my patio (most apts in my complex don't have this) so the battery got too drained without my seeing the "low battery" indicator that exclusively shows from the outside...